wash your drawers (Page 2 of 8)
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Originally Posted By decypher:
Does anyone add any smelly stuff to the mix? What options are available there? Nothing harsh or perfumey... I personally don't think you need it. The fels-naptha leaves a "clean" smell. Very faint but its there. I personally like this, but the wife/daughters soap will get a small bit of jasmine essential oil. |
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Just wanted to say thanks for the post. My son and I made some last night, and we then used it today. Works great, and the boy got to learn about making your own stuff. I told him that we were going to make our own laundry soap, and he said, "COOL! Then we can take it to the store and sell it." Ahh.. My young republican entrepreneur. The only way we strayed from your post was we used a 5 Gal bucket from Home Depot with lid and did one big batch. We can refill from this. We used to use the small jugs, and didn't have anything in between. So we can now refill them from the big bucket.
jim |
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I too was inspired. I just wanted to try it first so I bought single amounts of each.
$1.09 - 1 bar Fels-Naptha soap (5.5 oz) $2.89 - A&H washing soda (55 oz) $3.39 - Borax (76 oz) $7.37 total. (with 1 bar of fels) Probably going to need 6-10 bars of fels, and another box of washing soda to finish up the borax in the right proportions. |
"You're going to love my nuts!" Vince; selling the slapchop.
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Originally Posted By Nozzelnut:
I too was inspired. I just wanted to try it first so I bought single amounts of each. $1.09 - 1 bar Fels-Naptha soap (5.5 oz) $2.89 - A&H washing soda (55 oz) $3.39 - Borax (76 oz) $7.37 total. (with 1 bar of fels) Probably going to need 6-10 bars of fels, and another box of washing soda to finish up the borax in the right proportions. yea but your need a 55 gallon drum to keep all the laundry soap in. i guess i never realized how much i was payin for water and something that is so easy to do yourself. |
That rifle looks like it was dragged through the EE with a crap magnet-armalite
ARFCOMMERS need sealant incase we spill our BEER on our ammo-markm
Concentrate on aiming and dont watch Daddy in his homicidal rage against the RedCoats-captainpooby
ARFCOMMERS need sealant incase we spill our BEER on our ammo-markm
Concentrate on aiming and dont watch Daddy in his homicidal rage against the RedCoats-captainpooby
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I made the powder soap instead of the liquid. For me space is becoming an issue. I put it in a used Tang container(after rinsing it out); it has a wide opening and a scoop and it works well.
I did do 2 loads of laundry today. It smelled good; didn't have any perfumes, but just a clean smell. The came out clean and the clothes seemed softer too. Thanks for the heads up. So far I like it. |
"I don't know which will happen first, 1776 or 1929, but be prepared . . ."
Chances are, I am who pissed in their cheerios...
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EE: 100% (4)
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found the 20 mule team borax and the arm and hammer super washing soda at a local Kroger grocery store(wallyworld also had borax, but no soda). i couldn't find fels naptha locally. so i decided to expieriment a little and try irish spring instead.
the good news... a cheese grader works very well for turning the bar of soap into a finely graded pile. the bad news... Kar15 fucked up. pic or it didn't happen, i suppose... 
so here's what happened... i followed the OPs recipe to start with. with the simple expection of substituting a full bar of irish spring for a half bar of the fels which i'm assuming is a much stronger soap. no problems thus far. i gently boiled 10 cups of water per the directions and melted the irish spring into the boiling water. all good to this point. i then added the prescriber 1 cup of borax, and 1 cup of arm and hammer super washing soda. still good to go. once everything was disolved i then added 2 gallons of steaming hot water from a 5 gal bucket to my big assed stock pot. different from the recipe but whats the harm, i'm in my kitchen at work latenight, i do what i want  .
