How to use a 50/50 lye water solution for soapmaking
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- Опубликовано: 4 июн 2024
- After making our lye-water master batching video, we got a lot of questions on why you'd want to do this and how to use the solution. This video is a podcast-style video where we sit and chat about the benefits of using pre-mixed lye water and explain how you'd use it in your recipes.
Carlisle Plastic Container for Lye-Water: amzn.to/44oSF24
Long Silicone Spoon: amzn.to/3pFx729
Safety Glasses: amzn.to/3JTSBPy
See more supplies from this video in my Amazon shop:
www.amazon.com/shop/muddymint
Order my natural soapmaking book on Amazon here:
amzn.to/3uIOFN0
Get our original all-natural and palm oil free soap recipes here:
muddymint.com/collections/ori...
Key moments:
00:50 What water to lye ratio do we use?
01:56 Minimum water to lye ratio in soapmaking
02:50 Using alternative liquids in soapmaking
03:37 Visual explanation on whiteboard!
05:13 Reasons to increase or decrease your water amount
08:46 Using a real recipe - how do you use50/50 lye-water?
14:50 Benefits of using a 50/50 lye-water solution
17:58 Using ice to make lye vs distilled water
20:07 Batching your lye-water without using a lye tank (small batch)
23:27 Recap and conclusion 
Хобби
Such an informative video. It's worth noting that the plastic grade is PP 5. That's Polypropylene - safe for lye and lye water. In case anyone was wondering. Also can i just say - you two are adorable! sweet to see.
Yes, good point! Thanks for mentioning this and for watching our video! And, we appreciate your sweet compliment too. 🥰
The generosity to break this down for your viewers is so amazing and appreciated! 💖💖. You both answered several questions that I had. Especially mixing & storing lye for small projects (too soon for a tank investment). Thank you!!
Aww, thank you!! I'm so happy that you found it valuable. I was worried it would be too confusing, but it sounds like most people we able to follow. Let us know if you give it a try! :)
@@muddymintsoap I just need to find that container you used at the end for smaller scale storage. That's right up my alley!
Just saw the Amazon link!! #winning 😊
Woohoo!! 🎉
REALLY appreciate the explanation in all of this. Hardly anyone explains this so I reallllly appreciate it.
Thank you so much!! :)
Thank you, I was looking in the comments but found it in the video description as you said thank you!
This was immensely helpful! Thank you so much!!!
So happy to hear that! Thanks for watching! 🥰
This video has been very helpful. Thanks.
You're welcome! Thanks for watching! :)
Thank you for the explanation ❤
This was so very helpful! Thank you so much for making this video!
You’re so welcome! I’m happy to hear it was helpful! ❤️
This was beautifully explained and much appreciated. Thank you
So glad you found it helpful. Thank YOU! :)
That was great! I love how you too talk to each other! Great teamwork❤️
Thank you!! :)
Thank you so much ,i was confused ,but now am beginning to understand
Glad to hear it! It can get pretty complicated, especially if you’re a new soapmaker. Way to hang in there! 😊
I learned so much from you. Thanks!
So glad to hear that, as this is a complicated topic it seems! Thanks for watching! :)
Thank you for the clarification that was clearly explained❤
So glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching! :)
Great information. Thank you so much. Blessings to you both.
Thanks for watching! I’m glad you found it helpful! :)
This information was so helpful in understanding the lye/water/liquid ratio. You took a complex topic and made it easy to understand, especially for a newbie like me. Thank you! Can you do videos on explaining the saponification value and benefits of specific types of oils and butters?
Thank you! I'm so glad it was helpful and that you found it easy to follow. A video on SAP values would be fun, along with oils and butters. Thanks for the suggestion!
@@muddymintsoap I have a suggestion to NO ONE makes videos on.
Lye calculators often give conditioning and hardness et. etc. .. No one covers the math behind that!
If I knew that math I could put it in graph form into the lye calculator I made. It would also help others to calculate the values they are trying to get to. The benefit of that knowledge is making better soap. Before I made my calculator I blindly followed a lye calculator and did what it said not knowing what really went into a recipe. By the time I finished my lye calculator I know exactly what's going on but at the same time I see what online lye calculators can do much better. For instance, Online lye calculators do not allow you to change the value of oils. Did you know there are 3 different values for cocoa butter? That can make a difference in calculating the amount of lye. So , short story is the more info you give people the more they are in control of their own recipe.
