Storing Master Batches

[DianaMoon]

Yes, your Closys bottle should be fine for lye. I have thought of it myself, but already have my system set. You can easily remove the Closys label as it peels right off. But label it clearly.

I am not sure if storing mb lye under your sink is a safe location in your household. Do you have children or others who would be hurt if they got into the bottle?

Nope, it's just me here.

I'm really trying to think where I can put this stuff. I have a clothes closet in the living room. In there, in plastic bags?

 

[DianaMoon]

I'm beginning to think this is not a great hobby for a small apartment.

 

[penelopejane]

I'm beginning to think this is not a great hobby for a small apartment.

If you don't have kids or have them visiting then under the sink is fine. Or in a cupboard in the laundry. Or you could lock the laundry door if you have children visiting.

 

[DianaMoon]

I received my chemical mask today, so I poured the master batch that was in the two yogurt containers into the Closys bottle. Wore goggles, mask and gloves, so could approach the lye a little closer than before. And I saw something weird.

As I took off the top of the yogurt container - this is one of the big yogurt containers that holds a quart - what looked like a gray stripe of something in the solution had formed. Not a gray film across the top, but a column of something or other that was vertical. As I poured it into the funnel that was in the Closys bottle, it blended w/the solution.

I'm wondering if it wasn't some impurity in the yogurt container that loosened while the lye was sitting. It was in the yogurt container for 3-4 days. The container by the way was not detectably degraded, although I certainly wasn't going to keep the lye in it. I can reuse it for temporary soap-making use, such as weighing out lye for one batch.

PS Now that I have goggles & mask I am less frightened of handling lye. I hope that gray stripe didn't ruin the batch.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

PS Now that I have goggles & mask I am less frightened of handling lye.

YAY! BTW, I like your new avatar! Obviously a powerful lady that's not scared of handling lye! Cool

I hope that gray stripe didn't ruin the batch.

Hmmm. That's weird. Once mixed, the lye solution should be clear. If t'were me, I wouldn't master batch since you're making small batches, once in a while. Making up your lye solution as you go would be a better option, me thinks -- eliminate the problem of where to store the lye solution until you're ready to soap. I would store the Rooto container under the kitchen sink or on a shelf with your laundry stuff as PJ suggested.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

"...In fact, although this sounds ridiculous, I am going to experiment with baked baking soda to make a one bar batch of soap...."

By baking your baking soda, sodium bicarbonate, you're simply converting it into washing soda, sodium carbonate. Sodium carbonate can be used to make soap, but the process isn't the same as making soap with sodium hydroxide.

Diana, just a head's up -- in case you're unaware -- DeeAnna is our resident chemist, i.e., you can trust her sage advice. That being said, your desire to experiment making soap with baked baking soda aka "sodium carbonate" isn't ridiculous, at all. A few members have had the same thought. if you want to go ahead and try it, it's possible (but not so much probable) to make soap with potassium carbonate aka washing soda. It has been discussed a few times. For all the links, BTW, there's a sticky in the Beginner's Forum that tells you how to search SMF.

Here's a link to one thread from 2009. Sounds rather daunting to me:

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/sodium-potassium-carbonate-experiment.13704/

I like your spirit of adventure. I find it refreshing.