# Yeast mix not working?



## fishtk75 (Sep 6, 2006)

I did as all said to the formulas for making a yeast in the bottle but there is nothing cooking for three days so what did I do wrong?
I did it to the letter!


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## Marcom1234 (Aug 16, 2006)

not sure how you made yoru stuff so i will tell you how i do mine.

i take 6 cups of water and 4 cups of sugar.

boil water and dissolve sugar in it

before you add sugar take a little bowl maybe like... 1/4 cup and let it cool to about 100 degrees... or lukewarm but not hot.... then soak a 1/4 teaspoon of yeast in it with a good pinch of sugar in it. this will allow your yeast to propagate and hydrate. once your water and sugar mix cools then add your yeast solution. should have co2 with in 2 days and usually lasts me about 3-4 weeks.

i brew my own beer on occasion and learned alot about yeast doing that... and i don't do the cheap all in one kits you get at walmart either lol

the purpose to boiling it is to make sure you don't get strange things that will effect your yeast and screw up its cycle.. it you don't boil the water first you will usually have different levels of co2 through out your cycle. like lots of co2 at first then barely any then another spike... or whatever... boiling takes out the unknown in the equation. 

hope this helps.

Marco


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

This is the mixture I used when I first started with DIY... [The Krib] CO2 & Water Hardness

It would be helpful if you tell us step by step how you made your C02 mixture


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## fishtk75 (Sep 6, 2006)

John Levasseur DIY CO2 from the DIY forum sticky.

Marcom1234 thank you i will.


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

fishtk75 said:


> John Levasseur DIY CO2 from the DIY forum sticky.
> 
> Marcom1234 thank you i will.


How tightly did the tubing fit through the hole in the cap of the bottle? Did you seal it with anything? What's your diffusion method? Glass diffuser?

If there's a leak, you won't see any CO2 coming into your tank, especially if you're using a glass diffuser. DIY CO2 will sometimes work and sometimes won't work with diffusers since you need a lot of pressure to make bubbles. If you are using one, just take it off and see if there's any CO2 flowing.

What yeast are you using? How much? Was it expired? Did you use cold, warm, or hot water? Hot water isn't great for the yeast since it'll kill it, and cold water makes it produce CO2 very slowly. It also depends on where you keep your yeast/water/sugar bottle...if it's somewhere that gets cold, then it won't make much CO2 either. Try to keep it at the level of, or above your tank so the CO2 won't have to fight against water pressure to get into the tank. Also, if you keep it below your tank and something happens and the cap gets loose, expect to have a really really wet floor when you get home from work. 

There's a lot of variables with DIY CO2, that's why I went with pressurized.


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## fishtk75 (Sep 6, 2006)

epicfish said:


> How tightly did the tubing fit through the hole in the cap of the bottle? Did you seal it with anything? What's your diffusion method? Glass diffuser?
> 
> If there's a leak, you won't see any CO2 coming into your tank, especially if you're using a glass diffuser. DIY CO2 will sometimes work and sometimes won't work with diffusers since you need a lot of pressure to make bubbles. If you are using one, just take it off and see if there's any CO2 flowing.
> 
> ...


I am using fittings that the diy show from hobby town and silicone tubing then wire ties the tubing to the fittings. bottle has pressure in it put not to go out from the air stone in tank.I blow in it works that way.I need to know what I am looking at in the yeast bottle any pics show how it looks cooking?
same yeast in the packets that on the diy co2 sites , date to 2007,
I was doing as the all the diy co2 sites said to do.I have the bottle in a old container for if it leaks.
Now as you said what pressured co2 what setup you have?


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## vic46 (Oct 20, 2006)

*Diy Co2*

I will attach a link at the end that will take you to the best darn CO2 site there is. I would suggest that you have likely done everything right except for twp steps that you probably didn't know about. One of the replys deals with a yeast starter. This is imperative. Culturing the yeast which includes hydrating and starting will increase the likelihood of success may times. Also makes sure that you bottle of "must" (wine makers term for the muck in the bottle) is at least 80F. Otherwise the yeast will "freeze". You should have CO2 in literally hours. One further recommendation would be to use a yeast that has a high resistance to alcohol. The product of the fermentation process is CO2, alcohol and heat. A yeast that does not have a high resistance to alcohol will "pass on" long before the sugar is totally fermented. You should use a brewer's yeast or go to a wine making store and get a cannibalistic champaign yeast such as Lalvin EC118 - Saccharomyces bayanus.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...y-inline-reactor-plans.html?highlight=Reactor


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## laelw2000 (Sep 4, 2006)

*How I made my yeast work*

I did 2 cups of sugar, 1/4 tsp of yeast, and filled the 2 liter bottle up to 3" from the top. That worked until it got cold. The tank is at my work where they have a thermostat timer so it goes down to 60 at night. I put the two bottles in a bucket half filled with water with a heater for a 2 to 5 gallon aquarium in it. That still didn't help, so I wrapped the bucket with packing foam material and put a big styrofoam plug in the top to insulate it. Now it is working great.


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Yep, my ambient temperature gets to about 74 at night, so it's colder. It rises to over 80 in the daytime, so most of my CO2 production is during the day. It's even better that way. =P


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

fishtk75 said:


> Now as you said what pressured co2 what setup you have?


15# tank, JBJ regulator, 3-way manifold w/ bubble counters to two 10 gallon tanks and a 7 gallon cube. =)


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## fishtk75 (Sep 6, 2006)

Epicfish,
Thank you for your setup.


Vic46,
Thank you for the link.

In the old mix bottle I see small bubbles coming up slowly.

I made a new mix.I put in all of the 1/4 oz. packet to see if the yeast is old.
And as you said Vic46 I let it sit longer than 10 mins. for the yeast to hydrate more over then 30 mins. Then I put it in the bottle last night and I go up today and see and hear bubbles from the air stone in the tank.

Now I need to know how do you all regulate with this yeast mix the PH?
Also how do you all regulate and keep the kh up without make the ph go up and down? My KH is at 4.0 kh


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