lye

Thank you!

I'm overseas and trying to use what I can find to make soap. I found this shortening that ppl call "manteca" but it's made with some form of palm oil and bovine tallow (that's what it says on the pkg). The thing is, the pkg is 200g but the breakdown of the fats are only for the serving size...

So yesterday I spilt a bit of lye water in my bathroom floor. Just a few splashes. I quickly threw a ton of vinegar on it, which I realized was a horrible idea and so i went for the water hose and began to spray down the area with water, which sounds like im just escalating the issue. I realized...

I made a sort of mini-master batch (700G of water) which I have in two old yogurt containers, one inside the other, covered. As long as I don't bother it, I assume that lye is stable. Amirite? Where you do you store this?

I did my first batch, and I survived. I scrupulously observed all the safety measures, until the very end, when.... I cleaned up my equipment (plastic yogurt container in which I mixed the lye, plastic tub in which I measured out the lie, whisk, plastic spoon, stainless steel pot) in the bathtub...

Hi I just made my first batch of Hot Process soap in crockpot. The recipe called for %100 coconut oil with a 20% SF... So the lye/water was 12oz H2O and just under 4oz NaOH...used about 30 to 32 oz of 76 degree coconut oil...it traced after about 10 minutes or less...it was heating in the...

On my first attempt to cold process, I miscalculated and added too much lye, which I discovered just before I intended to pour into my mold. :silent: I quick looked at YouTube videos to rebatch, so I threw it in a double boiler and added heat matched olive oil with a blender stick until my pH...

I've been lurking around here and trying to read as many posts as I can. This is a fabulous place! I made my first batch of CP soap and I LOVED it! Its been sitting out to cure for about two weeks now, but I wonder if I've done something wrong - can anyone take a gander and see? The soap is...

I made a batch of soap last night that would not come to trace. The only thing different from the last 2 batches I made was that I noticed my lye was clumpy, like moisture had gotten to it. (I live in very humid Iowa) Could that have caused my problem? Can I still use that container of lye...

Hi everyone! I have been hoping to make some goat milk soap for ages now and finally have some milk set aside for it. The milk I froze is from newly freshened goats (at least a week after kidding) and I know it has some colostrum in it. I'm wondering if this milk will react differently...

I really tried searching the forum before asking my following question (and I am new here so that could be the glitch perhaps), but I did not find any threads fully discussing this topic. Please help if you can--or direct me to the relevant thread(s). Question. I am trying to research...

I mixed my lye and it appeared to dissolve as I stirred it - temp = 203 degrees. The lye was 4 years old in an unopened container & plastic bagged stored in a cupboard in my garage. When I went back to check the temp again about 3 to 4 tiny beads had formed. I mushed them with my spoon and...

Hi all, I am making a soap and ran the recipe through a lye calculator that had an INS rating. This is new to me so i did some research on it, but what I have so far been unable to find out is how to modify that rating? Meaning do I have to change a specific oil? Replace a portion of one oil...

Hi Everyone!! I am new to soap making - trying to make palm-free soap. there's not many recipes online.. I tried one using coconut, olive, shea and avocado.. I may have taken it out an hour too early or so. but the outside was hard and it was a nice color. but the inside looked like...

I just read in Kenna Cole's (wonderful) ebook on master batching that HDPE is best for lye water because it holds up excellently. I also just checked an MSDS on lye and it confirms HDPE is best (for airtight storage). Do you know of any high-temp-safe HDPE buckets? For purposes of mixing...

Dear Soap Friends, Is there any advantage to making my own lye? I know it is a bit more involved that just buying commercial food grade lye. Is it also true that homemade lye will result in a softer soap? Any comments are welcome. Thank you!

So...I'm currently make quite a lot of small batches of soap. Since I make a lot, therefore I often open my lye container. What I'm concern is somewhat the lye 'feel' not as strong as like the first time I use it. I mean, when I first use the lye, the lye dissolve very quickly and have...

Hi, I have decided to make my first milk soap using 100% liquid of homemade oat milk instead of water "blending the oats and water then straining" i froze the milk the night before so i can use it in the morning. all seemed well until i added the lye. i added very slowly while stirring and it...

I'm just about to give up on milk soap. I've experimented with every variable I can think of - warm milk, cold milk, half milk, full milk, frozen milk, milk-in-oil, adding milk at trace, water discount, no water discount, soaping cool, soaping warm, various mixing times, straining the lye...

Hi everyone, I'm new here and in need of some assistance. I just finished making a large batch of cp soap. In 3 separate molds. When running it through the lye calculator I started messing with my amounts to see if I could get more bubbles. I was happy with the amount and went about...