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@ringo I think it makes a reasonable amount of sense considering water from springs is being filtered through mineral deposits that it would pick up some of those minerals. I don't think people have historically felt it necessary to distill all water, and it makes sense that we wouldn't treat the water God gives us as toxic generally. I also think that on summer days when you are sweating and drinking a lot of water replenishing the minerals at the same time is probably a good idea. I mean there is definitely a water industry and they have propaganda to try and sell you "smart" water and silly things like that, but unless I have no access to water that I believe is clean enough to drink without distillation, I think it's easier, more cost efficient (both in energy and dollars), and may be more healthy.
I have considered getting a good filter (like a Berkey) and catching rain, but right now I live in town and I think rain barrels are technically illegal. You might still need to boil it but I don't think full distillation is always necessary.
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@thatguyoverthere @ringo
You need to be careful with rainwater. It has extremely low PH from all the chemicals in the air and can throw your body chemistry out of whack. Probably isn't good for the teeth and digestive tract to be drinking something that is that acidic constantly too.
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@CrushBead @ringo that's a good point. wouldn't a charcoal filter help adjust that? Maybe through multiple passes. I guess at a certain point the effort is no longer worth it. Honestly if I could I'd have a well. I won't drink this city's water. I have gotten notices on multiple years about shit in the water, and only a few months ago we had a boil notice.
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@CrushBead @ringo i was referring to the ph issue. charcoal could help with ph levels, although a single pass through a filter probably isn't enough. Oyster shell and other things like that might be useful too if you needed to de-acidify water.
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@thatguyoverthere @ringo
Charcoal doesn't have the minerals that water usually has: Calcium, magnesium, sodium, phosphorus, zinc and potassium.
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@thatguyoverthere @ringo
Oh my misunderstand. In regards to charcoal I would assume that it would entirely depend on the type of charcoal you use. I know that when I have made lye water that hardwoods like oak are the only woods able to produce ash and charcoal with high enough PH.
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@CrushBead @ringo yeah I was thinking hardwoods like oak / maple. Another thing I eventually want to find time to try my hand at is making charcoal myself and also using natural lye for soap. Right now I have laboratory quality lye that I use but that's something I have on my list of things to do.
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@thatguyoverthere @ringo
Making lye water is easy. Just use oak in your fireplace one winter and you will end up with more than enough ashes to make gallons of lye water. All you need is a decent barrel some hay or alfalfa straw, and some hardware. Add a bunghole and spigot near the bottom of your barrel, pack it with straw above the bung hole, and then alternate layers of ash and star until it is full. Fill the barrel with water and just let it sit for a couple of months. Drain it off and you have lye water.
If you want to make soap just let it evaporate until it becomes as concentrated as you want and cook in your fat and scents.
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@CrushBead @ringo I don't have a fireplace, but I use hardwood charcoal for cooking a lot. I have always been curious about how you measure concentration, and I had the impression at one point that potash was best for liquid soaps and sodium hydroxide was better for solid soaps, but I don't know if there is anything to that.
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@thatguyoverthere @CrushBead
i am a fly on the wall here and quite enjoying this. don't mind me, I'm learning about things i vaguely already knew about, but not in actual practice.
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@ringo @CrushBead right now I use my ash for soil amendments but ever since I started making soap it's been on my list to one day start making my own lye. I also hope eventually I can raise a few pigs. Leaf lard makes a great soap, and pork is delicious. I have a friend who has the space and we've raised pigs on his land a few times. Being there from piglet to bacon is quite an experience. Another friend of mine has a few heritage breed pigs he's had for years, and he loves them so much he's decided he can forgo the taste of bacon. Not sure I could ever do that, but they are smart and he says once you get to know them you don't want to eat them.
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@thatguyoverthere @ringo
You can use PH strips to measure the alkalinity of your lye water or, if you want to do things the old timey way, you can drop an egg into the lye water. If a coin sized circle of egg floating above the lye water it is sufficiently alkaline. If it doesn't use a deep fry skimmer to fish the egg out and slowly boil your lye water down until it reduces. I don't know anything about making liquid soap, just bars. Also ash soap isn't like store bought soap. It doesn't foam up and feels slightly oily.
also also always reduce your lye water or cook your soap outside. It lets off fumes when you heat it up.
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@CrushBead @ringo
Yeah I figured it was ph related. The egg trick seems perfect since I always have plenty of eggs around and don't always have ph strips.
I use extra fat in my soaps to get a better lather. I usually target a somewhere around 5% superfat. I've gone as high as 12%. I imagine that kind of thing might be harder to dial in with less precise measuring. I have made some that were a lot less lathery than others, and the hardness of our water makes a difference (when the softener is empty I get less lather).
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