DIY Ballistic Gelatin for less than £3

[Malik]

i was round my friends house the other week, shooting random objects in his garden with the air rifle. Great few hours. One interesting target was these big thick candles. you could see the entrance and exit holes. so that night it got me thinking on ballistic blocks ive seen on programs on the discovery channel. anyway... quick search on the interent and that was it!


There is lots of Homemade recipes knocking about on the internet on how to make homemade Ballistic Gel, so out of curiousity... i gave it a go!!!

 

 

 

As you can see, all you need is a few packs of Gelatine. They cost about 65p each. 2 containers, a way of mixing the solution and a way of messuring water. in my case, a pint glass!





Looking at the instructions on the back, i stated that one sachet soldifys one pint of liquid. so i put in as many pints of warm water into the container as possible.

 

poured in the required amount of sachets. i did one extra to make sure it soldified!

 

 

Gave it a good mix. now have to let the foam on the top settle, this took about 15 minutes

 

 

Then 12 hours in the fridge!

 

 

12 hours later... perfectly formed jelly!

 

Sealed it up, and floated it in hot water to let it remelt. this took about an hour

 

in the meantime, drop of oil in the second container and smear it around. this is just so when it forms the next time. it isnt stuck to the container!

Container smeared with oil. not sure if you can see it or not.

Once the Gel had melted again. had to transfer it from the orginal container to the oil smeared container. as you can see... i did this outside just incase i made a mess!





and in the fridge it goes.... when i was looking at recipes online. the time varied on how long to leave it in for this time. some said 24 hours some said 36 hours




took a chance at 24 hours in the fridge. as you can see. it had formed again but was only 90% ready. 2 of the corners were not fully set There was a few oil drops on the top as well. as you can see.






Lessons for next time. it needs 36 hours! and a little less oil.

Hope this guide is useful to someone.

Edited May 12, 2013 by Malik

[jamiedenny]

Thanks for taking the time to write it up :-).

[aris]

Your fridge is cleaner than mine :-) Is edible gelatine the same as ballistics? I thought ballistics was supposed to simulate human flesh.

[Malik]

No problem jamie!

 

 

Aris - Its the spare fridge in the garage! Only gets the odd duck or rabbit in it lol.

 

You have to use pork/swine gelatine. As it is the closest to human tissue. Majority of Gelatine in the shops are either 100% pork or 100% agar, for the veggie people lol.

 

 

 

I am making some more of the stuff tomorrow. Giving it the rest of the week till the weekend in the fridge. That should see it right!

[aris]

Jelly (the sweet stuff you eat) I made from pork gelatine, but I dont think there would be much left if you shot it :-)

[C00KIE]

From a chefs point of view, and this is purely from experience, I wouldnt bother with the oil, just dunk the container in warm water as you did to melt it. This will loosen it enough to tip it out.

Leaving it in the fridge won't get it to set harder it will only set to the amount of gelatine added. Leaving it longer is only to make sure it sets when you use hotter liquid ie the warmer the liquid the longer it takes to set.

I would have said it needed a higher ratio of gelatine to get the right consistency. But I haven't used ballistic gel so don't know how "set" it is

Edited May 14, 2013 by C00KIE

[The Essex Hunter]

I was looking for a Blue Peter sticker on the fridge and John Noakes with shep the dog…on the gun

 

 

 

 

TEH

[Malik]

Had a go again.works better with 36 hours in the fridge!

 

 

[sandspider]

How well did it work when you shot it?!