I'm still confused as to why you can't get lye.  If the DEA busts through your door, they will probably be far more interested in the fields of mushrooms growing in your house than the lye by your sink (unless you have an active DMT extraction taking place - in which case the lime will be just as bad as lye.  They don't really care what chemicals you're extracting with - just that you're extracting.)

There are plenty of reasons why someone would want to go with a drytek - but this doesn't seem to be one of them (if your cautious).