Gave in and built a DIY CO2 setup

[exodus]

But I have one question. I'm using the mixture of sugar/water/dry yeast, and just wondered how long it is from the time that you mix the ingredients together and when you start seeing co2 bubbles?

TIA!

 

[nitrous]

mine usually takes about a day or two

 

[rich311k]

Anywhere from a 1/2 hour to 24 hours, by the 24 hour mark it should be going full blast. I usually see bubbles after an hour or so.

 

[exodus]

Well, I just mixed it up about 10 mins ago, so I guess I'll go check it in an hour or so and see how its coming along.

The mixture isnt very precise, correct?

 

[Glenc]

My mix is usually going in a couple of hours. I mix the yeast with a 1/4 cup of warm water and about 1/2 teaspoon of sugar in a small cup before I pour it into my 2 litre bottles. Mix it with a fork until there are no lumps and most of the yeast is dissolved, then dump it in. I find this really helps to kick start bubble production.

 

[exodus]

Cool, thats exactly what I did.

 

[Meredith]

This may be overkill, but to get things going, after I put everything in the bottle I let it sit in a warm bath in my sink for a while. I started this diy business when it was still cold. My house is warm enough now I think I can probably skip this step.

 

[exodus]

Yeah, I was thinking about doing that, but I've got my bottles sitting on my HOB and right next to the open back of my canopy, so its got all the heat radiating off the top of the tank/HOB/lights to keep it warm.

I also just gave the bottles a nice shake and I can see a few bubbles starting to form now.

 

[Purrbox]

Be careful about shaking those bottles once you've got them mixed. If the mixture was going better than you could see, the end result could have been that yeast mixture foaming up through the tubing and into your tank.

 

[malkore]

Be careful about shaking those bottles once you've got them mixed. If the mixture was going better than you could see, the end result could have been that yeast mixture foaming up through the tubing and into your tank.

exactly, its just like shaking a soda with the lid slightly off...it causes a sudden release of CO2, and the pressure will shoot the DIY mix into your tank, which has been known to kill fish and cause bacterial blooms.

shake once when adding the yeast, then NEVER again.

 

[7Enigma]

You did the proper method for quickly acclimating the yeast to a no oxygen environment. When using dry yeast, you want to mix in some warm water (~100F) and get all the lumps out. Then add a pinch or 2 of sugar, and then really mix to froth it up (getting lots of oxygen into the water). Then let the mixture sit for 10min or so and add to your bottle (that has dissolved sugar water at about the same temp). This should create pressurized CO2 within the hour, and by 2-3hours (depending on water hardness/etc can vary) should be producing at full rate.

While malkore suggested not to shake once mixed, personally I gently shake (in a circular fashion) to resuspend any yeast sitting on the bottom, as well as to evenly distribute the alcohol that is produced, and the suger in the water. As long as you don't overdo it (and don't have the bottle too full in the first place) I've found this to produce a more even CO2 production as well as slightly decrease the longevity of the mixture (I'm guessing this is due to the more even CO2 production whereas if you didn't shake it the CO2 production would slow near the end prior to alcohol poisoning).

You should get a minimum of 10-14 days out of the mixture, but I normally change the bottle once I get close to 1 bubble every 1.5-2 seconds (optimal for me is around 2 bubbles per second), which for me recently has been about 15 days (I think, I tend to forget when I make the mixture as it doesn't matter as long as I don't let the CO2 drop to much, thus causing algae problems).

HTH,

justin