Teach Soap

Hi all. Can you help me make sure I don't make this mistake again.

I was attempting a Goat's Milk soap with evaporated GM. I calculated the recipe at 38% water and it called for 8.4oz and 3.1oz lye. The plan was to add the GM at trace so I reduced the water by 25% to account for the GM. So now I have 6.4oz water and 2oz evaporated GM.

The container I used to mix the lye was a glass pitcher. While I was adding the lye to the water the pitcher cracked and they lye solution went all over the counter and onto the floor. I had vinegar handy and everything was neutralized and cleaned up with out an other issues and I now have an 8 cup pyrex measurer to mix lye in. I don't know what temperature the lye solution got to since I was too busy cleaning it up to worry about that.

I know that less water can make for a hotter solution. Will adding the lye slower help to control the heat? What about starting with refrigerated water (I am in FL and the "cold" water is more like lukewarm)? I'd also like to make a coffee soap using coffee instead of water, does coffee make the lye react differently?

Thanks for the help!

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NEVER use glass for lye! There have been too many accidents with glas shattering or cracking. Get yourself some plastic cups and a plastic pitcher. It makes no difference whether you add the lye all at once or little by little. It will still create heat. You can start with cold or cool water, but the thermic reaction will still create heat. You can use coffee as your liquid. Make sure that it's very cold before you add the lye. It does stink (kind of like ammonia), but that will go away as the soap cures.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Sorry to hear about your trouble with the lye. I am glad you were ready for the accident and knew what to do. You can refridgerate your water to mix with the lye. I do it with water and beer all the time. I would also suggest mixing your lye solution in the sink from now on. If anything goes wrong at least you will get a clean drain out of the deal and no caustic clean up. I mix my lye in a 1/2 gallon plastic pitcher that I got at the dollar store. Hundereds of batches and the pitcher is still going strong. Get one with a "5" in the recycle triangle on the bottom of it along with the letters "PP". Those pitchers will take the heat.

Bruce

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www.homebrewsoaps.etsy.com

Thanks for the tips. Everything I read up to now said to use glass or plastic for the lye and I was afraid of melting the plastic. I forgot to take into account the glass cracking from the heat. I'll be picking up a couple of plastic pitchers on Monday.

In the meantime, I finished the batch I was working on. I chilled the water and added the lye very slowly over about 5 minutes and the solution never got over 150°. I'd rather add the lye more quickly than that though so the plastic will work much better.

I've been keeping a sinkful of vinegar water to put the used utensils in anyway so it was right there when I needed it for the cleanup along with the straight vinegar.

As they say, Keep moving forward!

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