Well, I am 81 years old, but I remember helping my Mother make hominy. Although we burned wood for heat she normally just bought a can of MerryWar lye from the grocery. I do recall there was an ash hopper at my grandmother's but don't recall ever being there when she made her lye with it. We also used the canned lye to make soap using hog lard which we rendered in a big iron kettle.

We just ate the hominy though, never made our own grits. In fact, even being from Southern TN I did not grow up eating grits, my Dad was an Oatmeal man & I ate a few box-car loads of them. Actually started eating grits after Marrying a "Yankee" girl from Illinois.

You can also use lime water to de-husk the corn to make hominy.

Miller/TN
I Didn't Say Everything I Said, Yogi Berra