Flaked lye vs. pellet lye?

[theBrewMeister]

Anyone know if it matters which form of lye one uses, flaked or pellet?

A rep from Brenntag is working on a price for 100# of lye for me. He said they stock flaked lye but said something that made me think that the pellets would have to be ordered. If I can save money by going with their "stocked" flaked lye I'd love to do so.

Also, if anyone would like to work out a type of "co-op" on a lye order I'd be interested in trying that out. 100 lbs+ is a lot of lye for me.

Joe

 

[IrishLass]

It does not matter which one you use as long as it is 100 % sodium hydroxide and not a drain cleaner with added chemicals in it.

Lots of people like to use the flaked version because there seems to be less static electricity issues with it when measuring it out (the flying lye syndrome). I myself use the pellet form with no static/flying lye syndrome as long as I rub the outside of my lye container as well my measuring utensils down with a fabric softerner sheet before pouring the lye out to measure. Takes the static right out of it like a charm.

IrishLass

 

[Healinya]

I used to use flaked lye. The last time I bought in bulk and got pelleted without thinking there was a difference. I will make sure it's flaked from now on. Not that a fabric sheet doesn't help, but I have had more tiny slips with 'flying lye'. The bottle shaped container (aaa chemicals, btw) may have part to do with it, too or other reasons like weather, storage etc... but there's no difference in the quality of function of it - it's just your preference.

 

[smartinoff]

I have about 5lbs of the pellet lye that I am gonna use up and after that, it's flakes for me. I had an entire measuring cup of lye literally hop up and out on the counter. I have four kids so even the slightest possibility of them finding a random piece scares me. I think that the flakes would be way better

 

[donniej]

I've never seen pellets, only flake and grannual (like salt). I prefer flakes because it makes less dust but I don't think I'd pay "alot" extra for it.

 

[penderfamily]

Quite honestly, I am completely sold on flake lye. I bought some lye from another company as I needed something else from them, and yes the lye can fly about and I hate that. I Hot press and I found that it has been taking longer for my soap cooks rather then the flakes. So I am going back to my flakes. Love them!

 

[montana]

I guess I'm the minority here, but I didn't enjoy the flaked lye. I thought it was a lot harder to dissolve in water. The flakes seemed to form a hard lump on the bottom of my lye container. I also have a small scale and the large flakes were harder to pour into a small container to weigh.