# Pre-mixing Lye



## Guest

I read somewhere, but can't find it now...some of you pre-mix your lye and then use later.

So, tell me how does this work? Once you pre-mix the lye, do you refrigerate it or just keep it at room temperature in a container (open or closed)....give me details, please!

THANKS! 
*MICHELLE*


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## Guest

I don't refrigerate my pre-mixed lye.

I store it in a closed jug. I don't have any children so I am not as concerned as to where I store it. I do however have it marked clearly.

Sara


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## Guest

Do you use a stainless steel container to store it in?

So, how much of it do you premix at one time...then when you go to make soap, how do you know how much to use?

Sorry for being naive about this...I am trying to learn something new... 

*MICHELLE*


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## Guest

No, I store it in these cool heavy duty plastic containers that my husband got for me. I premix a couple to a few gallons at a time depending on the need and how much I have to be soaping. I just got another store so it has been nuts trying to soap to stay ahead, take care of the goats and go to shows! :crazy

Sara


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## Guest

I can relate!

I am taking a whole day off from my "day job" tomorrow and do nothing but make soap! I have a lot of vacation time to use, so I may as well use it doing something I enjoy 

Thanks for your help!
*MICHELLE*


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## Guest

Anytime Michelle. 

I love having a day to myself to soap... especially when it is a new scent, design, etc. I love to play! When Christy was here a couple weeks ago we spent a whole day doing just that! 

Sara


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## Kalne

I mix 50/50 water and lye and store it in white vinegar jugs. I mix it first in a big plastic pitchers and pour it into the jugs once it cools. I mix up enough to last at least a couple weeks. It's soooo nice to have it ready to go whenever I want to soap. To figure out how much to use I just double the weight of what my recipe calls for in lye since it's half and half. Once I've got that mixed in well with my oils I'll add my goatmilk.


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## Guest

Ok so you mix equal parts (in ounces) of water and lye? 6 oz lye & 6 oz water???


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## NubianSoaps.com

That's how I do it also Michelle. I use old bleach jugs, and keep it hidden out in the barn (that horrid little room Troy put that to big of bale of alfalfa in, you should have seen me moving it later 

When I soap I use 50/50 water to lye, then at emulsion I add my goatmilk which is 50% again the weight of the water I added. So say if your batch uses 16 ounces of lye, I add 16 ounces of water and store this...... and then 16 ounces of milk at emulsion. I do all the mixing of lye and water in 2 and 3 gallon buckets that have pour sides on them, then using a funnel and wearing rubber boots, pour the mixture on the barn cement into the bleach jugs. This way I can soap batch after batch and not have to stop and make lye/water.

I also strain my lye/water as I pour it into the container to be weighed before soaping, it does give you crust at the top, and why I like to use bleach containers, they are no splash as they pour but also being narrow they don't form as much crust.

Until this tiny forum was started this was a big huge guarded secrect of the big soapers  Vicki


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## Guest

AH!!! So now I am in with the "in crowd" and have secrets of the trade! :woohoo

THANKS EVERYONE!
*MICHELLE*


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## Narrow Chance

I mix mine 50/50 also. 
I also store mine in bleach jugs... marked of course. 

DO NOT STORE in anything but a really thick jug. Ask me how I know. Those thick water jugs won't hold it.
My tile floor in the storage room got a real good cleaning!! 

Premixing sure has it's benifits. 

I also premix my oils in batches.. and along with premixed lye.. soaping at room temp.. it sure makes making soap that much faster.


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## Sondra

AH you guys are so smart and I am learning so much now I need to save my bleach jugs. Thanks


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## Sheryl

I wish I understood the premix lye solution thing better. I think I understand, but then I can't make it relate to my recipe! You must use the same combination of fats and oils everytime you make soap and not vary the recipe in order to use the pre mixed lye.....right?

Sheryl


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## NubianSoaps.com

NO, when I do a small 7 pound batch for my martha molds I use 16 ounces of water, 16 ounces of lye, (so I measure 32 ounces of the premix) then at emulsion I add 16 ounces of milk.

When I do my new molds I use 48 ounces of the premix which is 24 ounces of lye and 24 ounces of water and then at emulsion I add 24 more ounces of milk...sort of get it?

I do mix my lye by hand if I want to soap with alot less percentage of water in my soap because I am rushing, and take the water amount down rather than the milk amount.

