Northwet Burner
Got Wood.
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2009
- Location
- Battle...
I give them to the wife and ask her to carry them out to the trash.
More than one way to get your ashes hauled.
8-}
More than one way to get your ashes hauled.
8-}
What to do with all the ash...
- Thread starter BigButzBBQ
- Start date
Make soap and here are the directions. Yeah I know TMI but you asked for it. lol
Basic Method When There Are No Stores!
[This write-up was taken from one done by Marietta Ellis concerning the soap-making practices of colonial America, with the tense mainly changed from the past into the present.]
Saponification is a very big chemical word for the rather complex but easy to create soap making reaction. Saponification is what happens when a fatty acid meets an alkali. When fats or oils, which contain fatty acids are mixed with a strong alkali, the alkali first splits the fats or oils into their two major parts fatty acids and glycerin. After this splitting of the fats or oils, the sodium or potassium part of the alkali joins with the fatty acid part of the fat or oils. This combination is then the potassium or sodium salt of the fatty acid. As we said at the start, this is soap.
Soap Making Takes Three Basic Steps
1.Making of the wood ash lye.
2.Rendering or cleaning the fats.
3.Mixing the fats and lye solution together and boiling the mixture to make the soap.
First Let's Make The Lye
In making soap the first ingredient required is a liquid solution of potash commonly called lye.
The lye solution was obtained by placing wood ashes in a bottomless barrel set on a stone slab with a groove and a lip carved in it. The stone in turn rested on a pile of rocks. To prevent the ashes from getting in the solution a layer of straw and small sticks was placed in the barrel then the ashes were put on top. The lye was produced by slowly pouring water over the ashes until a brownish liquid oozed out the bottom of the barrel. This solution of potash lye was collected by allowing it to flow into the groove around the stone slab and drip down into a clay vessel at the lip of the groove.
Some colonists used an ash hopper for the making of lye instead of the barrel method. The ash hopper, was kept in a shed to protect the ashes from being leached unintentionally by a rain fall. Ashes were added periodically and water was poured over at intervals to insure a continuous supply of lye. The lye dripped into a collecting vessel located beneath the hopper.
[Use whatever you have available or can make.]
Now The Fats Are Prepared
The preparation of the fats or grease to be used in forming the soap is the next step. This consists of cleaning the fats and grease of all other impurities contained in them.
The cleaning of fats is called rendering and is the smelliest part of the soap making operation. Animal fat, when removed from the animals during butchering, must be rendered before soap of any satisfactory quality can be made from it. This rendering removes all meat tissues that still remain in the fat sections. Fat obtained from cattle is called tallow while fat obtained from pigs is called lard.
If soap is being made from grease saved from cooking fires, it is also rendered to remove all impurities that have collected in it. The waste cooking grease being saved over a period of time without the benefits of refrigeration usually become rancid, so this cleaning step is very important to make the grease sweeter. It will result in a better smelling soap. The soap made from rancid fats or grease will work just as well as soap made from sweet and clean fats but not be as pleasant to have around and use.
To render, fats and waste cooking grease are placed in a large kettle and an equal amount of water is added. Then the kettle is placed over the open fire outdoors. Soap making is an outside activity. The smell from rendering the fats is too strong to wish in anyone's house. The mixture of fats and water are boiled until all the fats have melted. After a longer period of boiling to insure completion of melting the fats, the fire is stopped and into the kettle is placed another amount of water about equal to the first amount of water. The solution is allowed to cool down and left over night. By the next day the fats have solidified and floated to the top forming a layer of clean fat. All the impurities being not as light as the fat remain in water underneath the fat.
You may have observed this in your own kitchen. When a stew or casserole containing meat has been put in the refrigerator, you could see the next day the same fat layer.
Finally The Soap Making Can Begin
In another large kettle or pot the fat is placed with the amount of lye solution determined to be the correct amount. This is easier said than done. We will discuss it more later. Then this pot is placed over a fire again outdoors and boiled. This mixture is boiled until the soap is formed. This is determined when the mixture boils up into a thick frothy mass, and a small amount placed on the tongue causes no noticeable "bite". This boiling process could take up to six to eight hours depending on the amount of the mixture and the strength of the lye.
Soft and Hard Soap
Soap made with wood ash lye does not make a hard soap but only a soft soap. When the fire is put out and the soap mixture allowed to cool, the next day reveals a brown jelly like substance that feels slippery to the touch, makes foam when mixed with water, and cleans. This is the soft soap the colonists had done all their hard work to produce. The soft soap is then poured into a wooden barrel and ladled out with a wooden dipper when needed.
