Lye Storage

[Stacyspy]

Hi all!
Normally, I buy my lye in 5- 10 lb containers. However, I've been given a 5 gal pail...yay!... but I'm uncertain how to store it. I cannot haul around the pail, and once I open it, I'd like to have a plan in place to keep it as fresh as possible. I have a gamma bucket setup, would it be ok to package the lye in bags and layer them in the bucket? I'm also concerned about static and all those little lye beads sticking to everything.
Thanks for your help

 

[SaltedFig]

Static is a problem with plastic bags. The static progressively builds up as you go. It can be fiddly to manually fill plastic bags with lye.

Hi all!
Normally, I buy my lye in 5- 10 lb containers. However, I've been given a 5 gal pail...yay!... but I'm uncertain how to store it. I cannot haul around the pail, and once I open it, I'd like to have a plan in place to keep it as fresh as possible. I have a gamma bucket setup, would it be ok to package the lye in bags and layer them in the bucket? I'm also concerned about static and all those little lye beads sticking to everything.
Thanks for your help

If you can, you would be better using a wide mouthed funnel and decant into air-tight plastic #2 or #5 containers (old lye containers are great for this) and put those into your gamma setup.

It's quick, so there's less time for the caustic to react with air and absorb water.

 

[cmzaha]

I purchase my lye in 50lb bags which I transfer to a 5 gallon bucket. I will fill a few 2 lb bottles that lye came in when I first started soaping so I do not have to open the bucket if I want to use other than my masterbatch. I masterbatch 2 gallons at a time so I am not opening and closing the bucket every time I make soap. During the summer when we have higher humid weather I will usually masterbatch an extra gallon.