Very informative. Thanks so much!
Thanks for watching! 😊
This was Uber helpful!! Thank u so much. 🙏💕
So glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching! ❤️
Wow, you guys are always teaching me new things. Great video! Thank you.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for watching. ❤️
Extremely helpful!
Thanks for watching! :)
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge! Hoping to see more of your videos ❤
Thanks so much for watching! :)
Good explanation!
Thank you. 😊
Thanks for watching! :)
Exceptional presentation and thank you much for sharing.
Thanks for watching! :)
Wow learnt so much never made soap but now i love to try
Haha! I love it. You started with the hard stuff with this video... we'll be doing a series on beginner soapmaking at some point!
Thanks for another informative and articulate video. I'm loving the videos and think you both are fantastic!
Aww, thank you so much! Really appreciate that! :)
I love soap math so much! This was right up my alley. Thanks for posting, MM! I really enjoy your videos.
Yay! So happy to hear it was helpful! Thanks for watching and for your kind comment! :)
thank you so much guys so lovely to see people out there are willing to share there success to help others. cheers from London
Thank you for watching! :)
Thank you for explaining this so well. I was confused and searching for a video that would answer my questions and you did! So thankful!
So happy to hear that! Thank you! And thanks for watching. :)
Clever, clever :) Thanks for sharing!
Hi!! What a treat to see you here! Thank you for watching! Do you use a 50/50 lye water solution when making soap?
What a great video! All the information was very helpful and well explained. Thank you!
Thank you so much! I’m so happy you found it helpful. 😊
Thank You for doing this it makes allot of sense to me now!! I am a visual learner and this certainly did make it so easy to understand!!!
So glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching! :)
Another great video with helpful info. You two are so cute together. ❤
Aww, thanks! And thanks for watching! ❤️
Love your videos guys, great brand, processes and clear explanations. Thank you for the inspiring moments
Thank you so much! 😊
Thanks so much. This is very clear, and i think it will be a game changer for me
That’s so great to hear! I’m glad you found it to be clear. It’s a hard thing to explain! :)
Thank you for this because i never understood how too.
I hope it was easy to follow - thanks! :)
You guys are just adorable 🥰 Excellent and informative video! Thank you so much!
Aww, thanks! So happy you found the video to be informative. Thanks for watching!
This is AWESOME INFORMATION❣️❣️❣️
Thanks so much! I'm so happy you found it helpful. :)
Great video! Very thorough! Thank you. And, yes to a future video on scaling up please.
Thank you! Glad you found it helpful. :)
That is so nice of both of you to explain to everyone. You guys are amazing keep up the great work and may you continue to be blessed in your business
Thank you! Appreciate you watching!
I have just recently heard of doing a 50/50 lye solution. It is wonderful! Since we did our first batch I've made 4 loaves of soap. It was in one to two days. I kept putting it off because I also dread making the lye solution. Thank you so much for these videos!
Yes! I love hearing that! It really is a game-changer (or business changer?) to have your lye water all ready to go. Glad you enjoyed the video. Thank you! ❤️
This video explained things so perfectly, I appreciate it! Also, you two clearly have a beautiful connection, it's so wonderful to see ♥️
I'm so happy to hear that you found it valuable! Thank you for your kind comment and for watching! :)
Thank you so much for explaining this. Your video is the only one that goes into detail. You both are great teachers!! Keep teaching us new soap makers, please❤
Thank you so much! I'm glad you found it helpful! :)
Great job explaining this information! It answered a lot of questions I had about mixing, measuring and storing the lye solution. Thank You so much for sharing!💕💕💕
Thank you so much! And thanks for watching! :)
Thank you for your amazing video and I’d like to complement your teaching style. The drawing helped me understand everything very clearly.
Thank you so much! I'm glad you found the drawing helpful! :)
I just want to say a huge thank you for making this video, it cleared up all the questions i had about lye, additives, fragrances, usage percentages and more. Cheers from Italy
Wow! That's great! I'm really happy to hear that. Glad you found it valuable and thanks for watching!
