Creating Lye

Soap is a combination of three ingredients: fat, water and lye. In addition to use in soap recipes, lye can be used to clean containers where oil or protein-based deposits have adhered. Many commercial oven cleaning applications use lye. A powerful wood-stripper, lye will often leave the grain of wood raised. Lye solutions have long been used as drain cleaning agents because they decompose soap and hair.

Chemically, commercial lye and homemade lye are different. The chemical name for lye made with wood ash is called potassium hydroxide. Lye manufactured for retail is called sodium hydroxide.These two products are not interchangeable. The measurements differ depending on which type of lye you are using in a recipe.

Homemade lye is best made using ash from hardwoods like maple and oak or by using fruit trees such as apple. Evergreens and pine trees are not suitable woods for ash for this purpose. A hot fire should be used to fully consume the wood, creating papery, white and thin ashes without charcoal chunks.

Enough ash will be needed such that a waterproof, non-metal container can be filled to a level 3 to 4 inches below the top. This container may be as small as a five gallon plastic container or as large as a wooden barrel.

You will need two non-metals containers for your project. One bucket will hold the ash, the other container will catch the runoff. Near the bottom of your ash bucket, fashion a small hole. The opening should be small enough that it can be sealed with a toothpick, a piece of corking or a wooden rod — something which is not metal.

A layer of small pea gravel should be placed in the bottom of the ash bucket. On top of this, place about 4 inches of packed straw, hay or grass. Stopping three or four inches below the top edge of the bucket, pack the remaining space with ash.

You will want 5 gallons (or more) of soft water. Water which is soft has few metals and minerals. You can get soft water using special filters, from lava rock sources like granite or from peat or sandstone. Distilling water will also make it soft. However, the simplest way to acquire soft water is by collecting rainwater.

Be cognizant that the location of your container should be well away from animals or children that could upend it. The drainage can be caught in a glass jar, wooden bucket, or an enamel coated pan. Don’t use metal or the lye could burn a hole in it. Place this container in such a way as to minimize any splashing.

Lye may cause blindness. Swallowing lye can lead to death. Potassium hydroxide is a caustic substance that reacts to fats and oil on the skin, causing burns on nearly any surface. This reaction creates salts which can cause severe chemical burns, permanent injury or scarring. Lye burns can be so severe as to cause nerve damage, so you may not feel the burn right away.

Safety precautions should be undertaken before beginning. Don’t work in an enclosed area; make sure you have good air exchange. Have contact information for emergency services and poison control on hand. Wear protective clothing. Wear rubber gloves (the big yellow kind), long sleeves, have your legs covered and wear safety goggles. A container of vinegar should be within reach to neutralize burns to the skin. Washing with water worsens the effect of burns to the skin caused by lye.

Use a wooden handle or rod to press a small hole into the packed ash. Boil one of the gallons of your soft water. Cautiously allow the boiling water to flow into the container of ash. The ash and water will spit, spew and bubble. Add another gallon of water to the ash container when the bubbling diminishes. The ashes may settle to a lower level. Add more ash to the container to keep it filled. Add enough soft water to cover the ashes in the bucket. Close the lid on the container.

Remove the stopper from the hole at the bottom of the ash bucket and allow the runoff to drip into your catch container. This can take a whole day.

Take the runoff from your ash bucket and pour it through again on day two and day three. This will add to the strength of your lye.

An alternative method is to add the water to the ash container while the stopper is still in place. Seal the bucket and leave it for three days in a place where it will not be disturbed. You don’t want the bucket to be spilled accidentally so choose a storage location carefully. After three days, remove the stopper and drain.

The drained liquid is lye water also known as potassium hydroxide. To test its strength place a fresh egg (still in its shell) into the liquid. When the proper strength, your lye solution should cause the egg to float with a portion of its shell exposed with a diameter equaling 2 or 2 1/2 cm’s (about the size of a nickel or a quarter). An egg that sinks means that the lye solution is too weak and won’t work in soap recipes. You’ll know your solution is too strong if your egg bobs up on top of the surface. Add more soft water. Don’t use the egg for any purpose; dispose of it after this use.

If the lye water is too weak, heat it to reduce the amount of liquid. Enamel finished pots have a protective coating that covers the metal, making them safe to use for this purpose, though they may not be utilized again for food preparation. Be careful when heating lye as it can be scorched. If a chicken feather starts to melt when held to the hot liquid, you know your solution is the right strength. Take the lye water mixture off of the heat to cool.

When you store lye water, don’t overfill your jars. Leaving space at the top allows for pouring later without splashes. Keep in a cool, dark place in tightly sealed containers, away from curious children.

The used ashes should be placed in a hole that is dug away from busy areas. Allow this to cool thoroughly before re-filling the hole.

Should you wish to dry your lye solution into crystals (potash), place it into a lye-safe vessel. You’ll find that glass is a good choice for this project. Leave the cover off of your container and allow it to sit exposed to sunlight until the water evaporates and crystals form. Just as you would with lye water, follow safety precautions when storing potash crystals.

This and other skills are discussed in the new book, The Vision by Debi Pearl, the compelling new novel from international best-selling author who also co-wrote To Train Up A Child and the Good and Evil comic.