# ultimate DIY CO2 with benefits… wine byproduct!



## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

OK, I know that it’s been done before, but here is my take on it. Like any DIY CO2, it includes sugar, water, and yeast of course, but the yeast is proper wine yeast, some of the sugar comes from grape juice, and there’s a little lemon juice for proper acidity. My recipe is a simplified derivative of this award-winning version (White Niagara). 

First, I offer a note on the number and volume of reaction bottles. I know from experimentation that I need 2-3 gallons of actively fermenting solution to provide enough CO2 for ~150 gallons of planted tank. I could use a single 2 or 3 gallon bottle, but given the time it takes for a new solution to reach peak activity, and then the taper in the end, that would yield highly inconsistent CO2 production over the course. Better would be two 1.5-gallon bottles, better yet three 1-gallon bottles, and so on. What I have settled into is five 0.5-gallon bottles with one replaced every 5 days. At any given time, I have 3 bottles in near peak production plus 1 ramping up and 1 ramping down. Every 5 days I mix up a new bottle and harvest one. Quite nicely, this works out to about 1 glass of wine each for me and the mrs every night at dinner. Cheers. Now the details:

For each half gallon batch, I use:
- (1) 11.5-oz can of Welch’s “100%” frozen concentrated grape juice (yellow lids denote 100%, white lids are their cocktail mixes), any flavor. They have red, white, raspberry, cranberry, and peach…all good. Some people make a big deal about not using any juice with preservative in it, thinking that the preservative could inhibit the yeast activity. In reality, (1) good luck finding a cheap supply of truly 100% juice; Welch’s is “100% juice…(tiny print at the bottom) with added ingredients” including preservatives; and (2) regardless, I’ve never had any issues getting the yeast going. Of course, you could invest in higher quality juice to yield a higher quality product (they say you can make a lousy wine with great juice, but you cannot make great wine with lousy juice). 
- (1.5) cups sugar, any old granulated sugar. Just the grape juice alone does not have a sufficient amount of sugar; it would not ferment as long or as vigorously, giving less CO2 for your tank and less alcohol for your beverage. So I bump it up with the granulated. Between the juice and this amount of supplemental sugar, my hydrometer tells me this mix has the potential to yield 13% ABV (26 proof). In reality, the yeast dies off when the alcohol reaches about 10-12%, yielding a beverage with just a touch of residual sweetness. You can use less sugar if you prefer a drier wine product. If you prefer a lower ABV, you can also add sulfites to kill off the yeast at whatever ABV you desire. 
- (1) teaspoon lemon juice. I know, lots of the DIY CO2 recipes call for baking soda to keep the pH up to supposedly make the yeast live longer. In my experience, it is not the pH that kills them, it’s the alcohol. 
- sprinkle of wine yeast. I prefer Red Star brand and I use the varieties Montrachet and/or Premier Cuvee. I get the packets for $0.50 each at the winery/shop down the road. 1 packet usually does 5 gallons, so I can easily do 10 half-gallon batches from 1 packet (nearly 2 months) and probably twice that, keeping the packet in the fridge between uses. You certainly can start a new bottle with live yeast from the old bottle, but the more times you do that the more you run the risk of an ‘infection’ with a wild strain that could have off flavors. It’s only a nickel’s worth of yeast per bottle, not even $4/year, so I don’t cut that corner. If one wanted to get even more CO2 from the mix, and also a higher ABV, one could use champagne yeast: they survive to a higher ABV, but your final product will taste less like traditional wine.
- After these ingredients are in, add enough water to get the bottle a couple inches from the top (5.5 cups for me), leaving enough headroom for a little froth; you can top it up to a full half gallon after the bottle comes offline.

No mixing, no boiling (sterile-technique gurus gasp here), I just dump it all in the CLEAN bottle (rinsed when emptied, run through dishwasher on high heat setting). Yeast go in last so it doesn’t get buried under the sugar. Then let it sort itself out; it always launches no problem and the yeast do all the mixing. Depending on temperature, it takes a few days to get going strong. I get good CO2 production for ~3 weeks. Of course, rather than dumping the bottle when it’s spent, you can (1) put it on a pantry shelf for another couple months so it can completely finish fermenting and get a little age to mellow/mature, or (2) if you are really impatient you really can drink it immediately—it might have a little fizz to it, a little more residual sugar, and taste a little more like grape juice still than wine. But it is quite drinkable. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a top shelf product…we jokingly call it hobo wine, lol. My wife’s people are from the south and refer to such concoctions as Possum Holler Kool-Aid. Ah it’s not that bad. And it’s easily 1/10th the cost of store-bought cheap wines, plus you get the CO2 for your plants. Win, and win. Good luck with yours!


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## gSTiTcH (Feb 21, 2013)

TheDrake said:


> - (1) teaspoon lemon juice. I know, lots of the DIY CO2 recipes call for baking soda to keep the pH up to supposedly make the yeast live longer. In my experience, it is not the pH that kills them, it’s the alcohol.


I noted that when using baking soda in my mixes (standard baking yeast), I didn't get as much CO2 production and the mix didn't last as long.


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## FlyingHellFish (Nov 5, 2011)

That almost looks good enough to drink!


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

This is absolutely amazing! Possibly epic...


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## Brich999 (Mar 17, 2013)

I love when 2 great hobbies intersect


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

johnson18 said:


> This is absolutely amazing! Possibly epic...


Aw shucks, thanks. As you might have guessed, someone who makes wine (and beer) occasionally hosts 'social gatherings'. That photo was taken from the center of our dining room, with the tank sitting on a half wall into the livingroom, so the setup is a centerpiece when we entertain. You can imagine how that curious arrangement of tanks, colored bottles, and hoses piques people's interest and starts some great conversations. You don't have drinks at my house without learning some biology, lol!



Brich999 said:


> I love when 2 great hobbies intersect


It took some time. I got out of planted tanks with a move about 9 years ago (can't believe I used to throw away the DIY CO2), learned to brew about 6 years ago, and just in the past few months finally brought it all together. Hopefully this summer when the bees start cranking out the honey a third hobby will collide as I start using the honey to make wine to make CO2. Now if only I could get the bees to pollinate the plants...:biggrin:


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## mcfly84 (Nov 13, 2012)

OMG I love the idea. LOL it actually had crossed my mind when I changed out my bottle the other day and got the big wiff of alcohol lol I was like hmmmmmm........ so yeah I think I will be following your formula for sure and maybe even experiment with different flavors and such.


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## thelub (Jan 4, 2013)

This is very cool. Is mead made the same way? Is that what you plan on using the honey for? Or are you just going to use it to replace the sugar in your concoction? Think you could do grain spirits like this?


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## cjyhc4 (Dec 18, 2006)

Ok, very cool!! I wasn't even thinking about doing CO2 with one of my tanks until I read this. I seriously just went and whipped up a batch using some pineapple juice I had in the fridge and installed it before even commenting. It's tempting to rig up another one and use up that cranberry juice for another tank.....

You win.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Your are using this in an aquarium? If yes it seems it would color the water.


