Cheap home-made C02

Hi all,
i wasn't sure if someone has already written a thread about home made C02 so here it goes, to make home made C02 you will need :- Bakers yeast, Sugar and tap water.
To begin you can use an empty drinks bottle (i use a 500ml bottle), fill it with 3 quarters water and add Bakers yeast (powdered or solid) i use solid as you can get it from most bakeries free, and add 2 teaspoons of bakers yeast or 1 packet of powdered yeast and add 2-3 teaspoons of sugar and screw the lid on (its important that the lid is air tight) and leave it for about half an hour, once it has been left alone for half an hour go and give it a shake and hopefully you should be able to see bubbles in the bottle.
Remove the lid and make a hole in the centre of it (approx 1-1.5 cm) and screw the lid back on, there you go you now have home-made C02 just place the bottle below you plant pots, after 7-10 days the process will have to be repeated from scratch.
Hope some will find this useful
Peace out
Pliskin095

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i'm gonna try it, thank you. my room is 3x3x6 i keep my girls under 20". how much co2 is to much? just one bottle or one in each corner. my room is within a 20x20' shop. i burn a 35,000 btu kerosene heater anywhere from 2-6 hours a day while pounding on my guitar. flower room intake and exhaust are kept inside the main room, to control temp and odor. no cold damp air coming indoors no smell going outdoors. i'm in and out of the shop all day so the main room gets the air exchanged. can i over co2 them?

To the best of my knowledge the more the better, my plants have never gotten ill from C02 as i had 1 plant and 2 full size bottles (1.5 litres) producing C02 and the plant benefited greatly from them, so if any problems ever arise please let me know because it'll be a first.

I found this:

Items Required:

* 10lb. white sugar
* 5 gallon clean bucket W/lid
* 4 1/2 gallons of water
* A piece of toast browned and hard
* A table spoon of dry active yeast (for baking bread)

First boil the water, (this will ensure clean water) remove from the heat and add the sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves. Let cool until water is room temperature (if you don't let it cool down it won't work).

After the sugar water has cooled, float the piece of toast on top of the water. Now, empty the tablespoon of yeast over the toast. After a few days, the yeast will take over the toast and start making bubbles (CO2) in the bucket. After a week, the amount of bubbling (CO2) will increase.

Keep the lid airtight on the bucket. CO2 travels up the dispersion tubing, and due to it being heavier than air, falls directly onto your plants. Timing your exhaust, is essential in maintaining an effective level of CO2.

Editors Note: Unfortunately the author of this contribution has not been able to test the CO2 levels produced using his method. Personally, I would use a CO2 analysis kit to help manage (exhaust timing etc), and maintain, an optimum level of around 1500PPM.

ok i stepped up to a 3ft co2 tank and i bought a regulator to mount on it but u was wondering i have a 12' x 12' x 7'10'' with 4 x 1000w hps. the problem is i have the room sealed tight minus a prefiltered 6'' intake fan from outside. and 2 6'' exhaust fans wunning through the 2 light hoods ea. i have so much air travel i cant figure out how to maintain the co2 level.
can I saturate them during my 6hr off cycle (Im in veg 2nd week clones) ??
or would that be futile?

you have to constantly put co2 on them during the light cycle. also, you only need co2 for flowering. I'm not an expert on this but I've read a lot about it. Seems like most people time all their fans to shut off except the one they use to distribute the CO2. Then they run the exhaust fans only a few times an hour.

Keep posting about your solution and what you decide to do as I've bought the gear but don't want to use the co2 distributor until I hook up my exhaust fan.

check my sig wrote a while back

Pliskin095 said:

...just place the bottle below you plant pots...

Click to expand...

fwiw, you should place the bottle near the top of your room/tent/plants. CO2 is denser than 'air' so it will flow down, over your plants. If you leave the bottle at ground level, CO2 levels need to build up a lot before the gas reaches the plants.

old thread I know, but some people still read it

Why couldn't you have a fan in front of the co2 jug blowing across the plants and another fan blowing back towards your exhaust? Wouldnt that distribute the c02 better?

in the newbie area are many recent posts (a lot by yours truly) about c02 mixes. I am using 2 coke bottles with 5 cups sugar filled with water and 6 packets of " active dry yeast" purchased at my local shopping market for $5, stir and they keep (in a 3x4x8 grow room) for about 3-4 weeks until the bubbles stop and I have to replace it. i have 19 plants just 6 days into flowering, they love it! smells like warm beer. M-m-m-m! beer and pot what could be better?

keep the bottle top even with your plant bases this way the gas will 'flow' out across your grow container tops, over the stems and leaves and minimizes spills into your plants.

i know dark place is necessary for fermentation, so we can cover the bottle with t-shirt or something like that, i guess it is working without but when we cover must be better

Just so you know, making your own co2 is fine and all for 1 - 4 plants... but if you plan on going bigger, for around 55$ u can get a 5 lb co2 tank already filled, then all u need is a regulator(25$) and a co2 bubble counter(5$) On ebay they do sell electric cylinoid co2 regulators with a bubble counter built in(65$) so that you can hook it up to a timer. All this for around or under 100$.

Go check your local beer brewery shops, they have more co2 than they can sell and its cheaper than making it yourself.

For those who want more, pick up a 20lb tank for only 150$ - 185$ and it should only be around or under 1$ per lb of co2 you buy.

When using a co2 tank you can do really cool stuff like throwing a co2 reactor into your hydro system, and if you are using a drip system or hydro buckets, you can fuse the co2 lines into your air lines and mix co2 into the water as well as distro through the drip sytem. Growing can be alot of fun if you keep it simple.

I found this,


Temperature, humidity, and CO2 concentrations form a triangular relationship in a greenhouse or indoor grow. If all 3 factors are not in equilibrium, there is a risk to the plant in terms of stunted growth, toxicity, or death/disease.
Studies have shown optimal growth and yields at 90-95°F, 1,500 ppm CO2, 45-50% relative humidity, 7,500-10,000 lumens/square foot of light, and vigorous air movement both above and below the canopy. CO2 enrichment under 80°F, under 7500 lumens/sf, or above 50% humidity is not recommended because plants will not be conducting photosynthesis quickly enough to benefit from the enrichment.

ThunderLips said:

When using a co2 tank you can do really cool stuff like throwing a co2 reactor into your hydro system, and if you are using a drip system or hydro buckets, you can fuse the co2 lines into your air lines and mix co2 into the water as well as distro through the drip sytem. Growing can be alot of fun if you keep it simple.

Click to expand...

I'm still a newbie just starting my first grow but you may want to check this out with some of the pro's here. From my understanding, CO2 can only be absorbed by the leaves. The roots need oxygen. Introduction of CO2 to the root system may harm the plants.

I may be wrong and apologize if I am

Make sure that wherever you put your CO2 bottle, that it be above the plants. CO2 is heavier than air and will "float" downward.

ACSCorp said:

I'm still a newbie just starting my first grow but you may want to check this out with some of the pro's here. From my understanding, CO2 can only be absorbed by the leaves. The roots need oxygen. Introduction of CO2 to the root system may harm the plants.

I may be wrong and apologize if I am

Click to expand...

That's my view as well, CO2 in the water becomes toxic to the plant.

Sounds good.Good timing on how to make co2 at home. What really does this do to the plants. Whiz Bang.

What about using tubing to connect to the inlet duct?

If the air is being extracted at the top (hot air rises) the CO2 will definitely come up from the bottom.. just a thought.