Since you guys rock so much, and asked so nicely, here you go :p
Gruns' Agar Cylinders
This method essentially involves dissolving an aqueous solution of the desired high-potency compound into a larger quantity of water, then melting agar agar into it, pouring into a carefully measured mold made from PVC tubing, then once it's cooled and set, pushing the tube out with a wooden dowel, slicing off measured cylinders. The cylinders are then dried. My preferred method of drying is a small department store "turbo fan" then pivots on a horizontal axis, so I can point it straight up and duct tape a bag made from nylon window mesh onto it. This generally dries them in about 8 or 9 hours.
The tricky parts:
larger guage tubing (.75" - 1") is more forgiving in terms of air pockets, but the resulting doses are often very sharp and hard to swallow. These things dry funny, I'm still working on a way to ameliorate this. The smaller the tubing, the hotter the agar has to be when you pour it, or it'll form bubbles in the tube. I found the best way to work with this is with a 250ml evap dish with pouring lip, microwaved until it almost boils over, then letting the bubbles settle just before pouring. Certainly, a thin layer of honey-agar remains on the dish, but like any spills or drips, it solidifies upon cooling and may be heated and re-poured from a smaller dish.
Also tricky is getting the volume exactly right. I said it was a volumetric technique, but it's really not, more of a linear measurement. If one takes a tube 25" long, fills it entirely with this agar sol'n, then cuts exactly .5" cylinders, each will be 1/50 of the total. 1g / 50 = 20mg.
I find it best not to try and measure the volume of the tubing, rather measure the length, fill with water, extract the amount of water you add with the honey.
As far as measuring the individual cylinders, I found it easiest just to cut a lip to the tubing exactly the length of what I want, pushing the tube to the edge and cutting with a knife. Sounds time consuming, but 50 doses can be cut in less than 4 minutes.
Multiple substances may be accurately delivered into one dosage unit using this method, along with food coloring, sparkles, etc. I like putting 5-htp in mine
.
Adding things like that also gives the dose more "body", so as to be less sharp.
Oh yeah, PVC endcaps are quite suitable for this, as they are quickly removed with teeth and replaced by hand.
So far I've tried 1" tubing but wasn't satisfied with the size of the dose, so I switched to .5" and it is working well.
The minimum agar required to set is around 15g/l. More and the agar won't pour right and forms bubbles, less and it won't set and it'll pour out all over you when you uncap the end (which, btw, I suggest doing whilst the tube is horizontal).
I also suggest doing some honey-free trial runs until you get the hang of it, and don't forget to subtract the honey-water volume from the mother liquor before you add it!
It is also very easy to manipulate the concentration of prepared doses, just grind them up, add water and pour.
There! Happy now?!?!?!
:p
Oxygen: You are correct, now that I think about it I recall having to microwave it slightly to get it all to dissolve.
