Recipes EGoo

eGoo giant with a 100" top-string loop with cool temperature and high humidity.

 

EGoo 1.5 (UPDATED JULY/OCTOBER 2014)

Jakey and the Giant Bubbles

An early test using a bit more WSR301 than the current recipe. Watch full-size at HD resolution.

2012 04 28 rayon modular 4 1 blue, egoo

An Egoo test session. Watch full-size at HD resolution.

2012 04 28 modular 32" rayon loop 4 1 white

Another Egoo test run

eGoo is a bubble super-concentrate suitable for achieving a wide range of dilutions. You may find it fruitful to tinker with the amounts to achieve your preferred feel. With this recipe, you can achieve a friendly juice whose water-to-detergent ratio ranges from 20:1 to 35:1. At the upper dilution range, you may find that you need to supplement with some additional PEO or BLM (a PEO-based bubble juice additive)

Updated July 2014: amounts adjusted for full-strength PEO. Original recipe here.

 

Recipe

The following recipe makes 8 oz (roughly 1/4 liter) of eGoo which will make 1 gallon of bubble juice when diluted with 15 parts water. The recommended dilution range is 12 to 22 parts water per 1 part concentrate. I recommend trying 12.5:1, 15:1 and 20:1.

The recipe scales up well by doubling, tripling or quadrupling all of the ingredients. We recommend mixing up at least a quadruple batch to minimize measurement error.

Ingredients

• 0.15 - 0.25 grams WSR301 or 0.6-1.0 grams J-Lube. Amounts will need to be adjusted if your PEO has degraded (see notes below)
• 3.2 grams baking soda **
• 1.6 grams citric acid **
• 76 grams room temperature or warm (not hot) water
• 146 grams Dawn Pro or equivalent detergent

** The baking soda and citric acid function only to facilitate the PEO dispersion during mixing. You may omit them if you prefer to slurry the PEO. If slurrying use 5 grams of slurry liquid.

Steps

Mix and hydrate the PEO. You do not need to use fizz-mixing, but it is a simple and fun method of mixing up PEO. Use ONE of the following methods to hydrate the PEO:

• Fizz mix method #1. Combine powders in a narrow-bottomed tall container (if available). It needs to be tall-enough to contain the foam that will be created when the fizzing starts. Start stirring the powders before you start to pour the water. While stirring the powder, add the water and continue stirring until the foam has subsided and you have a nice uniform mix (this can take 30 seconds to a couple of minutes). NOTE: You do not need to use fizz mixing. If you have another preferred method of mixing up PEO, feel free to use your preferred method. Click here to see a video of Fizz Mixing.
• Fizz mix method #2: Another way to fizz mix is to mix the powders well in a small cup and drizzle the powder mix into the water as it is being stirred. When you do this, you might want to reserve half the citric acid and add it after mixing is complete to minimize the likelihood of overflowing the container with fizz.
• Slurry mix. Create a slurry by adding the PEO to a small amount of liquid (such as dry alcohol or glycerine) in which the PEO is not soluble; the slurry is then added to the water. TO MAKE A SLURRY WITH WSR301: Create the slurry by adding the WSR301 powder to about 5 ml of the slurry liquid. TO MAKE A JLUBE SLURRY: Create the slurry by adding the J-Lube to 10 ml of the slurry liquid. TO MIX THE SLURRY: Add the slurry to water as you stir the water. Continue stirring for a couple of minutes until the solution is uniform and stringy.

SLURRY NOTES: Cold, dry isopropyl (90% or higher) is a great slurry liquid. Measure the alcohol into a small container and put it in the freezer till it gets very cold. The cold temperature ensures that there won't be any clumping. Glycerine works well, too (even at room temperature), but since glycerine is reported to turn grass brown even in small quantities, I prefer not to use it. Propylene glycol will work, too. You can even use detergent for your slurry as described here.

ONCE THE PEO HAS HYDRATED, add the Dawn Pro to the PEO/water mix. If fizz-mixing was used, wait till the fizzing and foam have largely subsided. Stir gently to mix the detergent and goo. You want a uniform mix.

It is best to let the goo sit for 10 to 15 minutes before using although it can be diluted right away for use.

This concentrate seems to have a very nice shelf-life at a reasonable room temperature.

Diluting the Concentrate

This recipe was developed to accommodate a range of dilutions from about 12 parts to 22 parts water per part concentrate.

To use the concentrate, measure out your water and add the desired amount of concentrate. Stir gently. This concentrate can be quite gooey and can benefit from at least a few minutes rest. Overnight may be even better.

