# DIY co2 recipe



## ovenmit331

i'm looking for a solid stable long lasting DIY co2 recipe. i've found a bunch of different recipes online but thought i'd ask y'all before doing it.

it also need to be pretty easily scale-able since i'm going to be putting it one of these and i'm not sure how much they hold...


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## ovenmit331

bump... even though it's only been an hour and a half... i'm about to go to the store and wanna get the supplies... it's just sugar, water, yeast (kind?), and baking soda... right?


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## James From Cali

I would do a 2 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon yeast(Im Pretty sure its 1/4 teaspoon), and fill with warm water up until the water line. Baking soda is not needed. I use baking yeast and it works pretty well for CO2 mixtures. Not sure of the brand.


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## Naja002

Just get some baking yeast (Red Star works fine), fill with sugar to the bottom marker, warm water to the top marker, I think I used 1/4-1/2 tsp of baking soda and 1/8-1/4 tsp of yeast. Any of those combinations will work.


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## bsmith

i use 1 cup sugar and 1/8 tsp per every liter used.


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## Gatekeeper

I reccomend the baking soda. I believe it helps maintain a constant production of CO2 and minimizes the "peaking"...basically sustains a more stable bubble count. I can't verify this...but I believe it has been documented and tested here somewhere.

The "mystery products" that come with the Hagen system are yeast and baking soda...so they even reccomend it.

Naja's recipe is the same I use.


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## cbennett

if you want both stable and long-lasting then you have to use Champagne yeast and not the bread yeast you find at the grocery store. Bread yeast will have a big peak very fast and then quickly die because it can't handle the high acidity and alcohol produced in the solution. Champagne yeast has a slow steady peak and is designed to work in environments with acidity and alcohol. Luckily, you don't have to use a lot of Champagne yeast (i used to use 1/8 teaspoon in my 2-liter bottles) and it's pretty cheap. You can get a 5 gram packet (enough for several months) for about a dollar. Look for a local brewing/winemaking supply shops or if you can't find any, there are lots of places online that will sell them. Just keep the rest of the packet in the freezer and the yeast will stay fresh and active for 6-8 months. My favorite Champagne yeast is called "Pasteur Champagne." The solutions would last about 4 weeks using this yeast.

Also, absolutely add baking soda because it will buffer the solution (make it take longer to get acidic) and prolong the life of the solution. If you have really soft water, you will need to add extra. 

Here is my recipe (for a 2-liter bottle, just scale it down):
1/8 teaspoon Champagne yeast
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
tepid water


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## reizao

For this Nutrafin bottle the correct quantities are:

- Sugar until the first mark inside bottle
- 5 grams baking soda
- 0,5 grams yeast
- water to second mark.


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## Gatekeeper

reizao said:


> For this Nutrafin bottle the correct quantities are:
> 
> - Sugar until the first mark inside bottle
> - 5 grams baking soda
> - 0,5 grams yeast
> - water to second mark.


ahh...there is no "correct" way...CO2 is CO2...it costs less than a dollar to make a batch...rough it in and go for it!!!


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## ovenmit331

cbennett said:


> if you want both stable and long-lasting then you have to use Champagne yeast and not the bread yeast you find at the grocery store. Bread yeast will have a big peak very fast and then quickly die because it can't handle the high acidity and alcohol produced in the solution. Champagne yeast has a slow steady peak and is designed to work in environments with acidity and alcohol. Luckily, you don't have to use a lot of Champagne yeast (i used to use 1/8 teaspoon in my 2-liter bottles) and it's pretty cheap. You can get a 5 gram packet (enough for several months) for about a dollar. Look for a local brewing/winemaking supply shops or if you can't find any, there are lots of places online that will sell them. Just keep the rest of the packet in the freezer and the yeast will stay fresh and active for 6-8 months. My favorite Champagne yeast is called "Pasteur Champagne." The solutions would last about 4 weeks using this yeast.
> 
> Also, absolutely add baking soda because it will buffer the solution (make it take longer to get acidic) and prolong the life of the solution. If you have really soft water, you will need to add extra.
> 
> Here is my recipe (for a 2-liter bottle, just scale it down):
> 1/8 teaspoon Champagne yeast
> 2 cups sugar
> 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
> tepid water


is this a good price for Pasteur champagne yeast? $0.85 per packet
http://store.homebrewheaven.com/sha...2=954673409&ProductID=577&Target=products.asp

there's also a bulk thing of that yeast... 500 grams for $25

and i need to figure out how much sugar and water goes into that thing to get the ratios right. and i don't have a gram scale so everything needs to be in tablespoon/teaspoon measurements...

is it 2 cup of sugar, 1/8th teaspoon of yeast, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda? and does it matter how much water? or does it have to be scaled down per a specific amount of water? there seems to be a couple different recipes...


