Ok guys

RatherLather · Apr 6, 2012

This is gonna be my first time making soap, and Im nervous as hell.

So I have all my things ready safety equipment, scale, lye, oil etc etc
and I just have a few questions left.

I was planning to make the lyewater in one 4cup measuring glass and the oil in another 4cup measuring glass but I was wondering if I could heat the oils in the oven...the glass says its oven safe but I dont know if the oil is

Also I know you dont add the water to the lye, but do I add the oil to the lyewater or the lyewater to the oil...

Thanks

IrishLass · Apr 6, 2012

It's best to avoid glass (even tempered glass like Pyrex) for mixing lye solution because of the etching/exploding/shattering issue. We have many threads that discuss the dangers of mixing lye in glass. The most recent being this thread. For your own safety, I would definitely read it before attempting to mix lye in glass.

Since it's safe to warm oils on top of the stove, you can be sure they are safe to warm in the oven.

Yes- lye gets poured into water, and then the resulting lye solution gets poured into the oils.

IrishLass

judymoody · Apr 6, 2012

Yes, don't use glass to mix your lye.

I heat my oils in the microwave unless I'm making a very large batch and then I use the stovetop.

dryalligator · Apr 6, 2012

Thanks for that info. I've been doing my lye in a large hurrican jar! Is there any plastic you should avoid?

VanessaP · Apr 6, 2012

You should get HDPE or PP #5 plastics. I used the Mainstays PP #5 pitcher to mix up my lye solution today and had no problems. It was like, $2 from Walmart. I also bought a 1 gallon Mainstays pitcher for $3.50.

I currently really like my stainless steel 4qt bucket that I bought on Amazon - its what I heated my oils in on the stove today (it has a flat bottom), and then added my lye to it and did my mixing in the bucket. But that was for a 2lb batch. If I do a 4 to 5lb batch, I'll pull out my 6 or 8 qt SS stockpot.

dryalligator · Apr 6, 2012

:!:
I'm sorry I dont know what you mean with the abbrev. Can u explain?

VanessaP · Apr 6, 2012

When you look at the bottom of your plastic containers, you see a plastic number, like 1, 2, 5, 7, etc. HDPE is High Density Polyethylene, and PP#5 is polypropylene #5. My Mainstays & Rubbermaid pitchers have PP#5 on the bottom when I flip it over and look at the bottom. A good way to test is to pour boiling water into your pitcher to see if it can handle the temps since your lye solution gets so close to the boiling point of water. The other plastics (1, 2, etc) aren't suitable as they will easily melt, only PP#5 or HDPE.