What a great information video
I appreciate you helping the public I couldn’t find the link for the plastic container
All the best to you both
Hi there! The link to the container is here: amzn.to/3K3oe9a. I hope this helps!
Great information 👍 thank you so much 💗
You're welcome! Thanks for watching. :)
Wow!!! So awesome! I have watched and searched and searched for a great video. I was not understanding anyone at all….you two were great! I truly appreciate your teaching. I started out with melt and pour and now I’m ready to move on to cold process!! You guys have me so excited and confident after your teaching!!
Wow! Thank you so much for this incredibly kind comment. I'm so happy that you were able to understand, as it can be a difficult concept to explain. Good luck with cold process! Hope it rocks your world! :)
Thanks for sharing this information. Cleared up several questions......always a wealth of information that you guys are willing to share. So appreciate you sharing your knowledge with us.
That’s great to hear! Thanks for watching! ❤️
Thank you for so throughly explaining how to do 50/50 lye concentration and for sharing some of your knowledge. Your brand is beautiful and you are certainly inspiring many. 💕
Thank you so much for watching and I'm glad you found this video helpful! :)
This is one of the most informative videos about lye water I have seen. I can't wait to try different liquids now since I was afraid to add that to lye water before. Thanks!!
Wow! Thank you so much!! That means a lot to us. Good luck!
I so appreciate you two making this video. I’m about a month and a half into making soap, I’ve looked at hundreds of videos. None that I’ve watched breaks it down like this. I have so much better understanding than before I watched this and I’ll definitely be making me a big batch of lye water going forward. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. 😊😊
Wow! This is great feedback! Thank you! I'm hoping we can get back to making videos soon. I'm so happy to hear you found this helpful and good luck with your back of lye-water!
You guys are so so amazing. And i cant wait for you'll to get back at it.. and share your generous wealth of knowledge.
Thank you so much Simi and Troy ❤
YOU'LL are sooo loved and appreciated
STAY BLESSED
Wow! Thank you sooo much! We can't wait to get back at it too! It seems to be taking forever to get organized over here... we'll get there though. Thanks for being patient!
Thank you so much for this video!! I´m going to implement your technique. Love you guys
I love hearing that! Let us know how it goes!
@@muddymintsoap thank you so much for sharing all your knowledge and experience 💚. I already did the lye water and storage in a plastic container, but it seems like drip out despite having air tightening lid. Is that normal? Or could be that I may fill it very much?
Glad you tried it!! It’s dripping out? That’s odd. You certainly want to make sure you have a little room at the top, so maybe make a little less next time.
BTW: your fluency in math and how you explain the step-by-step procedure was useful. Thank you two, kindly. 🙂
Thank you!! :)
Mind blown!! ❤
Haha! Love it!! :)
You guys are wonderful teachers! I can’t wait to watch and learn more from your channel🥰🙌👏
I now have the confidence in using a 50/50 lye solution, and can’t wait to use a lye tank for upscaling my business. I am forever grateful to you both for sharing your knowledge. 🙌👏🙏❤️🥰Thank you!!
Thank you!! That means a lot and I'm so glad that you have the confidence to try a 50/50 lye water solution! Let us know how it goes!
Awesome video, learned a lot, i don't like making lye solution either. Takes a long time to cool down, always need to handle with care etc. Thanks!
Yep! That's why it's so nice to make a larger batch. I'm glad you found our video helpful! :)
Love your videos please please do more
We will! We have a lot going on right now, but we definitely have plans for a lot more videos! Thanks for watching. :)
Love your channel and your patience in answering questions. I currently use 100% water replacement with goat milk from my Nubian herd. I now need to research fully the advantage of water as a ‘carrier’. Thanks for introducing me to that opinion.
Thank you so much for watching! I'd be really curious to see what you think of a soap made with only part goat milk and if you notice a big difference when using the bar. I just love when soapmakers made soap from their own goat milk! I would love to do that! :)
How do you warm up the lye or stays in 85 to 95 degrees warmer?
I love your videos, and how you explain everything.
Thank you so much
Makes total sense! Thanks for explaining. I’m just starting to make soap but the lye and water solution really confused me. So I was using melt and pour.
