Very Dangerous!
Making lye starts with your wood ashes. You will need a fireplace.
Step 1
- Clean out fireplace and start making fires with your hardwood. You will need almost 5 gallons of wood ash for a couple batches of soap.
- the fire needs to be hot to produce more pure white ash
- you can add dried seaweed and banana peels to your fire to increase the pH of your lye water
Step 2
- Once you have collected enough ash (this may take a few fires over a few days) begin leaching your ashes in your ash hopper
- Pour dry and cooled ashes into hopper
- Just like when you make coffee of tea, hot water helps steep the dry ingredients the best. Pour boiled distilled or stream water over the ashes. The ratio between water to ashes vary, but you do not want to over saturate the ashes. You’ll end up with very weak lye water (but that can be remedied). I used about a gallon of ash and about a gallon and a half of water, to soak through the ashes and drip out.
- Make sure you have a container to collect the runoff
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- This process will need to be repeated numerous times. Pour the runoff water over the ashes again and again.
- The ratio between water to ashes vary, but you do not want to over saturate the ashes. You’ll end up with very weak lye water (but that can be remedied). I used about a gallon of ash and about a gallon and a half of water, to soak through the ashes and drip out.
Lye is a very dangerous caustic chemical. For this next step it is best to wear gloves, eye protection, a mask and work in a well ventilated environment.
Step 3 Refining Your Lye Water
At this point your lye water will be very weak. Your lye will not be strong enough to make soap until it reaches a 12-14 on the pH scale. The lye water will be a dark amber color and can make an raw egg float to the top.
- To get your lye more concentrated you need to boil it down and then use that water to repeat the previous step with fresh ashes.
- Boil the water in your stock pot (remember nothing aluminum) This pot can no longer be used for food products.
This water isn’t quite dark enough
- Repeat step 2, pour this water over fresh dry ashes and collect runoff
- Keep repeating until your lye water will float an egg and is a dark amber color (this took me about 2 weeks, 2-3 gallons of water, and about 5 gallons of ashes to get the lye strong enough)
Dark amber color, perfect for making soap
About a quarter-sized part of the shell should rise above the surface
Now that your lye water is potent enough you’re ready to make soap.
Mountain man soap 