man it smells soapy in here and the whole stock pot is simmering, my whole kitchen smells nice and homey, i likey... so i take the whole big assed stock pot and transfer to the big walk in freezer, only an hour and a half maybe before i go home, and i want my new detergent cool before i transfer it to the empty tide container. no probelm in this i constantly look in on it, not going to freeze, and i'm stiring it constantly to circulate the outside cooler portion into the warmed core of the pot. still probably ok at this point. but... man this stuff seems way thin, maybe i should add some more borax and washing soda, it just dosen't look like it's setting up, and it's cool enough to dip my fingers in. maybe i should add some more borax and washing soda its not real hot, and it seems to thin. still feels more like soapy bath water, not like liquid laundry detergent, maybe i should add some more borax andwashing soda. hrmmmn, i'm in an industrail kitchen(kinda) and i've got this gallon of simple green citric acid, i like the way it smells and it really cuts dirty greasy stuff, it'll smell good in conjunction with the irish spring(i put no blame here and may still add this in the future, it really does cut the grease). but i added another one(1) cup of liquid, so i should add some more borax and washing soda. so by now i probably have somewhere around triple the amount of borax and soda in my detergent mix. i get it home and it's just barelly warm, still seems thin but it's starting to look like detergent. fast forward to tonight(about 20 minutes before this post) i dump a load of stinky socks and boxers in the washer and grab my "jug o' ho'made soap". i then find a nice little 4oz can(diced pears, yes i had to eat them to get the can, made a tasty snack). i rinse the can and put it under the spout and push the button... i push the button... i push the,  what the hell is wrong here, i can see the valve is open. so i unscrew the lid and look inside...
soap flavored room tempratured jelloish putty anyone  ..
the detergent bottle was nearly full, now it's 7/8s full but solidish. i did manage to fill it with water and slosh it around and get enough water and slush out to wash my load of socks and underwear, results to follow... in short: trust the recipe, and don't hover, a watched pot never boils and a watched batch of soap never thickens. it will don't force it, patience and trust are both wonderful virtues which that night, i did not possess... K. |
My conservative commonwealth's 232 year old state seal is a direct COC violation. Our founding fathers approved of images of bared breasts...
WWW.ASHBYARMS.COM
WWW.ASHBYARMS.COM
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Originally Posted By kevin101:
I made up a batch just now. I'll use it tomorrow and tell you how it went. OK, I walk into the living room of my home and announce to my wife that I am now ready to clean laundry with gusto. She looked at me a touch suspiciously and told me NOT to wash ANY of HER stuff until we see how it works. I then proceeded to load the washer with several blankets that we keep in the living room that the dogs usually end up on. Well, I run the load and a short while later I walk into the living room with 3 blankets all folded nicely. I gently toss one towards her. She took the blanket, smelled it, and then mentioned how soft it felt. I was given the go ahead for general use. Success. |
One Big Ass Mistake America.
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Originally Posted By Kar15:
found the 20 mule team borax and the arm and hammer super washing soda at a local Kroger grocery store(wallyworld also had borax, but no soda). i couldn't find fels naptha locally. so i decided to expieriment a little and try irish spring instead. the good news... a cheese grader works very well for turning the bar of soap into a finely graded pile. the bad news... Kar15 fucked up. pic or it didn't happen, i suppose... http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g65/jasonkirby/0323092242.jpg so here's what happened... i followed the OPs recipe to start with. with the simple expection of substituting a full bar of irish spring for a half bar of the fels which i'm assuming is a much stronger soap. no problems thus far. i gently boiled 10 cups of water per the directions and melted the irish spring into the boiling water. all good to this point. i then added the prescriber 1 cup of borax, and 1 cup of arm and hammer super washing soda. still good to go. once everything was disolved i then added 2 gallons of steaming hot water from a 5 gal bucket to my big assed stock pot. different from the recipe but whats the harm, i'm in my kitchen at work latenight, i do what i want .
