Our Goals:

The goals for a colloidal silver production method for personal use should include:

High quality
Consistent concentration (ppm)
Short processing time
No toxic chemicals
Smallest possible particle size
Inexpensive equipment

Common Method Used Today:

Most of the home made colloidal silver made today is made by the electrolysis process where two silver wire electrodes are inserted into cold water and an electrical current is passed through the electrodes from a battery or other power supply. This is the method which is commonly known, and done with a couple of nine volt batteries and pieces of silver wire.

If this simple process is done, it fails to meet any of our production goals. It does not even meet the goal of “no toxic chemicals” because the process itself creates the chemical silver oxide which as has been explained may cause Argyria. What it does create is an ionic solution of silver oxide and some colloidal silver oxide (very large particles of precipitated silver oxide).

Worse yet is that most people think you should shine a laser beam through the water looking for the Tyndall effect. Good 20 ppm ionic silver will show no Tyndall effect, and if you get one, it means your silver is already overcooked and bad.

Even worse is if salt is added to ‘start the process faster’. Adding salt with this simple method cold only creates large amounts of silver chloride, which again is implicated in causing Argyria.

A much better way:

To make colloidal silver correctly, safely, and repeatably, here is the process.

You will need:

.999 pure silver wire or a pure silver bullion coin. These are readily available.
Pure steam distilled or de-ionized water. Steam distilled is preferable.
Light corn syrup (Karo), or invert sugar.(reducing agent)
Sodium carbonate (washing soda)(electrolyte)
Constant current power source or computerized generator.
A fixture to hold your electrodes 1.5 inches apart.
Glass container, like a canning jar (Mason/Ball)
Inexpensive milliammeter

The procedure:

Mix up the corn syrup with an equal amount of distilled water. This will be the reducing agent which converts ionic silver to true colloidal silver. Make 1 or 2 ounces, as you will only need about a teaspoon of this mixture per gallon of water.

Mix up the sodium carbonate by dissolving 12.6 grams in enough water to make 100ml.^*

Starting with 1 liter of water, add 20 drops of sodium carbonate solution. Sodium carbonate is what you get when you bake baking soda, so you have consumed a lot of this in your life, and it is not toxic. Mix well.

Insert your electrodes into you fixture and then into the water. Turn on the power. Put as much of your positive electrode into the water as possible, and no more than 1/4 inch of the negative electrode to start.

Using a milliammeter, measure the current through your electrodes and if the current does not reach the set point of the regulator, you can insert more of the negative electrode into the water to increase the current. If using silver wire for your electrodes, your current regulator should be set to no more than 6 ma. If using a 1 ounce bullion coin, it should be no more than 15 ma. These currents can be increased if you have a sufficiently strong stirrer.

Calculate the required time to make 20 ppm based on the formula that 1 milligram of silver will enter the water for each 15 milliamp minutes of process time. 15 milliamp-minutes could be 1 ma for 15 minutes, 2 ma for 7.5 minutes, 15 ma for 1 minute, etc.

20 ppm is 20 milligrams of silver per liter. So for example, if you only wanted to make 250ml, you would only need 5 milligrams of silver, and 5 * 15 milliamp-minutes of current.

When the required time has elapsed, turn off the power, remove the electrodes, and add 4 drops of the corn syrup solution to the water and heat it to at least 140 degrees F. In a few minutes, it will change from crystal clear and colorless to crystal clear but yellow colored. This color change is the proof that the ionic silver has been converted to true colloidal silver.

Time required for 1 liter of 20 ppm Colloidal silver at various constant currents:

Current ma Time minutes
5 60
6 50
10 30
15 20

For quarts instead of liters, decrease time by 5%

You can calculate the required time for other amounts and currents from this formula:

minutes = milliliters * ppm * 0.015 / milliamps.

This is the basic method. There are variations on this method, using hot water vs cold, different reducing agents etc, but this method always produces quality 20 ppm colloidal silver and is recommended as a starting point for beginners interesting in producing the best colloidal silver possible. Higher strengths are possible, but need some additional equipment and other food items.

* Amount shown is for Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda. If using sodium carbonate made from baking soda, the correct amount is 10.6 grams with distilled water to make 100 ml.