Did this help at all or did I just make it worse? 😂
Amazing information 😢thanks
Thanks!
♥️ Great!! Thanks a ton for this info. Could we get a soap studio tour and where you get the supplies from?
Yes! We'll be doing a studio tour soon! :)
Sooooo simple and informative. You’ve got a subscriber at video 2! Thanks a bunch guys 💕💕💕I’m like hot dog I’m in the game now coach🎉🎉🎉🎉
Haha! Love it! Thank you sooo much! Hopefully the game gets a little more interesting, as we have more time to make videos in the new year!
@@muddymintsoap 🥰
Thank you so much
You're welcome! I hope it helped. :)
Thanks for sharing how you made your small batch 50/50 lye solution, containers and all. Again, so many great tips. I watched your previous video showing how you currently batch and I've been wanting to switch to 50/50 but have been a little intimidated because I'm not ready for a lye warmer. This was exactly what I needed! I also love watching you guys interact btw. ❤
Oh good! I'm so glad to hear that! We did it this way for many years and it works great! Let us know if you try it!
I warmed my lye just putting the container in a hot water bath. It's pretty simple and works fairly quickly.
This was fantastic! You two are adorable. A video idea is when/where do you add additives if you are using and masterbatching your lye. (I add to my oils except silk, add a titch of water (from the top off third liquids) to heat it up to melt the silk.) It's incredible how hot room temp lye can get when adding just a small amount of liquid. I figured this out as I needed my lye hot for heat transfer. Thanks for this video.
Thanks so much for watching! We add our additives to our oils almost all the time. We do sometimes make hot lye water from scratch when using sea salt or indigo. Hope that helps!
Such an informative video! 😁Thank you guys for sharing your wisdom and knowledge. I’m learning so much!!! When we actually have time to make soap we make just enough lye solution for what we’re making and yes I agree….. it would be better to not have to make it each and every time. Great video!
As for other video ideas….. how about a video teaching how to formulate a recipe? This is where I struggle. 🥴
Yes! It does save SO much time! Thanks for the other video idea... that's an interesting one! I'll have to think on it! This topic will be covered in my upcoming book too. ;)
I hate hate hate lye 😭 😊I don't wanna use it but it's the only ingredient which will help to make soaps. Why hasn't nobody found something else other than lye. So much value thank you so much.😊👍
Unfortunately, you need an alkali to make soap, but you can try melt and pour if you want to avoid the lye part of the process! You can also purchase pre-mixed 50/50 lye water, so you don't have to make it yourself! :)
Wow incredible, one of the most informative videos . I am in india and teaching rural women to start sme’s (small to medium enterprises ). We are teaching them a variety of businesses . Thank you so much for sharing this. I showed this video with some of the people who are making soap.
They had the following questions.
Please if you can reply that would be great. I can look up things on the internet, but it’s not the same. Given your, experience, ,
1. At what temperature are you storing the lye? Our average temperature in our area is 90 degrees f.
2. What is the shelf live of large quantity of lye solution?
These were the 2 questions that came up.
I thank you again for sharing this video.
Oh my goodness! What a treat to have you and all the people you are teaching watch this video! This is what this channel is all about. I'm so happy you found this video to be informative. I'm so sorry it took so long to respond... we've been traveling and I wanted to make sure to reply to this question properly. To answer your questions:
1. We store our lye water at room temperature, but we heat it up to about 95 degrees before making our soap. Since we have a tank, it contains a heating element especially for this purpose, but if you're not using a lye tank, you can heat your lye-water solution by placing it in a warm water bath to slowly get your lye water to the temperature you would like. Please never heat up lye water in a microwave or directly on a flame. You always want to use a warm water bath to safely heat your lye water.
2. The shelf life of this amount of lye water is probably about a month, maybe longer. I believe I've gone 2 months and the lye-water was still good. You'll want to be sure to store it properly in a cool dry place and ensure that it has a proper lid and seal. If you start to notice that the lye-water looks lye-heavy (it has floating pieces of lye or isn't all that clear anymore), then you won't want to use it. If you know what your lye-water should look like, then it'll be obvious when it looks different.
I hope this helps and please let me know if you have any follow-up questions. Thanks for watching!
