I decided it was time to masterbatch my lye so I made a 50/50 solution. However it has flakes throughout. I'm a bit concerned about that, is it ok to use? Normally when I make it as I go it fully dissolves with hardly any flakiness.
Flakes in lye solution
- Thread starter Neve
- Start date
Help Support Soapmaking Forum:
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2007
- Messages
- 18,055
- Reaction score
- 8,565
I think that I would stir the solution and strain before using.
snappyllama
Supporting Member
I'm guessing that the flakes you're seeing are sodium carbonate (aka soda ash).
I agree with SnappyLlama. NaOH reacts with carbon dioxide in the air to form sodium carbonate (soda ash), the same white, powdery stuff that forms on the top of CP soap sometimes. Sometimes it seems like this soda ash forms as if by magic and other times it doesn't, but here are some things that might cause more soda ash to form:
Large surface area of the lye solution that is exposed to air. (Fat containers with lots of air above the lye solution are not as good as skinny containers with less air. Once the container is capped, the lye will react with whatever CO2 that is trapped within the container, so less air in the container is better than more air.)
Air mixed into the lye solution when mixing it up. (Lots of agitation, say from a stick blender, will mix air into the lye solution. Stir thoroughly but gently to mix the lye and water, but not add as much air. edit: If you kept stirring and stirring, you could have kept mixing more and more CO2 into the solution and inadvertently added to the problem.)
Air in the water that you use to make your lye solution. (If you use distilled water in a jug, don't shake the jug before pouring the water for the lye solution. And I don't pour the water from a height into the container. A low, gentle, and slow pour will mix the least amount of air into the water.)
Just some ideas to consider....
Large surface area of the lye solution that is exposed to air. (Fat containers with lots of air above the lye solution are not as good as skinny containers with less air. Once the container is capped, the lye will react with whatever CO2 that is trapped within the container, so less air in the container is better than more air.)
Air mixed into the lye solution when mixing it up. (Lots of agitation, say from a stick blender, will mix air into the lye solution. Stir thoroughly but gently to mix the lye and water, but not add as much air. edit: If you kept stirring and stirring, you could have kept mixing more and more CO2 into the solution and inadvertently added to the problem.)
Air in the water that you use to make your lye solution. (If you use distilled water in a jug, don't shake the jug before pouring the water for the lye solution. And I don't pour the water from a height into the container. A low, gentle, and slow pour will mix the least amount of air into the water.)
Just some ideas to consider....
Last edited:
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2007
- Messages
- 18,055
- Reaction score
- 8,565
I think I need to clarify what I meant.
Since this is a master batch, I would stir before each use and then filter out what I needed.
Yes, you can strain out the solid bits. I don't if I'm reasonably certain it's simply soda ash, but if I have any doubt, I do strain the bits out.
Another thought -- Little flakes of soap can form in the lye solution, if the container and stirring equipment you are using are contaminated with traces of fat.
Another thought -- Little flakes of soap can form in the lye solution, if the container and stirring equipment you are using are contaminated with traces of fat.
It's one of those plastic drink jugs from the supermarket. 2L I think. The ones with the lid which I currently can't find. Never been used for anything but lye so there shouldn't be any fat in there to make soap.
Goodness I would never stir lye with a stick blender! I don't even stir vigorously just firmly and carefully so as not to slosh it everywhere.
I guess the flakes look soda-ashy. I use filtered water from the fridge door. Impossible to find distilled water here. I always get ash on my soap too I hate the stuff.
Goodness I would never stir lye with a stick blender! I don't even stir vigorously just firmly and carefully so as not to slosh it everywhere.
I guess the flakes look soda-ashy. I use filtered water from the fridge door. Impossible to find distilled water here. I always get ash on my soap too I hate the stuff.