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

mcfly84 said:


> I think I will be following your formula for sure and maybe even experiment with different flavors and such.


Awesome! Please share your results and any refinements you make! I'm sure there's lots of room for improvement.



thelub said:


> This is very cool. Is mead made the same way? Is that what you plan on using the honey for? Or are you just going to use it to replace the sugar in your concoction? Think you could do grain spirits like this?


I haven't done much research on mead yet, but I think you use honey for all the sugar (no grapes or other juice or anything except yeast and water) with the pollen/nectar providing the unique flavor. Spirits are produced by distilling; you can distill any alcohol you make to concentrate it (you can freeze/jack it too although all of those are technically illegal).



cjyhc4 said:


> I seriously just went and whipped up a batch using some pineapple juice I had in the fridge and installed it before even commenting. It's tempting to rig up another one and use up that cranberry juice for another tank.....


Great! Please keep us posted. I have heard that with more acidic juices it can be harder to get the yeast rolling--some people get the yeast started in a diluted juice and gradually build up the juice concentration as the yeast adjust to the low pH.



Hilde said:


> Your are using this in an aquarium? If yes it seems it would color the water.


Not sure what you mean. Nothing but CO2 goes from the bottles to the tank. If the line is very short and direct, you might get yeast in the vapor contaminating your tank. But each of my bottles has a 'triple riffle' at the top, like a bubble counter where the CO2 passes through some water. That let's me track the production of each bottle individually. And then they all run together and go through an aquarium bubble counter, which allows me to count all the bubbles together (~10/sec). Anything that was volatilized from the wine surface (which I think is pretty unlikely) would get filtered out in 1 or the other counters.


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## danielt (Dec 19, 2012)

Now I have to decide which of my interests have been picked


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## thelub (Jan 4, 2013)

Sucks honey is so expensive (unless you have your own bees). Mead is fantastic.

Fish tank wine. Who woulda thought. I'm guessing its just a little better than prison toilet wine


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## darthmilmo (Feb 19, 2013)

Awesome post. Thanks for sharing. A few questions:
- Are the bottles made of glass or plastic? What material would you recommend? Sorry, I can't tell from the picture
- I saw the s-airlock on ebay for sale along with the gum stopper things. Before I order, I will take a look at the make-your-own beer/wine store. It's in a fancy overprice part of town so I may have to order my stuff online, including the yeast. 

How do you get the CO2 from the fermentation to your tank? It looks like you concentrate it in one line. Do you have cut-offs for when you remove a mix? It looks like an awesome setup. I had given up on DIY CO2, but this is inspiring me to set it up again. 

Thanks,
Fernando


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

darthmilmo said:


> Are the bottles made of glass or plastic? What material would you recommend?


Mine are glass. I get them from a local dairy chain (Byrne dairy) that sells milk and juice in them. They let them go for a $0.50 deposit each, and I have stocked up. You can't buy jugs that nice for $0.50! You can buy similar jugs at homebrew supply outfits locally or online (example). I recommend glass. It's easier to clean well (plastic in a high-temp dishwasher will warp), inert, not permeable to gas like some plastic, and won't get brittle from long-term exposure to CO2. 



darthmilmo said:


> - I saw the s-airlock on ebay for sale along with the gum stopper things. Before I order, I will take a look at the make-your-own beer/wine store. It's in a fancy overprice part of town so I may have to order my stuff online, including the yeast.


You might be surprised. I get my stuff at a local winery, which appeals to a high-end clientele. But they have a nice little DIY section with the triple-riffles and stoppers for $1 and quality yeast for $0.50. 



darthmilmo said:


> How do you get the CO2 from the fermentation to your tank? It looks like you concentrate it in one line. Do you have cut-offs for when you remove a mix?


I glued ~12" of airline into the top of each triple riffle. I used silicone originally, but it doesn't make a super-tight seal against the smooth plastic of the riffle, so when they start to leak, I am re-doing them with JB weld (common 2-part epoxy). I also put a light coat of silicone where the riffle goes through the stopper. The other end of the airline goes to a metal T so they all run together in a single line to the glass bubble counter. From there to the sump where the bubbles feed into a powerhead that only runs by day, with bubbles escaping near the surface at night. I do not have a shut-off valve anywhere in the system, but that is a great idea! At least very temporarily (it would pop after a minute or so!). Without a shut-off, I lose pressure every time I replace a bottle and it takes a few minutes to build back up again. Thanks!


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## mcclure91 (Aug 7, 2011)

love this idea doing this next time i need to refill my co2 bottle


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

Hilde said:


> Searched for triple riffle on ebay and got switch plates. On google got rifles. Stumped.


Maybe it's triple ripple. Anyway, those airlocks on the tops of the bottles, like this:


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

The only snag for me was adapting the top of the triple to airline tubing. Silicone caulk held tight to the airline, but not the inside of the triple. JB Weld did the trick.


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## kingjombeejoe (Feb 17, 2013)

This is the best diy co2 idea ever. It actually made my wife show some interest in it. Keep the ideas coming.

A little info of my diy co2 tube joining experience:
I used the clear plastic pieces in the picture above. I just hot glued them into a bottle cap. If you rub the tip of the gun on the plastic before you glue it, it softens up the plastic making the glue stick better. Im not sure how hard the plastic is on those tripple ripple tip things, but when i tried jb welding my tubing into the bottle caps the tubing kinda wiggled out and seperated from the jb weld after some time.


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## hunterlook (Feb 21, 2013)

I chugged my CO2 bottles left overs one time and got hammered.

This is a way better method.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

I tried diy Co2 in the past and the yeast odor gave me a headache. Wanting to try it again decided to try it with wine yeast. Now going to add some juice to it. Now more hopeful that the odor want affect my silly allergies and give me a headache. 

Thanks for the info.


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## zackariah (Jan 17, 2013)

Amazing I can't wait to try this


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Is the lemon juice from a lemon or lemon juice in a bottle, which has some sugar in it?

Tripple ripple got me to sex toys. LOL! Found them on ebay listed as air locks.


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

Hilde said:


> Is the lemon juice from a lemon or lemon juice in a bottle, which has some sugar in it?


Bottle, a cheap substitute for the "acid blend" in the original recipe. From my online diggings I found that 3 tsp acid blend = juice of 2 large lemons, and 1 tsp acid blend = 1 tsp bottled lemon juice. I guess that means the bottled stuff is a little concentrated. Thanks for reminding me about the extra ingredients in the bottle, which I forgot about. A little extra sugar just means a little extra CO2 and alcohol. There are preservatives in it too; more evidence that a few preservatives here and there do not limit the yeast.




> Tripple ripple got me to sex toys. LOL!


Nice! What you do after the wine is entirely your business!!


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

Don't forget the water in the bottom of the airlock.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Do you drill holes in the rubber stoppers or buy the with holes?


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

Buy them with.


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

Hilde said:


> Do you drill holes in the rubber stoppers or buy the with holes?


They cost the same at my local place, so I get the pre-drilled. The #6 fits my jugs best.