Thank you for the expanded explanation! You answered a question I had about how much of the 1:1 solution to add. I now understand that it would be double the amount of the lye called for in order to ensure the 50/50. THEN add the additional liquid to the oils. 🧡
YES! You got it! Thanks for watching and I'm so glad it helped! :)
Thank you for sharing and helping us understand the 50/50 process
@@michellemetdepenningen1423 You’re welcome! I hope it was helpful to you! :)
Finally, someone explained this in a way that was easy to understand. Thank you so much. I have a question. I do not soap on a regular basis, nor in large amounts. If I were to get one of the containers you spoke of typically how long would that still be good? Thank you and loved watching you.
I'm so happy to hear that it was easy to understand! I used to keep the containers with pre-mixed lye-water for at least a month. As long as its properly sealed and you store it in a cool/dry place, it should be good. However, if you notice anything unusual about the lye-water, I wouldn't use it. You can certainly make a smaller amount to suit your needs - whatever amount of soap you typically make in a month. I hope that helps!
Great video, thank you so much! I think this will be a game changer for me! I have scrolled through the comments a few times and cannot find the Amazon link for the container. Would you kindly post it again?
Hi! The link should be in the description… I’m currently traveling but will take a look when I get back!
Thank you so much for taking the time to share this super helpful info! Can I ask how you warmed up the 50/50 lye solution when you were using the smaller containers?
Hi! We used a warm water bath to warm up our lye water. :)
Great video
Thanks for watching! :)
Very informative! I have never master batched my lye water but sounds like it helps speed things up! I usually only do one loaf a day when I do soap, mainly because of the lye prep so curious to try this!
I will add that I make my lye water solution with room temperature distilled water and only average about 150 degrees F at most. You can control this by how quickly you incorporate the lye. I typically sprinkle in a little, stir with a stainless steel spoon until it disolves, and repeat. For 10 oz distilled water and 4.7 oz lye it takes me about an hour to mix and maybe only like 5-10 minutes for cooling. Not a great process for making large batches but is possible without having to wait hours for cooling. Great method if you are a hobby soap maker only making a small 33 oz loaf.
Yes, the speed that you add your dry lye does matter, you're right! Also, the cooler your distilled water, the better! You can try putting your water in the fridge and that might make your process go faster. I personally can't imagine taking an hour to mix lye (I'd rather have it hot and let it sit while I do other things), but you should do what works best for you!
This video was amazing! Thank you for sitting down and taking it step-by-step. I was trying to explain a 50-50 solution to my husband, but was unable to. That’s when I realized that if I can’t explain it, I don’t understand it. In any case I am thinking of buying those containers, and perhaps freezing the water before I put the lye in. That might be a helpful step for me.
Of course! Thanks for watching and I'm so glad to hear it was helpful. It's a simple concept, but kind of tricky to explain, particularly to newer soapmakers. If you freeze the water completely, you might have a hard time mixing the lye in... I recommend using ice cubes, so you can still stir everything around and make sure the lye is fully incorporated. Otherwise the dry lye might just sit on top of your giant ice block for a while, but I might be wrong! I would think you'd want to start stirring right away if you can. Good luck!
@@muddymintsoap Thank you again!!! I’ll let you know if it works ❤️
Greetings! So grateful to find you guys are super stoked about receiving the book! 🌞 My question is when reheating the lye water from the small batch to do the water bath reheat method, shall it be poured into a separate container and then added to the water bath or use the actual/original lye water storage container for the water bath reheat? Just wondering if it's alright (safe) to use the original plastic lye water plastic storage container or if the lye water should be poured into a different container for the water bath reheat? Hope that makes sense and thanks so much in advance you guys rock! Love and Peace!
Great question! It is much faster to warm up the solution in a separate container, so I usually pour what I need for the day (or for my batch) and warm it up all at once. You can definitely use the original container, but it'll just take a lot longer to warm up, unless you don't have a lot in there. I hope this helps!
Thank you for making such a detailed video, please do make a video on pre oils and butters preparation as it's very time consuming .
Can we make a big batch of oils and butters ,reheat ,mix and use for a basic receipe?
