You can just sprinkle alum into the river water, you don't need to mix it up first. It dissolves quickly even in cold river water. It's a lot easier to just carry a small bottle of powdered alumn to sprinkle into the water. You don't need to filter the water for dish washing if you use bleach in the river water. The flocculated water will leave a little residue on dishes, so you can use filtered culinary water for a final rinse if you wish. You can get alum via Amazon in bulk.
Thanks. Adventurous knitter and cook. Lots of converting via math to do on a regular basis. Now for a container. I was thinking "Large heavy duty Ziploc type container. Either the bag version or the round screw top type. Light, easy to pack and mutli-functional for the dirty water. Travel sections of drugstores sometimes have 1 oz bottles for toiletries that are empty.
I use a Sawyer Squeeze and its back flushable up to 1 mil gallons. But silt and stuff will clog it and grit can damage the filter membrane. So, this is a very useful video. Guess that can of Alum I got on my spice shelf and a 1/8 tsp will be jumping in my pack on my next trip. Alum for the sediment and the Squeeze will take care of the nasty stuff you can't see.
@RebLin51 I imagine that this trick will be very useful to people who have run into the problem of silty water clogging up their favorite water filters. I didn't know about this trick really until 2 years ago and I'm definately going to be adding some alum to my kit!
I figured out the math for small amounts of water to be treated by weighing alum on my scale and figuring out how many teaspoons of alum in 1 oz.. 7 tsp = 1 oz.
If I did it right 1/8 tsp alum dissolved in a bit of water will treat 2.5 qts. So, dissolve 1/8 tsp in a small container and use half of that to settle one quart of silty water. That was using the 1oz of alum per qt to make the solution. I was thinking I usually don't carry 5 gal buckets backpacking and need to clarify 1 qt amonts.
@RebLin51 Your math looks to be right on and I will post this formula in the description box with full credit to you! This is very much appreciated! Thank you for figuring out a more sutible amount for backpacking! 1 qt amounts is a much more logical choice to use on a backpacking trip and even using a black plastic yard bag will do the trick for containing your water from the source.
Glad to be of help! I didn't know that Double Activated Baking Powder had alum in it so in turn you have helped me too. Yeah, there are many uses for alum and I guess it used to be more commonly used than it is today, but I don't think too many people know that it works wonders on silty, muddy river water
@CrazyTaileZ Too many people are relying on cartage filter for an emergency but they will clog up with fine sediment. The Alum is activated by heat in baking powder. Baking powder has a short shelf life it's not good for long term storage and you need it to make anything with flower. Separating the ingredients in baking powder should give you an indefinite shelf life.
@ez2curanut Mixing the powder into a container like a canteen or plastic bottle to dissolve the powder will get the best results. The alum powder takes a few minutesto dissolve but I think if you carried some in a film canister, you would have enough alum concentrate to use for a week if you were using the whole canister filled with alum and filtering silty water for 7 days. Nice to have for emergencies!
@CrazyTaileZ ok cool... What i meant to say is... it would be easier to carry a ziploc bag of this stuff, as opposed to a canteen of water mixed with this stuff. That way when you need to use it, you filter a small portion of silty water, and then add the alum to your filtered canteen water.
My thought process is carry dry powder, and filter all the time.
@ez2curanut You are absolutely correct Jim! I misunderstood your 1st question and thank you for clarifing. Yes, bringing the dry mix along with you makes complete sense and just as you described, when it comes time to use it, you can then mix it up on the spot so you're not lugging extra weight around. You're right on it my friend! Now, I've only tried this with river water on a 6 day canoe trip but I'd like to put this to the test on a backpacking trip. Mabey the Rio Puerco! LOL
@Nibiru128 You're welcome my friend! I'm glad to share this water treatment trick with you guys. I'm going to do another video like this one using 2 buckets filled with Rio Grande River water. One bucket will have the alum and the other will not. I think the results will be impressive!
@medicjimr I imagine that alum would work quite well on tannins. I have read that some people have used it for treating ponds and lakeshore areas and I gather they are removing everything from small algaes to bacterias.
Proctor & Gamble sells a similar product called PuR; the small PuR brand sachet contains powdered ferrous sulfate (a flocculant) and calcium hypochlorite (a disinfectant). Sometimes they can be found at Wallmart and other stores as emergency water treatment provisions, but unfortunately they have a stated shelf-life of only 3 years.
@hazeywolf Thanks for watching! I think I have seen that PuR brand water treatment product but I didn't know it had only a 3 year shelf life. I have seen other organic treatments that are suppose to work well like the alum but I have never tried them out or experienced how well they do.
Based on what I researched, alum is suppose to have an indefinate shelf life. To me, it sounds like a good piece of kit to haul around with you until you actually need to use it... you'll be glad you had it.
