Hey guys,

I have a question about residual lye ending up in the Spice of a STB extract. My formal chemistry background is limited to a single Chem 101 class some 20 years ago, so I don't have much of a foundation and I'm a bit rusty to say the least.

At any rate, I was under the impression that NAOH, as a strong base, could not remain NAOH in an aqueous solution - that it has to fully dissociate to NA+ OH- no matter how much is added. This would be in contrast to weak bases, which reach a saturation point and no longer dissociate beyond that.

So, it would seem that NAOH could not end up in the final product, because there should not be any NAOH left by the time the solvent is added. Is this not correct?

Note, I fully agree with the concept of washing the final product in all cases, and will always do that - regardless. I'm just confused about the action of NAOH in the solution.