Re: Non-nasal identification of 'off' gum arabic solution
Paul wrote: > About 3 months ago I mixed up 50ml of 26% GA solution adding 1ml of > 10% tea tree oil in alcohol. This sounds like an awful lot of preservative to me. I'd expect to put 1 ml of 10% tea tree oil (or 1 or 2 drops of tea tree oil without the alcohol) into at least 500 ml of solution, maybe even a liter. This would probably make olfactory tests easier, too! > I also made a batch with no preservative. The non-preserved GA went > bad after 11 days. It went yellowish, cloudy and stank like 7 pairs of > old socks kept warm in a plastic bag. > To date the GA / tea tree oil solution appears a tiny bit cloudy but > has no visible mould. It would be interesting to prepare two more batches -- one that has just a drop or two of tea tree oil, and one that has just 1 ml of alcohol, which is also an antiseptic, to see whether tea tree oil or alcohol is a more effective preservative. Best regards, etienne
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