has anybody out there ever heard of bad lye:evil: ...contaminated with something? i wish i could take a picture of smells but this shit smells bad...it was white scales that reacted exactly like lye but left a horrible, caustic smell in the methanol even after it was twice refined/recovered/distilled the smell persists...i only used this particular lye on the 2nd extraction and the smell ended up in my final product even after recrystalization, and volvin repurification...i dont have washing soda...is it really so easy to make as baking bakingsoda?...would this work to remove this impurity...and how in the hell could it remain in the methonol after redistilation?..this ever happen to anyone else? it's only minimal spice but i hate to 86 it...the previous product was orange...the freeze percipitated was clear but this spice persists in being maroon, brown-red

Dunno about the lye but as far as the sodium carbonate conversion I can tale you it's quite simple. Just dump out a box in an oven safe glass dish and bake at 400 F for an hour or too...maybe stir it a couple times....all it takes.

And it seems to me that it should pull out your contamination but I'm certainly not the expert here.

MAKE SURE YOU KNOW ALL THE INGREDIENTS OF YOUR CHEMICALS! Swim has heard of lye that has bit of aluminum in it as well as some shit at a wallymart that had some nitrate added as well. The only lye that swim knows is pure is at ace, or easily ordered offline from a soap supplier. For swim, its better safe than sorry..