@CrazyTaileZ Thanks for your thoughtful reply - I use an alum block as a styptic (hemostaic-astringent) and as you note in the text intro, it can be used as an natural anti-bacterial anti-antiperspirant. My mom always had some in the spice rack, but I don't think we ever used it much. Your post got me curious and I found the wikipedia info on alum interesting; lots of uses for a common, inexpensive product. - Thanks for the sharing your insights, brother! Gread job on the vid.
Very sweet! Great way to produce clean and safe drinking water straight off the river. The water collected in the gallon jug looked excellent. Great video Matt.
@monzanoman Thanks Shoops! This would work well with the Rio Grande water for sure. I think it would ever work well with an oversized mud puddle after a flash flood rain storm... those puddles that last for days after. You could scoop up enough mud puddle water to fill a 5 gal. bucket and add the alum to that... 30 mins later, you would have clear, filterable water. I'll turn you on to some the next time I see ya.
That is sweet! The process and the water! Looked mighty refreshing at 98 degrees. Mat, you're doing a great job teasing us for your canoe trip - I can only imagine how great it was!
@ridebks Thank you! I might try to find a way to make a ratio that works for backpacking. (if one were to backpack in areas with muddy, silty water). Since it has an indefinate shelf life, it would be a handy piece of kit to have for many situations.
Wow, that's one helpful tip man, I ruined a filter several years back collecting water farther downstream in Canyonlands when it becomes the CO River. We've had alum in our cabinet for cooking for years, who knew....! Thanks much!
@touchnova Thanks man! I'm bringing it with me next time I go on another canoing trip fo sure!
I'm getting ready to edit and post my Canyonlands video and it will show the area you mentioned (The Confluence) where the Green River meets the Colorado River. That was our meet up location for the outfitter to shuttle us back to Moab via a jetboat! :-D Sure is a beautiful place to spend a few weeks at!
Now that alum in the cabinet will finally get some more use!
@ez2curanut Thats the bad thing! Stupid shipping costs! I looked all around locally to see if I could find alum and "Matt's Westside Pools & Spa's" was the only place locally I could find it... smallest amount they had was 15 lb bags. :(
I did, however, go on a 4 way split with 4 other people, and only had to pay 25% of it and we all have enough alum now to last for the rest of our lives! LOL. A small amount of alum goes a long ways.
@intenseangler Thanks Brother! I owe this little water treatment trick to a guy I met 2 years ago on the upper have of the Green River and he had mentioned "Alum". It's a great item to have if you're going to be on a long, multiday paddle river trip. Other people camping on the river were asking us how we got our water so clean. :-] I'd like to figure out how to make a small amount for backpacking. Perhaps a 1 or 2 gallon mixture in one of those plastic, collapable water jugs?
The question is how long does it take for the sediment to drop to the bottom without the alum? A good test would to have 2 buckets side by side one with and one without the alum and show the difference as time elapses.
@donaldphinney Thanks for watching! I think thats a great and valid question. We were thinking about that while we did this demonstration but we only had one bucket with us. I am going to do another video demonstration on alum using 2 buckets and some nasty Rio Grande River water which is just as silty if not more than this video shows and post the results.
You can just sprinkle alum into the river water, you don't need to mix it up first. It dissolves quickly even in cold river water. It's a lot easier to just carry a small bottle of powdered alumn to sprinkle into the water. You don't need to filter the water for dish washing if you use bleach in the river water. The flocculated water will leave a little residue on dishes, so you can use filtered culinary water for a final rinse if you wish. You can get alum via Amazon in bulk.
bjnslc 3 weeks ago
Thats awesome man. Thanks for the info. Take care.
handyscot1 3 months ago
Thanks. Adventurous knitter and cook. Lots of converting via math to do on a regular basis. Now for a container. I was thinking "Large heavy duty Ziploc type container. Either the bag version or the round screw top type. Light, easy to pack and mutli-functional for the dirty water. Travel sections of drugstores sometimes have 1 oz bottles for toiletries that are empty.
RebLin51 3 months ago
I use a Sawyer Squeeze and its back flushable up to 1 mil gallons. But silt and stuff will clog it and grit can damage the filter membrane. So, this is a very useful video. Guess that can of Alum I got on my spice shelf and a 1/8 tsp will be jumping in my pack on my next trip. Alum for the sediment and the Squeeze will take care of the nasty stuff you can't see.
RebLin51 3 months ago
@RebLin51 I imagine that this trick will be very useful to people who have run into the problem of silty water clogging up their favorite water filters. I didn't know about this trick really until 2 years ago and I'm definately going to be adding some alum to my kit!
