active lye in soaping containers

[SoapDaddy70]

I live in the Northeast (long Island, NY) so it's been very cold these days. I usually put my dirty soaping stuff in the garage after I am done making a batch and let it sit for a few days and then wash everything out. I did that today for a batch I made on this Sunday. As I was washing the first container I felt a little sting on my hands. I have psoriasis and get little microcuts on my fingers. I always do a zap test when I am washing the containers just for the hell of it. Today was the first time I actually felt the zap. Pretty weird feeling I must say, not entirely unpleasant. . I got worried that I made a mistake making this batch so I took one of the bars and did a zap test and NO zap. I assume the very cold temps stopped the batter in those containers from fully saponifying? This has not happened before and I have been putting the dirty stuff in the garage every batch I make. I wonder what the temperature needs to be to stop the saponification process from continuing. I guess for the rest of the winter I will wait for a few hours before bringing the stuff outside. Pretty fascinating stuff!

 

[Todd Ziegler]

I'm not sure about what temperature would stop the process but if it has fully saponified, the soap itself could still get into a cut and feel like a zap from lye.

 

[cmzaha]

If in doubt wear gloves to pick up and wash your soaping utensils. I wash all my soaping supplies between batches since I cannot stand to let dirty dishes sitting around. I have severe eczema and even water will sting my hands... I just see no point in doing a zap test before washing up the soaping supplies.

The Saponification process will stop even in cold weather after 72hrs it is like a light switch turns off. Many times I pour when my batter is just at emulsification and those batches will stay zappy until the 72hr mark. The temperature will make a difference whether soap gels or not.