I want to steep some herbs in my lye water then strain. Directions for steeping herbs says to pour boiling water over them. When lye is dissolved I don't believe it is quite "boiling" temperature so I was wondering if I could start out with very warm water, add my lye and when completely dissolved add my herbs Any comments if this would work? I thought this might be easier than infusing my oils with the herbs.
Dissolving lye in hot water
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Obsidian
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No, it can get way too hot if you use warm water. A better option is to steep your herbs in plain water then once its cool, strain and add the lye.
Ruthie
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I agree. Use warm water and you may have a volcano. Steep and strain first. Then use with lye once it's cooled.
Ditto what Ruthie and Obsidian said.
IrishLass
IrishLass
Moody Glenn
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Hello! I wholeheartedly agree with Obsidian and Ruthie - the chemical reaction of lye and water is very strong and produces an enormous amount of heat. Don't take chances by trying to combine two or more steps involving lye. I also don't like the idea of you straining out the herb/lye mix if you do it. That is one additional hazardous action that could back-fire for you. Safety first is foremost when doing anything involving lye. Just make the solution, let it cool and carefully pour it into the soap batter. Do other things separately. 
Or steep the herbs in half the total water while you mix the lye with the cool remainder of the water.
Yep, what the others are saying. I'll also add:
Doing an infusion in plain water is quite different than doing an infusion in a strong alkali solution (aka your lye water). Old time soapers used to float a feather in their lye water to check its strength. It was strong enough for soaping if the lye disintegrated the feather. Our lye water will do the same if you wanted to try. Plain water, boiling or not, is not remotely in the same league.
Doing an infusion in plain water is quite different than doing an infusion in a strong alkali solution (aka your lye water). Old time soapers used to float a feather in their lye water to check its strength. It was strong enough for soaping if the lye disintegrated the feather. Our lye water will do the same if you wanted to try. Plain water, boiling or not, is not remotely in the same league.
This is a very good point - if you steep the herbs in lye water then strain them out, you'll have very caustic herbs to deal with and that won't be straight forward at all.
Steep in normal water, strain when cooled and then add lye - this method gets my vote, too.
girlishcharm2004
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I'm glad you asked first!
Sundos
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To be clear - NEVER use vinegar on the skin. It will make the lye burn WORSE! Only clean surface areas with vinegar. Cold water on lye burns for 15 minutes or a trip to the emergency provide in your area if it's bad enough.
Never ever put vinegar on a lye burn. Your adding acid to the lye. Will make it worse That’s dangerous to even suggest. Also, this post is 5 years old.
Lin19687
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FYI, this post is from 2014
Sundos
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Thanks for the advice guys, I'm new member here and saw this thread and thought of sharing my experience
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Thanks for the advice guys, I'm new member here and saw this thread and thought of sharing my experience
Your first aid information is wrong, please do not share the wrong information, on a public forum.
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