Lye Safety

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Kyle 3 Pass

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Hi everyone,

Inam going to batch my first soap this weekend and want to know how I should proceed to safely clean up after I'm done? Gloves and goggles are a must for sure. Should I neutralize lye with vinegar after using and place in the sink to be washed with dish liquid?

I will be doing CPHP.

Just want to make sure before I begin!

Thanks,

Kyle
 
I usually set my lye pitcher (one dedicated to only mixing the lye & water, an old Tuperware) in a safe place and leave it until the next day then I rinse it well. I am lucky in that I have a dedicated place to work and no curious little ones around to worry about. I do all my clean up the following day, after the lye has saponofied in/on all the pans and utensils I used. Sometimes I wipe them down good, sometimes not, then just soak them in a sink of hot water to melt the soap off and wash them. This also gives me a sneak peak at the qualities of that soap
 
After I used the lye I just rinsed the pan in the sink...should only have been traces of lye so was that bad? The second time was in the day so I hosed the pan down on the ground and then filled it with water and left it out for a couple days, was that also bad? I used a stainless steel pan.
 
Items with soap batter on them should be left in a safe place to saponify like Kansas Farm Girl does, then wash up in the sink with hot water. Don't put items with a lot of soap residue in the dishwasher unless you like to overflow the dishwasher and make a huge mess on the floor with excess suds.

Alternate method is to wipe the soap batter off your equipment and containers with newspaper or paper towels. Put the paper in the trash for disposal away from curious kids and pets. Wash your equipment and containers in the sink with plenty of soap (yes, plenty of soap) and hot water.

Clean your lye container by rinsing well with cold water and letting the water run down the drain. If you want to rinse outside, do so on gravel or someplace where you won't kill plants and people and pets don't normally walk. Rinsing outdoors is probably not going to cause any problems, but just be on the safe side. Wash the well-rinsed container as normal with the rest of your tools and equipment.

You don't need vinegar to clean up your equipment, unless it makes you feel better to do so.
 

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