# Making your own seasalt( ocean water-> usable salt)



## smokinq13 (Aug 13, 2019)

Being one of the younger smokin-joes on this forum, I tend to lean to YouTube for a lot of my entertainment and DIY projects or if I ever need to learn how to do something myself. 1 to 2 years ago I came across this video where this guy took just regular ocean water and boiled it down to make sea-salt which he could use for cooking. 

*the channel is called TheKingofRandom, if you ever have time to just watch random videos, his channel is just full of a lot of interesting experiments and stuff. Sadly just the other week Grant Thompson, one of the main individuals/ founder that ran the channel was killed in a unfortunate paramotoring accident. He had a wife and family so how crazy it may sound but just watching some of the videos could actually help them out... since views= more ads, which more ads = more ad Revenue etc

Link to channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/01032010814
Link to Video: 

But last year at the beach I forgot to gather up some ocean water, I bought the container but never did it. This year I made sure I remembered! 

Science behind it: I'm sure everyone knows that ocean water is saltwater( if you didn't... well know you do lol), ocean water varies in salinity but on average its around 3.5%. This means that whatever amount of ocean water you gather, 3.5% of its overall weight can be contributed to by the salt that is dissolved in it. 

I gathered roughly one gallon worth of water, so 3.5% of that gallon of seawater should be just salt. Fresh Water on average weights 8 - 8.33 lbs per gallon, seawater/ ocean water weights on average around 8.6 lbs once again depending on the salinity.

so, 3.5% * 8.6 = 0.301 lbs worth of salt in the water. 0.301 lb = 4.816 ounces, I should be able to get 4.816 ounces of salt from one gallon of seawater. 

In comparison, the cheap salt shakers you get has about 3.75 oz of salt

shaker: 
	

		
			
		

		
	








Process: I mean this is pretty self-explanatory, just evaporate the H20 from the saltwater
Here's some college level math... saltwater-water= salt 

I've seen videos where people just let the water evaporate naturally by sitting it out in the Sun in pans but I'm impatient so I'm slowly boiling it away. One thing I didn't like how Grant did his is how hard he boiled it and water was spitting everywhere, So I have mine on a slow boil. 

boil: 
	

		
			
		

		
	






This was when I just put the water in the pot, so there isn't much boiling then but now it is going good.

this is the container I used to gather the water: 






Dollar general special 

So why am I doing this? well.... cause I wanted to. really that's it. Don't expect to get salt that tastes somehow better than all other salts( it might, maybe not) but it mainly is to have salt to cook with that you "made." Its just another element to add to your cooking that you can say, I made/gathered this salt that I'm using to cook with. Its kind of the same feeling that you get when you cook with stuff you grew in your garden or even food that you tracked down and harvested while hunting. It just adds that certain element to it. 

My dad took on an assignment over in Germany and on one of the bases he would go to, there was a family owned Italian restaurant that he would go to offend and became friends with the owner. my dad asked him how he made such good food( I forget the exact plate but some Italian dish),  The owner( in a deep Italian accent and hand gestures) said that if you love what you cook, it will always end up tasting good.

Making your own salt like this, just adds that extra element of love to your dish. 

we all can agree that if we didn't love BBQ-ing/ smoking food.. 1. we wouldn't be doing it 2. it wouldn't turn out as good as it does. I mean 15+ hours for one piece of meat... I've see Kardashian relationships not last that long... but anyway I thought I would put this thread up cause I imagine some of you might find it interesting and may do it yourself.

I'll post pictures and amounts once its done evaporating!

- Smokinq13


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## smokinq13 (Aug 13, 2019)

* I forgot to mention that I did filter the water with one of those flour sifters to get any large particles and sand that could be in the water. Ocean water can be.. gross depending on water beach your at... the beach I was at is basically a private beach that only people with 4x4 passes can drive out on so its just like some of your crowded beaches you can go to. Plus filtering and then boiling it for probably 5 hours should kill/ may sure there's nothing in it that can harm you.
If you really want to dig deep, as the water evaporates, the salinity of the water will continue to increase which we know that salt is a natural preservative, so I have no fears of using this salt in cooking.

And this won't be my only cooking salt, so I will be getting my dose of IODIDE.


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## Bearcarver (Aug 13, 2019)

I'm glad to hear you're filtering this stuff, considering the fact that Boats & Yachts & Ships only go out 2 miles from land before draining their Toilet holding tanks, and I think in the UK, they don't even have to go out.
LOL---Glad I quit using Salt 6 years ago.

