No good anymore?

[Drug_Phreak]

I mixed some NaOH (the kind you can find at the supermarket) with some dH2O in a test tube... put a stopper on it and shook it around for a little bit. Soon after that a thin nasty looking grayish layer started forming on the top. I let it sit for a while and the layer got thinner, but didn't completely disappear. The mixture below the grayish layer turned yellowish too.

[ApprenticeCook]

What was in the testtube? residue on testtube or stopper of some other crap?
NaOH + water does shit all..... it makes a solution *duh*.

There could have been other crap like soaps or detergents in the crap from the stupidmarket, usually is in that kind of stuff, check label for % NaOH and see if it lists other crap.... more than likely you should throw it out and find another NaOH bottle with nothing else in it...

-AC

[Drug_Phreak]

The test tube and stopper where brand new. I didn't want to mention brand names, but it's the NaOH that comes in a container with the red letters on it. I was thinking about not getting LG NaOH anymore because of the $25 Hazmat fee, but I think I'll be sticking with the LG after seeing this. Maybe I got some from a bad batch or something. The cap felt kind of loose when I got it home. I know NaOH is hydroscopic, but that shouldn't make it do this right? I wonder if companies are starting to add crap to it on purpose. There must be very little quality control with this stuff though because of its intended use. I used it a while back (about 2 years ago) and this didn't happen, but I thought I would check it mainly because I got bored and had nothing better to do.

[ApprenticeCook]

NaOH from supermarket stuff is USUALLY mixed with soaps and detergents as i said above so its just that other crap in there....

Find another caustic soda brand which label reads 99.8% NaOH or similar... its there, just look more...

-AC