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## Wayne Dwops (Nov 29, 2012)

I am fully planning on trying this. But does anyone know if it would work to use one half-gallon bottle for two 5g tanks? I would add a splitter somewhere so one line went into each tank, but I'm not sure if this would work with CO2 like it does with oxygen (is this a stupid question? i failed school)

Also, do you put boiled water in the airlock? 

Also, now that I think about it, I was going to get one 1/2gal bottle for my 20g long, but then one 1/2gal bottle for two 5g (10g total) would be more CO2 than the 20g gets..perhaps a smaller bottle for the two 5gs?

Actually, because I'm an idiot, you use 5 bottles for 150g which means 1 bottle per 30 gallons. Since I have 30 gallons total I should only need 1 bottle and something to split it into three...does this sound like something that would work?


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

Wayne Dwops said:


> you use 5 bottles for 150g which means 1 bottle per 30 gallons. Since I have 30 gallons total I should only need 1 bottle and something to split it into three...does this sound like something that would work?


I think the key to consistency of pH/CO2 is having multiple bottles in rotation. If you have 30 gal total, you might try 5 pint jars on a 5-day cycle, like me. That should give you 3 jars peaking at any given time, 1 coming up and one going down. Every 5 days you harvest 1 and start a new 1.



Wayne Dwops said:


> I would add a splitter somewhere so one line went into each tank, but I'm not sure if this would work with CO2 like it does with oxygen


The same. Just make sure 1 line is wide open somewhere or something could blow!



Wayne Dwops said:


> Also, do you put boiled water in the airlock?


That would be a good idea, in case you get any backwash from pressure changes. You don't want tank water (e.g.) backwashing into your wine!


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Was wondering if it is possible to use epoxy glue instead of the rubber stoppers in the bottle? For I will be using 
1 pt perrier soda bottle.


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

Hilde said:


> Was wondering if it is possible to use epoxy glue instead of the rubber stoppers in the bottle? For I will be using 1 pt perrier soda bottle.


You mean drill a hole through the plastic cap of the 1-pt bottle and then epoxy the airline in the hole? I think that is a good solution. That is how I used to do DIY CO2 before I started with wine. In fact in 1 way I like that setup better because a screw-on cap tends to make a better seal against the bottle compared to the stopper in the bottle opening. But since I now prefer a glass bottle to plastic, I deal with the stoppers. Rarely does one pop out from pressure (which would not happen with the screw-on cap), but it can happen.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

TheDrake said:


> You mean drill a hole through the plastic cap of the 1-pt bottle and then epoxy the airline


Yes!! For I don't think I can find rubber stoppers for the bottles I have. I have RW Knudsen juice bottles and Perrier soda bottles. The juice bottles probably take a #3. On line they are $8 with shipping. I feel that is to much for 3 bottles.

Found a local brewing company. If the glass bottles aren't to big and expensive I will get them. Got to do my taxes etc. now, thus it will be awhile before I get to it. Hopefully not longer than 2 weeks.


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## lochaber (Jan 23, 2012)

If you are using typical vinyl airline tubing, you might be able to get away with drilling a hole slightly smaller then the outside diameter of the tubing, and smoothing it out nice, and then forcing the tubing into it for a compression seal.


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## darthmilmo (Feb 19, 2013)

Ok, I have most of the supplies for my 45g tank. Got six 1 quart glass bottles tonight to go with the wine stoppers and snake thingys. I just need to drink the content of the bottles, which as an added bonus had beer in them. I hope an amber look in the bottle wont affect the taste of the wine... sigh, gotta go back to drinking the beer. The sacrifices we make for our plants


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

darthmilmo said:


> I hope an amber look in the bottle wont affect the taste of the wine...


Colored glass is a bit of a trade-off. It is better than clear glass in protecting the product from sunlight which can make off flavors (same as beer, which is why the best beers _should _be in brown bottles and are less likely to get 'skunked'). That said, I do like a clear bottle for being able to see exactly what is going on in there. I just make sure to keep everything out of direct sunlight. Purists actually wrap their carboys or other fermenting vessels in opaque covers, and of course store the final product in a dark place. Oh, the color of the glass does not affect flavor, to answer your original question. The glass is inert, which is why I prefer it to plastic.


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## JustAGuy716 (Aug 28, 2012)

FYI, just saw this in the catalog they sent me:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/small-batch-quad-core-kit.html

Seems like a nice way to get started with this


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

I see you used T-Valves. What other valves are needed?*
*


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

Hilde said:


> I see you used T-Valves. What other valves are needed?*
> *


Nothing really. I have air locks (triple ripples) on the top of each bottle that serve as cheap bubble counters to see the progress of each jar individually, but even these are superfluous. I know from good experience that it takes the better part of a week for a new one to really kick in, and they slow down enough to be pulled at ~3.5 weeks. The T valves bring them all together into a single line, which I did run through a cheap airline check valve in case the system ever lost pressure so the tank would not siphon out, but those things are garbage and I would not include one if I did it again. And then it goes through a glass bubble counter which, to be honest, I do not use to count bubbles because they go so fast (I guess ~10/sec for ~150 gallons). Mostly I look to the bubble counter to make sure it is running; if it is slow or stopped I know I have a leak at one of the rigged airlocks. Now that all is in balance, I would skip all the counters and go with 6 bottles into T valves to the reactor and just watch the drop checker.


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## UberSquid (Mar 16, 2013)

What do you do about the sediment? There is a awful lot of yeast floating around in those bottles. Do you rack it to try and clarify a bit or just let it set for a while to let the yeast settle to the bottom?


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## Mostlydave (Jan 12, 2012)

I'm new to co2, I have a moderately planted 40 gallon, would 5 quart bottles in rotation be too much? Is there a way to throttle the co2 with a DIY setup or do you just add and remove bottles? What type of diffusion do you recommend, I saw that you run a power head with the lights, do you just put the diffuser front of the power head?

Should I start with 1 bottle and wait 5 days and add another until I'm up to 5? do the plants, fish, ecosystem need time to adjust?

Do you think a brass fitting from the hardware store could be used to adapt the line to the top of the airlock?

Wine question, After rotate a bottle out do you remove the airlock and seal it with a cap or cork while its aging for a few months?

Sorry if any on these are painfully obvious but I wanted to start out doing this the right way!


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

5 *pints *might be better scaled to a 40-gal (25% of my setup). Or, as you say, you can divert some surplus CO2 through a valve or deliberately inefficient reactor. Don't throttle back; you'll probably blow something up. Yes, I run the CO2 line into the inlet of a powerhead in the sump; the powerhead runs on a timer with the lights. I do have a fancy timer that will alternate the powerhead with an airstone, switching an hour before the lights come on (air to CO2) and off (CO2 to air), just have't hooked it up yet. Yes, I'd start with one bottle and every 5 days add another. When I pull a bottle, I loosely cap it because it is still putting off some CO2 and would pop a cork. Sadly (or happily) the bottles do not see a few months age in our house. :icon_cool


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## Mostlydave (Jan 12, 2012)

Thanks for the info, I found reasonably priced 24oz glass bottles, so I may try this and use 1/3 of your recipe and see how it goes.

