In , Craig Morrison
empowered us with this mighty blow against the Patriarchy:

Dave wrote:

I'm wondering if it has something to do with the water used
(hardness? don't know) that causes this delay to vary amongst people.
With my regular DIY CO2 setup (2qt juice bottle, 8 cups sugar, 1/4
tsp yeast), I always need to wait at least 24 hours before I get an
adequate amount of CO2, while others have said that they only need to
wait a few hours.


I wouldn't say that water hardness has anything to do with it. I have
liquid rock here.

Personally I think it has more to do with the preperation of the batch
itself.
I run a DIY yeast system on my 75 gallon tank. 3 2-liter bottles,
with a
staggered change ~2 weeks on each bottle.

My recipe is a bit different though. 3/4 cup sugar, 1.5l water, 1/4
tsp yeast. I use tepid water in a small cup with 1 tsp of sugar to
"foam" the yeast before introducing it into the bottle. Tepid being
slightly warm, not quite cold. I let the bottle sit open for 30-45
minutes at room temp (74F). I always get production in an hour.

I grew up in a bakery which is where I learned the benefits of foaming
the yeast first. It gets them cranking faster.. YMMV

Sounds reasonable, but ... why does putting the yeast into tepid water in a
small cup with 1 tsp of sugar cause it to activate more quickly? Versus
being put into a two quart bottle with tepid water and 8 cups of sugar?