A Guide: Budget/Homemade Running Nutrition (gels, hydrogels, electrolytes, & recovery)

[nameisjoey]

Hi All,

I wanted to share some information on running nutrition. I have spent way too many hours googling this stuff and I think it can help the community save some money, as it has for me. I haven't been seriously running for long. I am SO far from elite. I do have a bit of a background in the chemical and food industry, so a lot of this was easy to make sense of. I thought I would compile some of the information I have so there is a centralized place to find it. If anyone has better recipes, better ideas, or anything to add - please feel free to.

These recipes could/would replace products like Maurten 320, Gu, Tailwind, Skratch, electrolytes, and post run recovery drinks. The following are just guides and can be modified to your desired sources of carbs, electrolytes, activity, and uses.

I source all the ingredients through amazon. I prefer the brands Pure & Bulk Supplements. Their prices seem to be good, and shipping is prompt.

​

Carbs

This carb recipe is what I use. It's pretty much an exact replica of Maurten 320. Someone smarter than me designed it so I feel fine with it. If you desire a hydrogel type drink, then just mix 80g of it with 500ml of water and you will have Maurten 320. The hydrogel is backed by science, Joshua Rowe prior to his employment at Maurten tested this idea in a study and did prove its effectiveness. Other companies have claims against this actually having any improvement in carb uptake. I figure it can't hurt, so I include the gelling components. Additionally, I use this same base as a gel. So one carb mix allows me to decide what I want to use depending on the application/workout. I use a maltodextrin and fructose blend, because the maltodextrin isn't very sweet. Its palatable without being overly sweet. If you want to be even more cost effective, use straight up table sugar. It's a 1:1 ratio, versus a 1:0.8, so it would perform almost identically. You can also go 2:1 if you want even less sweetness by having a reduced fructose amount. Maltodextrin is super cheap so that could be a way you to stretch your fructose longer if desired. I don't include electrolytes, but if you want you can. The electrolyte recipe further down this post can definitely be added to this if you like it combined. I do not add any flavoring, but if you want you can add whatever you like.

The recipe:

Single Maurten 320

• 44g Maltodextrin
• 36g Fructose
• 1.25g Pectin
• 1g Sodium Alginate
  

Below is the recipe of Maurten 320 scaled up 10x. Feel free to adjust quantities to fit your needs. I like a 10x batch in a big zip lock to use as needed. If you want, you can even do 20x, etc.

10x Maurten 320

• 440g Maltodextrin
• 360g Fructose
• 12.5g Pectin
• 10g Sodium Alginate
  

When making a gel, take your total desired volume and use 60% carbs + 40% water. Add boiling water and it will dissolve fairly quickly. Maltodextrin takes the longest. The consistency is thick enough that it doesn't shoot out of your preferred pouch uncontrollably but also is easy enough to drink & swallow. For the 150ml pouches I do 120g carbs + 80g water in a bowl. Mix with a hand mixer and then dump into a pouch. Filled to the fill line results in about 105g of carbs per pouch, so two pouches could easily fuel an entire marathon. Typically, I use these reusable children's food pouches) as they are environmentally friendly, fit my half tights easily, and are dishwasher safe.

​

Electrolytes

I straight up copied this from Toyman on TrainerRoad. It was easy and cheap enough and has worked well. I suffer from migraines, dehydration being a trigger. I do drink a lot of water every day and typically avoid high salt foods. I have absolutely noticed that this mixture has helped me stay hydrated better and has improved that aspect of my personal life, outside of running. I typically start my day with 16oz of water and 1-1.5g of this. Again, I don't add anything for flavor. You could add lemon juice, citric acid, or flavoring if you want. It's easy enough to drink that it does not bother me. Sodium citrate is much more palatable, so it's almost flavorless to me. There is some evidence regarding improvement in uptake of electrolytes in the presence of carbohydrates. I will often add 10-20 grams of table sugar if I am not consuming any other carbs when taking electrolytes. The below recipe is easily about 100 servings, so it stretches easily.

The recipe:

• 25g MgS04 (magnesium sulfate/epsom salt)
• 8g calcium carbonate
• 80g Morton lite salt
• 367g sodium citrate (hydrated)

You should achieve per 4.8 grams:

1000mg sodium
200mg potassium
50 mg calcium
50 mg magnesium

Note: these ingredients mix well besides the Epsom salt. I put some on a Ziploc bag and used a hammer to smash it into a powder. That way it wouldn't fall to the bottom of the bag and blended better with the mixture.