As UberSquid asked above, do you do anything about the sediment before drinking?


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

Sorry, I missed the ubersquid post. The suspended particulate settles as the yeast die and sink. By the time I pull a bottle (nearly a month), most of it is already at the bottom. One could let it settle more if one were so inclined, or add various 'professional' fining agents like clay or swim bladder. What is left in suspension does not phase me, although we do pour carefully to keep from disturbing the sediment (mother, as it is technically called). I suppose we could rack it to another bottle if it really bothered us. Usually I drink much of it in the last glass anyway; it's supposed to be full of B vitamins.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

For glass bottles I got 3 Perrier sparkling water bottles 750ml at a grocery store. The bottles cost about $2 each. For stoppers I got these little orange stoppers, which are used for test tubes, at a hardware store.


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## Wayne Dwops (Nov 29, 2012)

I actually did this with 12oz jars. I used silicone to stick everything together. I had some trouble getting the lids (i used the bell plastic storage lids) airtight and now I see that I could have just gone to the grocery store and gotten bottles like Hilde did. Oh well. I'm just using the Hagen bubble ladder for now and I'm already noticing significant growth over the past few days!


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Is it possible to just put a diffuser or air stone at the end of the line instead of running the into a reactor? 

I have diffuser like this 1.










TheDrake said:


> I know from good experience that it takes the better part of a week for a new one to really kick in, and they slow down enough to be pulled at ~3.5 weeks.


Does that meen it will about for the co2 to come out?


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

Hilde said:


> Is it possible to just put a diffuser or air stone at the end of the line instead of running the into a reactor?


of course. but that can't be shut off at night like a powerhead.

*update: actually, I have no idea how much pressure it takes to run a diffuser like that. if it is like an airstone, no problem. if it is much more than that, it might pop the stopper tops on a system like mine. you said you are using stoppers too, so you might need to experiment a little. good luck.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Could a Rio Plus Aqua Power Head Pump be used as the reactor?


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## Wayne Dwops (Nov 29, 2012)

well my experiment was a complete failure. theres just not enough pressure to connect five jars and have them flow into one line down the bubble ladder =/ using check valves so co2 from one jar couldnt get into another didn't work at all.


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

Hilde said:


> Could a Rio Plus Aqua Power Head Pump be used as the reactor?


I'm not familiar with that pump Hilde, but if you can run an airline into the inlet, it can work. I use Maxi-Jets and run the airline right into the prefilter strainer. The pump shreds the CO2 bubbles by day and they float harmlessly to the surface by night.


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

Wayne Dwops said:


> well my experiment was a complete failure. theres just not enough pressure to connect five jars and have them flow into one line down the bubble ladder =/ using check valves so co2 from one jar couldnt get into another didn't work at all.


Can you share a photo? Why do you have check valves on each jar? Don't worry about CO2 going from jar to jar, they will all build up the same pressure anyway. Possibly all those check valves could be creating resistance? Have you leak-checked your system? A water spray bottle with a little soapy water identifies the leaks real quick.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

I am thinking of doing this set up with 2 or 3 bottles with the air locks and a diffuser at the end. For I have a working pump and my powerhead I am uncertain if it is operational.









Perhaps this would help you Wayne Dwops


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## darthmilmo (Feb 19, 2013)

OMG, just poured myself the first batch of cider ... wow! It's not bad at all! Now all I need to do is seal all the leaks so the CO2 reaches the wine... lol!


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## darthmilmo (Feb 19, 2013)

Hilde said:


> I am thinking of doing this set up with 2 or 3 bottles with the air locks and a diffuser at the end. For I have a working pump and my powerhead I am uncertain if it is operational.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Please let me know how it goes. I have a similar setup now, except that I am not mixing them atm


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

darthmilmo said:


> Please let me know how it goes. I have a similar setup now, except that I am not mixing them atm


Got a thread on it? If not make 1 please.


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

Hilde, so do you have that air pump running continuously into the tank with the CO2 slowly bleeding into the same line? How is that working? I would think the air would quickly blow off any CO2 you make before it gets a chance to accumulate.

Darth, I'm glad you got something you like! Did you post your recipe?


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

TheDrake said:


> Hilde, so do you have that air pump running continuously into the tank with the CO2 slowly bleeding into the same line?


Haven't got it set up yet. Been having problems with allergies. Idea is to set 3 bottle as you have. The pump will be set up to the 1 furthest from the tank. Will plug into the timer for the lights.


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## darthmilmo (Feb 19, 2013)

TheDrake said:


> Darth, I'm glad you got something you like! Did you post your recipe?


I followed your recipe actually. I just threw in a can of frozen apple juice instead. It came out nice and sweet. It tastes even better chilled.


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

Hilde, I understand now. My only worry is that when the pump is off the CO2 might flow back into the pump rather than into the tank, depending on which route offers least resistance. A check valve might help; I have yet to find one that works or at least works for very long.

Darth, good to know that it works with AJ too! I'll have to try that!


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

TheDrake said:


> My only worry is that when the pump is off the CO2 might flow back into the pump. A check valve might help.


Set up will be pump > 3 bottles with air locks on top > bubble counter > diffuser. Will try check valve between bubble counter and diffuser or between last bottle and diffuser. Got a few glass diffusers.


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## stlouisan (Jun 8, 2006)

HA I knew other people would do this! I had thought about grape wine diy cco2 before but figure it wouldn't be much good to drink. I did, however try my hand at making rice wine, and it came out like a strong unfiltered saki. 

I used glutinous rice flour that I made into a slurry with water and cooked in the microwave. Then that dough/goop I dissolved in water to pour in the co2 bottle/reactor. I figure that cooking the flour would break the starches down further for the yeast to work on. I added sugar and wine yeast like usual DIY recipes, and let it go. What I did extra was after a month I tasted it and found that I could add more sugar; it wasn't very boozy, nor sweet for my taste. With added sugar I let it go for a few weeks further, tasting it weekly for the booziness.

In the meantime, I bought a glass bottle from Crate and Barrel that has an airtight rubber gasket top. I seals like a canning jar that uses rubber gaskets. When the wine was done, I poured the wine into this bottle and let it continue to ferment and store. I wish i could store it in the fridge but the bottle wont fit vertically and I'm not comfortable storing it on its sidein the fridge. Once in a while I'll pop the top to let the pressure out, and it's become quite strong with alcohol. I figure I'd drink it all before it gets too strong. Chilled or warm, it's a bottle of rice wine!


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## NeonFlux (Apr 10, 2008)

Brilliant idea! I'll have to try this and share some grape wine with my pops and family one day. Cool and thanks for sharing your recipe, Drake!


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## Wayne Dwops (Nov 29, 2012)

Well after 2-3 months I finally got five 12oz bottles of co2 to work with one bubble ladder. I got rid of the airlocks...don't think there's a need for them when using such small containers.


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

Wayne Dwops said:


> I got rid of the airlocks...don't think there's a need for them when using such small containers.