CrazyTaileZ 3 months ago
I figured out the math for small amounts of water to be treated by weighing alum on my scale and figuring out how many teaspoons of alum in 1 oz.. 7 tsp = 1 oz.
If I did it right 1/8 tsp alum dissolved in a bit of water will treat 2.5 qts. So, dissolve 1/8 tsp in a small container and use half of that to settle one quart of silty water. That was using the 1oz of alum per qt to make the solution. I was thinking I usually don't carry 5 gal buckets backpacking and need to clarify 1 qt amonts.
RebLin51 3 months ago 2
@RebLin51 Your math looks to be right on and I will post this formula in the description box with full credit to you! This is very much appreciated! Thank you for figuring out a more sutible amount for backpacking! 1 qt amounts is a much more logical choice to use on a backpacking trip and even using a black plastic yard bag will do the trick for containing your water from the source.
Thumbs Up!
CrazyTaileZ 3 months ago
Aluminum Sulfate is used in Double Activated Baking Powder. You just solved two problems I have been working on.
Ebiczebulanious 4 months ago
@Ebiczebulanious Thanks Jim!
Glad to be of help! I didn't know that Double Activated Baking Powder had alum in it so in turn you have helped me too. Yeah, there are many uses for alum and I guess it used to be more commonly used than it is today, but I don't think too many people know that it works wonders on silty, muddy river water
CrazyTaileZ 3 months ago
@CrazyTaileZ Too many people are relying on cartage filter for an emergency but they will clog up with fine sediment. The Alum is activated by heat in baking powder. Baking powder has a short shelf life it's not good for long term storage and you need it to make anything with flower. Separating the ingredients in baking powder should give you an indefinite shelf life.
Ebiczebulanious 3 months ago
Hmmm... can you just carry the powder in a ziploc, and throw some into silty water, and work?
ez2curanut 4 months ago
@ez2curanut Mixing the powder into a container like a canteen or plastic bottle to dissolve the powder will get the best results. The alum powder takes a few minutesto dissolve but I think if you carried some in a film canister, you would have enough alum concentrate to use for a week if you were using the whole canister filled with alum and filtering silty water for 7 days. Nice to have for emergencies!
CrazyTaileZ 4 months ago
@CrazyTaileZ ok cool... What i meant to say is... it would be easier to carry a ziploc bag of this stuff, as opposed to a canteen of water mixed with this stuff. That way when you need to use it, you filter a small portion of silty water, and then add the alum to your filtered canteen water.
My thought process is carry dry powder, and filter all the time.
ez2curanut 4 months ago
@ez2curanut You are absolutely correct Jim! I misunderstood your 1st question and thank you for clarifing. Yes, bringing the dry mix along with you makes complete sense and just as you described, when it comes time to use it, you can then mix it up on the spot so you're not lugging extra weight around. You're right on it my friend! Now, I've only tried this with river water on a 6 day canoe trip but I'd like to put this to the test on a backpacking trip. Mabey the Rio Puerco! LOL
CrazyTaileZ 3 months ago
@Nibiru128 You're welcome my friend! I'm glad to share this water treatment trick with you guys. I'm going to do another video like this one using 2 buckets filled with Rio Grande River water. One bucket will have the alum and the other will not. I think the results will be impressive!
CrazyTaileZ 4 months ago
Now that is cool, I wonder if it would work with water high in tannin's I have had that clog up a new filter in dolly sods
medicjimr 4 months ago
@medicjimr I imagine that alum would work quite well on tannins. I have read that some people have used it for treating ponds and lakeshore areas and I gather they are removing everything from small algaes to bacterias.
CrazyTaileZ 4 months ago
@CrazyTaileZ I will have to grab some if I am in that situation again. Great video Matt
medicjimr 4 months ago
Proctor & Gamble sells a similar product called PuR; the small PuR brand sachet contains powdered ferrous sulfate (a flocculant) and calcium hypochlorite (a disinfectant). Sometimes they can be found at Wallmart and other stores as emergency water treatment provisions, but unfortunately they have a stated shelf-life of only 3 years.
hazeywolf 4 months ago
@hazeywolf Thanks for watching! I think I have seen that PuR brand water treatment product but I didn't know it had only a 3 year shelf life. I have seen other organic treatments that are suppose to work well like the alum but I have never tried them out or experienced how well they do.
Based on what I researched, alum is suppose to have an indefinate shelf life. To me, it sounds like a good piece of kit to haul around with you until you actually need to use it... you'll be glad you had it.
