Diy Co2 Not Working?*air*

[Phenz]

I made a CO2 system a few days ago and yesterday i set it up. I cannot work out why it isn't working?!

i'm using bread machine yeast, granulated sugar and a 2litre bottle?

I put in 2 cups of sugar into the bottle, put in 2 cups of luke warm water.

put 1/4 teaspoon on yeast in a cup with someluke warm water, put in a pinch of sugar, whisked it up. then added the mixture to the bottle and topped it up with lue warm water.

i shook it a little to try and get the reaction started - didn't work.

i left it for a few hours, nothing happened.

put it on top of the tank by the light vent hoping some extra heat would help get it going.

its been 24 hours and the CO2 isn't being made. i can't understand it.

i know the tubes aren't blocked, cause i can squease the bottle and *air* comes out. what am i doing wrong?

the yeast i'm using is:

Allinson Easy Bake Yeast

This yeast is a combination of dried yeast with the bread improver Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid). Ascorbic Acid guarantees the fast action of the yeast, allowing a quick rise and eliminating the need to 'knock back' the dough. The dough will only require one kneading and one period of proving. The yeast can be added with the flour straight from the pack and will become activated as soon as it comes into contact with the liquid.

could that be the problem? it was the only yeast i could find save asking a baker to give me some.

 

[Spinal]

When you say you whisked it up with a pinch of sugar what did you use it to whisk it? My grandma always told me never to whisk/mix yeast with a metal spoon. (Metal having the possibility of oxidising, and as a result, it can kill your yeast).

Also, a simple way to get temps right is to mix 1 cup of BOILING water with 4 cups of cold tap water.

What else... uhm, oh yeah. When mixing the starter with the rest of the water, make sure its all nice and lukewarm, NEVER hot...

Michele

 

[Phenz]

i used a metal lump removing whisk...

and i'm sure i didn't use too hot water.

i could make the mixture again without using a metal impliment, does the yest actively bubble? should i see it reacting in the cup before i add it to the bottle?

 

[voo]

How long had the yeast been opened for ? Also, are you certain there are no airleaks?
What diffuser are you using?

 

[Phenz]

i think i got it to work - but not very consistently.

i shook it vigourously and it started to bubble?! it did this for about 30 seconds then stopped... and never started again.

i put half a teaspoon in a cup with warm water and some sugar. i mixed it up and left it for 15 minutes. when i came back to it it was bubbling over with a thick froth ontop. i've never seen this in my bottle so i decided to make a new batch and see if it was something i did wrong the first time.

no matter how hard i shake the substance in the bottle it doesn't produce any gas. i've done it with a normal botle top and shaken hard for about 2 minutes - nothing happened.

i've got it sitting my by buble though filter at the moment and i'm going to leave it for 10 mins or so to see if anything happens...


there are no airleaks - been rigourously tested!

the yast was new. the sachet is wraped in clingfilm in my fridge at the moment.

i found a shell which i'm going to use as a bell diffuser hoping it will work better as the bubbles with the filter didn't look to be getting into the water.

 

[Phenz]

don't know what i've done differently this time, but it's happily bubbling away. i'll measure the CO2 stats tomorrow.