man it smells soapy in here and the whole stock pot is simmering, my whole kitchen smells nice and homey, i likey... so i take the whole big assed stock pot and transfer to the big walk in freezer, only an hour and a half maybe before i go home, and i want my new detergent cool before i transfer it to the empty tide container. no probelm in this i constantly look in on it, not going to freeze, and i'm stiring it constantly to circulate the outside cooler portion into the warmed core of the pot. still probably ok at this point. but... man this stuff seems way thin, maybe i should add some more borax and washing soda, it just dosen't look like it's setting up, and it's cool enough to dip my fingers in. maybe i should add some more borax and washing soda its not real hot, and it seems to thin. still feels more like soapy bath water, not like liquid laundry detergent, maybe i should add some more borax andwashing soda. hrmmmn, i'm in an industrail kitchen(kinda) and i've got this gallon of simple green citric acid, i like the way it smells and it really cuts dirty greasy stuff, it'll smell good in conjunction with the irish spring(i put no blame here and may still add this in the future, it really does cut the grease). but i added another one(1) cup of liquid, so i should add some more borax and washing soda. so by now i probably have somewhere around triple the amount of borax and soda in my detergent mix. i get it home and it's just barelly warm, still seems thin but it's starting to look like detergent. fast forward to tonight(about 20 minutes before this post) i dump a load of stinky socks and boxers in the washer and grab my "jug o' ho'made soap". i then find a nice little 4oz can(diced pears, yes i had to eat them to get the can, made a tasty snack). i rinse the can and put it under the spout and push the button... i push the button... i push the, what the hell is wrong here, i can see the valve is open. so i unscrew the lid and look inside...
soap flavored room tempratured jelloish putty anyone ..
the detergent bottle was nearly full, now it's 7/8s full but solidish. i did manage to fill it with water and slosh it around and get enough water and slush out to wash my load of socks and underwear, results to follow... in short: trust the recipe, and don't hover, a watched pot never boils and a watched batch of soap never thickens. it will don't force it, patience and trust are both wonderful virtues which that night, i did not possess... K. lol, thats pretty funny. i made it to thick and used one of those little hand mixers that look like a marital aid to grind it all down to a semi liquid again |
That rifle looks like it was dragged through the EE with a crap magnet-armalite
ARFCOMMERS need sealant incase we spill our BEER on our ammo-markm
Concentrate on aiming and dont watch Daddy in his homicidal rage against the RedCoats-captainpooby
ARFCOMMERS need sealant incase we spill our BEER on our ammo-markm
Concentrate on aiming and dont watch Daddy in his homicidal rage against the RedCoats-captainpooby
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Originally Posted By beachhair234:
Not to hijack, but can this mixture be used/modified to make other things like dishwashing detergent, shampoo/body wash, etc? i wouldnt think so. the old lady makes that stuff too, i will have her do another write up this weekend |
That rifle looks like it was dragged through the EE with a crap magnet-armalite
ARFCOMMERS need sealant incase we spill our BEER on our ammo-markm
Concentrate on aiming and dont watch Daddy in his homicidal rage against the RedCoats-captainpooby
ARFCOMMERS need sealant incase we spill our BEER on our ammo-markm
Concentrate on aiming and dont watch Daddy in his homicidal rage against the RedCoats-captainpooby
|
First, many thanks to you, Raven, for sharing the recipe and fine idea. My wife and daughter were both very impressed with your post, so I took that as a green light to go forward.
Our local store has all three ingredients next to one another, so I lucked out. I brought them all home, eager to embark on my new journey toward clean clothing at a cheaper price. We already did away with fabric softener by using the dryer ball things, so I was looking for a way to further my savings. Perfect. I decided to go with the powder method for a few reasons, so my first goal was to finely grate the Fels-Naptha. Well, the soap is waxy, so the grater quickly fouled up and didn't do such a great job, no pun intended. I found the rotary cheese grater that we have (much like what they use at Olive Garden) and cut up the soap and grated away. Success! That is, if you like your soap in strings. I broke it down a bit by rubbing it in my hands and mixed it with the powder. Raven, if you could share how you made the waxy soap into finely grained/cornmeal looking stuff, I would be very appreciative. We will try it tomorrow on laundry day and I will try to remember to report back in. The Fels-Naptha smells nice and so far the whole family likes it, so no problems there. Oh, keep it away from your eyes, per the directions. Ok, so here is some math. A double batch of 2 cups soda+2cups Borax+1 bar = roughly 5 cups. There are 48 teaspoons per cup, so that is 240 teaspoons. We do about 7 loads per week (2 adults, 2 teenagers), so that equals 34 weeks of laundry soap. Holy cow! I still have plenty of Borax and soda left over and the total bill was $7.45. I can go back and purchase more bars of Fels-Naptha for .99 each at Publix and make another few batches if needed. Hey preppers! You can get about 2 years worth of laundry soap for under $10.00. Honestly, what else can you check off of your list for that price? Thanks again Raven! -White Horse |