I'm glad you found the video helpufl! Thanks for watching! We can certainly do a masterbatch of oils in a future video. You can definitely make a big batch of oil, reheat, and mix (the mixing is important!) and use that for your recipes. We have 80% of our oils batched and then we add the extra 20% for a bit of variety between recipes.
You have blown my mind. It is night time here now and I can't wait for morning so I can make a masterbatch of lye. Previously I was making the masterbatch to suit a specific recipe, ie I would take my std recipe and multiply everything by 5 so I could make 5 loaves, and as I went to make a loaf I would use 1/5th of the weight of the combined oils and same with the lye solution. It works but was limiting so I stopped doing it. Thanks you so much for generously sharing your knowledge.
Oh yeah!! I love hearing that!! How did it go? Did you make your batch and also use it? So glad we were able to inspire you! :)
@@muddymintsoap yes I did make it! I had a number of part containers of NaOH so weighed all the scraps then weighed out the equivalent in water before adding the scraps. I have so much room on my bench without all those part containers.
You're great teachers, thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge. Is the lye tank just a large urn or is it made specifically for lye?
Thank you! We appreciate you watching and your kind compliment! :) The lye tank is specially made for lye water. It is made of stainless steel (you don't want to use anything else for lye!) and it has a heating element in it. As we mention in the video, you can use smaller containers for small batches of lye-water.
How do you keep the small batches of 50/50 lye water warm enough within the 10 degrees to pour. ? Hope I made sense. Lol 😂.
Thanks for the great video! I'm fairly new to soap making and make small batches. I measure out distilled water and put it in the refrigerator in the plastic container I'll be mixing the lye in. When I'm ready to make my batch, I remeasure the water to make sure the correct amount is there. Depending on how long it's been in the refrigerator, I may have to top it off. I then place it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. My lye solution rarely gets over 180. It's still hot, but while it's cooling I mix up my oils/butters and prep anything else I'm going to add to. If the solution is still too warm when I'm ready to mix, I put it in the fridge or freezer, but not for long. When I start doing larger batches I'll keep a 1G jug of DW in the fridge so it's always ready to go.
Hi there! Thanks for sharing your technique! Using cold water from the fridge will definitely help with fumes and with the lye water getting too hot. For larger production, a lye-tank can make things much quicker, but for smaller batches your technique works great!
Hi, thank you so much for this video. Ton of helpful information. One question I hope you can help me with, you mentioned adding the additional
liquid to the oils, when/if the additional liquid is water based, such as tea or coffee, do you also add that to the oils? I worry that it would stay separate in the oils. Thank you again.
Hi! Yes, we do! We simply blend everything with our immersion blender and it's all good! :)
You are amazing.💗 It was very explanatory for me. It was tiring to prepare lye every day.
I'm looking forward to the video about scaling up.
What should be considered in the large mold and the small mold?
I'm sending my love.💗💗💗
Thank you for watching! I'm glad our video was helpful. It's definitely easier than preparing lye every day. I'm not sure I understand your question about the molds?
@@muddymintsoap You answered my question about soap molds on Instagram. ❤️I understand. 🤗Thank you🌹
You all explained this technique wonderfully for those new to the game of soap making. How long do you cure your soaps for?
Thank you! I'm glad it was helpful! We cure our bars for exactly one month. If we make a soap on July 13, we put them up for sale on Aug 13. However, I recommend that everyone figure out the cure time of their bars by weighing them. Start by weighing your bar right after cutting it and then set that bar aside and keep weighing it regularly until it stops losing water weight. I did this with our bars early on and figured out that they stop losing most of their water weight at the three-week mark. So, in a pinch, we'll put bars out for sale at three weeks, but we usually don't need to. Now, this will vary by soap recipe, but it's good practice to get the final weight of your soap for labeling purposed. I hope this helps!
Hey am from India too, one of the ways I have started reducing the curing time is to incorporate salt about 10%.
Hi there! Thanks for watching. Salt typically adds hardness to a bar, but I’m not sure about it reducing cure time… it probably feels that way because the bar is harder? I suppose salt is a humectant, so maybe it draws out the water more effectively while curing? I’m curious about this now! I’ve always cured my salt bars the same amount of time as my regular bars. I suppose testing the weight over time would be the easiest way to check.
