Newfag here, I hear that you can make lye, soap and biodiesel out of ash. Does that include the leftover ash from my coal-barbequing? And in that case, can I use this coffeemachine to make the lye by using ash instead of coffee powder?
>>1014237
Your coal Bbq ash has significant amounts of dirt filler. Sift it through grains of mesh to get it out. Google potash
>>1014240
So is potash is the thing in the ashes that give you lye from filtering boiled water through it? Sorry, I'm basicly entirely unfamiliar with the composition of these things, and not very good at chemistry, either. All I know is that the ashes would need to be burned thoroughly.
Also, the pot in the coffeemachine is made from glass in case that wasn't obvious, but is plastic an OK container as well?
>>1014248
Also, why would you even need a coffemaker? Drop your ash into a bucket, pour hot water i and then decant and filter it.
When I read about it, it said to put the ash in coffee filters and pour boiled water through it. Putting it through the coffeemaker seemed convenient. I'm also concerned about how to contain it, but maybe I can sacrifice one of my three(!) buckets to make some sort of small, (relatively) airtight ash-lye filtering station. Or maybe I can just set some things aside so it's prepared to be used for that purpose.
We're likely to have leftover ceramic pots once we've decided which to use for flowers. Can I repurpose a pot for storing the lye? The inside would have to be glazed and uncracked, wouldn't it? Any suggestions on what to use for a lid? Would rubber-tightened plastic foil be a horrible idea?
Well, I read a bit more about it and I think I'll make a small filtering station out of plastic bottles, use rainwater to make the lye, and filter a little bit at the time and store it in a big plastic jug that used to hold water. Will return and post the types of plastic they are made from tomorrow. Any suggestions on how to make the filter? One that wouldn't need changing would be nice, but not necessary. I don't need the lye in its liquid form to be very potent, but it would be nice if I could make soap out of it to use for my outdoor stuff.
How does this sound: Water/ash container (plastic waterbottle) -> filter (inside water container or tube screwed onto it) > boiling/purifying container (not sure what to use for this; should be detachable, but preferably airtight when connected to the filter and steam output) > steam output (optional? To gather boiled-off water in so it doesn't spread to where someone might breathe it. Also not sure what to make out of)
I keep a "bobber" made from a material that won't erode in lye, with a mark showing how high it floats in saturated saltwater, in the purifying container, and regularly empty the purifying container into my stored lye container. Can't make a diagram/"blueprint" ATM but will make one if requested.
>>1014311
Regarding the "boiled off" water, it would probably have trace amounts of lye in it, which is why I don't want it to be breathable. Either I could use it as a light caustic acid (polishing purposes mostly), or for fertilizer, the concentrated lye dedicated to make soap out of. Maybe both if possible.
>>1014311
Well, when i said quite a lot of potassium i meant relatively to what you would find in nature in general. It's not like you're going to make some superstrong concentrated basic solution.
It feels to me you're trying to make this more coplicated than it needs to be. Remember, back in the day people would just dump tallow (or any other fat), hardwood ash and water in a bucket/barrel, let it sit and then skim the soap off the top of the container and use that.
I get the impression that you're more interested in making the hardware than the process itself, but i don't think soap was ever made in continuous fashion (opposed to making it in batches).
If you ever need any extra coal, ask OP's mom. She burns plenty of coal.
>>1014443
zing
>>1014441
Okay, that's relieving :) I know lye can be quite potent so I thought I should be as careful as I can with it, but I guess it's safe enough to experiment my way through it a bit then. Looks like the only bottles I have around are PET ones atm, I'll see how things go with those.
>>1014476
That's the right mindset. If you don't know how dangerous something is, take every precaution. Despite what one would see in movies skin is relatively resistant to chemicals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IoH1rwYc68
Even if you'd put your hand in there and quickly rinsed it afterwards nothing much would happen. You can see the skin start discoloring after about 15 seconds, and that solution is far, far stronger than anything you could hope to achieve with dissolving ash in water.
Sodium hydroxide is sold in PET.
>>1014237
Cure the ash with lightning.
Running water over wood ash through a filter gets you potassium hydroxide, which is a pretty weak lye, often used in shaving cream and soft and liquid homemade soaps, especially for use in natural pesticides/pest repellents for hippie gardening. You need a lot of it to make a usable amount of soap, and you need heat to make the reaction work.
I wouldn't be too picky about the water, as long as it's tap water or cleaner, and you're not in Flint or somewhere where your tap water is full of utter junk. Lime and other sediment like that won't really hurt things too much.
Look up the stochastic tables on google or somewhere, specifically for KOH lye-based soaps, and make for damn sure you have the right ratio of fat to lye, and boil your solution down to about the texture of mashed potatoes before you put it in. I learned this through trial and error years ago, but haven't tried in so long I don't remember exact ratios that worked the best. Do this over a stove or open flame outside. There won't really be much in the way of dangerous fumes from this kind of saponification reaction, and this type of lye isn't really that caustic to your skin. Heat it up til it starts to bubble and roll the heat back a little, just enough to keep the reaction going until it's all done. Oil really absorbs the hell out of heat, and this process takes a while, so you just don't wanna waste fuel superheating the stuff when it won't help speed along the reaction any further.
Once the reaction's done, if this is a soap you plan to use on your skin, add some kind of gentle oil to superfatten it a bit.
The more common way to make soap is with NaOH, which is the more well-known, more dangerous type of lye. This is good for hard soaps, can work cold, and doesn't take as long or as much, but I've never tried it and don't have a lot to really say from experience. Sodium Hydroxide is harder to manufacture than it is to just buy, and there are considerable safety concerns compared to potash lye.
>>1014666
Potassium hydroxide is not the same as potassium carbonate(potash).
Thanks a lot for all the help, I have a much better idea about what I'll be handling and what to do now.
Waiting for the epoxy on a filter-attachment for PET-bottles I made to harden before I put an actual filter in it. It's made from an empty pill-jar, HDPE-plastic, with a PET-bottle lid glued to it and isolated with some kind of sealing glue (Würth bond+seal, article nr. 0890 100 11; main ingredient is polyurethane, and it's free from silicone), and strengthened on the outside with epoxy. One end has a watertight lid which can be opened to replace whatever I use as filter.
I'll just put some thoroughly burnt, filtered ash and rainwater in whatever bottle is handy, attach the filter and leave it upside down to empty into a lye container. Hopefully the sealing glue won't react with/dissolve due to the liquids.
The reason I first looked into this was basically because I felt like it was a waste to just pour the ashes out on the lawn when I knew it's useful for something. Finding out I can make lye out of it I figured I can use it instead of purchased white vinegar for some purposes. I don't need huge amounts, but like I said it'd be handy to be able to make soap too for the occassional cleaning of tools etc. Maybe my girlfriend would enjoy making scented soaps so she gets something out of this, too.
>>1014666
I can't find any such tables related to lye or soap on google. Just some stock-related results and random research documents, it seems. As for water, will rainwater work?
For now, any suggestions on what I should use as filter? To begin with I was planning to put nothing but a coffee filter and see how that turns out.
Also, does anyone know how well it would go freeze-distilling the lye?
>I can't find any such tables related to lye or soap on google
http://www.millennium-ark.net/News_Files/Soap/Lye_Fat_Table.html
Literally the first result for "lye to fat ratio for soap"
>>1015173
Thanks, I don't know what "stochastic" means (non-native english speaker), so I didn't know how to adjust the search terms, and I didn't have time to look things up anymore by the time I decided I should find out what the word means.
