Randy's recipe 1 - How do you mix your baking soda?

[lewk]

Curious to see how other people using recipe 1 mix their baking soda. I heat up some water to get it warm, then shake it like hell in a 1 gallon jug. Sometimes it takes a good 20-30 minutes worth of this to get it all mixed.

Is there an easier way?

 

[leeit2me]

Fill up half a gallon of water, dump the baking soda and shake the hell out of it. In 5 minutes all the baking soda has pretty much dissolved, now just top off with the rest of the water..

 

[Mrmole]

I just buy sodium carbonate from a local alchemist and the mixing is reaaly fast and easy. I think if you put sodium bicarb aka baking soda into an oven and heat at 300 you will get sodium carb.

Btw i mix the same amount from randy's article but to a 2 gallon jug then i dose twice as much as indicated. Maybe that's why mixing was easy?

 

[jcw]

I made the mistake of adding water to hot baked baking soda. Turned into a near solid that took probably over an hour to dissolve and two gallons of RO/DI.

Now I do it much like described above. 3/4 ro/di in gallon milk jug, add baking soda, mix for a couple minutes, fill with RO/DI.

Works fine for me.

 

[mwilliams62]

All I do is put in 1tsp of baking soda in one of those little sports bottles 16 oz and use distilled water and shake till disolved and pour into tank.

 

[bertoni]

It shouldn't take that long to get it to mix, IME. Was the baking soda thoroughly baked?

 

[TampaSnooker]

Baking in a thinner layer worked for me. Initial batches were baked at 1 - 1.5" and never fully dissolved - plus some precipitated later once in jugs. Thinning the amount to .5" and baking an hour at 350 has been giving me much better consistancy and no more precipitation/solidifying.

 

[LouH]

Easy:

1. Put 1/2 gallon of RODI water into microwave for 6 minutes.

2. In a 5 gallon bucket, pour in hot water and add sprinkle in baking soda slowly while mixing. While you are doing this, heat up the other 1/2 gallon.

3. By the time you add the second 1/2 gallon, most of the baking soda will have already dissolved. At this point just mix for several minutes and all of the baking soda will be in solution.

 

[Dr. Reef]

i use sodium bicabonate from BRS for alk dosing. i usually only nee 3-6 tsp so i mix it in ro/di water in a 44oz cup at room temp. and let doser dose it at various times. it mixes into clear liquid in just few swirls with the spoon.