home made gear safe??

**El DuB** · 08-31-2003, 09:39 PM

I have a friend at my college that makes his own test, is that safe to take? He says he gets all his powders from china and just adds the oil and such. What do you guys think shady or not?

**G Child** · 08-31-2003, 09:41 PM

It depends on the environment he makes it in and how careful he is to keep everything sterile. As long as he does it right then there isn't a problem.

**El DuB** · 08-31-2003, 09:56 PM

He is very sterile and sells for very cheap. I was just thinking his doesages may be off. He's not a chemist just reads how to make it online. I also have a Mexico source more expensive but comes in a box for a lab, but ive heard they arent as sterile because they are made for animals. Which do you think is my best bet.

**G Child** · 08-31-2003, 09:59 PM

I personally like Vet gear. QV has been great to my friends and I and so has Denkall. I would like to try some Sydgroup products shortly also to see how they are.

**Devildog99** · 08-31-2003, 10:09 PM

I dont trust anything that wasnt made in a lab, but thats just me....

**dizzle** · 08-31-2003, 10:25 PM

Hundreds of people on this very board have made their own Fina at home without any problems at all. You should be fine taking his stuff imo.

**Tank21** · 08-31-2003, 10:43 PM

Made my own fina like many others and had no problems. I personally would not take anything homemade from anywheres else unless i trusted that person like a brother. Dont forget that if his shit isnt sterile, you will be in a world of pain.

**G Child** · 08-31-2003, 11:18 PM

A world of pain indeed...

**Tock** · 08-31-2003, 11:57 PM

Yah, if I was to get something that from a source with questionable/unknown sanitation, I'd filter it through a whatman and boil it 20 minutes once a day for 3 days to (1) filter out the hairs and dirt, and (2) to kill off any lurking bacteria/viruses.
After that, all ya gotta worry about is if they put the right stuff in the oil . . .
. . . I'm like that with pot lucks, too . . . had one at work one time, and half the department got a bad case of food poisioning--turns out someone bought a tray of cold cuts from a supermarket the day before and left 'em out overnight. Come lunchtime the next day, the stuff was raging with nasty little unfriendly bacteria. Hah . . . and I've seen what other people consider "sanitary" cooking practices--yeeowww . . . no more pot lucks, etc, for me . . .

**xxxl83** · 09-01-2003, 08:26 AM

As long as he uses ba and a .45 filter it should be fine.

xxxl83

**Tock** · 09-01-2003, 03:03 PM

Yes, the .45 filter will screen out the bacteria bigger than .45 microns, but the reason I always boil once a day for 3 days is to get the bacteria smaller than .45 microns and any viruses.
According to www.cellsalive.com/howbig.htm
staph and e-coli bacteria are around 2 microns, large enough to be caught in the filter. Some cocci though, get down to .20 microns, and like viruses, which are 1/10 to 1/40th the size of bacteria, are much smaller than the .47 pore size of the filter, and would slip right through.
Plus, I figure that there's always a possiblity that there might be a micro-defect in the filter that could let a few .99 micron-sized bugs get through.
So, I expect the filter to screen out most of the bacteria and contaminants, and use the boiling to finish off the rest. Some folks might not think it's necessary to be this careful, and that's fine by me (it's their butt), but I do, and I advise other folks to take the simple precaution of boiling 20 minutes once a day for 3 days to ensure a safe product.

**ross3814** · 09-01-2003, 03:19 PM

I would stay the hell away from that.

**xxxl83** · 09-01-2003, 03:53 PM

Tock,

The BA will sterilize anything that get through the filter.

xxxl83

**Tock** · 09-01-2003, 04:39 PM

I've never actually seen any info on the effectivity of benzyl alcohol on bacteria, so I did some looking. I found, at:

http://66.218.71.225/search/cache?p=...%2520Notes.doc

the following snippet:
------------
Alcohols: are used as skin antiseptics. They are surfactants and also coagulate proteins. Ethanol, isopropanol, and benzyl alcohol are effective at concentrations of 50% to 70%. They do not effectively kill spores, fungi or most viruses.
-------

I don't know that BA would do much good at the 5% or even 10% concentration used in some stuff, but would cheerfully change my opinion if you could direct me to some supporting information . . .
Probably would need to boost the BA content, according to this, to at least 50%, and I'm not sure I'd prefer doing this over boiling . . .

So until I hear otherwise, I still think that the tried-and-true process of pasturization is a good way (maybe the best) way to ensure a safe product.

Best,
--Tock

***Billy_Bathgate*** · 09-01-2003, 05:04 PM

BA is a bacteriostatic preservative. Thats what it is.

Any pharmacy or FDA site can tell you that as well as any PDR.

Spores, fungi, or viruses...the first 2 should be all filtered out. The 3rd I would consider very rare anyways.

Ive never found it nessicary to heat it and probally never will.

**Tock** · 09-01-2003, 05:56 PM

Yeah, but how do you know how much BA to put in the sauce so it gets all the bugs? Is 1% enough? 5%? 10%? 50-70% as the site I mentioned said?
We've got research to settle lots of other issues associated with AS, there ought to be more info available on the topic . . . sure would like to see it, just to settle my concerns and curiosity, one way or another, as I like to be thorough . . .
--Tock

***Billy_Bathgate*** · 09-01-2003, 06:25 PM

0.9% is the standard set by the FDA and the AMA

**ShawnRay** · 09-01-2003, 09:08 PM

Have people gotten that desperate that they would go off and take and even greater risk getting an infection by saving a few dollars...If you can not afford a Bottle of test from a lab then you need to be saving your pennies. Go a head and shoot that shit that you have. You have no idea how it was made and when you are getting puss sucked out with a 18g needle you come ask if was worth the money you saved. The amount of pain you will go through getting an absess drained out of your ass will have any grown man on his knees beggijng for death. Now, I am not saying you will not get one from other gear but, your risk just doubled. As far as the fina goes most make there own so, they know how and who made it, you know if it was made under good conditions. You have no idea where your UG gear was made or came from. Just my opinion Brother, SR

**G Child** · 09-01-2003, 09:11 PM

Can't say that I've boiled either, if I dn't trust what i'm using i'm just not gonna use it.

**xxxl83** · 09-01-2003, 10:42 PM

I don't why some peolpe are so against homebrewed gear.

I mean alot of mexican gear is made and bottled by people getting paid way less than what minimum wage is here in the US.

Secondly you have control over EVERY step of the process when you make your own gear.

xxxl83