DIY dog/bear/whatever repellant

[oldmanLee]

Decided that this would be a good place to post this old recipie.Works incredibly well,so be extra careful.
the idea behind most repellants that use capsicum as the primary active ingredient is valid,but unfortunatly unless you are in the military,or a member of the law enforcement community,you can't get anything with a serious kick.
to take care of this problem,I found that you can produce your own high grade repellant at home.I have not gotten an actual percentage ,but a friend that knows the process said that I'm pronbably in the 20-25% range on active ingredient.
Obtain some recently dried peppers,not crushed or chopped yet.I've found that scotch bonnet and habanero work well.Also,you will need a voulume of grain alcohol sufficeint to cover the peppers.Figure a pint per pint ratio.
You will need 3 mason jars large enough to put the peppers and alcohol into.Take the peppers,and chop fine,place into jar,cover with alcohol.put on lid and place in a warm(not hot)area for a week.Ocassionally shake the jar.
Take the other two jars and punch one hole in one jar lid,two holes in the other jar lid.Run a rubber or plastic tube from one lid to the other,and a tube from the second hole in one lid.
After about a week,you will see an oily reddish scum in the jar of peppers/alcohol.Its ready to cook!VERY CAREFULLY,pour the contents of the jar thru a strainer into one of the other jars.Screw the lid with one hole down on tight,and then make sure your hoses are connected with the other jar.Place this jar in a pan of water on simmer(idealy about 175 F.)on an ELECTRIC HEAT SOURCE ONLY.Place the free end of the second hose into a pan/glass/bottle of water.You will probably start to see bubbles form in the water in about 5 min.,and liquid/condensation in the empty jar about the same time.
Reduce the liquid by this simmer down to about 2-4 oz.Remove the whole rig from the heat source and allow to cool.
The scummy liquid at the bottom of the "boiler"jar is so hot that topical application is almost like getting hit by a baseball bat.Be careful in whatever means you use to deliver(heavy ballon,squritbottle,plastic vial).Wear rubber gloves when loading into delivery system!
AND DON"T DRINK THE GRAIN ALCOHOL!!!!!!!!!!!!
Could prove useful to somebody,so there it is(anybody heard about all the bears around Pittsburg in October?my,my!)

 

[dirty_rotten_squatter]

Sounds like a recipe fer some kick ass moonshine i ya ask me!! haha thanks fer the post i might try it out!

 

[wartomods]

I dont really smoke that much, very rarely, but whenever i am in the wilderness i always crave for a rolled fag, cause i think that tobacco smoke is a repelent, but somehow i might be totally wrong.

 

[hartage]

Bravo Lee, I did a bit of on-line research on how to improve on your suggested method. Surprisingly enough every "improvement" I could come up with also drove cost up or practicality for small batches down. Your method seems quite efficient and very practical the way it stands. I actually only have two small adjustments and one is just a word change to match the actual action. First I would puree (turn to slurry) if you could instead of finely chop. That would speed up osmosis of the capsicum into the solvent (alcohol) and reduce waiting time. Second I wouldn't use the word "cook" it is very misleading. To cook is using heat to degrade organic material into more digestible form. This is what you want to stay away from in your process as heat destroys capsicum compound. Using the word "reduce" (the liquid) instead of cook describes the actual desired process. Your temp is just about right on, but I'd lower it to 174 f (boiling point of alcohol) instead of 177. The slight reduction in heat while still maintaining boiling point will degrade the capsicum a tad less. (yes I'm aware the boiling of alcohol in itself will work at keeping the temp to 174, but container surface temps can then exceed 174 and destroy more capsicum than need be).

To further reduce localized heat exceeding 174 I would suggest using an inner container. (one pot inside a bigger pot containing water) A container of the reducing capsicum inside another pot of water and you heat the water to a monitored 174 f . This will eliminate any hotspots inside the capsicum vessel that could exceed 174 f.

My suggestions might give a very slight improvement in the percentage of purity. Your method though as it stands is pretty spot on. Good work Lee ! Let me know how your first attempts go. I wonder what the final purity would end up ? I might try this myself if I ever have a need for pepper spray.

