Lye quality

[lenarenee]

So I bought this lye in June: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VQVLMVI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

It came in two containers. I finished up the first one last week - with soap that remained extra soft for many days. (go to high lard recipe that I usually cut ungelled in 48 hours) It took twice as long to unmold.

Opened the 2nd container Friday to make 7.5 lbs of batter. There was a fist-size clump of lye, and considering the last few soaps I've made, assumed there was moisture in the lye. (So I reduced my superfat to 3%) Those 3 soaps look like they're going to need several more days before they can be cut.

This lye also makes a lot more film floating on the top of the lye water. And yesterday, a freshly and thoroughly washed plastic lye water container was spotted with orange stains after dissolving the lye. I just assumed I didn't wash as well as I thought but considering how soft the soap is....I'm wondering about the quality of the lye.

What do you all think?

 

[Susie]

I think you got ripped off.

 

[lenarenee]

I think you got ripped off.

Why? (not that I disagree. I ordered new lye and have suspended soapmaking until it gets here)

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

If you opened the second container for the very first time and there is a lump of lye, that is badly packed from the start. Moisture should not be able to get at your lye unless you're opening it.

 

[earlene]

If you look at the reviews and answered questions for that vendor, you will see that they re-package the lye from larger containers to smaller size ones. Your experience suggests that in the repackaging process, ambient water was introduced into the lye, thus weakening it's purity.

There is a way to titrate it to determine it's purity, but you'd have to buy phenolphthalein and it hardly seems worth the trouble for one bottle. Dr Kevin Dunn demonstrated the process at Soap con 2016 last month. Quite interesting.

I would inform the vendor of what happened and probably leave a review stating a brand new 'sealed' bottle had a large clump (describe the size of the clump) because other buyers may steer clear if they read your review.

 

[gemsupthepoley]

can comment on that particular supplier but I recently open 2 bottles (purchased from B&Q hardware shop UK) and one was nice and white but the other was greyish and had a couple of odd floaters in it. Im wondering if it's sold as drain cleaner then they don't worry about how clean it is! Just a thought.

 

[DeeAnna]

Rather than guess, why not test the lye? Video and written tutorial: http://classicbells.com/soap/purityCheck.html

 

[Susie]

If you opened the second container for the very first time and there is a lump of lye, that is badly packed from the start. Moisture should not be able to get at your lye unless you're opening it.

^^This. And that fact added to the fact that it was packaged by weight makes me wonder when they weighed it, before moisture got to it or after.

 

[Navaria]

If you look at the 1 star reviews for this company, the top rated one is mine. Opened it up and the lid was smashed and lye beads got everywhere. I. Was. Furious! I did not order from them again to say the least. Sounds like they have packaging and quality issues.