I used to do all milk and did freeze milk the night before in lard buckets, set about 8 of them in the sink and would add lye to each one stirring and stirring....then I would put them all aside, pick the lightest yellow ones for light colored soap and darker orange ones for vanilla or soaps that would go dark anyway. Geeze even writing that I can remember how much I hated all that ice milk stuff....and stuff is a much nicer word than what I would like to write  vicki


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## Sheryl

"stuff" :rofl I think I might understand. It just seems that the premix is so much easier. So since you do the premix.....the lye solution is not hot by the time you use it right? So do you still have to use frozen milk to keep it from burning? Or does it still get hot when you start mixing all the fats and oils in? And another questions because this is making my brain hurt. I assume that milk jugs are too thin a plastic to use and that is why you are using bleach jugs? So in a one gallon jug, how many ounces of lye and water will it hold?

TIA

Sheryl


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## NubianSoaps.com

128 or so.

I weigh my butters and oils, weigh my lye/water mix and start soaping. I don't add milk (and i use it warm, like today it is straight form the goats from this mornings milking) until after I have blended all my butters and fats and lyewater for a few minutes. When you get the mixture all blended together the fats and butters turn opaque sort of, you can no longer see through the oils, this is when I add my milk...the lye is all busy with the fats in the butters and oils and is not trying to burn the fat in my milk, so I can get very light colored nearly white soap this way. 

I am horrid at exlaining things sometimes, I think I am the one confusing you because this is not hard...I am math challenged!! Vicki


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## Sheryl

:rofl I am soooo very math challenged!

But DING DONG....Holy crap. I think I get it!!!!

So I mix 128 ounces of water, and 128 ounces of lye in a gallon plastic jug! Then when I have a recipe that calls of XX amount of lye, that's what I pour into my recipe, and count it as the same XX amount of water? Yipee, then either add the same amount of milk or water for the *rest* of my liquids? OMG that is just way tooooo simple. And I thought it was gonna be way tooo hard.

So asking again.....is a plastic milk jug tooo thing for this premix to sit in?

Wow, I can't wait to start soaping again (I'm getting low on soap)...but I need to replace my scale first.

Okay, Vicki or other soapers that use this method.....did I get it right?

TIA

Sheryl


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## NubianSoaps.com

No that would make two jugs  If you weigh out 64 ounces of lye and slowly pour it into 64 ounces of water...and if you have never dealt with this much lye before it gets super hot, you can not mix it into anything that is weak, it has to be boilproof, so use a stainless bucket. Then when it cools, pour it into something easy to pour in...my big buckets with spouts, which helps me pour into the gallon jugs with a funnel on top. Wear protective gear, I wear a splash guard that goes over my goggles and face, kind of line a see through welding sheild. Wear long sleeves. I use the bleach jugs because they don't splash, because they are vented, when bringing it in the soap room to pour lyewater out of it. No I would not keep premixed lye water in thin milk jugs. No way, it's too caustic, think about what draino and liquid plumber comes in....Vicki


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## Sheryl

Okay, kinda thought the plastic milk jugs were toooo thin. How about storing it in a glass jar? I have some almost gallon jars. I will be saving my bleach jugs tho.

Thanks so much.

Sheryl


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## Kalne

I sometimes put some of mine in glass canning jars.....like just enough for one batch so it's already weighed and ready to go. BUT only after it's cooled. Even canning jars can break. I use old white vinegar jugs.....they are heavy plastic. And again, I fill them after my lye water has cooled. I rarely use bleach around here so none of those jugs available to me.


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## Sheryl

:cool cool, thanks for the info Kathy!I have some big pickle jars, and of course I have lots of canning jars. And of course I have stainless steel BIG pans to mix in. Wow just one more thing to make soaping go faster!

Thanks

Sheryl


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## Madfarmer

I cleaned out & used a Minutemaid OJ jug to store mine. Having it ready to go cuts the soaping time in half!

Tom


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## Sheryls Brat

Ummm not to be captain obvious here or anything like that "mom" but where exactly in our small space where you thinking of storing these???? REmember curious lil fingers get into EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!! don't we make enough ER Trips as it is :rofl


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## Madfarmer

Well, in your situation, a padlock & hasp are probably in order!

Tom


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## Sheryl

YES! I have to lock everything up! I just told the doctor in the ER the other day when he was stitching gd's finger that she would probably pull the stitches out, thinking maybe he would put something protective over the finger so she couldn't get it off for a couple of days. Well he just tied extra knots in the stitches. :rofl Silly man. Just about the 10 day mark when the stitches were ready to come out, what does she do? Chew the knots off and pull the stitches out herself!