To make hard soap, common salt is thrown in at the end of the boiling. If this is done a hard cake of soap forms in a layer at the top of the pot. As common salt may be expensive and hard to get, it is not usually wasted to make hard soap. Common salt is more valuable to give to the livestock and the preserving of foods. Soft soap works just as well as hard and for these reasons the colonists, making their own soap, did not make hard soap bars.
In towns and cities where there were soap makers making soap for sale, the soap could be converted to the hard soap by the addition of salt. As hard bars it will be easier to store and transport. Hard bars produced by the soap maker were often scented with oils such as lavender, wintergreen, or caraway and were sold as toilet soap to persons living in the cities or towns.
Hard soap is not cut into small bars and wrapped as has been familiar. Soap made by the soap makers is poured into large wooden frames and removed when cooled and hard.
The amount of soap a customer wants can be cut from the large bar. Soap is sold usually by the pound. Small wrapped bars were not available until the middle of the 19th century [nor maybe shortly after the end of the 20th].
Difficulties in Making Soap
The hardest part is in determining if the lye is of the correct strength, as we have said. In order to learn this, the soap maker floats either a potato or an egg in the lye. If the object floats with a specified amount of its surface above the lye solution, the lye is declared fit for soap making. Most of the colonists felt that lye of the correct strength would float a potato or an egg with an area the size of a modern quarter above the surface. To make a weak lye stronger, the solution can either be boiled down more or the lye solution can be poured through a new batch of ashes. To make a solution weaker, water is added [more data to be added here on how to determine the correct strength of lye].
A Pennsylvania Dutch recipe once carefully warned that a sassafras stick was the only kind of implement suitable for stirring the mixture [see Hulda Clark comment above re sassafras] and the stirring must be done always in the same direction [?].
Basic Method When There Are No Stores!
[This write-up was taken from one done by Marietta Ellis concerning the soap-making practices of colonial America, with the tense mainly changed from the past into the present.]
Saponification is a very big chemical word for the rather complex but easy to create soap making reaction. Saponification is what happens when a fatty acid meets an alkali. When fats or oils, which contain fatty acids are mixed with a strong alkali, the alkali first splits the fats or oils into their two major parts fatty acids and glycerin. After this splitting of the fats or oils, the sodium or potassium part of the alkali joins with the fatty acid part of the fat or oils. This combination is then the potassium or sodium salt of the fatty acid. As we said at the start, this is soap.
Soap Making Takes Three Basic Steps
1.Making of the wood ash lye.
2.Rendering or cleaning the fats.
3.Mixing the fats and lye solution together and boiling the mixture to make the soap.
First Let's Make The Lye
In making soap the first ingredient required is a liquid solution of potash commonly called lye.
The lye solution was obtained by placing wood ashes in a bottomless barrel set on a stone slab with a groove and a lip carved in it. The stone in turn rested on a pile of rocks. To prevent the ashes from getting in the solution a layer of straw and small sticks was placed in the barrel then the ashes were put on top. The lye was produced by slowly pouring water over the ashes until a brownish liquid oozed out the bottom of the barrel. This solution of potash lye was collected by allowing it to flow into the groove around the stone slab and drip down into a clay vessel at the lip of the groove.
Some colonists used an ash hopper for the making of lye instead of the barrel method. The ash hopper, was kept in a shed to protect the ashes from being leached unintentionally by a rain fall. Ashes were added periodically and water was poured over at intervals to insure a continuous supply of lye. The lye dripped into a collecting vessel located beneath the hopper.
[Use whatever you have available or can make.]
Now The Fats Are Prepared
The preparation of the fats or grease to be used in forming the soap is the next step. This consists of cleaning the fats and grease of all other impurities contained in them.
The cleaning of fats is called rendering and is the smelliest part of the soap making operation. Animal fat, when removed from the animals during butchering, must be rendered before soap of any satisfactory quality can be made from it. This rendering removes all meat tissues that still remain in the fat sections. Fat obtained from cattle is called tallow while fat obtained from pigs is called lard.
If soap is being made from grease saved from cooking fires, it is also rendered to remove all impurities that have collected in it. The waste cooking grease being saved over a period of time without the benefits of refrigeration usually become rancid, so this cleaning step is very important to make the grease sweeter. It will result in a better smelling soap. The soap made from rancid fats or grease will work just as well as soap made from sweet and clean fats but not be as pleasant to have around and use.