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Originally Posted By White_horse:
First, many thanks to you, Raven, for sharing the recipe and fine idea. My wife and daughter were both very impressed with your post, so I took that as a green light to go forward. Our local store has all three ingredients next to one another, so I lucked out. I brought them all home, eager to embark on my new journey toward clean clothing at a cheaper price. We already did away with fabric softener by using the dryer ball things, so I was looking for a way to further my savings. Perfect. I decided to go with the powder method for a few reasons, so my first goal was to finely grate the Fels-Naptha. Well, the soap is waxy, so the grater quickly fouled up and didn't do such a great job, no pun intended. I found the rotary cheese grater that we have (much like what they use at Olive Garden) and cut up the soap and grated away. Success! That is, if you like your soap in strings. I broke it down a bit by rubbing it in my hands and mixed it with the powder. Raven, if you could share how you made the waxy soap into finely grained/cornmeal looking stuff, I would be very appreciative. We will try it tomorrow on laundry day and I will try to remember to report back in. The Fels-Naptha smells nice and so far the whole family likes it, so no problems there. Oh, keep it away from your eyes, per the directions. Ok, so here is some math. A double batch of 2 cups soda+2cups Borax+1 bar = roughly 5 cups. There are 48 teaspoons per cup, so that is 240 teaspoons. We do about 7 loads per week (2 adults, 2 teenagers), so that equals 34 weeks of laundry soap. Holy cow! I still have plenty of Borax and soda left over and the total bill was $7.45. I can go back and purchase more bars of Fels-Naptha for .99 each at Publix and make another few batches if needed. Hey preppers! You can get about 2 years worth of laundry soap for under $10.00. Honestly, what else can you check off of your list for that price? Thanks again Raven! -White Horse thanks, yea grindin the soap in a pain so we cut it into big pieces and then run it through a 
makes it up nice, hey anything to make it easier. I do think shredding it that small makes the liquid alot more of a solid when its all done. could be wrong though eta, thats not my pic, that counter looks nasty. |
That rifle looks like it was dragged through the EE with a crap magnet-armalite
ARFCOMMERS need sealant incase we spill our BEER on our ammo-markm
Concentrate on aiming and dont watch Daddy in his homicidal rage against the RedCoats-captainpooby
ARFCOMMERS need sealant incase we spill our BEER on our ammo-markm
Concentrate on aiming and dont watch Daddy in his homicidal rage against the RedCoats-captainpooby
|
-White Horse[/quote] thanks, yea grindin the soap in a pain so we cut it into big pieces and then run it through a http://images-cdn01.associatedcontent.com/image/A4564/45643/300_45643.jpg makes it up nice, hey anything to make it easier. I do think shredding it that small makes the liquid alot more of a solid when its all done. could be wrong though eta, thats not my pic, that counter looks nasty.[/quote] Thanks! |
Is it wrong that I am excited about making my own laundry detergent 
Didn't want to spend the time now to run around to find all the ingredients so I did go to www.soapsgonebuy.com and bought them (thanks for posting the link) It cost me 16 bucks to ship it but 7 bars + 1 box of Borax and 2 boxes of washing soda will make a lot of clean laundry and save me a ton. I will be looking around locally for it going forward but to start I wanted to just get the stuff on its way! Thanks everyone posting! |
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Saw Zote soap at WM today.
Wonder how it would work for making washing machine soap? 
http://www.zote.com.mx/english/about.htm http://www.zote.com.mx/english/boil.htm Washing tips and recipes HOW TO PREPARE “LIQUID” ZOTE TO REMOVE DIFFICULT STAINS WITHOUT CHLORINE In a saucepan, add a bar of ZOTE 7.06 oz. and cover it with water. Put it on the stove top and let boil. Stir occasionally until obtaining a thick solution. Apply the warm mix directly on the stain of the dry garment. Put the garment to the sun until the paste hardens and remove; the stain will be adhered to the soap. The rest of the solution can be used at other times, following the same procedure. |
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Went shopping at china-mart today. Picked up the borax and got some ivory soap.
