Trying to understood Lye water master batching

[DeeAnna]

"...I wondered what impact the reduction in purity might have on the finished soap. I understand the possible increase in the superfat...."

Increased superfat.
Overly soft soap due to low NaOH and high water content.
Soap batter doesn't come to trace.
Possible emulsion failure and separation in the mold.

 

[maxine289]

Good to know. Thanks, jcandleattic and DeeAnna.

 

[Susie]

Don't fret about a minor delay in using it, but if you are going to wait a long time (several weeks to several months), make a SDSB Super Dry Storage Bucket. Take a 5 gallon bucket and purchase a gamma lid. Pour some of the old fashioned non scoopable cat litter (the clay kind) into the bottom. Purchase the smallest Damp Rid that comes with the basket and container. Put that in the center (follow directions on package). Put bottles of NaOH, KOH, or masterbatched lye around the Damp Rid container. Seal it up and resist the urge to re-open it until you really need it. That's the only way I can keep my masterbatch from gaining weight. This is not my invention, I learned it on this forum some time ago, and I would really love to thank whoever did figure it out. I just can't remember who it was, but DeeAnna was in on the discussion somewhere, IIRC.

 

[maxine289]

Don't fret about a minor delay in using it, but if you are going to wait a long time (several weeks to several months), make a SDSB Super Dry Storage Bucket. Take a 5 gallon bucket and purchase a gamma lid. Pour some of the old fashioned non scoopable cat litter (the clay kind) into the bottom. Purchase the smallest Damp Rid that comes with the basket and container. Put that in the center (follow directions on package). Put bottles of NaOH, KOH, or masterbatched lye around the Damp Rid container. Seal it up and resist the urge to re-open it until you really need it. That's the only way I can keep my masterbatch from gaining weight. This is not my invention, I learned it on this forum some time ago, and I would really love to thank whoever did figure it out. I just can't remember who it was, but DeeAnna was in on the discussion somewhere, IIRC.

Thanks for the information.

 

[DeeAnna]

The idea came from Boyago who doesn't post here anymore. I did a little video about how I made mine, but it was his suggestion that sparked my interest.

 

[Susie]

The idea came from Boyago who doesn't post here anymore. I did a little video about how I made mine, but it was his suggestion that sparked my interest.

Thank you! That one thing has kept me in soapmaking. If I had not been able to control the moisture absorption, I would have quit out of sheer frustration of not being in control of my results. And it is cheap! $10 saved the day!

 

[sudszensoaps]

Huh, this is an entirely new concept to me. I use room temperature process using the heat of the newly mixed lye added to solid oils, then mixing in liquid oils. It doesn't take long and works fine. Of course I don't make more than a 5 lb batch.

 

[DeeAnna]

Room temp method is nice if it works, but it is best suited to recipes that don't have a high % of solid fats like palm, tallow, and lard that require a fair amount of heat energy to fully melt. Even if I use a hot lye solution with my high lard recipes, I'd still have to add additional heat to get the lard fully melted. So there's no great advantage to using the room temp method for the recipes I make. I didn't masterbatch lye solution for a long time, but now that I do, I really like it for the convenience and safety.

 

[Susie]

Yep, me too. The convenience is SUPER helpful now. Takes next to no time to masterbatch lye, then the next time I make soap, it takes just a few minutes a batch. But now I masterbatch everything. Oils, additives, everything. I even line my molds the night before and put the scent and colorants in the molds. Saves a bunch of time the next day.

 

[dotgiorgio]

I have a question about lye master batch. I live in Phoenix and it gets very hot here. My steps would be, make the master batch. Let it cool down before putting a lid on it. Storing it in my soap supply cabinet in the garage. But I am wondering if that would be safe where the temp could get to 100 degrees or even a little more? My garage is insulated but it still gets very hot in there.

 

[Deborah Long]

I live in Phoenix, also, and I never store my masterbatched lye in the garage - way to hot! Especially THIS summer where the temps were so far over 100! Too much evaporation and heat.

 

[SPowers]

I soap using a 2:1 water lye ratio. This makes masterbatching super easy.
If Masterbatching at 1:1 - if soap calc says you need 200 gr lye & 400 gr water, then the m/b is 200 x 2 or 400 gr lye/water and the add'l water is 200.

 

[TheGecko]

I started masterbatching because I got tired of being too tired to make soap.

I masterbatch a total of 640 oz oils/butters split into four batches of 160 oz; this is because of the amount of hard oils I can melt on the stove in my pot. I could probably fit a single oil/butter in the pot, but in case of an emergency or shiney thing, it makes it easier to know exactly where I left off. Everything goes into a 5 gallon food safe bucket that was thoroughly cleaned and dried. Bucket sits next to my soap station (aka rolling kitchen island). Batter cools down to the consistency of a waffle batter, but is not hard.

While my oils are melting I start making my lye solution. Like with my oils/butter, I mix my lye/water in four batches, but mostly for safety as the solution is poured into a gallon jug when cool enough; with two batches per galllon jug. And I make it the same way I make it for a single batch...33% Lye Concentration and frozen distilled water. No muss, no fuss and best yet...no math.

When it comes time to make soap, I have a chart on my wall that has every mold listed and the total weight of oil/butter and lye solution need for each. I even have multiples of my cavity molds listed so I can use just one, or all of them. I grab my commercial paint stirrer and drill and give my oils/butter a good mix. I then take out my batter container, scoop out xx ladles of soap based on my chart (ladle holds about 4 oz)...weigh when I have reached the number...weigh, adjust, clean off the ladle and put the lid back on the bucket. Container goes into microwave...30 seconds per pound of oils. I then measure out my Lye Solution and it’s time to make soap. Since master batching, I’ve made more soap in the past month than I had in the past three. I’ve even come home from work and whipped up a couple of batches.

I’m getting another 5-gallon bucket to master batch the oils/butter for my Goat Milk Soap. I won’t be able to MB my lye solution since I use fresh Goat Milk, but I’m good with that. And come October with its cooler temperatures, I’ll start using a 35% Lye Concentration.

 

[DeeAnna]

Masterbatched lye should be fine in a hot garage. The main downside from my point of view is if your MB lye straight from the garage is hotter than the temp at which you want to soap.

What's not a good idea is to store MB lye in a cold place. It needs to stay above 65F / 18C. If concentrated NaOH solution gets too cold, some of the NaOH will crystallize out, and that's a real mess to fix.