 

[oldmanLee]

Love it,Hartage!Thats the best modification opf this recipe I've ever seen,and yes it will probably increase the quality.Bushmills and beer on me whenever we meet!

 

[oldmanLee]

Whoops,forgot...the last time I tried this in a situation with "bears",like the ones that will be in Pittsburg in the middle of next month,causing trouble for folks exercising there right to assembly,the finished product took the "bears" minds off everything but getting it washed off.

 

[hartage]

Whoops,forgot...the last time I tried this in a situation with "bears",like the ones that will be in Pittsburg in the middle of next month,causing trouble for folks exercising there right to assembly,the finished product took the "bears" minds off everything but getting it washed off.

Ah.... so it works well enough to get an urgent response from bears eh ? I wonder what would be a good carrier liquid ? Have you tried any delivery systems for it yet ? The standard anti bear commercial sprays will put out a fog out to 15-20 feet. I think it uses something like propane for propellant.

 

[oldmanLee]

Best delivery system I've found thus far is to pour a thinned out (use the grain alcohol I said not to drink)mix 50/50 into a condom,and daintily tie it off.goes SPLAT and spreads well,althoug there is the chance of breakage.You can slip the loaded condom onto a piece of PVC pipe with a cap glued to one end,slip the whole thing in your pocket.When you need to use,hold the pipe like a fishing rod and make a cast with the open end pointed away from you.Practice with condoms with water,but once you get that openfaced baitcasting reel wrist action,can get a good 50 feet out there.

 

[Bendixontherails]

slightly off the homebrew part of this thread is wasp spray.

I have found that carrying a $5 can of wasp & hornet spray,( I used to carry a can in a us army canteen holder modded to hold the can) is a legal alternative to pepper spray, which is illegal in many cities. I suppose the cops could still choose to consider it a weapon, but I carried a can for almost two years and never had a problem! I just said I was deathly allergic to any kind of bees or wasps.

the shit will spray 10-20 feet depending how full it is!
and i feel pretty sure it would burn the eyes right out of the fucker's head.

If he needed it, I mean...

 

[hartage]

slightly off the homebrew part of this thread is wasp spray.

I have found that carrying a $5 can of wasp & hornet spray,( I used to carry a can in a us army canteen holder modded to hold the can) is a legal alternative to pepper spray, which is illegal in many cities. I suppose the cops could still choose to consider it a weapon, but I carried a can for almost two years and never had a problem! I just said I was deathly allergic to any kind of bees or wasps.

the shit will spray 10-20 feet depending how full it is!
and i feel pretty sure it would burn the eyes right out of the fucker's head.

If he needed it, I mean...

Hmmm I hate to suggest something so twisted but......... Test out your spray. I don't think you will get much of the desired response that you think you'll get. Insect sprays affect insect systems greater than it does human systems. As an example permithrin based insect sprays are very common for ants/roaches and yes even wasps really any insect. But in weaker doses permithrin compounds are also used in flea shampoo for dogs.
If you spray wasp spray into someone's eyes I don't think you'll get any better reaction than average petrolium products like say wd40. Wasp spray will kill insects but mace and pepper sprays are considered irritants and are very effective at what they do. Conversely if you spray wasps with pepper spray not as many will die compared to wasp spray but you'll get lots of pissed off wasps.

As a suggestion, consider it to do permanent damage..... Would be to use oven cleaner spray instead of wasp spray. More than likely oven cleaner sprays are caustic acids and the second it touches flesh it will start burning (chemical burn) it. Caustic means it is exceptional as an irritant. But if you do use oven cleaner as a defense spray likely you will cause disfigurement on the sprayed person including blindness or worse. If you've ever gotten oven spray accidentaly on your skin and I mean a small dab it immediately starts tingling. Accidental splatters eats holes in jeans. Something you really don't want in your eyes.