I hear ya. I'm phasing out my airlocks. They're nice to look at and see how each bottle is producing, but that is not something I _need _to know. Every 5 days I just automatically add a new bottle and pull the oldest, and that works for me. I'll miss watching the airlocks bubble, but they were just too prone to leaks. Now I'm going straight out of the drilled stopper into the airline with just a little caulk. Let us know how it works out Wayne. cheers


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

TheDrake said:


> I'm phasing out my airlocks. They were just too prone to leaks. Now I'm going straight out of the drilled stopper into the airline with just a little caulk.


So at the end of the tube they are combined to you just have a bubble counter? Any check valves?


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Wayne Dwops said:


> Well after 2-3 months I finally got five 12oz bottles of co2 to work with one bubble ladder.


I would like to see a pic of the tank. Got a link?


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

Hilde said:


> So at the end of the tube they are combined to you just have a bubble counter?


yes, although usually the bubbles are a tad too fast to count (~10/sec?), but at least it gives me an indicator if there is a leak somewhere.



Hilde said:


> Any check valves?


funny you ask...I had one in but it leaked/backflowed a little so I took it out recently. now I am wondering why I did that because mostly working is better than not at all, lol. I will probably put it back next time I change a bottle and the system pressure is down. without it, the water from the counter flows back towards the bottles when I am changing bottles (pressure down), but its not enough volume to make it all the way to and into the bottles.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

TheDrake said:


> when the pump is off the CO2 might flow back into the pump rather than into the tank.


I have been thinking about this. Remembered reading that a few just leave the DIY Co2 and add an airstone at night. Thus will experiment with that after I get my 20G up for Goby. Then when I do the experiment only hardy Tetra will be in the tank.

Just found this nifty idea of how to shut off DIY Co2 at night when a powerhead is not incorporated in the system which basically uses a balloon here.


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## NeonFlux (Apr 10, 2008)

Yo Drake! 

I gave your diy wine co2 recipe a jump start yesterday I also worked on the bottles, check valve, and sealant until everything was cured today so I was able to set up everything, within a few hours later and look here  Co2 is producing very nicely and rather QUICK (no joke, I could literally see small co2 bubbles rising a lot inside the bottle), the co2 pressure is really good (is it because of the summer heat? it's about 87-90 in the room where the bottle is kept) and diffusion is extremely taking lift off.. it's like I cranked up the PSI on a regulator, or up'd the BPS rate to a new all-time high.. Any thoughts on possible dangers of too high of pressure? A bit nervous about the glass bottle exploding! Lol  Should I be worried? Anyway, I had a dream I was sipping on the wine juice already the day after I started the recipe, which was yesterday night, no kidding lol.. Looks like I'll really have some later on. I used CranRaspberry juice concentrate by Ocean Spray. It isn't the super concentrated juice type, I just poured it all the way near close to the top leaving some space without adding water.. (is that okay?) I mean, we really need the juice to be concentrated, right? If I added 11.5 oz of it and added water, it would be rather light, eh? Let me know what you think. Anyway I hope you like my pics. :icon_cool Really glad things are working out as planned.. I was afraid I might get a leak somewhere, but nope! So far, so good. Thanks for this idea, Drake. My new 2.5 gallon high tech, which I set up a few weeks ago, will benefit from the new wine co2 idea and me too. Good bye regular diy co2 haha.


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

Hi Flux! Glad to see your giving it a go. Let me try to answer your questions.



NeonFlux said:


> the co2 pressure is really good (is it because of the summer heat? it's about 87-90 in the room where the bottle is kept) and diffusion is extremely taking lift off...Any thoughts on possible dangers of too high of pressure? A bit nervous about the glass bottle exploding! Lol  Should I be worried?


I would wrap a towel around the bottle if you're worried. If your outlet gets plugged, it will explode. That said, it looks like you have a plug cap, which will surely pop out before you reach exploding pressures. I have had glass bottles explode for example when I capped (metal bottle cap) beverages like beer and root beer before they were quite done. Besides, wrapping it in a towel prevents sunlight from messing with your product, which can affect the flavor, so they say. Do you have just the 1 bottle going? Because takeoff is usually so vigorous, 1 bottle--or even just a few bottles--will give you very uneven CO2 levels over time, and all the problems that brings. I have 6 bottles going at once so usually only 1 is peaking while the others are in their long wind-down; as the peaker starts to wane, a new one is added (every 5 days). This keeps my bubbles per second fairly tight.



NeonFlux said:


> I used CranRaspberry juice concentrate by Ocean Spray. It isn't the super concentrated juice type, I just poured it all the way near close to the top leaving some space without adding water.. (is that okay?) I mean, we really need the juice to be concentrated, right?


I think the target is for 'normal' juice concentration but lots of added sugar (3 cups per gallon). Congrats on getting cranberry juice to fire off; that can be tricky because of the pH.



NeonFlux said:


> I was afraid I might get a leak somewhere, but nope!


I am becoming a leak freak. I am not happy with the rubber stoppers inside the mouth of bottles. I am going to experiment with drilling airline-sized holes in the glass lids of flip-top hermetically sealed jars, like the one pictured below. Will post updates, of course.


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## rininger85 (Jun 30, 2013)

I just suggested that my fiance needs to be the one reading up on how to do a planted tank since I'm currently invested in setting up my reef tank... maybe if I show her this thread that she can make her own wine she will want to do it... or maybe I'll get stuck making wine for her and converting my FW to a planted tank... :\


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

LOL! I think it's the ONLY reason my wife let's me have so many tanks!!!


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## NeonFlux (Apr 10, 2008)

I see, thanks a lot, Drake for all the insight and info! I'll keep them in mind. I'm just using one bottle for my 2.5 gallon.. I'm sure the co2 levels will be alright after 1-2 weeks since the tank is quite small and I also dose excel.  Interested in seeing updates of your new idea of drilling airline-sized holes in the glass lids soon.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

NeonFlux said:


> I'm just using one bottle for my 2.5 gallon.. I'm sure the co2 levels will be alright after 1-2 weeks since the tank is quite small.


Seems logically best to have at least 2 bottles. For when the bottle depletes of Co2 you will still have Co2 injected into your tank. Especially at times Drake noted that it can take a few days for the Co2 to start.


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## NeonFlux (Apr 10, 2008)

Hilde said:


> Seems logically best to have at least 2 bottles. For when the bottle depletes of Co2 you will still have Co2 injected into your tank. Especially at times Drake noted that it can take a few days for the Co2 to start.


Yeah, I plan to make another bottle and inject again two-three weeks after signs of slowing down and weak co2 diffusion. And as for co2 to start, it actually only took 24 hours for the recipe to get going and produce co2 for me during my first recent experience. Could be the summer heat which helped speed things. So yeah, the time for diy co2 to get going likely depends on temps, I believe. Thanks for the advice.


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## darthmilmo (Feb 19, 2013)

Has anyone tried this recipe with honey? I'm thinking of making some mead .

On another note, I just harvested red wine and cider . I'm trying some white grape juice next. This is turning into a new hobby with nice benefits


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## darthmilmo (Feb 19, 2013)

NeonFlux said:


> Yeah, I plan to make another bottle and inject again two-three weeks after signs of slowing down and weak co2 diffusion.


