Help!! Lye Question

[SweetBubbleTreat]

My lye water is purple.....everyone elses is clear. My product says its for making pure soap products.

here is what i have....when I went to buy it the guy at the hardware store told me it was the same thing his mother used to make olives......Lye for Olives?? anyways can any one tell me if im using the wrong kind or is this just a different brand and im ok to use it....

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0042813S4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Thank you for your time and advice.

 

[Obsidian]

There are different kinds of "lye" you need 100% sodium hydroxide, check your bottle to see if thats what it is. Lye water shouldn't be purple, I use roebic brand drain cleaner that I get from the hardware store.

 

[SweetBubbleTreat]

It says ingredients:sodium hydroxide. but when i add it to my water it is a deep purple color....my soaps are turning out great..and get hard in a reasonable amount of time. so not sure if this lye is ok to use or will hurt people in the long run.

 

[snappyllama]

I'm guessing that the lye manufacturer added a colorant so that people know "it's working". I'm guessing that the dye they used isn't skin safe (or at least that wouldn't be one of their considerations). I'd use a different lye...

 

[Obsidian]

if its sodium hydroxide then its what you need. Really weird that it turns the water purple. Are you using tap water? Maybe try different water and see if that helps. Does the purple come through in the soap or does it fade away?

Good point on dye being added. I too would find a different lye if you can't find the cause of the purple.

 

[dixiedragon]

I'd call the manufacturer.

Are you using the same container each time? If it's not a 5 or a 2 (look at the bottom inside the recycling symbol), maybe some of the container is leaching off?

 

[SweetBubbleTreat]

Ive used great value distilled water and drinking water. The color fades away when the soap saponifies. I have made 3 batches so far 2 with olive oil and it seems the olive color comes through more than anything. I made some last night without olive oil and the colors I added to it were much more vibrant. The purple isn't showing up in the final product.

 

[SweetBubbleTreat]

i use a stainless steel mixing bowl for the soap making and a glass measuring cup for the lye water mixing

 

[SweetBubbleTreat]

I found the answer to my question.....i should have searched for it before asking......the post said my lye is totally safe for soap making and the person called the manufacturer to see if it was safe and they said it was 100% safe for soap making. Thank you so much for all your help

 

[shunt2011]

I would still be concerned with it turning purple and that it is not a skin safe dye. I would also be concerned if someone was using it to make olives. Purple brine...yum....not Yikes.

 

[Obsidian]

i use a stainless steel mixing bowl for the soap making and a glass measuring cup for the lye water mixing

Glass it known to get weak and shatter from exposure to lye, you might want to switch to a safe plastic container for lye. I had a glass container of lye break on me, thankfully it was in the sink so no one got hurt.

 

[SweetBubbleTreat]

Oh thank you....I will go get new plastic measuring cups before starting a new batch.....thank you so much for the tips.

 

[cmzaha]

Are the lye beads themself purple. Just curious since Comstar shows pure white lye beads on their website. I am still thinking it could be your container if you are using the same container each time

 

[dixiedragon]

I am curious about this too! I am wondering if the purple is some kind of safety feature, so if you are using the lye as a drain cleaner, you can see the purple spots and know it is there, vs clear droplets of lye water. Kind of like how they add the stinky smell to natural gas. Natural gas has no odor itself, so they add that stinky smell so you know if you have a gas leak. The stinky smell itself is totally harmless, but the natural gas is not.

 

[SweetBubbleTreat]

I called the manufacturer myself...he said it has a dye in it but the dye is totally safe and that the lye is totally safe to use in soap making but if i wanted lye that wasn't purple i would have to use "Pure White Lye". I will be checking at my hardware store again to see if they have "pure White Lye"
Thank you everyone for all the tips

 

[DeeAnna]

When I was just starting out, this product worked fine for me. No dye, at least at the time I used it. I got mine at a big-box store (Menards) for less than the Amazon price: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000PSFPRK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20