Any thoughts on where to find fels-naptha and washing soda? Lowes? Also, and this is directed at the OP, what are your thoughts on the ratio of soap to boosters. Your recipe is 1/2 bar of soap (does this make a cup) to one cup of each booster. Some of the onlne recipes had less of the booster, say about 1 cup of grated soap for 1/2 cups of the washing soda and borax. Have you just found more washing soda/borax to work better? I'm just curious. 
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IF we filled our 5-gallon bucket totally up (not sure since the highest marked line on the side is 3.5 gallons but I believe I did fill everything correctly), then we have used 1.5 gallons of laundry soap since I originally made the batch in January –– the current level is 3.5 gallons. Some quick math means that 5 gallons of this stuff will last us about 9-10 months at our current rate of consumption. The recipe I'm using states to use 5/8th's of a cup per load, which is about 2 capfulls from the Tide container I am using.
9-10 months of laundry soap from one Fels-Naptha bar and a negligible amount of washing soda and borax? Yes please... It even works great on stains.
It sounds like a case of Fels-Naptha bars would last ~20 years at this rate. Crazy! |
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Originally Posted By HIPPO:
Found all three ingredients @ Wegman's in No.VA. Checked all other grocery stores, but did not find anything except Borax. Borax is also available @ WM. What is the best way to grate &/or shred the Fels-Naptha? Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile Are you making the powder soap or liquid? I assume powder, because you're asking. I made the powdered soap and I used a small hand grater; for cheese. It did take a little time but wasn't bad, the thumbs did start cramping up though... Like this: Hand Grater |
"I don't know which will happen first, 1776 or 1929, but be prepared . . ."
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Originally Posted By EXPY37:
Saw Zote soap at WM today. Wonder how it would work for making washing machine soap? http://www.zote.com.mx/images/ilust/emily.jpg http://www.zote.com.mx/english/about.htm http://www.zote.com.mx/english/boil.htm Washing tips and recipes HOW TO PREPARE “LIQUID” ZOTE TO REMOVE DIFFICULT STAINS WITHOUT CHLORINE In a saucepan, add a bar of ZOTE 7.06 oz. and cover it with water. Put it on the stove top and let boil. Stir occasionally until obtaining a thick solution. Apply the warm mix directly on the stain of the dry garment. Put the garment to the sun until the paste hardens and remove; the stain will be adhered to the soap. The rest of the solution can be used at other times, following the same procedure. I can't get Fels Naptha local so I use Zote, and it works fine. Only thing I've noticed is that even when finely grated, you'll have some left over chunks in the powder detergent tray in your washing machine, it just doesn't dissolve 100% every time. |
Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands hoist the black flag and begin slitting throats.
| I found everything at my local Publix (FL, GA) in SoFlo. It was in the laundry/detergent aisle, actually all in my armspan's distance (although my Publix is a small one in the FL Keys). I think people are catching on to this as I got the last box of Boraxo on the shelf and there were only two boxes of washing soda left. So I'm waiting for an energy day (autoimmunes, I have to pace myself) to mix up a batch, looking forward to it in fact. |
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Just finished making a batch. I appreciate the directions being posted!! Well see tomorrow how it works out.
Thanks Edit to say the whole house smells refreshing clean! |
May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't.
- General George Patton Jr.
- General George Patton Jr.
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Originally Posted By Ghost013:
Just finished making a batch. I appreciate the directions being posted!! Well see tomorrow how it works out. Thanks Edit to say the whole house smells refreshing clean! Me too. I cut the original recipe in half since I had a 1 gal. fabric softener bottle we'd just emptied. Boy that Fels-Naptha soap smells good. It sounds like it ought to be some nasty smelling stuff, but I love it. I also noticed the second recipe posted here is basically the same, but diluted twice as much. And it calls for using twice as much per load, so I don't really see the point. |
Sometimes there's nothing you can do but kick Fate in the balls and run like hell.