I would go small. I have 4 or 5 of the 500 ml soda bottles hooked to my 5G. I do dose ferts and excel, yet the regular baby tears are doing great! They have covered my tank nicely and are actually growing like weeds.


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

darthmilmo said:


> Has anyone tried this recipe with honey? I'm thinking of making some mead .


Nice work Darth! They say for cooking, 1 cup honey = 1 cup sugar. Traditional mead is just honey, water, and yeast, but there are lots of variations from there including various spice combinations. Please keep on reporting back with results!


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## rininger85 (Jun 30, 2013)

I've begun my initial trial run! We went to a home brew place yesterday and picked up stuff to get started. I've decided to use (5) 750mL wine bottles for my 55 gal tank since that should be about 40% of Drake's 1/2 gallon setup since my tank is about 37% the size, it should scale about the same I would think... I decided since I had (3) empty wine bottles available to begin I started all (3) at once, then I'll start phasing the rest in - this should allow me to have 4 or 5 bottles ready for sampling at my wedding (8/24)... I'm not a big wine drinker, but hoping that maybe doing the home brew might allow me to make some flavorful wines that I like and then I can start drinking it =)

So far I started out (2) bottles using the Welch's 100% grape juice as suggested, and I used about 5-6oz per bottle (Drake's scaled version would have required 4.6oz per 750mL bottle I had figured). Scaled the sugar to about 10 tbsp. per bottle, 1/2-3/4tsp of lemon juice and 1/4 tsp of wine yeast. In the grape juice ones I then topped off with RO/DI water (wasn't sure if I should use RO/DI, or just my RO, but I had RO/DI prepared so I used it...) my third bottle I did all the same except instead of grape juice and water I used about 16oz of Minute maid just 15 cal per serving lemonade. My fiancé said she wasn't sure how that would turn out since it uses aspartame in it, but I'm testing it out to see what happens! It is bubbling, so must be doing something!

Now its another hurry up and wait game =( I have too many of those in these hobbies! I ran the air line in to an airstone in the tank to break up the CO2 bubbles, but it hasn't built up enough pressure to make noticeable bubbles in the tank yet, so we'll see how its doing in a few days... 

One question that came up as I was setting up my wine bottles, should I be mixing the sugar in or will it dissolve enough on its own over the 25-30 days that it takes to make the wine? Its just sitting in a clump on the bottom right now, so was wondering if I should have shook it up before adding the yeast? I'm assuming I shouldn't do anything to it now that the yeast is in and working?


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## rininger85 (Jun 30, 2013)

another question - I currently have an airstone bubbling with air going through it 24/7, its on the lowest setting that my air pump will go which produces quite a few bubbles of air still, should I turn this off during the day to get more out of the CO2 while the lights are on, or just leave it running as normal? I would think leaving it running would help counteract the possibility of my pH dropping too much (not currently planning on shutting the CO2 off at night, but eventually I might add a shutoff valve and balloon to control it at night...), I wouldn't expect the CO2 bubbles to outperform my air pump, but I guess I'll see what it looks like in a few days =)...

I've lost a lot of fish due to switching my tank over to a planted tank, caused my ammonia and nitrite to spike and cycle the tank again, I still have a few fish in there that hopefully I don't kill while trying to add CO2 for the plants, but it won't be a devastating loss at this point if I do lose more I guess...


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

Awesome, thanks for playing rininger! I use RO in my wine. Tap would be fine for most people (in fact the local water chemistry affects which wines and beers are best in certain regions), but my tap is from the roof and I don't want to boil it first so I just use RO. If the Minute-Maid is bubbling, it should work! As you surely know, all you really need is sugar, water, and yeast...the rest is just for flavoring! If your airstone isn't bubbling, you might 'leak check' your system by spraying all joints/junctions with soapy water and watch for mad bubbling at the leak! That's what the propane/gas furnace guys do! Then break out the caulk gun... Oh, don't worry about mixing the ingredients; the yeast will do that for you inside of a week. Why do the labor yourself when they will do it for you? :icon_cool


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## rininger85 (Jun 30, 2013)

cool, I'm starting to get a little 'head' on the top of each bottle it appears, so all three seem to be going fine. I will have to leak check it because the way I have it set up currently I didn't have all of the piece parts that I needed, so I've pieced something together to make it work... 

I have a 3/8" air line that is a tight fit in the top of my universal stoppers, then on two of my bottles they "T" together in to one line, then the third bottle goes from the 3/8" air line to a 1/4" air line (via shoving the 1/4" airline inside the 3/8", which seems to be a tight fit as I could only get it to go in so far and when I pull on them they don't come back out), then the 1/4" line goes through a 1/4" "T" and connects to the other two bottles via the same tight fit 3/8 to 1/4" hose conversion, then from that "T" runs to my air stone in the tank. edit to add: I also have the universal toppers in the top of the airlocks now too, so that could be an additional leak point, but it seemed cleaner than trying to drill a hole and glue the hose in the little plastic cap like what I've seen up above...

I haven't silicone anything, so if it doesn't start bubbling as more pressure builds up then I'll go back and start silicone things together, currently I'm just under the assumption that it isn't producing enough CO2 to make the airstone bubble (I'm probably only producing half a dozen bubbles a minute right now since this is only a couple of hours old, and I haven't sat in front of the tank yet to see if CO2 bubbles are coming out the airstone).

Since I bought my RO/DI filter for my reef tank I've started drinking RO or RO/DI water from it as well. I got a TDS meter with it and tested my well water and was 200+ ppm TDS, running that through a brita pitcher got it down to about 100+ ppm TDS, my RO is something like 1 - 2 ppm TDS, and my RO/DI is 0... I've found I like drinking clean water even though I grew up drinking well water =)


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## rininger85 (Jun 30, 2013)

So after the first week I have added a fourth bottle, after adding the 4th bottle and having it running for a day it is producing MUCH faster than the first three were, and it appears the first 3 are already pretty much dead... now I'm wondering if this is due to something I did differently? There are only two things I can think of, I filled the bottle up further this time because I didn't need nearly as much bubble space as I allowed in the first 3 bottles. The other thing is that even though I haven't noticed any leaks, I went ahead and caulked everything on the 4th bottle that I haven't done on the first 3 yet. Also I noticed that every time the 4th bottle bubbles the first 3 have a little shake like there is pressure back feeding to the first 3 bottles.

Obviously I need to caulk everything I haven't done yet, but what else should I do? Do I need check valves to keep the pressure from back flowing? Should I add more yeast to the first 3 to keep them producing? I can't imagine its already done producing after just one week...

I still haven't seen any bubbles in the tank from the CO2 line. I removed the airstone thinking maybe it didn't have enough pressure to push through the airstone and still haven't seen any bubbles...


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

rininger85 said:


> So after the first week I have added a fourth bottle...


Don't wait a week at a time, add a new bottle every 4-5 days. Otherwise your CO2 production is going to be up and down and no one will be happy but the algae.



