Problems with Lye...?

Hello all,
I have never made soap before. I am trying to make a batch and I keep running into a problem. My lye is not acting the way everyone says it should act. It is NOT getting hot at all and it is taking FOREVER to dissolve in the water...after stirring and stirring and stirring there are still floaties in my water! In fact I have tried it twice and the first time there was a layer of sediment about 1/2 in high in the bottom that would not dissolve! I tried again, adding tablespoons at a time, and it's still not dissolving with 1 oz of lye left to go! I am using 13.6 oz of water and 6.1 oz of lye measured on a postal scale. I zeroed out the bowl before measuring. I mixed in a glass container and stirred with a plastic spoon.

I don't know much about chemistry, but this just doesn't seem right. I didn't want to waste my oils so I have decided to wait until I figure out what's wrong. Should I just get some different lye??! Has anyone else ever experienced this? The lye is from Lowe's and it's called Roebic Crystal Drain Opener...the bottle says "100% lye" on the front.

This is my first time trying to make soap and I am getting really discouraged...please help?

The only time I tried Roebic, I also had a similar problem. It didn't want to heat up at all. I never did figure it out. Instead I switched to Rooto and have been using Rooto for 3 yrs without any problems.

I know people have used Roebic but I haven't used it. Are you using distilled water or tap water? I've heard of some people having problems with tap water because of minerals in it. Other than that, I don't know what it could be unless the lye is from a bad batch. I think you need to buy some more lye. I'd also say something to Lowe's but I doubt they'd refund your money since you've used so much of it.

I just saw Genny already answered your question.

BTW, you don't want to use a glass container to mix lye in because over time it can weaken and then shatter. I'd recommend a stainless steel pitcher or a plastic container which either has a 5 or a 2 on the bottom. I use a Rubbermaid container.

Hazel said:

BTW, you don't want to use a glass container to mix lye in because over time it can weaken and then shatter. I'd recommend a stainless steel pitcher or a plastic container which either has a 5 or a 2 on the bottom. I use a Rubbermaid container.

Click to expand...

Ooh, I didn't see the glass container part of the post. Yeah, you don't want to use that.

I've used a plastic juice pitcher I got at the dollar store for years now. Works wonderfully

I used to use Roebic lye all the time during my first years of soaping before I started buying in bulk, and it always worked very well for me- no problems at all.

Yours and Genny's abnormal experiences with it got my curiosity and so I did a search on another of the soaping forums I frequent to see if anyone else has ever had that problem, and it turns out that -yes- a few others reported having similar problems with Roebic, too. The majority of soapers (like myself) experienced no problems using it, but a small handful of others had mixing issues with it.

Of those that had mixing issues, it turns out some were caused by using tap water that was too hard- when distilled water was used the problem went away; some by mixing the lye with (clean) utensils or in (clean) containers, but with unseen soap residue on them from having washed them by hand- when the diswasher was used to wash their utensils/containers instead, the problem went away; some by mixing their lye in containers or with utensils with oil residue on them; and others had no seemingly reasonable explanation other than they just must've bought a bad bottle of the stuff.

If you have an Ace Hardware nearby, I would pick up a bottle of Rooto brand Lye and see if things go better.

I third not using glass to mix your lye solution in.


IrishLass