Trying to Understand Water replacements,

[Happy2018]

On this site: https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/tutorial-lemon-blueberry-yogurt-soap-recipe/


It says, "Water replacements don’t have to go in your lye solution! Just make sure your lye has enough liquid to dissolve in for your lye solution."


It says that just above the picture where they are adding the yogurt.

Does anyone know anything about this, or have tired it?

Thanks

 

[toxikon]

Basically, dry lye needs an equal amount of water to dissolve in. So if your recipe has 50g of lye, you need at least 50g of water to dissolve it. If you only use 40g of water, you'll have undissolved chunks of lye floating in your solution.

An equal portion of lye and water is known as a "50% Lye Concentration". A solution of 50 percent water and 50 percent lye.

Let's say you choose a 25% Lye Concentration instead. You can make your 50% lye solution and make up the rest in another liquid, added later during the soapmaking process.

So you can have your solution of 50g of lye and 50g of distilled water, but an extra 50g portion of your yogurt, goat milk, etc. to add directly to your oils, or at emulsion, or at trace.

Hope that makes sense.

It's generally known as the "split lye method". It can work nicely with milks to prevent scorching.

 

[IrishLass]

I (and many others) do this all the time with great success. Like Toxicon said- it works nicely with milks. It's called the 'split method', because you are splitting up the total liquid amount needed for your batch into 2 parts: 1 part is water that gets mixed with the lye (always an equal weight of water as per weight of the lye amount needed for your batch). And for the other part you can add whatever liquid you desire.


IrishLass

 

[Happy2018]

Basically, dry lye needs an equal amount of water to dissolve in. So if your recipe has 50g of lye, you need at least 50g of water to dissolve it. If you only use 40g of water, you'll have undissolved chunks of lye floating in your solution..

Are these the kind of chunks you are looking at?

In this I put 5.29 oz of water, with 4.54 oz of lye, and the pictures are the result. I poured it down the drain, which was clogging up anyways, and need a good clean.

Those 'floaties" or 'bits' showed up after stirring and all the obvious lye had dissolved, after about 2 minutes of stirring.

 

[earlene]

Does anyone know anything about this, or have tired it?
Thanks

Yes, since I masterbatch my lye at a 50:50 ration, adding any additional liquid called for in the recipe, can be added directly to the oils before the lye or after, should I so choose. Very handy not to have to mix every liquid into the lye before adding to the oils.

Edit to add the quote so you'd know which question I was answering.

 

[DeeAnna]

You can sometimes get those floaties. I can think of a couple of reasons. One is the NaOH is reacting with carbon dioxide in the air to form flecks of sodium carbonate. Another is the NaOH is reacting with something in your lye container -- it might be a tiny film of fat on the container walls or stirring spoon or perhaps something in the liquid you used to dissolve the NaOH. I generally don't worry too much about things like this -- just use the lye solution as-is. If you feel uncomfortable about that, strain the lye as you pour it into your fats.

 

[IrishLass]

Are these the kind of chunks you are looking at?

In this I put 5.29 oz of water, with 4.54 oz of lye, and the pictures are the result. I poured it down the drain, which was clogging up anyways, and need a good clean.

Those 'floaties" or 'bits' showed up after stirring and all the obvious lye had dissolved, after about 2 minutes of stirring.

View attachment 28606

The floaties are not lye (lye will sink to the bottom instead of float). Floaties happen when the mixing container you are using is not 100% sqeaky clean of any leftover soap residue from having washed it, no matter how miniscule the residue, or if you use tussah silk fibers in your lye water (sometimes they don't dissolve 100%). In any case, both are harmless. If they bother you, you can do what I do sometimes- just strain them out.


IrishLass


Edited to add- DeeAnna and I were posting about the same time again! lol

 

[Happy2018]

Thank you everyone for your responses!

I really appreciate the explanation for the floaties, I got them again, the only thing I can think of that is different then past soap makes is the stir spoon. I'll have to clean that extra careful.


---

I'm a bit in awe right now,

I blended the lye (4.54 oz) with the water (5.29 oz) for almost 20 minutes and nothing was happening - no trace. With moments of I really messed something up, and then what the hey, just keep going.

Separated the "lye - oil" mix into two containers, and added the extra water (1) / concentrated rosehip (2), and WOOOOOOOO in less then a second of stirring in the water in each container they went from water like pouring consistency to medium / thick pudding trace.