> ...it is producing MUCH faster than the first three were, and it appears the first 3 are already pretty much dead... now I'm wondering if this is due to something I did differently? ... I went ahead and caulked everything on the 4th bottle that I haven't done on the first 3 yet.


Could be producing faster just because of the heat. Get a spray bottle with soapy water for leak checks; keep on caulking. 



> Do I need check valves to keep the pressure from back flowing?


No; once all leaks are stopped there will be no back flow.



> Should I add more yeast to the first 3 to keep them producing? I can't imagine its already done producing after just one week...


No, it's impossible that your yeast died off AND conditions are still favorable such that adding more yeast will help. If your yeast died off, 1 of 2 things happened: (1) they ran out of food because you did not add enough sugar initially, or (2) the alcohol level got high enough to kill them. To make sure they have enough food, follow the recipe exactly or get your own hydrometer. Too little sugar and they die of starvation before they die of alcohol, too much sugar and there will be too much sugar left over after they die of alcohol (too sweet wine). 



> I still haven't seen any bubbles in the tank from the CO2 line. I removed the airstone thinking maybe it didn't have enough pressure to push through the airstone and still haven't seen any bubbles...


You must have a leak. The gas has to go somewhere...
Good luck!


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## rininger85 (Jun 30, 2013)

I had to scale it to my size since I'm only doing 750mL bottles vs. your 1/2 gallon bottles, but I'll try adding another tablespoon of sugar next time and see how it works out... 

I think it was actually 6 days between the initial and adding my next bottle. I still need to get a better diffuser than just an airstone I think, so I don't know how much CO2 will be released in to the water vs. just bubbling to the top until I get a good diffuser. 

And with my leaks its unlikely much if anything is even making it to my tank right now since I haven't seen any bubbles... I don't really want to take everything apart to caulk the lines for the first 3 bottles right now, so I'm just going to let them keep going and will caulk them when I take them off before I start them again.


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## rininger85 (Jun 30, 2013)

does it make sense that since I'm using a smaller bottle (750mL) that it would take less time for it to complete? I'm not seeing any movement in the first few bottles I started, but they have only been going for about 13-14 days. I pulled the first bottle and it smelled like alcohol pretty strongly, so I took a sip and it tasted pretty strong... just wondering if I should let it keep sitting or if it makes sense that it would take less time since there is less sugar/yeast/etc to do its thing?


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

in my experience, volume is irrelevant. the yeast population rises to meet the mass of sugar available. maybe that happens a little faster in a smaller volume if you add the same amount of yeast vs a big volume. are you saying you haven't seen any action in 2 weeks, or you're not seeing action any more now at 2 weeks? they definitely go strongest at the end of week 1 into week 2, but if you are not seeing bubbles in the bottle at 2 weeks, something's wrong. mine are in rotation for almost a month; they definitely taper off, but that's why a new one goes into rotation every 4-5 days, joining 5 older ones. the smell/taste of alcohol is a good sign, but without a hydrometer to test, it's all guesswork.


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## rininger85 (Jun 30, 2013)

I'll eventually pick up a hydrometer so I can monitor it closer, but this seems to be done. I sampled it and it tastes like wine (although I'm not a wine drinker) but my fiance drinks wine regularly and she said it tasted like wine to her too... I've removed the first bottle but haven't capped it off yet, I haven't seen any bubbles in the past week, but I'm assuming that is a sign that the yeast has died off from lack of sugar / alcohol level. My second bottle hasn't been producing any bubbles or seeing any floaties in it for the past week either, so I think it is done... I had taken them off and shook them up to stir up whatever sugar was left because there was a ring of sugar at the bottom of the bottle that seemed like it wasn't dissolving, when I did this the 3rd bottle that hadn't been producing any bubbles started producing again (and I started the first 3 bottles all on the same day), then my 4th and 5th are still producing and I've added bottle #6. 

I think from what I've been reading it makes sense that it is done already, I scaled all of your ingredients as closely as possible, so there is less sugar and less volume, so the yeast (which I couldn't scale because I think your measurement was "a sprinkle of yeast" which I can't quantitatively measure to be able to scale, so I'm using 1/4 tsp of yeast (which reading again seems to be more than your sprinkle if 1 packet should do 5 gallons because I only got (6) 750mL bottles out of a packet) to be able to measure it consistently) will eat through the sugar faster and the alcohol % would increase faster in the lower volume, so I think I'm ok... I might have to switch over to bigger bottles though because adding a bottle every 4-5 days seems to be too long, in these smaller bottles I would have to add one every 3 days at this rate...

I started my first bottle using apple juice the other day, my fiance also picked up a cranberry juice mix that I'm going to try as well as white grape juice...


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## rininger85 (Jun 30, 2013)

We cracked open our first bottle of wine last night. It had been corked for about 6 weeks after it came off (which it came off pretty early because I think I put too much yeast in and the alcohol content killed the yeast before they were able to eat through all of the sugar). The benefit of it not eating through all of the sugar was that the wine was sparkling when I opened it... I'm not a wine drinker by any means, but this tasted pretty good compared to the wine that my wife drinks on a regular basis... she wasn't quite sure about it, but we hadn't chilled it so maybe she'll like it better tonight since we tossed what was left in the bottle in the fridge to chill it. She seems to like a drier wine though, which apparently I must like a sweeter wine =).


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## aomdip (Dec 19, 2013)

Sorry for the necromancing, but I figure it's better to resurrect a five-month old thread (three if you count the last post) than to start a new one, especially on such a niche topic.

I'm just wondering - how would I scale OP's staggered brew setup to a 20 gallon tank? 2.5 gallons to 150 gallons would mean about 43 ounces to 20 gallons, so like five or six 8 ounce Coke bottles? Assuming that I scale the ingredients properly, would there be any problems with such hilariously tiny batch sizes?


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## Sotty (Aug 31, 2012)

From my brewing experience, trying to do tiny batches leads to really unpredictable results and flavors (likely due to temperature swings ion the wash when fermenting which affects flavor). 

I would stick with the bigger bottles and switch them out slightly less frequently or increase your surface agitation slightly if you are worried about your CO2 levels being too high. 

When I used to run DIY CO2, I never ran into problems with the CO2 going too high as long as I had good water movement and a bit of surface agitation.


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## darthmilmo (Feb 19, 2013)

New setup. Six 0.9 litter bottles hooked up to a bubble counter bottle (small coke bottle) that feeds to the intake of my canister filter. I have brewing down (used both red grapes and apple from concentrate), now hoping to get the DIY CO2 going on the tank. I sealed all the ends with silicone and wrapped them with tape. We shall see if it's leak proof .


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

darthmilmo said:


> New setup. Six 0.9 litter bottles


For what size tank is this for?


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## darthmilmo (Feb 19, 2013)

Hilde said:


> For what size tank is this for?


It's a 45G long.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

darthmilmo said:


> It's a 45G long.


Why using Six 0.9 litter bottles?

I will be using 3 or 4 750ml piere glass bottles for a 20G long.


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## darthmilmo (Feb 19, 2013)

At the time, I was following the formula... switch the bottle every 4-5 days. Now I do it once a week. I'm too lazy to get 3 two litter bottles. 