 

[hartage]

Best delivery system I've found thus far is to pour a thinned out (use the grain alcohol I said not to drink)mix 50/50 into a condom,and daintily tie it off.goes SPLAT and spreads well,althoug there is the chance of breakage.You can slip the loaded condom onto a piece of PVC pipe with a cap glued to one end,slip the whole thing in your pocket.When you need to use,hold the pipe like a fishing rod and make a cast with the open end pointed away from you.Practice with condoms with water,but once you get that openfaced baitcasting reel wrist action,can get a good 50 feet out there.

Hmm, I'm not sure that method of delivery is a best fit for defense for a single person. Being able to lob it 50+ feet would be more for crowd control than personal defense. And you'll never be able to hit a charging bear with that. The bear sprays work well because it puts up a fog that the bear has to run through to get to you. So "aim" can be very general and still be effective. Just providing input. I have not experimented with delivery systems for anything just yet so all just theoretical.

 

[oldmanLee]

Yep,delivery can be tricky.Do give a try to the "baitcast" technique.The big trick is that it really is exactly like fishing.One aid to targeting is to lay your pointer finger along the tube and where the finger points when the condom leaves the tube is where the point of impact will be.Sort of like using a spearthrower,or doing snap shooting with a slingshot.Just remembered that if you use a tube about 8" long,you can get a bag of cheap marbles and practice your aim.Ah,the memories of a mis-spent childhood spent back up in the country!

 

[LovelyAcorns]

I'm guessing this doesn't work against bear with extra-thick fur? Seems very useful against certain bald predators though.

 

[hartage]

Yep,delivery can be tricky.Do give a try to the "baitcast" technique.The big trick is that it really is exactly like fishing.One aid to targeting is to lay your pointer finger along the tube and where the finger points when the condom leaves the tube is where the point of impact will be.Sort of like using a spearthrower,or doing snap shooting with a slingshot.Just remembered that if you use a tube about 8" long,you can get a bag of cheap marbles and practice your aim.Ah,the memories of a mis-spent childhood spent back up in the country!

This method of delivery takes an investment of time in practice that I don't think most will do or are willing to do. You have the advantage of having plenty of childhood practice with this. Against a bear you really only have one shot. Most bear charges are from 15 yards or less and they can cover that ground extremely fast. Bolt action rifles have time for ONE shot. Even though reload only takes maybe 3 seconds. Bolt up, back, forward, down. Pump action shotguns barely have time for two shots. Their reload time is under a half second.

Also with a balloon delivery splatter is minimal and non-aerosolized (droplets that hang in midair) Unless you scored a direct hit right on it's face almost right on it's eyes you won't deliver to it's eyes. You won't hit a charging bear in the face with anything other than pure and very rare luck. From the bear stories I've read even with a rifle. If you had it over your shoulder when the bear charges you MIGHT have chance for one shot. If you had a shotgun already in your hands ready, maybe two shots.

With pepper liquid instead of a balloon for myself. I would instead choose even a single stream spray like a super soaker. Range would be a few feet at best but I would stand a greater chance of getting it into the bear's eyes.

I guess this would be the time for experiments using a friend playing the role of a charging bear and rushing towards you. Just don't loose sight of the fact that bears are much faster than people either in acceleration or top speed. In short distances a bear can out accelerate a horse. Using a person simulating a charging bear you can get an idea of the effectiveness of various choices in delivery methods.

 

[oldmanLee]

Hartage,you have definatly got the idea on improving the system!

LovelyAcrorns,you have definatly got a good app for the current system!

This is what I love about finding out that there are still strange and interesting people in the world:they don't think some of my ideas,or the things I've learned,or even some of the things I've built are weird;but platforms on which to build or ideas to define further!

 

[LovelyAcorns]

Hartage, you might want to go watch some old trucker movies. But I do like your suggestions of using rifles.


oldmanLee, you're idea is weird, but thats kind of the point of DIY, at least to me. Everything "normal" is fairly useless.

 

[paterdot]

This was pretty cool to read, however, seems unlikely to be able to pull up in a times notice. Still badass!