Soapy Milestone: Finished my first jar of lye

[TeaLeavesandTweed]

When I first started out, I bought a 1-lb. jar of Pure Lye off Amazon, and I've just pretty much finished it off. I certainly don't have enough for a 1-lb. batch of soap left, so I'm calling it done.

I've made 4 batches of soap using 5 lbs. of fat/oil. And I only had to throw out two batches of lye water (one because I melted a spoon in it and it didn't clear and one because I tried to do a brine soap and either the salt or lye wouldn't dissolve completely).

This means I need to order more lye, but I think I'll wait a bit and test what I've made first. I do want to make a 100% OO soap at the end of the year for next Christmas (2016), and I might think about trying a rose FO in the future, but other than that, I have plenty to keep me sudsy. Thanks SMF for all your help and encouragement!

 

[vmakkers]

Congrats! When I bought my first lb of lye, I was like I'm only going to need 1lb, no way I'm ever going to make that much soap. I'm on my 8th lb now. Amazing how this hobby just takes over.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Did it come as a bit of a shock? I remember my first empty tub, I was stood there wondering where it all went.................

 

[cmzaha]

When you do a salt brine soap dissolve your lye first, then add in the salt, around 25%. The heat from the lye water will help dissolve the salt, but I find it usually does not all dissolve. I just dump the undissolved salt into the soap. won't hurt a thing. Do not add the salt and lye together. I remember a time I asked how much lye I would have to buy to get a price break, when I was still using the local hardware store lye and he told me 50 lbs. Wow, I thought that would take forever to use..
You really should get a couple of lbs to have around when the soap bug hits

 

[TeaLeavesandTweed]

Did it come as a bit of a shock? I remember my first empty tub, I was stood there wondering where it all went.................

A bit. I mostly was just concerned I wouldn't have enough lye to make my sheep tallow soap on Sunday. But I just barely made it.

When you do a salt brine soap dissolve your lye first, then add in the salt, around 25%. The heat from the lye water will help dissolve the salt, but I find it usually does not all dissolve. I just dump the undissolved salt into the soap. won't hurt a thing. Do not add the salt and lye together. I remember a time I asked how much lye I would have to buy to get a price break, when I was still using the local hardware store lye and he told me 50 lbs. Wow, I thought that would take forever to use..
You really should get a couple of lbs to have around when the soap bug hits

Thanks for the salt advice. For some reason, I had it backwards in my head and tried to dissolve the salt first, and then the lye. Then, I didn't know what was undissolved: salt or lye! So I dumped it and decided to try salt again later. I have a few more soapy ideas, so another couple pounds of lye might be in my Amazon shopping cart...

 

[TBandCW]

Ah yes, I recall my first bottle of lye off the shelf at Ace Hardware. Yikes, wouldn't even last me a week now!

 

[Susie]

Lye is cheaper with The Lye Guy or ED than Amazon unless you have Prime.

I am going to warn you now that you have been bit by the soaping bug, and you are going to end up paying twice the price for lye at the local hardware store than ordering it online. Just because you are going to be needing a soaping fix in the worst possible way. I know you are being reasonable thinking that you have enough soap now to last, and don't need any more, but then there is going to be this recipe, or that technique, or maybe that FO...and the list will go on and on.

ETA: Any possibility that I sound like the voice of experience here is purely coincidental.

 

[TeaLeavesandTweed]

Lye is cheaper with The Lye Guy or ED than Amazon unless you have Prime.

I am going to warn you now that you have been bit by the soaping bug, and you are going to end up paying twice the price for lye at the local hardware store than ordering it online. Just because you are going to be needing a soaping fix in the worst possible way. I know you are being reasonable thinking that you have enough soap now to last, and don't need any more, but then there is going to be this recipe, or that technique, or maybe that FO...and the list will go on and on.

ETA: Any possibility that I sound like the voice of experience here is purely coincidental.

Actually, I do have Prime. I also use Amazon Smile so that part of my sales go to help a local community theater I work with often. I've just gotten so spoiled by being able to impulse-buy things online and get them two days later.

That said, I have lye, FO, and pink kaolin coming from NG tomorrow. And I'll probably pick up some tallow from the market on my way home, so I don't seem to be slowing down...

 

[not_ally]

I am Prime-spoiled too, but I did discover a couple of months ago, after running out of lye, that there is no cheap form of it on Amazon, Prime or otherwise. I did end up ordering a couple of bottles of the more expensive stuff to tide me over, and then getting a big order from the Lye Guy.