Greetings and welcome, Beth! You're taking the necessary next step by asking for help. You've certainly done all the "lurking" anybody could ask you to do. <grin>
> I cannot figure out how important the PPM's are, and I wonder how I > would test my homemade CS to determine if I have, in fact, truly > acheived the goal of making CS. It's almost impossible to *not* make CS with any decent homebuilt or store bought generator and good distilled water. Just steer clear of salt or other additives during brewing. (As a general rule. There are some exceptions which aren't important here.) The *exact* ppm is only important for the scientific type who's really trying to nail down the details. For the rest of us, following any good recipe and getting it "about right" is just fine. Most of us aim for somewhere between "a few" and "a couple dozen" ppm. <grin> The key is, then, to "dose for effect." If it works, great. If not, try more. Working *too* good -- as in giving you a Herx reaction? Then back off some. Start slow and ramp up your dose until you see something happen. If you just *must* know your ppm, you can send samples of your brew to local water quality labs for assay, but the results tend to be less than repeatable. There are a couple of folks who hang around these CS groups who'll do testing, too. You can also get an idea of the concentration from batch to batch by either a) putting a digital multimeter in line to measure cell current, or b) buying one of the conductivity based meters from Hanna Instruments. Look for either their TDS-1 (okay and cheap), or their PWT (much better and only a bit more expensive). These methods won't tell you exact ppm, but they'll give you a number related to conductivity. *That's* related to concentration, but only if you keep everything exactly the same as time goes on. At best it's good for a ball park idea -- which is ultimately good enough for normal use. > Is there a "Colloidal Silver for Dummies" book or website that can I can > consult and refer to as I navigate the complex waters of this listserve? > I'm usually a quick study but this CS stuff is not sinking in. I'll let others post their links. > Six weeks of reading this list's digests seems to be generating more > questions than answers for me. > > Sorry to be such a whiny newbie. HA! The only thing you should've done different is start asking sooner! You've found out some of the things you don't understand. You've asked a couple of good questions to start filling in the gaps. Keep up the good work. Be well, Mike D. [Mike Devour, Citizen, Patriot, Libertarian] [mdev...@eskimo.com ] [Speaking only for myself... ] -- The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver. Instructions for unsubscribing are posted at: http://silverlist.org To post, address your message to: silver-list@eskimo.com Silver List archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html Address Off-Topic messages to: silver-off-topic-l...@eskimo.com OT Archive: http://escribe.com/health/silverofftopiclist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <mdev...@eskimo.com>
