How much water in Bubble Now machine?

[dongle69]

OK so I just ordered a Bubble Now machine (5 gal).
Thanks for the medical discount by the way!
The instructions say to add ice and water up to the "max" line after inserting the bubble now bag.
I'm not sure how much water vs ice I should be adding.
Is there a suggested gallon amount of water that I should add, and then fill the rest with ice?
Thanks!

[YukonBikerGuy]

I have the full 8 bag 5 gallon set up and Bubblenow machine. I will put the material into the zippered bag (200g dry 400-500g wet material), then top up the zippered bag with ice, leaving about 2-2.5 inches of space at the top of the bag. Close and tie it and put the zippered bag into the machine. Fill the machine with ice cold water to the medium mark, the add ice untill the level comes up to the maximum fill line. If you overfill, it will spin water out the top of the machine.

[dongle69]

Cool, thanks.
Should I let it sit 15 minutes before turning it on like with hand mixing?
Another manufacturer I was researching said don't run until the water gets down below 40 degrees.

[YukonBikerGuy]

Below 4 degrees Celcius. Letting it chill well before mixing cant hurt, and if the material was unfrozen, this is the best way to get it down to the magic temp.

[dongle69]

Thanks again!

[dongle69]

Well I ran my first batch and I am a bit disappointed so far...
My machine leaks like crazy, even when filled to just barely over the medium mark.
I can see that someone did a very sloppy job of sealing the top with some yellow glue substance.
Maybe they were smoking bubble.
I'm going to have to find something to finish the seal.
I set the timer to 15 minutes and it stopped in about 9 minutes, so the timer is not accurate.
If I can fix these issues it will be much more enjoyable.

[dongle69]

.....on a more positive note, the quality seems better and I ended up with more bubble than with hand mixing.
I don't know the weight because it is not dry yet, but it looks like a considerable amount more.

[YukonBikerGuy]

It shouldnt leak when filled as I described. Generally when it leaks during mixing its from overfilling. If it leaks when standing, there is a manufacturing issue on that particular unit. If you really think you got a defective unit, contact [email protected] and they will get you straightened out. Bubblebags customer support is first rate, they stand behind thier products.

[LivinTheDream]

yah im new to this also and i had a serious problem with leaking when it was even filled up to the min fill line, gonna go back and try again tonight and use just enough water to get the thing going and hope for a lot less of a mess