Guess who's master batching today!?

THIS GIRL!

Since everyone bailed on me today to celebrate the death of my 20's, I've decided I'm going to spend the day master batching lye and oils...

So first a trip to the cupcake shop downtown, then target to pick up some containers, then soapy stuff the rest of the day!

DH was slightly concerned when I texted him to tell him I was turning my 50 lb bag of lye into pre-made lye water (as if he wasn't already slightly disturbed when he came home to find a 50 lb bag of lye in the kitchen to begin with...)

Happy Birthday! I was just telling a friend how fabulous my 30's were and how much I enjoyed them. Being done with college and starting a family, career, etc.. it's a wonderful time. Here's to a great next 10 years for you! End of the month I celebrate the end of my 30's and am so sad!!

As for masterbatching.. good luck! I did it last month and for some reason I don't use it. haha. I'm lazy I think and don't want to do the 2 sec computing for how much to use and keep 2nd guessing myself. :/

Lynusann said:

THIS GIRL!

Since everyone bailed on me today to celebrate the death of my 20's, I've decided I'm going to spend the day master batching lye and oils...

So first a trip to the cupcake shop downtown, then target to pick up some containers, then soapy stuff the rest of the day!

DH was slightly concerned when I texted him to tell him I was turning my 50 lb bag of lye into pre-made lye water (as if he wasn't already slightly disturbed when he came home to find a 50 lb bag of lye in the kitchen to begin with...)

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Happy Birthday. Are you masterbatching the entire 50lb bag? That is a lot of liquid lye hanging around. I always purchase in 50# bags, do not bring it in the house, but transfer it to a 5lb orange bucket from Home Depot. I use the orange ones instead of a cleaned out oil bucket because I have taught my grandkids not touch the orange bucket. I usually make up 4 gallons at a time and store the containers in a empty cleaned oil bucket in case they leak
Happy Batching

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday!!! I think the thirties are the best years. Teenage years.....too much angst. Twenties....still trying to figure out who you are. Thirties, hopefully you know who you are, you don't care so much any more about what anyone else thinks, you can finally get down to the business of living your life. Enjoy it!

You're a brave girl to master batch all that lye. I've never done lye, just oils. I make a big stock pot full of oils, then portion them out into freezer baggies and keep them in the fridge, ready to go. My way takes a little forethought, because if I know I want to soap tomorrow, I make the lye the day before, and let it cool to room temp, then soap that morning. Now if I did my lye, like you, I'd be able to soap at the drop of a hat....something to think about.

jenneelk said:

Happy Birthday! I was just telling a friend how fabulous my 30's were and how much I enjoyed them. Being done with college and starting a family, career, etc.. it's a wonderful time. Here's to a great next 10 years for you! End of the month I celebrate the end of my 30's and am so sad!!

As for masterbatching.. good luck! I did it last month and for some reason I don't use it. haha. I'm lazy I think and don't want to do the 2 sec computing for how much to use and keep 2nd guessing myself. :/

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I've been happier and had more great experiences, and just generally have had a more "settled" feeling in my life in my 40's than any other time in my life. Embrace it - you'll love it!

I love masterbatching my lye and my oils. I've done 30lbs of oils before but the biggest masterbatch of lye I've ever done was 1:1 ratio of 6lbs each water:lye. I'd love to make bigger batches but that's the biggest container for lye solution I have.

Sadly the cupcake shop AND the dessert truck down the road are both closed on Mondays....so I did the next best thing....I went to the humane society (as soon as DH found out though, he threatened to take up smoking again).

jenneelk said:

Happy Birthday! I was just telling a friend how fabulous my 30's were and how much I enjoyed them. Being done with college and starting a family, career, etc.. it's a wonderful time. Here's to a great next 10 years for you! End of the month I celebrate the end of my 30's and am so sad!!

As for masterbatching.. good luck! I did it last month and for some reason I don't use it. haha. I'm lazy I think and don't want to do the 2 sec computing for how much to use and keep 2nd guessing myself. :/

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I'm looking forward to my 30's actually. I'm nearly done with my Masters and then we're considering PCS'ing back to Europe for 4 years w/ the army. But I have good friends and we're at a point where we aren't broke anymore

cmzaha said:

Happy Birthday. Are you masterbatching the entire 50lb bag? That is a lot of liquid lye hanging around. I always purchase in 50# bags, do not bring it in the house, but transfer it to a 5lb orange bucket from Home Depot. I use the orange ones instead of a cleaned out oil bucket because I have taught my grandkids not touch the orange bucket. I usually make up 4 gallons at a time and store the containers in a empty cleaned oil bucket in case they leak
Happy Batching

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Well....I SEVERELY miscalculated the amount of storage I would need for 50 lbs of lye water....so I only got about 20 lbs of lye batched before I ran out of storage containers. Holy crap is it a lot of lye water! But on the plus side, I will not have to make lye for quite some time now!

Susie said:

Happy Birthday!

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Thank you!

navigator9 said:

Happy birthday!!! I think the thirties are the best years. Teenage years.....too much angst. Twenties....still trying to figure out who you are. Thirties, hopefully you know who you are, you don't care so much any more about what anyone else thinks, you can finally get down to the business of living your life. Enjoy it!

You're a brave girl to master batch all that lye. I've never done lye, just oils. I make a big stock pot full of oils, then portion them out into freezer baggies and keep them in the fridge, ready to go. My way takes a little forethought, because if I know I want to soap tomorrow, I make the lye the day before, and let it cool to room temp, then soap that morning. Now if I did my lye, like you, I'd be able to soap at the drop of a hat....something to think about.

Click to expand...

