Lorrie Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 When I poured my lye into the water it heated like it normally does but for some odd reason when I went back later it looked like all the lye crystals where on the bottom of the jar. Now I stirred it really well and I have been making soap for over a year and a half but I have never had this happen. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sara Posted July 21, 2006 Share Posted July 21, 2006 Good question. I usually use mine up pretty quickly. Don't know what/if there's a shelf life of lye. But I've heard of people having lye that doesn't react per normal... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scented Posted July 21, 2006 Share Posted July 21, 2006 I had some that started clumping and I'm guessing it's from the humidity, but it did eventually dissolve. Sure hope there's no shelf life, because I have about 24 lbs to use fairly quickly if there is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sudsnwicks Posted July 21, 2006 Share Posted July 21, 2006 It should last indefinitely *provided* moisture doesn't get into it. I don't use mine up very quickly and it hasn't spoiled before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
countrysoaper Posted July 21, 2006 Share Posted July 21, 2006 I have keep my for years in one of those tupperware containers with the lids and I have never had any problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca_IA Posted July 21, 2006 Share Posted July 21, 2006 As long as you keep it in sealed containers, you're fine. Did you do too deep of a water discount? If you do too deep of a water discount, sometimes the lye will have issues with completely dissolving. Or is what you are seeing is lye scum? Sometimes if you don't mix it in a very clean bowl/pitcher, you'll get (what I call) scum that forms. For example, if I use the bowl that I have mixed my oils in before and I didn't make sure to really scrub the bowl after the last time I used it, the oil left on the side of the bowl will mix with the lye and form this scum. I did have an entire lye mixture I ended up putting down my drain after the first time I washed my soap dishes at the house I am in now. The water is so hard that it left a coating on my bowls and I actually had floaties in the lye mixture. They were so bad I dumped it and started over. This time making sure I dried my dishes after I washed them.I hope this gives you some ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorrie Posted July 21, 2006 Author Share Posted July 21, 2006 I don't know if there is a shelf life on lyw but I am sure that this stuff sat on the shelf at the store for sometime. The reason I say this is because when I bought it was about 6 months ago and there is the same amount of lye on the shelf as there is today. No I don't think that I used too much of a water discount because the recipe said 7-11 oz and I put 9. No it isn't scum that I saw it was actually lye. Now to correct this problem & don't laugh I hit it with my stick blender. That seemed to make it completely disolve. I figured it was worth a try to mix it up again. So I mixed it several times. That seemed to do the trick. Now when I made my batch the lye and oils together seemed to be the same.Could it be a possiblity that because it was humid that day, it made my lye funky? I keep it in air tight containers so the only moisture that it would get is, when I open the container. Crazy huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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