What do you use to mix your Lye and Water?

[Soapmaker123]

Hi. I've used the regular 7-gallon pails (a while ago); they work. But it's better for me to use a larger tank, to which I've attached a proper spigot. I support this tank on a trolley which I made from wood, with suitably-strong casters. This way you can move-things-to-clean-and-mop.

 

[earlene]

That's a pretty cool setup, Soapmaker123. How do you do the actually mixing of the lye in a tank that large and so deep?

 

[Soapmaker123]

You can mix by the full-sack: the water in first, 50-lb sack of lye in second, then trim with additional lye or water to set the exact ratio.

I always wear goggles and an apron. But when I charge-the-tank also wear a dust mask and a cap (occasionally you'll get a back-splash, from lumps.)

One sack will take the water from cold to about 170 deg. F.

 

[Soapmaker123]

A part of a production system: the lye tank, the scale, the base-oil tank,

 

[earlene]

I just bought a tall stainless steel pot with lid from a second had shop, how can I tell if it is the lower grade?

One of our members posted a very good summary of similar information here on the forum sometime within the past couple of years, but I can't find it right now or I would link to it for you.

Happy2018, Google searches are resulting in live links again, so I found this post by BrewerGeorge for you that gives some detail about grades of stainless steel:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/is-there-a-test-for-stainless-steel.63938/#post-650639

 

[Lin19687]

Wow that is BIG !

I am not sure I want to get that big lol, I would never be able to do a batch that big in HP

 

[amd]

I make smallish batches - about 27 oz water - and I use plastic beer pitchers. My step-dad owns a bar and he gets really thick plastic (good for soaping) pitchers for free from the distributors. They are tall so I have plenty of room for sudden volcanoes when I soap with beer etc. They also have a nice sturdy handle for pouring.

(side note: the fact that he gets free pitchers from distributors is funny because he doesn't have tap beer... so why does he need pitchers?)

 

[Lin19687]

HAHA that is funny about the Tap

That was what I was looking for , a handle. Makes it safer I think.

The one I bought was a larger oval shaped one but the bottom looked so thin.
Yesterday I went out and get a pitcher just like the one you pictured there, but a Rubbermaid one.
I have the bigger 4-5 qt rubbermaid one and didn't know they made a 2qt one. So I got that.
Thicker bottom and a handle.

Thanks all

 

[elurah]

Hi! It looks like you already got a lot of great suggestions on what to use. Does the juice pitcher you bought say what type of plastic it is made out of? It's usually at the bottom somewhere. When I first started, I used a cut out milk jug. I figured out it was a lower quality plastic eventually because the bottom became rough and was starting to erode.

Since then, I use Dynalon polypropylene beakers that I really love! They come in all sizes, from 1L to 4+L, they pour like a dream, and they are dishwasher safe. The smaller sizes are also great for separating smaller quantities of soap batter.

Here is a link for a 2L beaker for $14:
http://www.sustainablesupply.com/Dy...MI-ZK_t7S92AIVj1x-Ch2hCQEUEAkYBiABEgLMU_D_BwE

Hope that helps!

 

[DeeAnna]

Soapmaker123 --

I'm a chemical process engineer. In looking at your lye solution tank, I would not allow that plastic valve and pipe to stick out in the open like that, especially with the tank on a movable dolly. Someday that pipe is going to hit something, crack or break off, and start leaking. The result will be lye solution all over the floor and your feet, and you won't be able to stop the flow until the tank is empty. This is a case of "if" not "when," speaking from experience working in the chemical industry. That is an extremely vulnerable setup -- please make a safer design!

 

[Soapmaker123]

Hi Deanna. Yes. This photo is from the initial lye tank assembly. Later the spigot was replaced with a shorter, and more temperature-tolerant CPVC assembly, protected with a bumper-case assembly, mouted to the trolley, to surround the valve and spigot. Also, the tank does not sit out-in-the-open as it was when these photos were taken several years ago: the tank resides in its own protected emplacement. When the tank is nearly empty, then, it is a good opportunity to move and clean the area.

 

[DeeAnna]

Good to hear. My suggestion -- if you're going to share photos of your equipment with the rest of the real world, you might want to share ones of your safest setup. I know there are many people who would blithely copy the equipment setup you show in these photos without any idea of the safety risks.

 

[Soapmaker123]

Interestingly, there are there are situations with more potential hazard than a spigot-leak, if have found.

One is just safety in moving dry lye. I have had to unload a tractor-trailer of 60 sacks of lye by hand by myself because the truck had no hydraulic lift-gate and the driver couldn't assist. Summer heat and across a parking lot and down a long flight of steps to the storage area. I am fully buttoned-up in protective gear like an astronaut. Usually, a delivery truck will present a wrapped pallet of lye sacks into the loading-dock-door via a hydraulic lift and a pallet jack dolly.

Two is the storage of the essential oils. I have a large essential oil stock. So much so, that I store the bottles, jugs and cans in a special one-hour-fire-resistant locker room, with a special fire resistant steel door. We made the fire-walls up to code with two layers of gypsum board on each side of the steel studs and caulked all the entry gaps with fire-proof caulk. This was inspected and approved by the fire marshal.

Three is the integrity of the tank-support trolley. I have see defective trolleys with insufficient wheel bearing strength, which, in my opinion, invited a danger of collapse. Thereafter, I construct and over-build my own trolleys. The trolley in the picture has a rated minimum wheel load strength of 1,400 pounds; the typical weight of the working lye tank is less than 200 pounds. On a double-charge, the tank will still weigh less than 350 pounds. The trolley itself weighs about 80 pounds.

Also, no one approaches or accesses the lye tank except for me.

 

[DeeAnna]

I get where you're coming from. There is a lot of bad information out there, and I think we have an obligation to present the best information possible. If a person knows there's a better or safer way, then show it. Or explain how an existing setup could be improved to be better or safer.

 

[Lin19687]

Thanks elurah,
The 1st i got said 5 on the bottom but just looked too thin so I got the rubbermade 2 quart one. I already have a 4 qt one but use that for water to the chickens

 

[Happy2018]

Thanks Earlene

This is what I use to mix the lye in:

Soapmaker 123, your pictures aren't working, or I should say, I am not seeing them.

 

[shunt2011]

Thanks Earlene

This is what I use to mix the lye in:

Soapmaker 123, your pictures aren't working, or I should say, I am not seeing them.

You should never use glass to mix lye. The lye will etch the glass and could shatter.

 

[Happy2018]

OH !

I had no idea!

I'll have to look around for something else.

 

[shunt2011]

You can use stainless steel. I use plastic containers with the #5 coded triangle on the bottom. Rubbermaid pitchers work well as do some of the store brand. #5 or #2 are best for lye.

 

[Happy2018]

I will most definitely look for those rubber maid, or other containers with # 5 or # 2 on the bottom of them.

THANK YOU!