Add a pH adjuster. After diluting, per liter of added water add one of the following:

• 1/2 slightly heaping teaspoon baking powder
• 1 gram baking soda+1/2 gram citric acid (per liter water)
• 1/4 teaspoon Cream of Tartar (per liter water)
• 5-8 ml of a 5% citric acid solution (equivalent to adding )
• 0.25-0.4 grams citric acid

The pH adjustment improves the juice performance enormously. For the best results add these to the fully-diluted juice rather than to the concentrate. For more information see pH and also the water conditioners article.

Dilution Table

The table below shows information about diluted eGoo at various water:concentrate ratios. It includes a column that will be especially convenient to people that like to dilute using measuring cups. When diluting by volume try to be as accurate as possible. Tablespoons are an American measure that is equivalent to 0.5 fluid ounces. The third column of the table is provided for people wanting to mix up a small batch (about a quart) using 1/4 cup of eGoo (a full 'batch' is one cup of egoo). To calculate the amount of water needed to dilute a full batch, find the water to detergent ratio that you want (the second column) and make note of the water-to-concentrate ratio listed in the left column and multiply that times the amount of eGoo.

eGoo Dilution Table*

Water:Conc. Ratio	Resulting Water:Det. Ratio	Amount of Water to Add to 1/4 cup eGoo (Small Batch)	PEO%	Notes
12.5:1	20:1	3 cups + 2 tbsp	0.005%
15:1	23.8:1	3-3/4 cups	0.004..%
16.4:1	25:1	4 cups + 2 tbsp	0.004..%
19:1	30:1	4-3/4 cups	0.0034%
20:1	31.7:1	5 cups	0.0032%
22:1	35:1	5-1/2 cups	0.0029%

*% PEO is calculated as a function of total water rather than as a function of the total bubble juice

QUICK TIP! MAKING A GALLON OF JUICE. To make one gallon of diluted juice with an approximate water:detergent ratio of 16.5:1 use 217 grams {7.65 oz} of eGoo concentrate and 3574 grams (126.07 ounces} water.

Adjusting the PEO Amount

PEO is the active ingredient in WSR301 and J-Lube. You may find it useful to adjust the amount of PEO you use. People have different preferences about what is optimal for them for a number of reasons (different equipment, different conditions, different personal tastes, and variations in PEO potency). PEO's potency can change in storage (it can happen before it gets to you).

 If you are unhappy with the performance, you should definitely tinker with the amount of PEO you use.

Even if you are happy with how eGoo is working, you might find it worthwhile to try a bit more and a bit less to tune it to your equipment and preferences.

PEO Stringiness Demo

The "stringiness" of your diluted mix is a clue. If your diluted mix is not "stringy" at all, use more PEO. If the mix is very stringy, use less in your next batch. Take a look at the "stringiness" demonstration video at the right.

 

See the main PEO article for more information about PEO degradation (and REALLY degraded PEO works great).

PEO Calibration. We have a couple of methods that you can use to gauge your PEO's potency. See PEO Calibration.

Videos

2012 08 31 36 foot tube

Long closed tube (2012 08 31) . The video is just one dip of a 72-inch topstring loop. The top-string is full-ply rayon mop yarn. The bottom string is just 2-strands of the rayon mop yarn. This is a modular loop (top and bottom just clipped onto the leads). The closed tube is at least 36 feet long. (The lines in the street are 10 feet apart and the street width is 21 feet from middle-of-gutter to middle-of-gutter). The water:concentrate ratio was 17:1. Temp: 58F. Humidity: 82%

 

2012 07 20 The Bubble And The Crow

A couple of long-lasting pretty big bubbles, one of which is attacked by a large crow. Water:concentrate ratio: 20:1 (>30:1 water:detergent ratio). Conditions pretty good with 65% humidity. Full-sun. 63F. 2012 07 20 test session.

 

2012 07 20 Egoo Tests - LONG

A long session with eGoo. This is a 13 minute video of a complete session with no dips edited out to give you a feel for how well-behaving eGoo should perform under nice conditions.

 

Windy unfavorable conditions. 20:1 water:concentrate ratio, strong winds, 50% humidity and 70F. 2012 07 21 evening test session. This large bubble doesn't last long due to the very strong wind. But the color is great. The smaller bubbles that broke off -- however -- lasted a long time.

 

Long tubes (2012 08 30) . I spent a few minutes making tubes with a 32" topstring loop. The loop was Lehigh SecureLine diamond braid cord which has pretty good capacity (but nowhere near the capacity of the Rubbermaid mop yarns). Conditions were 66F and 62% humidity with only a slight breeze. The tubes would have been longer with a somewhat stronger breeze. This should give you an idea of what eGoo can do. The dilution was 17:1 water:concentrate (a bit more than 25:1 water:detergent).