I decided against master batching my oils because I'm still tweaking a few recipes and I didn't want to use up all my oils right now. At least it doesn't take as much effort to mix up oils as it does lye though so I'm ok with that for now. I suspect I'll be doing oils soon though. What I really need to batch up is my TD now! I'm really tired of needing to mix up TD every time I make soap.

jcandleattic said:

I've been happier and had more great experiences, and just generally have had a more "settled" feeling in my life in my 40's than any other time in my life. Embrace it - you'll love it!

I love masterbatching my lye and my oils. I've done 30lbs of oils before but the biggest masterbatch of lye I've ever done was 1:1 ratio of 6lbs each water:lye. I'd love to make bigger batches but that's the biggest container for lye solution I have.

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I ended up with 8 individual gallon containers (not all are completely full though) of lye water mix. I knew I should have bought more but I wasn't thinking.

I suppose we'll see what my 30s has to dish out to me. I ran my first half marathon on Saturday - that was on my bucket list to do BEFORE I turned 30, amongst other things - but I finished with a stress fracture in my left foot. Then DH got sent out of town w/ the army on Sunday. And today has been, well, a sh^t show to say the least haha, so I say BRING IT ON! If it doesn't kill me.....

what doesnt kill you; will strength you. First time I have heard of master batching. Very interesting. When you say that you mix 1:1, why do you do that?

Spice said:

what doesnt kill you; will strength you. First time I have heard of master batching. Very interesting. When you say that you mix 1:1, why do you do that?

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I do that because depending on the recipe and scent will depend on if I use full water or a water discount. If I masterbatch at a certain percent already, I can only add water, not take it away. This way I only add the water amount I need to get to the percent I need for the batch I make.
Hope that makes sense...

jcandleattic said:

I do that because depending on the recipe and scent will depend on if I use full water or a water discount. If I masterbatch at a certain percent already, I can only add water, not take it away. This way I only add the water amount I need to get to the percent I need for the batch I make.
Hope that makes sense...

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ok, so you master batch 16 oz of lye and 16 oz of water. Then a recipe that needs 8 oz lye and 19 oz water, would take 8oz of the master batch and 11 oz of water because of the 1:1 ratio, I already have 8oz of water, correct?
This would make life much easier. Lye must not go bad if its not use right away than, can it be store in the frig without it lose its properties too?

Spice said:

ok, so you master batch 16 oz of lye and 16 oz of water. Then a recipe that needs 8 oz lye and 19 oz water, would take 8oz of the master batch and 11 oz of water because of the 1:1 ratio, I already have 8oz of water, correct?
This would make life much easier. Lye must not go bad if its not use right away than, can it be store in the frig without it lose its properties too?

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I think you have the right idea, only you will need 16oz of the master batch and 11oz water. Lye doesn't go bad, it looses its potency if exposed to air. So it needs to be in an airtight container, doesn't need refrigeration.

Vkumudini said:

I think you have the right idea, only you will need 16oz of the master batch and 11oz water. Lye doesn't go bad, it looses its potency if exposed to air. So it needs to be in an airtight container, doesn't need refrigeration.

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Sorry, why 16 oz of the master batch?

Spice said:

Sorry, why 16 oz of the master batch?

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That's because if you take only 8oz out of your master batch, and you're using a 1:1 ratio, then it's only 4oz of water, and 4 oz of lye. So you'd really take 16 oz of the master batch (that gives you 8oz of lye and 8oz of water). Then of course add your remaining 11 oz of water.

Exactly what Vkumudini and Lynusann said.

When master batching lye at 1:1 ratio, you basically use your master batch at twice the weight of the lye called for in the recipe and then deduct the recipe's lye weight from the water weight and add that much water? If a recipe calls for 4.3 oz lye and 7.8 oz water, you would need to get 8.6 oz of master batch and 3.5 oz water? In my example (that I pulled out of the air) both sets of numbers add up to 12.1 oz.

If I master batched oils, would I have to stir them or shake them every time before I pulled a single batch out? If I have a 50# bucket of a 30/30/30/10 combination of oils and I want to make a 2# batch of soap, can I just measure out the 2# or do I need to "shake well before pouring" like salad dressing? Also, do lard and 76 degree coconut oil master batch well?

When I master batched oils I do stir because some of it resolidifies and so if I just poured without mixing or heating then i would get mostly soft oils and I'd lose out on my palm and mango butter

It depends on the oils and how you melted them. If you stirred as it cooled then it should be well mixed and you can take out what you need. If not, then melting the whole thing and taking what you need is then in order

Thanks Lynusann & TEG for your help. I'm glad I asked before I did it! I guess it's not worth it for me to do that, then. It seems to defeat the purpose of master batching (for me personally) if I have to reheat and mix the whole thing just to get a couple of pounds out of it. By the time I did that with a 25 gallon bucket, I could just measure the stuff out. However, I vaguely remember reading on a thread someone master batches then splits it into baggies. I'll have to do more checking.

If you do stir it as it cools, then each scoop should be a fairly good mix. Or, take your master batch and put it in to containers that are big enough for your batches - eg you make a 1kg of soap a time, you melt down all oils together and then portion that out in to 1kg batches

The Efficacious Gentleman said:

Or, take your master batch and put it in to containers that are big enough for your batches - eg you make a 1kg of soap a time, you melt down all oils together and then portion that out in to 1kg batches

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I think I'm going to do this. I usually do a 2# batch at a time. I'll make up a batch this afternoon and figure out what sized container will be best suited for it then head over to the Dollar store and stock up on them. If I make a 20# batch, that's 10 batches of soap I can quickly make. I saw the video on master batching the lye solution and I'm going to do that, too.

Thanks for your help & suggestions!