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Re: DIY yeast CO2
Eric wrote:
I have read back posts on the Mailing list and every one says to use; 1 cup
sugar, 1 tsp. yeast, and 1 tsp. backing soda. My question is, i have 3 liter
bottles. Is that OK? I don't see much of a difference that it would make.
Also, how long does it last? I used 2 cups of sugar before and it stoped
after a week. Is it better to make a sugar/water/baking soda mix, then, when
the co2 stops, dump out a little (1/2?) of the mixture in the bottle and
fill
it up with the sugar/water mix? Help me please! I really don't want to pay
$100++ for a CO2 tank, etc. Let me put it this way, I CAN'T pay that much,
I'm only 14 and don't have that much money to begin with. Thanks all.
Erik
I reply:
A leak is the first thing you should look for if you have poor CO2
production. Methods involving adhesives are not reliable ways to seal a
bottle cap to your CO2 tubing line. The cheapest method is to poke a hole
through the bottle cap with a hot nail. Cut the tubing on an angle and force
it through the hole by pulling on it with a pair of pliers. This is still
not the best way because it is a little difficult to get a seal if your
don't have a round smooth hole. The best method is to use a rubber stopper
with a small piece of rigid tubing inserted through the stopper. The airline
tubing fits over the rigid tubing. Science teachers have access to these
supplies and maybe with the right amount of sucking up you can get what you
need if you don't have it already.
There is no one perfect recipe for CO2 production. It depends on what you
are trying to accomplish, how many bottles you are willing to use and how
picky you are about constant CO2 production. I use two bottles myself and
tweak the recipe so that they will last much longer than normal. Others
prefer to just use one bottle and change the mixture in the bottles much
more frequently. The biggest trick that I have learned is that you can
revive a fermentation just by adding more yeast when the CO2 production
falls off. This probably works better if you use wine yeast like I do than
if you use bread yeast.
For your bottles you can probably use 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 1 1/2 tsp. baking
soda and 1/4 to 1/2 a tsp. of wine yeast. Once the production starts to fall
you
can just add a little more yeast once in a while to keep the fermentation
going. Depending on how much yeast you add to start with and how often you
add it this recipe can last for around 4 to 8 weeks. You can see a couple of
recipes I currently use and how they perform by going to
http://www.mnsi.net/~waj/CO2-8.gif
Wayne Jones
My DIY planted aquarium homepage:
http://www.mnsi.net/~waj/