I have threatened to lock the feed barrels, cause I go out there, and there she is feeding the goats.....WHEN IT'S NOT TIME! GRRR

My little gd definitely marches to the beat of a different drummer.......HER OWN DRUMMER!

Silly little girl, but I do love her dearly. :biggrin

Sheryl


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## NubianSoaps.com

Nip it in the bud...if you cant' control her when she is little, you won't control her when she is older and the dangers when she is older pale in comparison to now. I love my grandboys to death, but they mind, period.

Having mine living on the property we had to set up real rules we all go buy so we are on the same page, so he knows that he can't run from one to the other and get away with anything...it's simply to dangerous here. Plus they drive me insane even when they mind, let alone when they don't! Vicki


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## Narrow Chance

Oh Vicki.. I knew I liked you! 

I'm not a very strict 'Nana'.. but we do have a few rules... one is fit throwing..along with a few others. lol

My son's girlfriend has a 2 year old.. throws fit's constantly.
I told her he would have something to throw a fit about if she would spank those stomping legs.. she said.. well he has attention deficet. My son and I both laughed.. I said.. What does mother think about attention deficet son? He said.. well.. when I was little .. mother spank my butt and got my attention. I learned to not have such a deficiet. rofl This son of mine is 33. lol

Sheryl.. it's people like your GD who get things done. She won't be lazy when she grows up... no room for that in her brain. She should be very smart also.. got to know how things work.
Your one luck grandma.. you just don't know it yet!!


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## Sheryl

:rofl well she gets by with a lot, then there's a lot she doesn't get by with. We do suspect she's autistic, but she's also very normal. She is gettin better as she gets older and starts to understand, and comprehend things, but she doesn't let any dust gather under her feet that's for sure.

We love her dearly. I think I have just about convinced her that it is not a good thing to feed the goats when grandma isn't around. she really thinks she's helping me. She wants to do the goat chores. She wants to do the feeding, and she wants to do the milking. She sooo wants to be able to clean the teats and attach the inflations. She wants to do it all. She loves the goats. She stays out there with them from the time her feet hit the floor in the morning until bed time....which around here is anywhere from midnight to 3 am. Yikes! She comes in to eat and when it gets too hot, but after dark we have to go out there numerous times and drag her back in. She just loves being with the goats.

But when grandma got really mad at her and yelled at her, she realized that it wasn't a good thing to do.

Sheryl


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## Sheryls Brat

LMAO Grammy you forget the part when momma says okay enough is enough and her lil tooshy becomes bright red and she's in hysterical tears "i'm sorry mommy I won't do it again please no spank me" God that sounds awful lol trust me I get a lot of looks in the stores when she decides to throw a fit and I say nope no fit lets go either up off the floor or I'm busting ya butt and leaving ya here...... She's just stubborn (wouldn't know where she got that from)

lol Rett and you are right she does like to know how everything works she's constantly trying to take stuff apart and figure it out when she was a baby there wasn't a baby lock one that could keep her out she only had to see me use it once and that was it she could get it open lil toot she's also very artistic She doesn't want coloring books she just wants paper and crayons or a pen or pencil she wants to make her own picture and you should see her with play dough....

lol I think keeping her out of the pre mixed lye wouldn't be that hard I'm just a worrier I think if she was reminded that it's a big owwie and will hurt her really bad she leave it alone........


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## NubianSoaps.com

May I ask how old she is? Vicki


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## Sheryl

5

Sheryl


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## NubianSoaps.com

Sheryl check your email I sent you a really good tip for dealing with grandchildren  Vicki


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## Sheryl

:laughcry okay I'll go check. But remember Vicki....we can't duct tape her to the wall. :rofl

Sheryl


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## Sheryls Brat

and if you stuck her on top of the car and went for a high speed ride she'd just laugh and say Again grammy Again!!!! lol I'm gonna have a heart attack before she hits 10.....


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## Sheryl

okay, the pic wouldn't load for me :/ I tried everything. Brat says she thinks it's a pic of a kid on top of a car??????

Sheryl


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## NubianSoaps.com

Well darn, yes it's a picture of a kid on the hood, looking in the window, with a 99 mile an hour sign that tracks your speed  Sorry it wouldn't load. And yep my three GS would want me to go faster granny faster! vicki


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## Sheryl

:rofl :rofl :rofl We need a laughing so hard falling off the chair, slapping knee icon!

Sheryl


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