Lumps of lye in crock pot soap

[SkinsationsSoap]

I have been making soap in the crock pot for years now. I have never had a failed batch, but a few that i had to cook longer than others! However, the last 2 batches I have made have ended up with large solid lumps of un processed lye in them. I cut out all the lumps and rebatched but am unsure of what is causing this. The only thing I can think of is that I did not mix the lye and water early so it had time to cool. Multi-tasking...so mixed lye and water and poured into oils immediately. Also, the amount of water was about half what I normally use because both recipes had other liquid ingredients added (coconut milk in one and pureed cucumber in the other).

Any thoughts??

 

[IrishLass]

Hmmm.... Mixing hot lye solution into oils should not cause that to happen. Lots of folks actually soap that way on purpose (they call it RTCP) and things come out just fine.....

You mentioned that the water amount you mixed your lye into was half of what it normally is. What was the ratio of lye to the amount of water you mixed it into exactly? I ask because lye needs to be mixed in at least the same amount in weight of liquid in order for it to dissolve properly. If you try to dissolve your lye in a lesser amount of water in weight, it will just precipitate out. If I were to make a guess, I would suspect that you might not have had enough water to dissolve the lye properly and it precipitated out?

IrishLass

 

[new12soap]

What IrishLass said was my first guess, too. My next guess is has any humidity got into your lye? Was it at all clumpy or sticky when you put it in the water? Perhaps if it had some clumps in it they did not have a chance to completely dissolve. That's just a shot in the dark, but there has to be something consistent going on that has happened for the last 2 batches I think.

 

[SkinsationsSoap]

You may be onto something there...it was 8 oz of water and 9 oz of lye. Looking at my notes from previous batches, I used more water before, but it took so much longer to cook with the additions (cucumber, etc) that I decided to cut back on the water. Also, my lye was fresh, dry and not clumpy. Thanks for the help.

 

[sudbubblez]

Wait untill your lye solution turns clear before incorporating into the oils.