# does lye expire/lose potency?



## eam

I've just started to make a small batch of soap to try some coloring for the first time. I froze my goat's milk (5.3 oz) and then added my lye. The lye isn't doing anything - it's not melting the ice milk; it's just sitting on top of it. Does that mean my lye has run out of potentcy? I've only had it about 5 months, bought from a reputable store. I last used it about 2 weeks ago and it was fine. Now, poof, nothing.

Help!

Thanks.
Elizabeth


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## eam

Update: 5 minutes later and the lye and milk are mixed together but the lye only raised the ice milk temp to 60F. What does that mean? It didn't change the milk color at all, not the pretty light yellow.

Should I try to continue?

Thanks.


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## Guest

Did you stir it? I buy in huge 50 lb buckets and two at one time and never has it gone bad or gotten old on me..


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## eam

I stirred and stirred and stirred some more. I just don't understand what it could be except for the lye. It's now all mixed together; I'd describe it as a slurry. But, it's still very white (like goat milk is) and the temp has dropped even more. Of course, it's sitting on a cold granite countertop. But at it's warmest, it only raised the milk to 60.


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## eam

It's now turned a pretty yellow, light but definitely yellow. More like I would have expected when I first added the lye. But, is it now too cool to use? Can I keep it until tomorrow and add it to my fat then?

Thanks.
Elizabeth


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## Anita Martin

ummm, I try REALLY hard to keep my lye mixture cold and WHITE! I seriously do not think anything is wrong with your lye. You do NOT want it to turn your milk yellow. That's when it starts to stink and your soap will be darker. I use frozen cubes and my lye melts them slowly, especially if the kitchen is cold. This is a good thing. I routinely add my lye/milk mixture to my oils when there are still frozen cubes floating around. I stir with a spatula for several minutes before sticking blending it to make sure all the crystals are melted, and then stick blend. 

You do not want to hold it over it will be yellow, then orange and gross. It is NOT too cool to use. Make sure your oils are warm in this colder weather, but if your lye mixture is cold? That's great!

It sounds as if you are unhappy with your success! LOL


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## eam

Thanks Anita - you've really boosted my confidence! Every time I've made GMS (which is 4 times now), it's heated up quite a lot. Of course, I was making it mostly when the weather was warm because I was chicken to do it inside the house. Now that we have a couple of feet of snow on the ground, I either get over my fears, or wait until spring! And, my countertop is very cold, and the kitchen is one of the coldest rooms in the house. So, maybe that's a good thing!

I'm going to go for it; I'll let you know how it comes out.

Thanks again.
Elizabeth


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## tmfinley

Just make sure your oils are warm so you don't get a false trace. In cold weather, with frozen milk, sometimes the lye mixture won't get very hot. In fact like Anita said, my cubes don't melt in a very timely manner.


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## adillenal

I very often mix my lye and goat milk one day and do not make soap until the next day or the day after with no problems. It is certainly cool by then. Finished product looks the same as any other of my soaps. So it can be done if time does not permit the whole process in one day. Just another idea.


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## eam

Thanks everyone. Yes, it got too late to complete it last night so I left the lye/milk mixture in a marginally heated (40F) room for the overnight. My oils re-solidified but I'll warm them this morning and have a go. 

The idea for this batch was to try stevia powder to give my soap a bit of color so who knows what I'll get! 

(I also just ordered my first fragrances on the AH sale so I can't wait for those to arrive!)

Thanks again. Happy New Year.
Elizabeth


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## Anita Martin

If your lye/milk is too warm, that is when you'll have the smelly mess that turns orange and you'll want to do that outside. With cooler lye/milk which stays white, you will not have the fuming and it can be done inside the kitchen and the only odor anyone will notice is the fragrance when you add it. I've made soap with a batch of smelly, orange lye/milk mixture and the soap turned out okay, but I had to open all the windows and it made me feel sick. I do make sure my oils are at least 100 or 120 though because in my cold kitchen, without enough stirring and cooler oils, I've had unmelted lye crystals on the top of the soap that looked like measles. This winter, knowing how to avoid that, I've not once had that problem.


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## eam

Ok, so my soap is curing. My fats were at about 110F when I added the milk/lye. It came to trace REALLY fast, but after being warned about 'false trace' I wasn't sure if I should trust it. So, by the time I poured the soap into my molds, it was quite thick. But, all seems fine.

On the color front, it was a bust. I used 1 teaspoon of stevia powder (my home grown, dried and powdered) in a pound of oil/fat. It now looks like my 'regular' uncolord/unfragranced soap - a very light ivory color - but it has lots of tiny green flecks. I'll see what happens as it cures.

So, how do I recognize false trace if I have one?


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## jdranch

eam said:


> So, how do I recognize false trace if I have one?


good question- watching for the answer


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## Anita Martin

Normally you can pour at any stage once the oils and liquid have emulsified, that is, mixed together very well. You can see this happen with you start stick blending and the mixture turns from clear to cloudy/creamy. When adding colors and doing fancy things, I don't let it come to a thick trace, but make sure the oils and liquid are bonded together. It is thin at that point. I stick blend, let it rest with some stirring with a spatula and see if it separates, if not, you're probably good to go.


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## tmfinley

I have only had a false trace once. It was in the winter and very cold. I remember thinking, 'Wow, that traced really fast! Good, I got other stuff to do." So, to answer you question, I recognized false trace when I unmolded my soap the next day.


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