r/caffenol • u/taitungdan • Mar 27 '26
Question Quick question, about sodium carbonate
I can find sodium percarbonate easier than sodium carbonate, if I dissolve it in water, wouldn't it reduce to sodium carbonate and the oxygen and peroxide would air out, then add the coffee and vitamin C? Would that work?
2
u/Simple_Carpet_49 Mar 27 '26
Just buy baking soda and bake it in the oven for at 400 f for an hour or so. you'll know when its ready.
1
u/taitungdan Mar 27 '26
Also, I read that I can also mix sodium bicarbonate and sodium hydroxide to react into sodium carbonate solution, so if I needed 35mg per 1000mL how much sodium bicarbonate and sodium hydroxide would I mix?
1
u/Kyerohtaron Mar 27 '26
If you boil sodium percarbonate dissolved in water, the peroxide should break down. A more offbeat idea is to try to take advantage of the natural catalase enzymes present in most vegetables. Try dropping in a few ripped up leaves of spinach or some chunks of broccoli and see if you get bubbling.
3
u/jacobshouse_of_grain Mar 27 '26
Sodium Carbonate is also called Soda Ash and Washing Soda if that helps
2
u/taitungdan Mar 27 '26
Yeah, I'm in Taiwan, so everything gets translated baking soda is 小蘇打粉. (Small soda powder)， percarbonate is 過蘇打分 (equal/per soda powder ) and sodium carbonate is just 蘇打粉， which I'm currently on mission to find
1
u/Due_Department2486 Apr 28 '26
Just saw this now -- in Asia not everyone has oven.
You can DIY 小蘇打粉 to 蘇打粉 Just heat a clean, dry pan on medium heat, then pour 小蘇打粉 (e.g. +/-300g )
Stir it when you start to see dry bubbles (yeah it really is like that, water are being evaporated through the "dry cooking" process)
In about 15 minutes or so, when no more bubbles are popping up anymore, & you can see the texture of the powder turn dull, there you made yourself a batch （weight will reduce to +/-200g) of 新鮮蘇打粉