hot process soap making

Hi,

I tried to make a hot processed soap using the recipe from
"Handcrafted Soap" by Delores Boone. I used Drain Out brand Lye. It
is said to contain caustic soda. However it was not pure white. It
had some sparkly silver grain on it. I was not sure if lye supposed
to be like that or not. I continued the process as described in the
book. The lye water was a little dark, looked like ash water. After
I combined the lye water and oil I started to trace it and cooked it
in the crock pot. It looked good initially. The glicerin started to
show. I tried to put back the glycerin in the soap but the soap was
not hard at all. It became curdly. I tried to cook for a longer
time, still didn't get any better. I used the stick blender again to
get all of the mixture to combine. It was getting better. I took the
mixture out and put them in the mold. It hardened but not as hard as
soap supposed to be. It still crumbled if I put pressure on it.
My questions a
* Can it be the lye that I used is not pure? So I ended up using less
lye for the recipe?
* What can I do with the soap that I have right now. Can I rebatched
it again?

Thanks,
Mary Sutanto

Hi Mary

I don't know diddly squat about soap, but I used pure lye in a formula
for something else that I made.

I found it very hard to find PURE Lye without any additives.

There is a brand in the UK that I know is good, but sorry, I don't
recall the name of it.

If you are seeing metal flakes, then this is a lye based drain
cleaner, NOT pure lye.

Pure lye will proudly boast that it is PURE on the label.

Here in the states Lewis Red Devil brand is the PURE Lye we use most
often, unless you have access to a chemical supplier!

TTUL
Gary