To render, fats and waste cooking grease are placed in a large kettle and an equal amount of water is added. Then the kettle is placed over the open fire outdoors. Soap making is an outside activity. The smell from rendering the fats is too strong to wish in anyone's house. The mixture of fats and water are boiled until all the fats have melted. After a longer period of boiling to insure completion of melting the fats, the fire is stopped and into the kettle is placed another amount of water about equal to the first amount of water. The solution is allowed to cool down and left over night. By the next day the fats have solidified and floated to the top forming a layer of clean fat. All the impurities being not as light as the fat remain in water underneath the fat.
You may have observed this in your own kitchen. When a stew or casserole containing meat has been put in the refrigerator, you could see the next day the same fat layer.
Finally The Soap Making Can Begin
In another large kettle or pot the fat is placed with the amount of lye solution determined to be the correct amount. This is easier said than done. We will discuss it more later. Then this pot is placed over a fire again outdoors and boiled. This mixture is boiled until the soap is formed. This is determined when the mixture boils up into a thick frothy mass, and a small amount placed on the tongue causes no noticeable "bite". This boiling process could take up to six to eight hours depending on the amount of the mixture and the strength of the lye.
Soft and Hard Soap
Soap made with wood ash lye does not make a hard soap but only a soft soap. When the fire is put out and the soap mixture allowed to cool, the next day reveals a brown jelly like substance that feels slippery to the touch, makes foam when mixed with water, and cleans. This is the soft soap the colonists had done all their hard work to produce. The soft soap is then poured into a wooden barrel and ladled out with a wooden dipper when needed.
To make hard soap, common salt is thrown in at the end of the boiling. If this is done a hard cake of soap forms in a layer at the top of the pot. As common salt may be expensive and hard to get, it is not usually wasted to make hard soap. Common salt is more valuable to give to the livestock and the preserving of foods. Soft soap works just as well as hard and for these reasons the colonists, making their own soap, did not make hard soap bars.
In towns and cities where there were soap makers making soap for sale, the soap could be converted to the hard soap by the addition of salt. As hard bars it will be easier to store and transport. Hard bars produced by the soap maker were often scented with oils such as lavender, wintergreen, or caraway and were sold as toilet soap to persons living in the cities or towns.
Hard soap is not cut into small bars and wrapped as has been familiar. Soap made by the soap makers is poured into large wooden frames and removed when cooled and hard.
The amount of soap a customer wants can be cut from the large bar. Soap is sold usually by the pound. Small wrapped bars were not available until the middle of the 19th century [nor maybe shortly after the end of the 20th].
Difficulties in Making Soap
The hardest part is in determining if the lye is of the correct strength, as we have said. In order to learn this, the soap maker floats either a potato or an egg in the lye. If the object floats with a specified amount of its surface above the lye solution, the lye is declared fit for soap making. Most of the colonists felt that lye of the correct strength would float a potato or an egg with an area the size of a modern quarter above the surface. To make a weak lye stronger, the solution can either be boiled down more or the lye solution can be poured through a new batch of ashes. To make a solution weaker, water is added [more data to be added here on how to determine the correct strength of lye].
A Pennsylvania Dutch recipe once carefully warned that a sassafras stick was the only kind of implement suitable for stirring the mixture [see Hulda Clark comment above re sassafras] and the stirring must be done always in the same direction [?].
N
Navchop
Guest
I''ve got 30 acres, I just take it to the woods. I think it will take a long time to cause a problem
grossepellets
Full Fledged Farker
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2009
- Location
- Chicago
Depending on what you are burning assuming lump or wood - It is mineral matter, such as clay, silica and calcium and magnesium oxides, that is present in the ash and any contamination from the earth during processing may also be present.
BEST USE FOR ASH IS A FERTILIZER - There are programs beginning in Europe to remove the ash from power plants burning wood pellets to be used in commercial farming operations. In England Ash is already sold to farmers as a fertilizer.
BEST USE FOR ASH IS A FERTILIZER - There are programs beginning in Europe to remove the ash from power plants burning wood pellets to be used in commercial farming operations. In England Ash is already sold to farmers as a fertilizer.
K-Barbecue
is one Smokin' Farker
Fertilizer for the lawn grass
I have a small grove of pine trees that make quite a nice little nesting place for snakes when all the needles fall. Or should I say USED to... since I started covering the entire area with ash, I haven't seen a snake... Which makes the wife a very happy girl!
chobint
Knows what a fatty is.
