Not yet, I’ll try to take one on the next batch. Probably need to rig up a tripod - don’t want to be fooling around with the phone while handling boiling syrup!
Here you go. DIY Gel prep - YouTube
Riveting youtube content 
. Boiled over, but managed not to drop my phone in the boiling gel 
. The end product is pretty much ideal consistency for me with that length of boil.
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Shared this video on the Unbound 2023 group. 
Slight thread necro, but has anyone successfully made homemade maurten hydrogel bicarb?
£60 a pack for 4 uses 
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Pretty curious about how “hydrogel” even works? Is it just because it’s thick? I don’t think the pH is relevant to how it reduces GI distress as the hydrogel products are pH neutral. Also the pH of gastric acid varies case by case right? So is the formation of the hydrogel really sensitive to pH or not?
Reading between the lines; the hydrogel product swells when it hits the stomach, is undigestible, does not touch the stomach mucosa, passes through and the bioactive is released into the small intestine where it has less impact on the mucosa.
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Alright thanks for the explanation. Any way to replicate this? What testing would I need to do?
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Alright here’s the ingredients of the hydrogel and their function:
Sodium Alginate forms the primary gel network and responds to pH changes
Calcium Carbonate provides calcium ions for crosslinking and acts as a buffer, helping to maintain the gel’s structure in acidic environments and promoting its degradation in the intestine
Gluconic Acid adjusts the pH and forms
soluble calcium gluconate for
controlled calcium release
Here is the procedure to make the hydrogel, remember all figures are ballpark estimates and need experimentation done to find optimal amounts.
Prepare carb solution: 40g of water soluble carbohydrates with 20-25g of water and mix till consistent.
After it’s mixed add in 0.6-1.2g of sodium alginate.
When thats completely mixed add enough gluconic acid so the gel has a pH of around 6 as Maurten’s gel is pH neutral. I would use pH test strips or a pH meter.
Now add your calcium carbonate till the hydrogel forms
Experiment and give feedback if you do
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I think you may be able to make a pH sensitive hydrogel with just pectin and sodium alginate and maybe just pectin but I am looking into it
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Yeah, this is so much more work than just putting the bicarb in an enteric coated tablet which tests as having exactly the same GI relief that the maurten £50 a dose bullshit does.
Oh and you don’t have to flavour it / eat it.
Yeah ofc too much about the sodium bicarb vs the pH sensitive hydrogels carb gels. I think you may be able to just use pectin and sodium alginate. I think the sodium alginate with the calcium carbonate and the gluconic acid to release calcium ions from the calcium carbonate initiating crosslinking than the gluconic acid turns into a salt. Issue is I can’t find gluconic acid aka d-gluconic acid anywhere asides china and china has really expensive shipping. If anyone from the Bay area wants to put in some money for funding ingredients in bulk I’d be down.
But the carb hydrogels do not demonstrate any superior absorption or gastric benefits over non hydrogel carbs?
those studies were bad and made by SIS to paint maurten in a bad light.
got the ingredients down. using dif ingredients than maurten but not gonna tell yall. its cheaper and works the same as maurten and its very easy to buy the ingredients.
Why would you post “I figured it out but I’m not going to share”?
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Secret for now but it’s sodium alginate and a crosslinking agent that doesn’t require a acid to be water soluble. If anyone can provide a good source of gluconic acid that would be appreciated.
I have a good source. But it’s a secret.
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Mine is better, and more secret.
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Lol I’m just messing with you guys
Probably gonna be something like sodium alginate and calcium carbonate. Another methodology could be just not using the gluconic acid and allowing the hydrogel to form in the stomach acid where the calcium carbonate is broken down and made soluble therefore forming the hydrogel. Interesting tech would love to do some testing myself but more people trying it out the better.
I’m actually not super confident about the hydrogel-intestine interaction. Does the hydrogel have to break down in mildy alkaline environments like the intestine which has a pH of 7.5-8.5? If so than would enriching the hydrogel with some pH neutral food dye than putting it into a water/bicarb solution and observing whether or not the hydrogel breaks down? I don’t think I fully understand the intestine.