@@muddymintsoap that's true.
Thank you so much ive been so confused 😢, ive wanted to use coconut milk and carrot juice as alternative to water , but couldnt find out how, i wanted more of the alternatives than the added water
You're welcome! I'm glad our video was helpful to you! :)
Great video, thank you! Any recommendations on finding a supplier for 50lb bags of lye?
Hi Joe! Thanks for watching! If you’re looking for just one “bag”, I’d actually recommend the 50 lb pails from Duda Diesel if you’re buying online. We used to also get bags one at a time from a local soap supply company. Now we purchase by the pallet from Bulk Apothecary, but that’s probably not feasible for most small batch soapmakers. I hope that helps!
Thanks in advance for this wonderful video! Quick question, would it make sense to add my sodium lactate with this lye master batch? Since most of the time, I'm adding it in! Would it be stable in the solution for a long period of time?
Great question! I don’t use sodium lactate, but I believe it’s typically added into the cooled lye solution? I’d keep adding it after rather than to the masterbatch. It’ll be much easier to figure out what is coming out of your tank if you only have 50% water and 50% lye. If you have sodium lactate in there too, you’ll need to factor that into the math when you draw from your tank as well. I hope that helps!
Hi again, when you were using the smaller plastic lye containers, did you have any techniques for bringing the temperature of the lye water back up? In other words, a replacement for the job of the heating element on the larger metal container you now use. Thank you again for the guidance.
Yes! We used to weigh out the lye-water for our batch and place the container in a warm water bath to slowly heat up while we measured our oils. You can boil water for this (which is what we did) or you can try hot tap water. Please make sure to never microwave your lye-water!
Hi Simmy, you must have explained somewhere and I can’t find it, but why do you warm your lye water before adding into your oils? Love listening to your teachings and you look good together.😊
Thank you!! And, great question! We ran into an issue several years back with lye that was too cool (under 80 degrees F). Our recipes are high in butters, so what was happening is that the cooler lye was causing the butter to solidify and not properly saponify, since we soap pretty cool. We were getting unsaponified butter streaks in our soap. It took us forever to figure out what was going on, but warming up our lye-water fixed the issue. If you don't use butters in your soap and your oils are mostly liquid oils, you might be fine using cooler lye.
I enjoyed your video. I see a vent fan in the background, will you please share where you purchased it and if you’re pleased with it.
Hi Rebecca! Thanks for watching our video. The vent fan was installed by our landlords and is just installed in the window blowing out air in order to keep our space more ventilated. It seems to work well, except it lets in cold air in the winter. :) I hope that helps a little!
@@muddymintsoap thank you. I just discovered you and then read your bio, you’re going back to your beginnings. I completely understand. I was contacted by Whole Foods and Sprouts to do wholesale, although it was flattering and tempting, I chose to stay small and enjoy my creative craft. I’m 60 and as you know, time is precious, so I applaud your decision to stay true to yourself and your family. If I were in Colorado, I’d definitely purchase some of your containers. May I ask what holds your molds together?
I wish you and your family peace, love and hope, today and always.
I'd like to know if I use ice cubes instead of water to premix lye mixture is the weight of ice cubes the same as the weight of the water.
Good question. Ice cubes and water weigh the same, so there's no issue with using ice cubes instead of water. :)
More videos please! You both come across so well really watchable- in my search to aid my knowledge I’ve watched some incredibly cringeworthy stuff! Or just plain irritating 😂!
Thank you soooo much! Really appreciate this and thanks for watching. I’m writing a soapmaking book, so we’ve had to take a little hiatus on the videos, but when this book is done, we’ll be back in action (and have plans to make a lot of videos!). ❤️
Thank you for creating this video ❤❤❤
I just would also like to ask if, using soap calc, i would click the water lye ratio as 50:50?... then once the recipe was calculated i will just compute for the extra amount of liquid to make it 2 parts water and 1 part lye? ... thank u ... sorry for my question i just would like to clearly understand. thank u again 😊❤
Great question! So, it's a little bit confusing, as you can't enter that you're using a 50/50 lye water solution in soap calc (as far as I know). What you want to do is click the radio button for "Water : Lye Ratio" at the top under "3. Water". The default is "Water as % of oils". Change it to "Water : Lye Ratio" and then type in "2:1". This will show you what you need to get 2 parts water to 1 part lye.