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Originally Posted By ken_mays:
Originally Posted By Ghost013:
Just finished making a batch. I appreciate the directions being posted!! Well see tomorrow how it works out. Thanks Edit to say the whole house smells refreshing clean! Me too. I cut the original recipe in half since I had a 1 gal. fabric softener bottle we'd just emptied. Boy that Fels-Naptha soap smells good. It sounds like it ought to be some nasty smelling stuff, but I love it. I also noticed the second recipe posted here is basically the same, but diluted twice as much. And it calls for using twice as much per load, so I don't really see the point. Noticed that too. I did the first recipe but only used 6 cups of water and mixed 1 cup in with boiling water and the other cup in the bucket after I filled it. I am now wondering how long the house will smell like this. I like it but not sure if I will like it as much in an hour 
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May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't.
- General George Patton Jr.
- General George Patton Jr.
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Originally Posted By Nozzelnut:
Originally Posted By HIPPO:
Found all three ingredients @ Wegman's in No.VA. Checked all other grocery stores, but did not find anything except Borax. Borax is also available @ WM. What is the best way to grate &/or shred the Fels-Naptha? Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile Are you making the powder soap or liquid? I assume powder, because you're asking. I made the powdered soap and I used a small hand grater; for cheese. It did take a little time but wasn't bad, the thumbs did start cramping up though... Like this: Hand Grater she grinds it up with a grater both for the power and liquid soap, says it "melts in better" |
That rifle looks like it was dragged through the EE with a crap magnet-armalite
ARFCOMMERS need sealant incase we spill our BEER on our ammo-markm
Concentrate on aiming and dont watch Daddy in his homicidal rage against the RedCoats-captainpooby
ARFCOMMERS need sealant incase we spill our BEER on our ammo-markm
Concentrate on aiming and dont watch Daddy in his homicidal rage against the RedCoats-captainpooby
|
I also noticed the second recipe posted here is basically the same, but diluted twice as much. And it calls for using twice as much per load, so I don't really see the point.
Well so far it has worked fine for us. 
I was cleaning out stuff in our apartment yesterday (boxes leftover from moving) and I found a random Fels-Naptha bar I didn't know I had.
To the user asking about the smell in their house –– just open the windows for a few hours and it will air out. |
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Originally Posted By Raven_Fire: Originally Posted By beachhair234: Not to hijack, but can this mixture be used/modified to make other things like dishwashing detergent, shampoo/body wash, etc? i wouldnt think so. the old lady makes that stuff too, i will have her do another write up this weekend Did I miss this write up? Thanks for this post by the way raven_fire family, I'm gonna put it to good use in my house. |
When the chips are down, when the pressure is on, every creature on the face of the Earth is interested in one thing and one thing only Its own survival.
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Stir......
When we made our batch (5 gallons) we let it sit for probably 2 weeks, since we still had plenty of store-bought detergent. Upon opening the bucket, the stuff inside looked like yellowed yogurt –– and it had the consistency of it as well. Yellow gel-like stuff plus liquid stuff surrounding it. We stirred for awhile, and it hasn't gelled up since then in January. Stir the stuff in the bucket and try to get it as even as possible. Ours is still slightly lumpy, but when combining with hot-water for dilution it evens out. |
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Originally Posted By SparticleBrane:
Stir...... When we made our batch (5 gallons) we let it sit for probably 2 weeks, since we still had plenty of store-bought detergent. Upon opening the bucket, the stuff inside looked like yellowed yogurt –– and it had the consistency of it as well. Yellow gel-like stuff plus liquid stuff surrounding it. We stirred for awhile, and it hasn't gelled up since then in January. Stir the stuff in the bucket and try to get it as even as possible. Ours is still slightly lumpy, but when combining with hot-water for dilution it evens out. yea like i said before an electric mixer works pretty good to loosen it back up. not sure why it gets so jello like some times. |
That rifle looks like it was dragged through the EE with a crap magnet-armalite
ARFCOMMERS need sealant incase we spill our BEER on our ammo-markm
Concentrate on aiming and dont watch Daddy in his homicidal rage against the RedCoats-captainpooby
ARFCOMMERS need sealant incase we spill our BEER on our ammo-markm
Concentrate on aiming and dont watch Daddy in his homicidal rage against the RedCoats-captainpooby