Using ocean water in CP soap-did lye dissolve?

[cpacamper]

Good afternoon fine folks,

I tried substituting ocean water filtered twice through a coffee filter for the usual distilled water in my recipe, but I don't know if the lye dissolved properly. I used "full water" (the 38% option on soapcalc), which is a bit over 2.5:1 water/lye ratio. Weighed lye and soap as usual, but when I mixed the lye with the water, the water never became clear. I added enough water for a 3:1 ratio, but the water was still cloudy after stirring constantly for over 10 minutes.

Despite the cloudy water, did the lye dissolve enough to use in soap? If not, how much water should I use?

I ultimately did not use the cloudy sea water, using distilled instead.

 

[Meganmischke]

Sea water will not clear up it will stay cloudy. As long as you don't hear or see any undisolved lye beads you should be good to go. You might want to strain the lye solution just to catch anything that didn't dissolve.

 

[cmzaha]

When I make my brine soaps which are 25% sea salt to my water amount I dissolve my salt first, thorougly, then add in the lye. The brine mixture will always be cloudy, at least in my experience. A 50/50 lye solution will also not be as clear as a solution made with the 38% water as percent of lye

 

[gsc]

Does ocean water need to be purified in addition to filtering? Should extra sea salt be added?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Does ocean water need to be purified in addition to filtering? Should extra sea salt be added?

You do have a few posts going on about salt water soap - not sure that bringing up this old one is particularly helpful.