Making Ink after the ferment

OK. Lots of photos today! I finished making ink after waiting 10 days for my oak galls to soak & ferment.

After 10 days of soaking/fermenting. 

You can see the dark color - more like coffee after 10 days. You can also see the layer of mold & bits  on the side & bottom of the pickle jar.

 This is sitting on the floor right next to my stove.

Drips can make permanent stains! I'm wearing old clothes. I set up this pickle jar with paper towels on the floor next to my stove to hold my spoon while I'm stirring and straining.

All the empty jars waiting to be filled!

I also put all the waiting empty ink jars on a layer of paper towels atop a plank of scrap wood to protect my kitchen counter. There will be spills.

Pouring the liquid through a strainer will take out all the larger chunks of oak gall & remove the surface layer of mold. I did not line the strainer with anything while pouring through the first time.

 I'm taking Ian the Green's advice & straining the mix through linen cloth rather than coffee filters for the second straining.

I have to agree with Ian. Straining through linen is much faster than through a coffee filter. 

You can see all the little particles caught by the linen. the resulting liquid is pretty clear.

The original recipe says to 'pour boiling water over the mixture to kill the ferment.' I'm going to bring the strained oak gall juice to a boil to make sure that I kill whatever mold may be growing in the mixture. I'll turn off the heat once it reaches a boil.

You can see the steam & bubbles.

I let it cool for a bit before adding the iron sulfate, although it was still pretty warm.

Bingo! Lovely black shade after adding iron sulfate.

Now to add the gum Arabic. I've dissolved it in a cup of tap water.

The extra cup of water really won't hurt anything since some of the previous liquid evaporated over the 10 day ferment. A bit of liquid was also lost during the straining process. More water evaporated while I brought the ink to a boil. Adding a cup of liquid with gum Arabic brings the total quantity back to about 4 cups. Stir well!

This is an easy and disposable pouring tool.

I used several paper cups to pour the ink into the bottles. The still warm ink can tend to soak through a bit.

My usual mess. Great black color though!

Keep your trash can nearby too! Everything drips & the less distance to the trash for used cups & paper towels, the better! Wipe down all the bottles after they are filled.

Hmm, maybe some rubber gloves for next time too!