There are a few things you just don’t want to live without. Soap is definitely one of those things. Whether you want to be prepared for a disaster, are interested in cultivating lost arts, or are really into DIY everything, making your own homemade soap from ashes is a great skill to have.
Since I have a steady supply of ashes from our wood stove, I figured it was time to learn how to make my own soap. I followed the directions from Grandpappy’s Homemade Soap, it’s very thorough. If you are big into prepping I highly suggest you print it out for future reference.
Heat the lye water
If you have rainwater, heat it to boiling. You can use steam distilled water, but regular tap water has too much chlorine and minerals in it. Pour a half gallon of the boiling water over the ashes. Once that has seeped down, pour another half gallon and wait 30 minutes before pouring another half gallon into your bucket. If you don’t have a gallon of brown lye water in your pot, pour another one half gallon in 30 minutes.
You are done pouring as soon as you have a gallon of brown lye water in the pot below your ash bucket. The used ashes should be discarded, you can put them in the compost bin to break down. If you need more lye water, repeat the process with fresh water and ashes. Ten cups of ashes and one and a half to two gallons of rainwater will make an average strength lye, so there’s no need to test the strength. The finished soap will vary a little in strength, but you can use slightly stronger soap for laundry, and slightly weaker as a bath soap if it varies too much.
After extracting the brown lye water the next step is to boil it until the lye is more concentrated. When starting with ten cups of ashes, you should boil the brown lye water until you have just 3/8ths of a cup concentrated lye water. Obviously I ended up with more then that, due to my overambitious bucket of ash. This should take three to four hours. Once you get down to about a quart of concentrated lye water in the pot you should watch it carefully so as to not boil off all your water. If you do go below 3/8ths of a cup, carefully add enough rain water to bring it to 3/8ths. Be very, very careful with the lye! Wear gloves, and be super careful not to splash or spill!
Here’s how to get started with your homemade soap using the lye you made yourself!
- Warm up two cups of grease in a small pan on low heat. You can easily render your own lard or tallow from pork of beef fat.
- Pour 1 cup grease into stainless steel soapmaking pot
- Slowly add your 3/8 cup concentrated brown lye water and stir for three minutes
- Add another cup of grease and another 3/8 cup lye water and stir for fifteen minutes
- Keep the soap warm (between 90 degrees and 130 degrees depending on what type of fat you are using. You can place a towel over the pot when the heat is off.
- Stir vigorously for one minute at a time, letting the soap rest for 10-15 minutes between.
- Watch for the soap to be a solid cream or light brown color with no streaks before stirring, and is thick like pudding. This can take 30 minutes or up to 3 hours.
- Check for tracing by drawing a line with your spoon. If you can see the line, the soap is done. Or you can drop a little of the mixture from above, if the drop stays on the top for a moment it is done.
- Pour into molds and cover with a towel to hold in warmth
- Remove the towel after the first day and let the soap rest for six days
- Remove the soap from the molds and cut to size
- Air dry for 2-6 weeks, rotating halfway through.
- Store finished soap in an airtight container, or wrap in plastic
We tried making soap like our ancestors ~ From wood ashes to old fashioned bar soap
Can wood ash be used in soap making?
Despite its historical significance, the use of wood ash in soap making faces challenges in the contemporary world. Obtaining consistent quality wood ash can be difficult, and the variable composition of wood ash lye can make precise soap recipes challenging.
How to make white ash soap?
Burn the hardwood to make white ash. Assess the quality of your ash and proceed to sift if you are satisfied. This should help you remove any charred wood remains from the ash. The finer the screening tool is, the higher the quality of the wood ash you will get. Get the appropriate quantity of ash for the soap you want to make.
How do you make soap from wood ash?
WOOD ASHING SOAP Wood Ash mixed with waters produces lye, which can then can mingled from animal fat to make soap. You plain have to add boiling soft water to your ash, allow it to sit for adenine few days, and drain the lye out of the mixture.
Can you make homemade soap from ashes?
The stuff we’ll be making from ashes is potassium hydroxide, or potash. To make your own lye for homemade soap from scratch, you’ll need to collect ashes from burnt hardwood. If you’re not familiar with that term, hardwood trees are generally deciduous, with dense wood. Oak, maple, beech, hickory, and ash are the best woods to burn to make soap.