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## Naja002

$0.85 per pack plus $5.00 shipping to my address whether I buy 1 pack or 10. Local purchase requires sales tax. Total cost is what matters....

HTH


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## ovenmit331

Naja002 said:


> $0.85 per pack plus $5.00 shipping to my address whether I buy 1 pack or 10. Local purchase requires sales tax. Total cost is what matters....
> 
> HTH


where do you buy yours? that site i listed has a minimum order of $15


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## Naja002

I just use baker's yeast from the grocery store. The cost v champagne yeast to me is a moot point. I don't find the hassle of getting champagne yeast v just picking up some baker's yeast at the grocery store to be worth the extra hassle. But its up to each individual. Champagne yeast will last longer per batch, but its never been that important to me personally.

My point is: the cost difference is negligible, so if it is too much hassle to acquire champagne yeast--just pick up some baker's yeast.

HTH


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## ingg

I use jello for the sugar mix, read about it and it seemed to last longer, and this has been my experience - it takes the yeast longer to "burn" through the jello mix. But, it also slows down the bubble rate some.

I use 2 small jello packs, made per box instructions. Add 2 cups sugar with the jello mix. Add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda before puttint it into the fridge, and shake it slightly (It'll fizz up, it settles back down.)

Once it it set, I put 1 cup of water with 1/4 teaspoon of yeast on top of the jello. I find I can reset the yeast mix by pouring it off the top and putting new yeast on the remaining jello after a couple of weeks, and they last me over a month.


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## ovenmit331

so... just for kicks, i decided to measure the hagen recipe...

a little under 1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon yeast (activator)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda (stabilizer)
2 cups water.

i'm gonna use one of their recipe (and their packets) and then use my own yeast and baking soda and recipe in the other one, start them at the same time and see what happens. thinking i'll stick with 1/8tsp yeast, change it to 1/2tsp baking soda and 1/2 cup sugar. the maybe do two other trials with yeast and baking soda at 1/4 & 1/2 and 1/4 & 3/4 tsp respectively.

it's like a science project all over again.


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## cbennett

i agree that the ratios aren't that important, it's just a rough idea. You just need enough food for the yeasties (sugar) and then buffer the water a little to help it stay alkaline longer (baking soda). The cost is negligible no matter how you do it - about a dollar for a several month supply of yeast and less than that for a cup or two of sugar and a bit of the baking soda. However, I do think it is important to use the Champagne yeast for a couple reasons. One is that the solutions works twice as long before you have to redo it, which means you're more likely over the long run to keep up on it. It's all fun and exciting at first, but quickly becomes a PITA and so one procrastinates and boom! algae. Second is that bread yeast is really uneven, the first day or two you get almost too much co2 and then it quickly putters out. BBA type algae will easily occur when you have fluctuating co2 levels - especially when the co2 levels are sort of borderline to begin with. 

Look in your phone book. There are lots and lots of folks who love making their own beer at home, so you are almost guaranteed to have a little hole-in-the-wall brewing supply shop that will sell you what you're looking for. Beer folks use the exact same yeast you need. You can spend a dollar or two, and as long as you keep the yeast in your freezer you'll be set for a year. Easy. If you live somewhere that doesn't have a brewery shop, paying $5.00 + $0.85 for a year's supply yeast doesn't seem too onerous. You don't put the entire packet of yeast in each time you change the solution.

Aha! Try this place:

San Antonio Homebrew Supply
2809 N Saint Marys St
San Antonio, TX, 78212 
(210) 737-6604 

Maybe this place too:

L & M General Store
7806 Fm 471 S, 
Castroville, TX 78009-5310
(830) 538-6492


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## mistergreen

regular yeast is fine. No need for fancy brewers or champane yeast.
If you really really want to, you can make your own!

Buy a bunch of grapes (don't wash it)... Mash it up. Dump it in the container. Let it ferment for a week with dechlore water in a dark & warm place. The yeast/s naturally lives on the skin of the grapes.
The yeast will feed off the sugar in the grapes and you need to add a cup of flour in the mixture. The flour will feed the yeast as well and it's easy to see bubbles trapped by the dough.

It won't smell too nice but you'll get the yeast you want. Make a batch and you can save it in the fridge forever. Feed the batch once a month with flour/grapes and drain off the alcohol.

This is also good for baking sour dough rustic type breads. Serious!

warning: it is a hit or miss process.. It shouldn't smell like death.. It should smell good.. like wine or bread.


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## ovenmit331

turns out the yeast that was in the hagen "activator" packet had a date stamp of july 2005... needless to say, it didn't do a damn thing.


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## Left C

Hi

I've never heard of anyone that bought the Hagen CO2 kit that the yeast/stabilizer didn't have an expired date. I bought three of them and all of them came with yeast that was over one year or more past the expiration date.

