Cannon1227
Active Member
How long is masterbatched lye good for using a 1:1 solution?
Thanks in advance for your response
Thanks in advance for your response
Masterbatching Lye
- Thread starter Cannon1227
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As long as you store it tightly closed in the proper-type container, it will last quite a long time. By 'long time', I'm talking 3 years and counting, according to my own 1:1 solutions that I've made and stored in reclaimed HDPE #2 liquid laundry detergent bottles.
IrishLass
IrishLass
Cannon1227
Active Member
@IrishLass thank you!! It sure makes soaping easier when you masterbatch the lye.
I master batch both my Lye Solution and Oils/Butters and I love it. It's like making a big batch of pasta sauce and then freezing it.
Cannon1227
Active Member
I started doing it because of my job, commute and the hundred thousand things that always seem to come up on the weekends and even as much as I had simplified the process of soap making with my soap cart (rolling kitchen island to store all my ingredients), making more than a batch or two was often exhausting and so I wouldn't. After watching someone master batch multiple individual batches for weekend soaping, I decided to give it a try. Now I knew that I wouldn't be able to do individual batches since I don't have the space, but I could do it in 'bulk'.
So I first made a spreadsheet that listed each mold and how much soap batter it could hold. As an example, my 4" Square Silicone Mold hold 20 oz. I then put my recipe in Soap Calc with 16oz of Oils along with Lye Concentration, Super Fat and Fragrance and the total batch weight is 23.70 oz. I then fiddle with the weight of oils and 14 oz gives me a total batch weight of 20.74 oz. I then go back to my spreadsheet and under Oils/Butters I put 14 oz, under Lye Solution I put in the total of Water/Lye 5.86 oz and Fragrance .88 oz (always double-check your usage rates).
I then guesstimated that 640 oz of oils/butters was doable (to comfortably pick up the 5-gallon bucket) and started mixing my recipe in 160 oz lots (based on how much my hard oils/butters my pot could melt at one time). I weigh out my hard oils/butters and put on the stove, then weigh out my soft oils. When then hard oils/butters are melted, I pour in the bucket and then pour my soft oils and stir. I then start the next lot. I only make one lot at a time so if for any reason I have to stop, I know exactly where I left off at.
When it comes time to make soap, I first stir the oils/butters with a commercial paint stirrer attached to a drill. While the hard oils/butters never fully solidify because they are mixed with soft oils, you still want to give them a good stir, especially if you are using anything with Stearic Acid, like Palm Oil, as it will settle to the bottom. I then have a ladle that holds approximately four ounces and divide the amount of oils/butters I need by four. So for my 4" mold, I need 14 oz and so after weighing my bowl and taring it out, I scope three ladles full in the bowl and then put on the scale and add the balance. The bowl then goes into the microwave 20-30 seconds per pound to remelt the oils/butters. While that is going on, I measure out my match batched Lye Solution (ready to use) and add my Sodium Lactate. I then mix a little water with my Kaolin Clay and blend it into my remelted oils/butters and I'm ready to make soap.
This is not something I would recommend for new soapers...give yourself at least a year of deciding on your standard recipe and really getting to know it. I started with my Regular Soap and one recently started master batching my Goat Milk Soap.
And I don't add additional lots to the bucket...I just downsize to a one-gallon bucket when it gets low, then I wash, sterilize my 5-gallon bucket and make a new batch.
Cannon1227
Active Member
@TheGecko Thanks for all the great information. I haven’t found a recipe that I like enough to masterbatch but I do keep notes on what I make. (Christmas time will be the first time I use the soap from the recipes I made up) One thing I have been consistent with is using goat keifer as my liquid (even when I used Brambleberry’s Swirl Quick Mix) I’m hoping it will contribute to the creaminess of the bar. Any resources that you would like to share with a new soaker Locke me would be greatly appreciate.
Happy holidays!
Leanne
I don't have any specific resources I'm afraid. I've only been soaping for 19 months now. Before that, I just spent several months watching and listening to a lot of YouTube soapers, reading articles on soap making from lots of places, collected tons of recipes. Then I bought BrambleBerry's Beginners Cold Process Soap Kit since it was the most logical course of action...sufficient ingredients, tried and true recipe and a mold...since I didn't know if making soap was something I could do or would like to do. From there I just started experimenting...sometimes I got it right, sometimes I didn't. Took lots of notes so I could figure out the right and the wrong...finally got to a point where the wrongs were few and far between...unless I was being lazy, stupid or careless. The latter usually happens when I get in a hurry or am trying to do too many others things too. And it's not like I have small children or teenagers...just a couple of cats that quickly lose interest once they discover they aren't getting food.
Cannon, what type of resources are you looking for? Soap supply resources? other resources?
For soap suppliers, there are several threads for various types of resources. Here's one link and you can go from there. Check the different sub-forums for similar threads about things like where to buy micas, fragrances, molds, lye, etc. They are scattered all through the Forum. Or ask for specific help in a new thread based on what you are looking for.
Soaping oils & other supplies thread (USA, since you are in California): Where to buy soapmaking supplies in USA?
For soap suppliers, there are several threads for various types of resources. Here's one link and you can go from there. Check the different sub-forums for similar threads about things like where to buy micas, fragrances, molds, lye, etc. They are scattered all through the Forum. Or ask for specific help in a new thread based on what you are looking for.
Soaping oils & other supplies thread (USA, since you are in California): Where to buy soapmaking supplies in USA?
