MAKE YOUR OWN LYE: 4 Steps https://www.instructables.com/id/MAKE-YOUR-...

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By LoganMackey
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About: I am currently taking over my grandparents farm, and

working towards getting off the grid, and a sustainable life.
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Lye from soap to bio fuel to Crystal meth, LYE

(KOH, potassium hydroxide) Has a 1001 uses.
And it is soooooo easy to make you could
almost do it by accident !
Here's what you need

FIRE!
WATER!
WOOD!
3 PLASTIC  BUCKETS

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Step 1: Step One: Apply Fire to

Wood

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   First thing you need to do is burn some wood,

No pine only hardwoods, Apple  and fruit trees
is the best.
   Now after burning that wood collect the
ashes in a big 5 gal plastic bucket make sure
the coal are not hot and melt through the
bucket.
 Fill the bucket about half way should be
enough.

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Step 2: Step Two: There's Holes

3 of 14 9/7/18, 10:28 PM
in Your Bucket
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  Take one of the plastic buckets drill some small

holes into the bottom, then take some �at rocks
cover the bottom of the bucket, then on top of
those rocks add a layer of gravel.

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Step 3: Step Three: Just Add

Water

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YOUR OWN
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biggest bucket,label it  LYE so no one tries to
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Take the bucket with rocks and holes and put

that in the other one. Fill it with the wood
ashes.
  Now just add water, this must be soft water or
distilled water, the best to use is rain water.

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Step 4: Step Four: Your Lye Is

Done
 That's it!  Once the water drains through the
ashes �lling the bottom bucket with LYE water,
To increase the acidity of the lye, take the water
and pour it through the bucket again and again.
   You can test the acidity with a PH meter make
sure it goes from 1.0 - 14.0  14 is the PH level
for making soap.
   Old ways of telling if you lye was ready for
soap making was it could dissolve a chicken
feather, or if a egg is placed in water it would
�oat above the water like a bobber.
    Or you could boil it, DO THIS OUT DOORS!

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25 Discussions

Softballmomof6
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/Softballmomof6/)
1 year ago

Reply / Upvote
Do you have a good castile soap recipe using the
homemade potassium hydroxide lye?
10 of 14 9/7/18, 10:28 PM
 MAKE YOUR OWN LYE: 4 Steps DarylB25 (/member https://www.instructables.com/id/MAKE-YOUR-...
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(/member/DarylB25/)
/DarylB25/)2 years ago

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ok after you drill holes in first bucket and put in to

second bucket. how does it letch into the third bucket

DesareL (/member
(/member/DesareL/)
/DesareL/)2 years ago

Reply / Upvote
My lye water ph is at 6.5, if this strong enough to make
soap with? How do i raise the ph to 14 like
recommended?

1 reply F

mazoweee (/member
(/member/mazoweee/)
/mazoweee/)2 years ago

Reply / Upvote
This method makes a great solution that will get up to
around 11-11.5ph. Great for soap however it is at the
end of this inscrutable it is technically potassium
carbonate (potash but called lye as well). Adding
quicklime turns this into a KOH and chalk mix (caustic
potash but also called lye :-/). For soap potassium
carbonate is awesome but for biodiesel folks it needs
some extra steps.

davide2 (/member/davide2/)
(/member/davide2/)
8 years ago on Introduction

Reply / Upvote
hi! lately i'm interested in soapmaking, made my first
batch few days ago. i looked for some info about
homemade lye and apparently nobody could tell a
scientific method to decide when the lye is ready. can
you confirm the ph must be 14? how did you get that
11 of 14 9/7/18, 10:28 PM
info?
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DellaP2 (/member/DellaP2/)
(/member/DellaP2/)
3 years ago

Reply / Upvote
When using. What is weight of liquid used for sol
forsoap

NathanS4 (/member
(/member/NathanS4/) /NathanS4/)
3 years ago on Introduction

Reply / Upvote
Lye is not an acid it's a base. With a ph of 14 it's far
from being an acid.

blueangelical (/member
(/member/blueangelical/) /blueangelical/)
4 years ago

Reply / Upvote
What do you do with the lye water then though. How
do you turn it into soap or washing soap. Ta.

taluntain (/member
(/member/taluntain/) /taluntain/)
6 years ago on Introduction

Reply / Upvote
i thought lye was a powder

1 reply F

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7 years ago on
Introduction

Reply / Upvote
Making Lye with Wood Ash is fun to do, but if your ever
in a hurry or just dont feel like making it yourself visit
www.essentialdepot.com their lye is pure food grade
caustic soda (another name for lye)!\

Irwan2 (/member/Irwan2/)
(/member/Irwan2/)
7 years ago on Step 4

Reply / Upvote
Thank you for your instructables. Helps me a lot since
I can't easily find lye in my country here. Thanks again.

redcore4 (/member
(/member/redcore4/) /redcore4/)
8 years ago on Step 4

Reply / Upvote
lye is alkaline; you can't increase its acidity by making
it stronger. as it is an alkali, pouring the water through
the bucket will increase its alkalinity (or its strength if
you'd prefer to think of it that way) not its acidity
(acidity actually decreases as you make it stronger).
other than this, great work!

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