Bear


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## smokinq13 (Aug 13, 2019)

Bearcarver said:


> I'm glad to hear you're filtering this stuff, considering the fact that Boats & Yachts & Ships only go out 2 miles from land before draining their Toilet holding tanks, and I think in the UK, they don't even have to go out.
> LOL---Glad I quit using Salt 6 years ago.
> 
> Bear



I know Cruises are suppose to have water treatment system on board and then the water is released back into the ocean. which even after that the water is subject to the ecosystems of the ocean and is further broken down if anything remains. but smaller ships and boats I dont know if they do or not. I imagine there's rules and regulations on this as well. 

Here's a video on how a cruise deals with waste water : 

Not saying this accounts for all ships on the water but at least there's something being done lol


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## Bearcarver (Aug 13, 2019)

Yup, Cruise Ships have such a thing, however very few smaller boats ave anything like that:
*Installed toilet w/Type III MSD. Cost: $500+* Good option. Keeps waste out of water. Relies on having adequate onshore pumpout facilities. Not practical for offshore without "Y" valve as a way to divert waste from holding tank.
*Installed toilet w/Type III MSD and "Y" valve Cost: $500+* Good option. Keeps waste out of water. Relies on having adequate onshore pumpout facilities. While offshore, "Y" valve can be open to legally discharge directly overboard (3 miles or more offshore--oceans only). While not offshore, "Y" valve must be closed. 

And that's in the US. I would imagine most countries don't have any rules whatsoever.
Makes me wonder how long it will take for the world to ruin the oceans, just like we are ruining our Land, Air, and Waterways. The fish already have warnings on them about consumption.

Sorry for the Hijack---Just thinking out loud.

Bear


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## Bearcarver (Aug 13, 2019)

smokinq13 said:


> I know Cruises are suppose to have water treatment system on board and then the water is released back into the ocean. which even after that the water is subject to the ecosystems of the ocean and is further broken down if anything remains. but smaller ships and boats I dont know if they do or not. I imagine there's rules and regulations on this as well.
> 
> Here's a video on how a cruise deals with waste water :
> 
> Not saying this accounts for all ships on the water but at least there's something being done lol





BTW:  Interesting Video on Cruise Ship Waste Treatment.

Kinda reminds me of the Septic System under my Yard.

Bear


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## PolishDeli (Aug 13, 2019)

Seems like a fun project. I’ll be interested to see how it turns out.  Coarse grain, fine grain, what color, etc…
A couple more experiments to pack on top of this:

(1)There is a lot of stuff in sea water other than salt and cruise ship trash.  You should be able to look up the composition.  You should also be able to measure a lot of the constituent minerals/chemicals/contaminates.  All types of tests strips are available for water quality monitoring of pools, tap water, aquariums…

(2) How efficient is this?  How much are you paying per gram of salt by boiling water vs buying a shaker?  You can calculate the energy required to convert Xgallons of water into steam, and then calculate how much that that amount of energy costs.  You can also just check the power meter before and after boiling the water.

Certainly, salt is “made” by evaporating salt water.  If you get a chance to visit a graduation tower, they are pretty interesting.  I’ve been to the one in Ciechocinek Poland.  People go there to breath mineral rich air for the supposed health benefits.


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## smokinq13 (Aug 13, 2019)

process is done... I got 5.3 OZ from the gallon of water I had. the texture varies, some powder, some really big chucks. I'll probably just apply the salt by hand instead of a actual shaker, so I can crush it up if I want a finer coarse.














Sorry about the bad lighting but the pictures serve their purpose. 

I also ran the water through a paper coffee filter to get the even finer particles. there was very very fine sand particles that got through the first filter so I thought it'd be best to put it through a even finer one. 

As you can see its white as salt usually is, I even looked closely at it and there isn't any color variations( from other stuff being in it)… when it comes to the pollutions that are in the ocean waters, I don't really have that big of a concern. I won't be using just this salt and the amount of pollutions that might be in it, I'd imagine isn't much more than what we intake from our everyday lives. It's actually pretty scary what we ingest without realizing it, especially if your on city water. 

But just a cool little project that gives me a little more self-sufficiency


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## normanaj (Aug 13, 2019)

smokinq13 said:


> * I forgot to mention that I did filter the water with one of those flour sifters to get any large particles and sand that could be in the water.



Try a cone style paper paint strainer.Use regular size mesh,the fine/ultra fine just gets clogged up way to quick.


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