Salt not dissolving in lye solution

[navigator9]

So my pink Himalayan salt arrived and I decided to make brine soap this morning. I was more worried about the lye dissolving completely, so I decided to dissolve the lye first, and then add the salt to the hot lye water. I've been stirring for about 20 minutes now, and there still seems to be a lot of undissolved salt. I went with the recipe that suggested the weight of salt at 25% that of the water. Have I just not given it enough time? More stirring? Or should I just try to pour slowly and leave the undissolved salt, as much as possible, behind in the pot.

Although, I may not have to worry about that, because our power has gone out, and now I don't have any way to melt my oils! Grrrrrrrrrrr.

 

[Seawolfe]

DeAnna explained it very nicely in one of her posts, but yeah - you have to dissolve the salt first. I tried to dissolve sugar in lye water once and had the same thing.
I'd use that lye water as drain cleaner or something and start again, or just pour it off the salt like you mentioned and use it in your soap.

 

[navigator9]

DeAnna explained it very nicely in one of her posts, but yeah - you have to dissolve the salt first. I tried to dissolve sugar in lye water once and had the same thing.
I'd use that lye water as drain cleaner or something and start again, or just pour it off the salt like you mentioned and use it in your soap.

I read all the posts, but I also looked online and read a lot there. It was Soaping 101's video that influenced me to do it this way. I worry more about the lye dissolving than the salt, and by dissolving the lye first, I felt I could be sure that it was dissolved completely, before adding the salt to it. In the Soaping 101 video, she didn't seem to have any problem dissolving the salt in the hot lye solution. I guess I'll have plenty of time to think about what I'm going to do, because the power's still out.

Seawolfe, once you had dissolved the salt, did you have any problem at all dissolving the lye? I'm used to feeling confident that the lye has dissolved completely when the water turns crystal clear. If you dissolve the salt first, do you eventually get the water really clear when you've dissolved the lye? I'm more nervous about not being able to tell if the lye is completely dissolved.

\

 

[seven]

is it the seaman's soap in the soaping101 video? if i remember correctly, she did the salt first before the lye, and the mixture turned quite milky once the lye was in.

 

[Obsidian]

I've only used brine water once but I had absolutely no trouble dissolving the lye in it. I can't remember if the solution cleared up or if it stayed milky though.

 

[OliveOil2]

I heated up the salt in a portion of the water ( about half of the total amount of liquid), I heated it till it was clear, and then had to wait for it to cool down. I made the lye solution, and added the cooled salt water, the salt water wasn't completely clear any longer. I hope isn't confusing, it adds an extra step,but I knew the salt would incorporate better.

 

[SparksnFlash]

DeAnna explained it very nicely in one of her posts

It was the Wow, Euro salt thread - and it was brilliant!

 

[Obsidian]

I went back and watched the soaping 101 video and she did indeed add the salt after the lye. She also said to sit it aside until the salt fully dissolved which took about 30 minutes.
I still would never do lye first, its so much easier and faster to add the salt first.

 

[navigator9]

OK, now I tried the other method. I dissolved the salt in the water first, then added the lye. Now I have what looks like a slurry. It's kind of thick, and cloudy, and makes me a bit nervous to use it. Think I am going to scrap both of these, and follow the directions DeAnna gave that say to add the salt slowly, and only until you get to the point where it stops dissolving. I just dumped the whole amount of salt in at once. You know how sometimes you read something and it doesn't seem to be a critical point, until you ignore it and find out that it was??? Hope I get to the other end of this learning curve before I run out of salt and lye! lol

I have to leave for work in a couple of hours, so if the power doesn't come back on before then, I'll have to wait til I get home tonight before I can do anything else, anyway. No way to melt the oils, and no stickblender. Wah!

 

[seven]

i just recently made this brine soap, and what i did was put the salt first before the lye. i just dump the salt and stirred till everything's dissolved. it didn't take very long. and my salt was a coarse one, big grains. yes, it did get a bit cloudy/milky whatever you wanna call it, but not thick.. it's just like normal lye water.