CrazyTaileZ 4 months ago
@CrazyTaileZ Thanks for your thoughtful reply - I use an alum block as a styptic (hemostaic-astringent) and as you note in the text intro, it can be used as an natural anti-bacterial anti-antiperspirant. My mom always had some in the spice rack, but I don't think we ever used it much. Your post got me curious and I found the wikipedia info on alum interesting; lots of uses for a common, inexpensive product. - Thanks for the sharing your insights, brother! Gread job on the vid.
hazeywolf 4 months ago
Very sweet! Great way to produce clean and safe drinking water straight off the river. The water collected in the gallon jug looked excellent. Great video Matt.
monzanoman 4 months ago
@monzanoman Thanks Shoops! This would work well with the Rio Grande water for sure. I think it would ever work well with an oversized mud puddle after a flash flood rain storm... those puddles that last for days after. You could scoop up enough mud puddle water to fill a 5 gal. bucket and add the alum to that... 30 mins later, you would have clear, filterable water. I'll turn you on to some the next time I see ya.
CrazyTaileZ 4 months ago
@CrazyTaileZ Heck yeah I would like some Alum, thank you. I would like to clean up some local Rio Grande River water. This Alum is very cool.
monzanoman 3 months ago
That is sweet! The process and the water! Looked mighty refreshing at 98 degrees. Mat, you're doing a great job teasing us for your canoe trip - I can only imagine how great it was!
wawhiker 4 months ago
@wawhiker Even though it's been 1 month since I was canoeing to the confluence, I still feel like i'm there!
Won't be TOO MUCH longer before you guys will get to see it. LOL!
"Won't be TOO MUCH longer before we get there guys.. It's just around that next bend..." LOL! :p
Thats what I tell my backpacking friends when I take them on these crazy hikes. LOL!
I've got that good ol Canyonland footage layed out and ready to put together... might be the next upcoming vid! (?) Dun, dun, DUN!
CrazyTaileZ 4 months ago
Very nice! Now that's using ur noggin!
ridebks 4 months ago
@ridebks Thank you! I might try to find a way to make a ratio that works for backpacking. (if one were to backpack in areas with muddy, silty water). Since it has an indefinate shelf life, it would be a handy piece of kit to have for many situations.
CrazyTaileZ 4 months ago
Wow, that's one helpful tip man, I ruined a filter several years back collecting water farther downstream in Canyonlands when it becomes the CO River. We've had alum in our cabinet for cooking for years, who knew....! Thanks much!
touchnova 4 months ago
@touchnova Thanks man! I'm bringing it with me next time I go on another canoing trip fo sure!
I'm getting ready to edit and post my Canyonlands video and it will show the area you mentioned (The Confluence) where the Green River meets the Colorado River. That was our meet up location for the outfitter to shuttle us back to Moab via a jetboat! :-D Sure is a beautiful place to spend a few weeks at!
Now that alum in the cabinet will finally get some more use!
Thanks Brother!
CrazyTaileZ 4 months ago
Interesting.... I was going to order 1lb, but shipping costs 3x more than the alum. LOL :(
ez2curanut 4 months ago
@ez2curanut Thats the bad thing! Stupid shipping costs! I looked all around locally to see if I could find alum and "Matt's Westside Pools & Spa's" was the only place locally I could find it... smallest amount they had was 15 lb bags. :(
I did, however, go on a 4 way split with 4 other people, and only had to pay 25% of it and we all have enough alum now to last for the rest of our lives! LOL. A small amount of alum goes a long ways.
CrazyTaileZ 4 months ago
Dude, what a killer trick!! This will so come in handy for long river trips especially! Thanks Bro!
intenseangler 4 months ago
@intenseangler Thanks Brother! I owe this little water treatment trick to a guy I met 2 years ago on the upper have of the Green River and he had mentioned "Alum". It's a great item to have if you're going to be on a long, multiday paddle river trip. Other people camping on the river were asking us how we got our water so clean. :-] I'd like to figure out how to make a small amount for backpacking. Perhaps a 1 or 2 gallon mixture in one of those plastic, collapable water jugs?
CrazyTaileZ 4 months ago
The question is how long does it take for the sediment to drop to the bottom without the alum? A good test would to have 2 buckets side by side one with and one without the alum and show the difference as time elapses.
donaldphinney 4 months ago
@donaldphinney Thanks for watching! I think thats a great and valid question. We were thinking about that while we did this demonstration but we only had one bucket with us. I am going to do another video demonstration on alum using 2 buckets and some nasty Rio Grande River water which is just as silty if not more than this video shows and post the results.
CrazyTaileZ 4 months ago
Very interesting. Does the aluminum sulfate stay suspended in the water? Or does it all sink down to the bottom with the silt?
KGB240 4 months ago
@KGB240 Thanks for watching. The alum coagulates and sinks down to the bottom with the silt and mud particles.
CrazyTaileZ 4 months ago