The water should be hot to the touch but not quite boiling. Aim for a temperature somewhere between 120 and 180 degrees Fahrenheit (49 and 82 degrees Celsius). You can check the temperature with a kitchen thermometer. If you don’t have a thermometer, hold your finger over the water to see how warm it feels. Don’t touch the water, since it can burn you.
The reason to start with only a small amount of water is to prevent the glass from cracking with hot water. Make sure that you’re using a canning-quality jar, such as a Mason or Ball jar. These jars are intended to be used with very hot water. Set a timer for 1 minute (or 60 seconds) while you wait. This can be a good time to retrieve a metal strainer, if you don’t already have it handy.
If you pour out too much water, you can use hot tap water to replace the water at the base of the jar because the jar itself is already hot. If you heated the water to the boiling point, you can allow it to cool a little. However, you may want to use a hot pad to protect your hand when you pour out the water. The hot jar could burn your hand.
Do not let the strainer come into contact with the water itself. The strainer should rest inside the warm air of the jar, but not in the hot water.
If your strainer is too small to fit that many ice cubes, you could use crushed ice, instead.
For colorful fog, add a few drops of food coloring to your hot water. As the jar cools, the fog will diminish.
Liquid glycerin can usually be found in the pharmacy section of a convenience store or grocery store. Make sure to use pure glycerin, rather than a synthetic variety. Pure glycerin is able to absorb water from the air, which is why it’s used to create fog. [7] X Research source
For a spooky circus themed scent, mix together equal parts anise oil and cotton candy oil. Create a swampy scent by combining one part campfire oil with two parts rain oil and four parts rich potting soil oil. Go for a crypt themed scent by combining one part dill pickle oil with two parts potting soil oil and two parts amber oil. Theme your fog scent around the idea of a haunted hayride by combining 1 part tall grass oil with two parts cedar oil and two parts pumpkin oil.
Never use a plastic can, as it might release toxic chemicals if it’s burned. A coffee can, or a large soup can, works best.
Keep the top and discard the rest of the bottle. Be careful when using any sharp blade. Wearing protective gloves may help guard against accidental injury.
The fog juice will rest against the metal of the pie tin inside the funnel to create the fog. Check to make sure that the pie tin is centered on your can, so that it’s unlikely to fall off once you’ve added fog juice.
If you do use tea light candles, make sure that the candles are closely bound together so that the heat is concentrated in the same general area. Position the pie plate over the candle Make sure that the bottom of the pie plate is near the flame but not close enough to touch it.
A little fog juice will go a long way. Resist the temptation to get carried away by pouring too much fog juice in at once. You can add more fog juice as needed.
For an interesting effect, shine colored light on the fog. If you want to create colored fog, the easiest and safest way to do this is by shining colored light directly on the fog as it flows out of the bottle top. The clear droplets from the fog will reflect the colored light.
Try to maintain a temperature between 120 and 180 degrees Fahrenheit (49 and 82 degrees Celsius). Additionally, boiling water is not ideal because it adds its own vapor to the dry ice fog, causing it to flow up instead of sprawling down and outward. Keep your container of water hot using a hot plate to maintain your fog for a long time.
Hotter water will create more fog, but the hotter the water is, the faster the ice will turn to fog and the more often you will need to add more. Always handle dry ice with insulated gloves and tongs.
Control the direction of the fog with a small electric fan. Because fog will naturally be heavier than air, most of the fog will sink to the floor or ground unless you force it to rise with the fan.
Try using a hot plate to keep your water from cooling off, or refresh with hot water from your kitchen. Be aware that water is likely to bubble out from the reaction of the dry ice and water. If you’re making fog indoors, know that the floor is likely to become slippery wherever the fog is.
A 2-foot, 6-inch round sheet metal ductwork pipe. This is also known as a stove pipe, and this will be the container that you make your fog inside. A 25-foot length of 1/4-inch copper refrigerator tubing A 50-foot length of 3/8-inch copper refrigerator tubing A 12-foot length of 3/8-inch clear plastic tubing A 2-foot length of 1-1/2 inch pipe (used as a form, then discarded) A 2-foot length of 3-inch ABS plastic pipe (used as a form, then discarded) 4 pipe clamps for the 3/8" Clear plastic tubing 1 small submersible pump (80 gal/hour) A package of plastic wire ties An ice chest or bucket
To create the inner coil, wind the 25 foot (7. 6 m) copper tubing around a 2 foot (0. 61 m) (61 cm) long pipe with a diameter of 1. 5 inches (3. 8 cm). To create the outer coil, wind the 50 feet (15. 24 m) copper tubing around a 2 foot (0. 61 m) (61 cm) long pipe with a diameter of 3 inches (7. 6 cm). Slide the coils out of their respective tubes once created.
If tying the smaller coil in place is too difficult, you can just allow the small coil to lay against the bottom of the larger one. Because the coils will need to fit inside the stove pipe, stretch them out until they roughly match the length of the pipe.
Hanging the coils in this way allows the fog to pass in and around the coils and cool it even better. The machine will work without using the ties, but it won’t work as well.
You’ll need to connect the ends of the coils on the other side of the chiller to a small submersible pump using longer pieces of plastic tubing and pipe clamps. Cold water will come from the pump, and circulate through the coils.
The water needs to be ice cold in order for the mechanism to work, so you may need to wait 30 minutes or so after dumping the ice in the water before you can create the cold fog. Place your fog machine into the other end of the ice chest. The spout should face outward.
Test the temperature of the copper by touching it. You should be able to feel the cold water through the sides of the copper. Follow by turning on your fog machine. Fill the fog machine with commercial fog juice and switch it on. Fog should roll out, but instead of floating up as hot fog does, it should sink to the floor thanks to the cooling mechanism.