Let's say you see "8 oz water" and "4 oz lye". This is a 2:1 ratio. This means you would use 8 oz of your 50/50 solution (which is equivalent to 4 oz of lye and 4 oz of water) - hopefully you're still following! Now you need to make up the other 4 oz of water with either more water or another liquid.
Honestly, I never even bother to enter 2:1 in the calculator because as long as I know the lye number, I'm all set. If I know I need 4 oz of lye, then I just double it to know the amount of water.
Definitely make sure you understand all this before trying it, but the main thing to know is that your lye number is VERY important and never changes. The water number is the only one that can vary, but you have to use AT LEAST the same amount as the lye. So, you MUST use at least 4 oz of water to dissolve 4 oz of lye. Never use less water. Hopefully that makes sense!
Thankyou so much for your video! It was excellent and answered so many questions, some I didn't even know I had until you addressed them. The lye solution is genius and something I've been wanting to try and now I definitely will when I get back to soapmaking in the near future. One question I do have is if I make a 50/ 50 lye solution without a tank do I need to warm up the amount of solution im using in my recipe before soaping?
We might need to do a video on this as you're the third person to ask! We forgot to address this in the video, but I did warm up my lye-water by putting it in a warm water batch to bring up the temperature slowly and safely. I usually boiled up water and put it in a larger container and then placed my lye water container inside. After prepping my oils, the lye was usually up to 90-95 degrees. Hope this helps!
Thanks Simi 💕 this helps😅
I realize you did thoroughly explain that the pre-made lye did need to be warmed up to around 90 degrees. Sadly I thought the ice maker ice in my freezer made filtered ice but unfortunately not and it ruined the lye, lots of sludge and white scum. I loved using ice however because there were zero fumes! I need to make another batch of lye though😢
Wow! Thank you so much for the valuable information you've shared here. I stumbled upon your channel by chance, and I'm impressed. Years ago, I used to make soap for myself and friends. About a year ago, I started doing it again for myself and close friends, often giving it as gifts.
A question arose from watching your video: regarding the lye solution, I'm not planning to rush out tomorrow and buy a big tank for the 3-4 lbs I make once every few months. However, out of curiosity, won't the lye solution damage the washer and faucet valve in the tank? Considering my limited knowledge of machinery, I worry that the rubber parts might deteriorate. Do you have any tips for maintenance or special washers to use? I'm just curious about the process.
Thanks again for the fantastic videos! I've subscribed and will be following your channel. Keep up the excellent work!
Hi there! Thank you! I'm so glad you found our video informative! The lye tank we purchased is specifically made to be used with lye, so it doesn't contain any parts that could be damaged by the lye. We've used our tank for 3+ years and never had any issues. We do clean the tank occasionally, but that's about it. Thanks for watching!
Thank you again. Good to know.@@muddymintsoap
How do you know concentration of lye water using hdrometer using this method of 50/50 thxs👏
Hi! I've never used a hydrometer for soapmaking... are you purchasing your lye water pre-mixed and are wondering the ratio of water to lye? I'd probably recommend mixing it yourself if you're not sure. Typically lye-water that is sold pre-mixed will let you know the ratio. Not sure if that's what you meant!
Greetings from UK. Interesting video. I just started to make some soaps, and in all the recipes that I have found, they all say, you can re-warm oils, but not lye solution. I suppose you do not get issue with warming it up every morning then. Maybe I will try to pre-mix as well and see how it goes. Cheers
Hi there! It's true that you don't typically want to re-warm your lye solution. The tank we have is made especially for this purpose and warms it up safely and slowly. If you use a warm water bath, that is also a safe way to warm it up, if needed. Never microwave your lye-water or warm it up on the stove. That can be very dangerous!
@@muddymintsoap Thanks for the explanation 👍
Hi there, is it safe to use a glass jar for food after using it for lye to make soap?
Well, I wouldn't recommend it... if you can purchase separate soapmaking supplies, that's better, but if you do use it for food, I'd make sure to wash it very carefully and then put it in the dishwasher for good measure as well!