 

[Bex1982]

i just recently made this brine soap, and what i did was put the salt first before the lye. i just dump the salt and stirred till everything's dissolved. it didn't take very long. and my salt was a coarse one, big grains. yes, it did get a bit cloudy/milky whatever you wanna call it, but not thick.. it's just like normal lye water.

That's what I do too. But now if im going for a brine soap I just use sea water, already has the correct amount of salt if im worried then I just deduct and add an ounce of fresh water. Only once did I have trouble dissolving the lye, then I just dumped it.

 

[SparksnFlash]

You know how sometimes you read something and it doesn't seem to be a critical point, until you ignore it and find out that it was??? !

Really, that never happens to me ** Thppt. Ha! Before soap my motto was, When all else fails read the directions. With soap, I've met my karma for those arrogant days. :shh:

 

[IrishLass]

What lye solution % are y'all using? Maybe this brine soap is the type that needs a 'full water' amount for everything to dissolve thoroughly? I'm asking because I've never made a brine soap before, but I'd like to give it a try.


IrishLass

 

[Ellacho]

For my first brine salt soap, I accidentally dissolved the lye first, and then added the salt to the hot lye water. I did not know what to do with the undissolved salt(see the pictures below) at first, but I proceeded with next step which was to mix with oils. I had no problem of pouring it into mold and thankfully, my first brine soap came out pretty good .

But when I made second batch of brine soap, I realized how it was easier and better to dissolve the salt in the water first, then add the lye.

 

[navigator9]

Irish Lass, I am using full water, and I'm using salt at 25% the weight of the water. After I have my coffee this morning, I'm going to try again. I've thought about it all day yesterday, and last night. I have a plan, and I'll let you know how it works out later.

Ellacho........your soap is beautiful! Are you loving it? This brine soap has me intrigued, I can't wait!

 

[navigator9]

OK, the soap is in the mold. Time will tell how successful a brine soap it is. I'll admit it...I'm a worry wart. If I don't feel 100% sure that all the lye is dissolved, it's going to bug me. And that "slurry" I got when I dissolved the salt first, then added the lye, did nothing to convince me that some undissolved lye crystals weren't lurking in there somewhere. So this is what I did. I dissolved the lye first, then added the salt to the hot lye, slowly, making sure what I had added was dissolved before I added more. In a recipe that was supposed to use 85 grams of salt, I was only able to get 38 grams to dissolve, and that was with constant stirring for 45 minutes! And there was still a pinch of undissolved salt in the bottom of my pitcher. So my brine soap is not going to be very briny.

I wish I could get over the fear of undissolved lye. I just feel that if I couldn't get all of the salt to dissolve, then how could I be sure that if I did it the other way, that all of the lye would dissolve? Can you convince me? I really want to make a true brine soap!

 

[Chefmom]

Has anyone tried to divide the water in half, dissolve the lye in half of the water and the salt in the other half, separately. Then mix the two waters together?

 

[navigator9]

Has anyone tried to divide the water in half, dissolve the lye in half of the water and the salt in the other half, separately. Then mix the two waters together?

I'm up for anything, I'll try that next!

 

[Obsidian]

I wish I could get over the fear of undissolved lye. I just feel that if I couldn't get all of the salt to dissolve, then how could I be sure that if I did it the other way, that all of the lye would dissolve? Can you convince me? I really want to make a true brine soap!

I use a clear plastic container to mix my lye in, I can look through the bottom and can see if any bits are left. I can also feel the lye granulas rubbing around on the bottom of the container.

The lye dissolves as easy in brine as it does plain water. Mine dissolves down in just a few seconds, its easy to tell even though the solution is a bit milky.

If you are really worried, you could always strain the solution.

 

[DeeAnna]

"Has anyone tried to divide the water in half, dissolve the lye in half of the water and the salt in the other half, separately. Then mix the two waters together? ..."

You can only make a brine that is about 26% by weight of salt at room temperature. You can make a lye solution up to about 50% NaOH. If you split the water in half, you might not be able to dissolve as much salt as you might want. On the other hand, I don't think there would be a problem with getting the lye dissolved with this method -- people take this approach when making milk soap, for example.

For those who use seawater for this type of soap, keep in mind that the average salt content of seawater is only 3.5%. That's way, way below the saturation limit -- quite different than those who want a 25% brine.