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2010
- Location
- Columbus...
Just an FYI, ash has high alkalinity compared to normal soil. Adding it in moderation to your garden will probably have little to no ill effect. In fact, it is considered a fertilizer, according to the article cited below. However, if the alkalinity of the soil becomes too high (say after repeated dumping), it can cause the soil to become unforgiving for plant growth. So I guess the moral of the story is moderation. My family told me this long ago, but here is some citation just to be thorough (http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/woodash.html).
Also, the reason that it wards off pests and insects is because of the alkalinity. This works just like liming horses out at pasture to ward off insects, hence why the chickens probably love rolling in it.
But I digress... I usually pour some water in the ash catch bucket the day after to make a thick slurry, then pour it into the next bag of trash.
Also, the reason that it wards off pests and insects is because of the alkalinity. This works just like liming horses out at pasture to ward off insects, hence why the chickens probably love rolling in it.
But I digress... I usually pour some water in the ash catch bucket the day after to make a thick slurry, then pour it into the next bag of trash.
Only when the wind is directly out of the west. I like all my other neighbors. :evil:
What about the squirrels....
I have a "worm farm" I'm not sure if it's something you guys do much, but putting a bit of ash in the worm farm with the food scraps is highly recommended for pH Balance. I get nice big FAT worms foir going fishing!
Heh Heh..
Bill
Heh Heh..
Bill
Beerwolf
Take a breath!
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2007
- Location
- Cloverda...
Interresting idea, I have a couple of spots that seem to support nothing but weeds that need a constant supply of Round Up to control. Being as the Bay Laurel leaves have already fouled up the PH, there seems to be no harm in throwing my ashes on that spot and raising the PH beyond what will support those damned weeds
bigabyte
somebody shut me the fark up.
- Joined
- May 10, 2006
- Location
- Overland...
You could always just shake that ash and see what happens.
J
jswordy
Guest
I shake it out on the yard. We also burn hickory for winter heat, and all the wood stove ash goes on the yard, too. It is also good to add in layers to compost heaps. The key is to spread it out, not dump it in a pile. Ash is natural fertilizer. Been doing this for 20 years, no ill effects.
M
mean jean
Guest
Make an ugly drum urn, somthing to remember bbq's past.
Slow Smoke
Found some matches.
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2010
- Location
- Seattle WA
I spread my ashes on the lawn and on the garden from both the bbq and also my pellet stove in the house we use for heat. It is good for the soil. It is a bit messy so dont do it on a windy day but I take a handful at a time and lightly trow it to spread it around. I have been doing this for years and have a beautiful dark green lawn. My neighbor told me to do this 20 = years ago and I have been doing it ever since. He claims it is similar to the third number on a bag of fertilizer, potash, I dont know about that but I do know I have a good looking yard !
McGurk
Full Fledged Farker
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2010
- Location
- Blooming...
Simple answer: Dig a hole in your yard dedicated to the disposal of your ash, and cover it with a lid of some sort. Then, after a large smoking session, collect it in a fire safe container, and...
...wait for it....
"SHOVE IT IN YOUR ASH-HOLE!!!"
Sorry, I couldn't let this pass me up. I just can't believe someone didn't beat me to it.
...wait for it....
"SHOVE IT IN YOUR ASH-HOLE!!!"
Sorry, I couldn't let this pass me up. I just can't believe someone didn't beat me to it.
BigButzBBQ
is Blowin Smoke!
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2010
- Location
- Northwes...
So, feeling good about all the input I got on here yesterday I puffed up my chest and said to the wife "Heay guess what I found out that I can do with all the ashes I've been gathering lately?" She says "What? Use it as fertilizer?" :doh: I said, "uh, yeah... " She says, "Do you know you can also use it on Ice during the winter?" :doh: "uh, yeah, found that out too... " She says, "I've even heard of some people using it to make soap and keep pests away..." :shocked: :twitch: :sad: "I'll be outside"
T
Tweedle
Guest
We dump it in the compost pile, till we get to much in there. We also save it up to make lye. Also in the winter dump it in the driveway "for traction"
Chef Jim
Babbling Farker
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2010
- Location
- Tequesta...
Oh my, so many ways to deal with this. Great question. :laugh:
So, I guess we just do what we do.:clap2::clap2::clap2:
So, I guess we just do what we do.:clap2::clap2::clap2:
