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Caffenol C Ingredients Question

Southern-Lights

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I would like to use coffee as a developer, I'm just having trouble finding washing soda. I found a dish washer detergent that lists sodium carbonate as the first ingredient, with only a couple other ingredients on the list, could I get the same results as using pure washing soda?

I think that I may have found Arm and Hammer Washing soda, but it's in quite a large container.
 
I use the caffenol-C recipe here:

http://www.digitaltruth.com/data/caffenol.php

It uses common kitchen measurements we all have and the Arm & Hammer was at the grocery store. I got the vitamin-c/ascorbic acid on Ebay from some winemaking specialty seller. I store the ascorbic acid in the fridge in a ziplock bag as it's usually dark in the fridge.

Dead Link Removed
 
Most dishwasher detergents contain some kind of bleach -- sodium hypochlorite, sodium percarbonate, and sodium perborate are common. These will instantly kill your developer through oxidation.

Just try chemical-grade sodium carbonate, or washing soda or "pH Plus" if you want to do a quick-and-dirty experiment.
 
washing soda comes in a big container, and it is inexpensive.
if you don't want THAT much, get some baking soda
spread it on a cookie sheet and heat it at low heat to evaporate
the water out of it. baking soda is washing soda but with more water in it.
with the energy you are going to use to evaporate the wate ( oven or toast R oven )
it is probably less expensive to buy the box of washing soda.

have fun!

i use coffee developer all the time!
 
2 parts NaHCO3 (baking soda) + heat -> 1 part Na2CO3 (washing soda) + CO2 + H20

You must heat above 50 °C, and I don't know for how long, and it probably will be hydrated. You may heat above 107 °C and get waterfree (anhydrous) soda.

More about soda here: http://caffenol.blogspot.com/2010/03/soda-myth-and-truth_07.html

Best regards - Reinhold
 
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jnanian said:
if you don't want THAT much, get some baking soda
spread it on a cookie sheet and heat it at low heat to evaporate
the water out of it.
Click to expand...

Just for my own interest - why do you evaporate the water out if you're going to be mixing it with water anyway? Could you not just put in a bit extra to compensate?

EDIT: I should have read the post immediately after your post!!


Steve.
 
Washing soda seems to be a little bit of a "ghost product" in the US---it's still made and sold, but when was the last time you saw an advertisement for it or ran into a box of it in someone's laundry room?

In my area, it shows up in some supermarkets and not others, in roughly inverse proportion to the economic status of the store's target market. This pattern may reflect something about Southern California, where everyone who's ANYONE has a WATER softener, dahhling, and only the TERribly POOR would have to sully their hands with anything as plebeian as a POWDERED CHEMICAL to soften the liquid rock that comes out of the tap. Drugstores seem to carry it more often than supermarkets do, too.

(Conveniently, the more "downscale" stores are where I tend to shop anyway, because for some reason they have better produce. Apparently the middle and upper classes of Southern California prefer tomatoes that are bright red and unblemished but taste like they're made of styrofoam...but I digress.)

-NT
 

I don't know where you shop, but I haven't been able to find it for quite some time. I really want some washing soda, not the other crap it is mixed with. As for the tomatoes, if you don't grow your own, you are probably going to get bright red styrofoam thingies. My gopher prefers tender tomato plants, so I have to get my tomatoes at the farmer's market.

 
Italian egg shaped tomatoes were the best of the best you could buy here only during the summer. Looking "poor", but tasted great. They are gone. The "replacement" called "Roma" is 3 times more expensive, looks like cesar's food but tastes like any other - tasteless.

BTW, I can't remeber I ever saw an advertisement for washing soda. Our mothers just knew what to do with it.
 
Thanks for all the help! Now that I know where to look, I can't wait to get started.
 
We had washing soda in the house because my wife decided to make some laundry detergent out of shredded soap, borax, and washing soda. It worked well (green and inexpensive). I use the borax on ant hills outside, and the washing soda in my caffenol-c. No idea where it came from; probably the local chain supermarket or walmart.
 
If you can find a Trader Joe's they are a cheap source for vitamin C crystals.
 
I found my box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda on Ebay. It was only $7 with shipping. I wasn't able to find it anywhere in town either.
 
jnanian said:
baking soda is washing soda but with more water in it.
Click to expand...

No! Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate (sodium hydrogen carbonate) while washing soda is sodium carbonate, without the hydrogen atom. It's a different chemical resulting in different pH in solution. The level of water is a different thing. Still, it's true that you can turn sodium bicarbonate to sodium carbonate by heating, and the water, if there is some, is released at the same time.
 
i have never done this, but i am repeating what a chemist told me.
and ... he has done this...

i should have said YMMV
 
I just googled and it appears that people have had some success using borax instead. It's a weaker alkali, so you'd have to use more of it and/or develop longer, but it should be easier to find.

-NT
 
This should be a piece of cake to find almost anywhere. Home improvement centers (Lowe's etc) have it with the pool chemicals. Any pool supply place should have it so look there.
 
washing soda

I found washing soda at a Harris Teeter store in Durham NC. Lots of it on the shelf at the time.
 
michaelbsc said:
I agree that it's very hard to find. I've looked in NC, SC and CA, all to no avail.
Click to expand...

I looked on eBay as some suggested. About the cheapest place seems to be some guy selling two 55oz cartons as a unit. Comes out to $18 US for probably more than I'll ever need. Heaven only know why you can't find it stores around here.

My wife will probably steal the rest for the laundry. Hmmm. Maybe I can pass it off as a present, and then steal a little of it myself!!

"Here my love!! Fred down the street bought his wife a new washing machine, and I bought *YOU* some washing powder!! Do you love me?"
 
I finally found Arm and Hammer Washing Soda! I'm happy! I'm getting closer to developing with Caffenol!

Does anyone know long the negatives developed with caffenol will last?
 
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