I just set up a male cichlid holding tank/plant grow out tank. I'm going to get my Hagen kits out of retirement (I'm using pressurized now on the other tanks) and use the Alcotec 48-Hour Turbo Yeast. It comes with nutrients. Many people like Premier Cuvée. It works well. I believe that Rex uses and sell this.

Left C


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## Espada

cbennett said:


> Here is my recipe (for a 2-liter bottle, just scale it down):
> 1/8 teaspoon Champagne yeast
> 2 cups sugar
> 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
> tepid water


Maybe stupid question, but how do I measure 1/8 teaspoon? I have those plastic measuring spoons for 1 or half teaspoon, so does that mean I need to get a 1/8 teaspoon? 

Can you be also more specific about the *baking soda* you used or is there only one kind? And how about the sugar, just regular *sugar*?

Soory for all these question, but I'm 99% sure that the Chapagne Pasteur method is the best CO2 DIY method (did a lot of reading on many sites), so I want to be sure I have all the proper ingredients.

EDIT: how do you prepare the stuff, for example are you preparing the yeast before you use it?



mistergreen said:


> No need for fancy brewers or champane yeast.


What do you base that on *mistergreen*? 
I've read several times the last few weeks on multiple sites about different people who tested/compared bread yeast with champagne yeast and champagne yeast ALWAYS gave much better results, especially the "Pasteur Chapagne yeast" that also *cbennett* recommended.

Not only is the co2 output steadier with this yeast, but it also lasted 1 of 2 weeks extra (no suprise, because it has to be pretty alcohol resistant if it's to produce champage), enough reason for a lot of people to show interest, because let's face it; who doesn't like more time between refills/cleaning. 

So after seeing *cbennet*'s post, which confirmed what I've read multiple times, I decied to check his previous posts and noticed that he also mentioned that the champagne yeast produces not a huge amount of foam like the bread yeast does and that for me is another plus (for more than one reason).


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## cbennett

1/8 teaspoon is like a big pinch - just toss it in the bottle. If it's been frozen, just allow a couple hours for it to get going full strength.

baking soda is just the Arm&Hammer kind you have in your fridge.

just regular ole white sugar.


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## Werdna

*CO2 recipe tested by many*

Including myself...

http://fish.cecolts.com/pics/co2.html


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## ovenmit331

Werdna said:


> Including myself...
> 
> http://fish.cecolts.com/pics/co2.html


the recipe from that site: 
For a one liter, I use the following mix: (double for a two liter)
one cup sugar
one teaspoon baking soda (to help slow and regulate the reaction)
one-quarter teaspoon baking yeast
hot and cold water up to the narrowing point of the bottle


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## ovenmit331

ovenmit331 said:


> so... just for kicks, i decided to measure the hagen recipe...
> 
> a little under 1/2 cup sugar
> 1/8 teaspoon yeast (activator)
> 3/4 teaspoon baking soda (stabilizer)
> 2 cups water.
> 
> i'm gonna use one of their recipe (and their packets) and then use my own yeast and baking soda and recipe in the other one, start them at the same time and see what happens. thinking i'll stick with 1/8tsp yeast, change it to 1/2tsp baking soda and 1/2 cup sugar. the maybe do two other trials with yeast and baking soda at 1/4 & 1/2 and 1/4 & 3/4 tsp respectively.
> 
> it's like a science project all over again.


i think this is gonna be a journal for me... so if i ever forget the recipe or why i went with that recipe, i'll be able to come back and figure it out...

so i tried their recipe (with my own store bought cheap stuff) and my first recipe and mine seems to be producing more

so far (after about two weeks):

the recipe with 1/8 tsp yeast, 3/4 tsp BS, 1/2 c sugar, and 2 c water yields about 6 bpm or 1 bubble every 10 seconds.

the recipe with 1/8 tsp yeast, 1/2 tsp BS, 1/2 c sugar, and 2 c water yields about 8 bpm or 1 bubble every 7.5 seconds. (also just noticed that this is the same recipe that the site linked above uses, but with less water)

i might just buy a co2 tank and regulator and throw all this testing out the door (or use it on my 10g tank at home)...


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## bsmith

really just try it and make your own recipe that sounds good to you from the many that have been provided. i personally dont think the chamagne yeast is necesssary i have a batch thats been going over a month WITH OUT baking soda and my drop checker is green and that makes me happy and lets me know i have enough co2 dissolved in the tank. also i change my mix when my drop checker turns blue or starts fading that color which denotes lower levels of co2.personally i let it go for a couple of days with no ill effects before, so dont think if your mix peters out on you BOOM bba, it dont work like that.


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## babak

here is a much better recipe if you want 2-3 bps...

http://www.aquariumlife.com.au/showthread.php?p=133278&posted=1#post133278


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## Shank

Reading around, I may be using too much yeast, and it is diminishing the sugar too quickly.

I'll try again with .5 tsp and if it still doesn't work, I'll need more advice on this thread.


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