I'm going to be setting a 20L next. I'm also using 3 one-litter bottles.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

darthmilmo said:


> I'm going to be setting a 20L next. I'm also using 3 one-litter bottles.


I hope you do a thread on it. For it is what I will be doing after I get all of the fish in the 20L moved to the 29G.

What lights will you have over the 20L?


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## shadesdude (Sep 29, 2013)

Been doing something similar the past 6 months before upgrading to a regulated C02.









My 6 gallon carboy. I don't have a picture of the tube going to the tank but the stopper has a hole that a barb fits snugly in. Just plug them right together.









Best contraption I have ever built.









I didn't go blind!

Check the laws where you live before doing this. Or at least don't be stupid about it.

Yeast strand is the most important thing. The type of yeast and temperature determine rate of fermentation (and C02 production)
http://www.whitelabs.com/distillation/listings


50/50 water and honey will make a pretty tasty mead using a white wine yeast.

With juice I use a cider yeast. 20 minute drive outside the city and you can find a farmer with something that really can't be used for anything but fermentation. Crab apples make great cider. If you are nice and promise to bring some finished product back they usually press it for you too.

I get about 2.5 weeks out of it and keep pressure through a ceramic diffuser. Your mileage may vary.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

I took fish out of the 20G and set the DIY wine Co2 up. The diffuser is a little glass 1. No output yet. Decided to just start with 1 bottle and then add up to 3 every 5 days.

At night put the bottle in a pitcher with hot water and success.

Finding that sometime juice comes up the S Airlock thus slows down the Co2 output. Thus thinking of replacing them with the 3 piece air locks.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

darthmilmo said:


> Six 0.9 litter bottles hooked up to a bubble counter bottle (small coke bottle) that feeds to the intake of my canister filter.


What did you use to connect the bottles together?
No airlocks correct?
About how many drops per second are you getting


darthmilmo said:


> At the time, I was following the formula... switch the bottle every 4-5 days. Now I do it once a week.
> 
> I'm going to be setting a 20L next. I'm also using 3 one-litter bottles.


Just change out 1 bottle a week?

I am working on Co2 for 20L. What are the 1 litter bottles?

I hope make a thread of the 20L


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Just read that using glass bottles is not wise. For sometimes the pressure builds up and the bottle shatters. Red about this on the krib.

Anybody have this experience?


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## rininger85 (Jun 30, 2013)

if you don't add water to the bubble counter its kind of hard to count bubbles =)

as far as the glass bottles bursting, I don't think you are going to have a problem if you are using a regular rubber stopper, the stopper should blow off before the bottle breaks, unless you have an already damaged bottle... I think you would have to be running a pretty big setup to get that kind of pressure too. Running small bottles for small tanks you're not going to have that kind of pressure.


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## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

Wow, I have a planted tank, and the wife make wine using this method already. I need to show this to her so we can combine the ideas!

For 200 points, someone needs to develop a way to store the extra CO2 at night.


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## algae.assasin (Apr 27, 2014)

Awesome post. I'll be trying it out when my current batch declines. How would ripe or overripe fruit do in the bottle, compared to frozen concentrate? Or sub fruit juice for water and concentrate? My thinking is a better quality might be achieved. I could be way off idk. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

My Co2 only lasted 2 days. 

Started over! Connected bottle between pump. The stopper got pushed out. Thus took the pump off and connected 2 bottles with a gang plank. Still no Co2 after 3 days.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

GraphicGr8s said:


> Don't forget the water in the bottom of the airlock.


With the 3 stage airlocks you put water in them. Are you saying that you put water in the S airlocks too?

Read at eckraus.com wine and beer supplies that the fill it about half way with water then attach it to your fermenter with a rubber stopper or rubber cap. Didn't see the mentioned here.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

darthmilmo said:


> I have 4 or 5 of the 500 ml soda bottles hooked to my 5G.


When you started did you start with 5?


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## darthmilmo (Feb 19, 2013)

Hilde said:


> When you started did you start with 5?


I had 4 hooked to a 5th bottle acting as a bubble counter. The problen I had with this system was the release and spread of the CO2. I have heard of people buying a small mincro filter and hookong it up on the intake. This should help diffuse the CO2 on the aquarium. 

As for the 20L, I haven't added the CO2 yet. I had a bad fongus infection at my first try so I had to restart it. It's going strong with gluteralhyde for now.


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## 180g (May 20, 2014)

just saw this thread.

im going to diy co2 my 180 gallon with 2 propane tanks. each tank is 5 gallon adding up to 10 gallon total so if 3 gal is good for a 150 gallon aquarium, wait till you see my co2 levels with 8 lbs of sugar and 2 times the yeast in each! im also going to use whine yeast, Wyeasts whine yeast exactly.
I painted the propane tanks insides with killz oil based paint to keep it from rusting.

if you want to see how it turns out look at the tank journal in my sig or I might make my own thread on it.


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## 180g (May 20, 2014)

every one said my idea was stupid but as soon as you add whine, everyone thinks its awesome!


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

180g said:


> every one said my idea was stupid but as soon as you add whine, everyone thinks its awesome!


I was told by someone whom did DIY Co2 for a 50G tank that she found pressurized Co2 to be cheaper in the long run. Thus I think you should calculate the cost for a year of DIY compared to pressurized Co2. One thing I found that can cut cost for pressurized system is to get a single stage regulator.


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## 180g (May 20, 2014)

Hilde said:


> I was told by someone whom did DIY Co2 for a 50G tank that she found pressurized Co2 to be cheaper in the long run. Thus I think you should calculate the cost for a year of DIY compared to pressurized Co2. One thing I found that can cut cost for pressurized system is to get a single stage regulator.


I already have. thanks anyway! 

I can't make whine because i'm only 13 so that's not happening.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Drake did you use this formula: ABV = (start SG - final SG)/.736? If yes what was your final SG?


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## dmachado (May 26, 2010)

vanish said:


> Wow, I have a planted tank, and the wife make wine using this method already. I need to show this to her so we can combine the ideas!
> 
> For 200 points, someone needs to develop a way to store the extra CO2 at night.


Get a garden sprayer, the type that has a pressure relief valve, and connect it to the system. Now you can stop the CO2 flow, store the extra CO2 at night, and the excess pressure is not an issue.

My 6 2 liter bottle setup:









You can see a bit of green in the back - that's the garden sprayer.

Can I get my 200 points? :hihi:

Regards.


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

Hey dmachado, thanks for the post. Can you elaborate on your "garden sprayer" upgrade? how does it work? pics? for those who have multiple but connected planted tanks, you can also run them on alternate light cycles so one is always utilizing the continuous supply of DIY CO2, even while the other rests at 'night'.


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## dmachado (May 26, 2010)

Hello Drake, its one of these, you pump air into it, pressurizing the liquid inside. If you try to build up too much pressure, the red valve releases it. 










So, when the solenoid shuts off, you can store a lot of CO2 and use it the next day, without a risk of something bursting.

I cut the sprayer hose and fit an air Y so it became a part of the system:



















Regards.


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