co2 mixture problems... is the stabilizer necessary?

[mr funktastic]

i replaced the mixture once since i ran out of the package and i only put in water sugar and yeast( i think 1/2 tbl spoon). it worked amazing and produced faster than the hagen mix ever did. after it ran out i realized i never used the stabilizer. what does the stableizer do? i just replaced the mixture a few hours ago and it is still not producing and i dont think it is going to. why is it a dud this time? will to much yeast casue it not to produce? or maybe i mixed it with to hot of water? i dont understand why this one is a dud and the last one was amazing. any ideas? i am going to go redo the mixture in a few mins to see if that will make a difference.

 

[Purrbox]

The reason you saw such amazing results when you didn't use the stabilizer (baking soda) is due to the fact the baking soda creates a hostile environment for the yeast killing some of it off and causing the rest to consume the sugar more slowly allowing it to produce less CO2 and last longer.

As far as the dud goes, if it still isn't producing after 24hrs you can try adding another 1/8tsp of yeast to try to jump start it as the yeast is likely dead. Could have been killed by using water that is too hot as you mentioned. Sometimes it just goes bad as well.

Something that helps is to foam the yeast before adding it to the bottle. This is done by adding the yeast to a bowl containing a some water and tablespoon of sugar. Let it sit for 30-60mins and then add it to the bottle. The mixture will tend to start more consistently and sooner using this menthod.