WARNING!
Ethyl Ether is very flammable and is heavier than air. Do not use ethyl ether near a flame or non-spark-less motors. It is also an anesthetic and can cause respiratory collapse if inhaled too much
Take the unmarked small bottle and spray starter fluid in it until it looks half-full. Then fill the rest of the way with water, cap the bottle and shake for 5 minutes. Let it sit for 1-2 minutes and separate the clear upper layer. Then draw off the top (ether) layer with the eye dropper, and throw away the lower (water) and cloudy layer. Place the ether in the marked container. Repeat this until you have about 1.5 OZ of ether. Put the cap on it, and put it in the freezer if you can. Rinse the other bottle and let it stand.
Ethyl ether is very pungent. Even a small evaporated amount is quite noticeable.
Pour 1/8 of the lye crystals into the bottle of ephedrine and agitate. Do this carefully, as the mixture will become hot, and give off hydrogen gas and/or steam. H2 gas is explosive and lighter than air, avoid any flames as usual. Repeat this step until the mixture remains cloudy. This step neutralizes the HCI in the salt, leaving the insoluble free bas (l-DESOXYPHEDRINE) again.
Why do we do this? So that we can get rid of any water-soluble impurities.
For 3 OZ bottles this should take only 3 repetitions or so. Fill the bottle under the ethyl ether warning and fill up the rest of the way with ethyl ether. Cap the bottle, and agitate for about 8 minutes. It is very important to expose every molecule of the free-base to the ether for as long as possible, this will cause the free base to dissolve in the the ether (it -is- soluble ether)
Let the mixture settle. There will be a middle layer that is very thick. tap the side of the bottle to get this layer as thin as possible. This is why this bottle should be clear.
Remove the the top (ether) layer with the eyedropper, and be careful not to get any of the middle layer in it. Place the removed ether into a third bottle.
Add to the third bottle enough water to fill it half-way and about 5 drops of munatic acid. Cap the bottle. Shake the bottle for 2 minutes, When it settles, remove the top layer and throw it away. The free base has now been bonded to the HCI again, forming a water soluble salt. This time, get rid of ether soluble impurities. Make sure to get rid of all the ether before going onto the next step. If there is anything left from step 3, repeat the procedure with it.