(It probably could have used more time in the freezer, but it’s clearly not freezing in the fridge.)
One hypothesis is that my water is too hard (269 ppm calcium carbonate) or otherwise impure. If so, possible avenues for fixing it are buying distilled water, buying regular bottled water, and using a water filter (quick google: apparently that doesn’t help with hardness).
Another hypothesis is that something about my salts is fucked. Impure sodium sulphate? The table salt comes with anti-caking agents, are those causing a problem? The table salt has also been just hanging out in my kitchen in this kind of thing, possibly with some dried beans in there to stop it clumping; maybe I should try some fresh salt?
I’ve done three experiments so far, and very roughly:
3:1 Na2SO4:NaCl by volume (most recent): I got 210 ml Na2SO4 in 1 l water (7x15 ml, in 500 ml)
4:1 Na2SO4:NaCl by volume (Nighthawk’s recipe): I got 160 ml Na2SO4 in 1 l water (400 ml, in 2.5 l)
No NaCl: I got 400 ml Na2SO4 in 1 l water (80 ml in 200 ml)
So there’s not even a clear trend for “more NaCl means less Na2SO4 dissolved”. Maybe because I did nighthawk’s at close to boiling? And/or because it went via the kettle?
Still, regardless of what my numbers show, more NaCl must mean less Na2SO4 dissolves, right? So maybe the next thing to try is, like, 10:1?
Indeed, no luck:
(It probably could have used more time in the freezer, but it’s clearly not freezing in the fridge.)
One hypothesis is that my water is too hard (269 ppm calcium carbonate) or otherwise impure. If so, possible avenues for fixing it are buying distilled water, buying regular bottled water, and using a water filter (quick google: apparently that doesn’t help with hardness).
Another hypothesis is that something about my salts is fucked. Impure sodium sulphate? The table salt comes with anti-caking agents, are those causing a problem? The table salt has also been just hanging out in my kitchen in this kind of thing, possibly with some dried beans in there to stop it clumping; maybe I should try some fresh salt?
I’ve done three experiments so far, and very roughly:
3:1 Na2SO4:NaCl by volume (most recent): I got 210 ml Na2SO4 in 1 l water (7x15 ml, in 500 ml)
4:1 Na2SO4:NaCl by volume (Nighthawk’s recipe): I got 160 ml Na2SO4 in 1 l water (400 ml, in 2.5 l)
No NaCl: I got 400 ml Na2SO4 in 1 l water (80 ml in 200 ml)
So there’s not even a clear trend for “more NaCl means less Na2SO4 dissolved”. Maybe because I did nighthawk’s at close to boiling? And/or because it went via the kettle?
Still, regardless of what my numbers show, more NaCl must mean less Na2SO4 dissolves, right? So maybe the next thing to try is, like, 10:1?