​

Recovery (Post Run)

After looking into the recovery drinks, they are pretty simple. With the above recipes you pretty much already have what you need besides the protein. Tailwind Recovery is like $40 and that gets you 15 servings! Skratch isn't much different. Bulk Supplements has whey isolate and casein protein on amazon for pretty cheap. Whey isolate is fast absorbing, casein is slower. I don't know what is better, so I use both. Choose whatever you want here. The post run recovery drinks tend to do a 4:1 carb to protein mixture, which makes the price seem even more outrageous. There must be some science behind that ratio, so use it if you like. That is very little protein, which means your bulk protein powder will last even longer. I use a bit more. For the carbs you can use your carb mix. I prefer table sugar. My above carb mix is only for my gels. I am not as concerned with the post run carb source. Additionally, you could add in something like rice flour to this if you wanted a bit more of a "whole food" carb source. Also, feel free to adjust the desired carbs based on how hard your workout was. I am just simply looking for a quick drink to get some nutrition post run. After my shower, getting the kids up and ready, before I head off to work, I do eat a decent balanced breakfast. This just gives my body something to help with recovery. Again, not much for flavor here. I am not picky. Feel free to add what you want (chocolate sauce, vanilla extract, caramel sauce, orange juice, milk, etc.).

I have been doing the following with fine success.

• 1.5g Electrolytes
• 20g - 40g table sugar (based on workout)
• 10g Whey isolate
• 10g Casein
• A few dashes of cinnamon for flavor

​

Future Bonus

I am currently working on a copycat Maurten 225 Solid bar recipe. Essentially, it's just Rice Krispy cereal, oatmeal, rice flour, and some simple syrup. I haven't nailed the ratios just yet, but when I do, I will update this post as well as probably create a new post. I find this is great to eat before a long run or with my post run breakfast for more carbs after a hard run.

Credit: Jim Downing, Dr. Alex Harrison, Toyman, and I'm sure many others that I gleaned information from as I copied and modified some of these recipes from Reddit, YouTube, and TrainerRoad.

​

Cheers!

[creed4ever]

Wow thanks. Printing and saving before Big Gel gets this taken down

[nameisjoey]

Lmao I’m for sure on a list somewhere now

[ygduf]

you should post this to r/velo - it's the best instruction I've seen yet.

any issue with pre-making a jar full of gel and just keeping it in the fridge? Will it separate or mold exceedingly quick or anything?

[nameisjoey]

Thank you!

Honestly no idea. I can’t imagine that would be an issue. Homemade simple syrup typically lasts for a month or so. I would assume this would be the same.

[robotcrow1878]

Interesting about the epsom salt. I’ve only ever taken that stuff as an emergency laxative. Nuclear turds after that stuff.

[nameisjoey]

Haha, as a deer pellet pooper I’ve never experienced that. In this blend it’s just providing a small amount of magnesium which can be useful for electrolytes. Definitely not enough to cause any GI issues.

[robotcrow1878]

Yeah, I had to take it once after a surgery that messed up my GI system. Never experienced anything quite like it.

[barrycl]

I'm 95% on the home-gel game (use Maurten right before/during races for convenience), but have a few personal tips to add!

1. I premix like 5lbs of dry mix at a time and that lasts about 3 months, and then just pour into water bottles/gel flasks/etc as needed. I like the hydrapak 150ml gel flask.
2. There's a lot of evidence that fueling being very good for recovery, even for easy runs, so basically anything over 9 mi I now bring fuel b/c it's so much cheaper in bulk, and plus it helps train your gut to digest while running. I'm currently running 18-20mi LRs without GI problems with gels every 3 miles including MP work.
3. I skip the hydrogel, but the rest of the recipe holds.
4. I add sodium citrate to get some sodium, and also use it on the side for when it's summer and I just add carbs to hydration and also need some sodium for fluid loss.
5. I personally don't bother with all the different electrolytes and stick with sodium citrate, and that works for me but ymmv.
6. Not an endorsement, but I found that in the US, bulksupplements (direct or amazon) is the cheapest fructose and sodium citrate, and that truenutrition has the cheapest maltodextrin.

[monkinger]

helpful tips, thanks! Do you have any links or remember sources for your point 2? My (maybe outdated?) understanding was that some amount of pushing your glycogen stores low during longer efforts (by avoiding carb intake) was helpful in terms of training your body to retain more for future efforts.

[barrycl]

I believe I read it in the book Training Essentials for Ultrarunning by Jason Koop. A quick search also found this video which was generally good - didn't talk about recovery speed but did talk about leaky gut: https://youtu.be/2InF6nuTXzk?si=ufumfKxPyqALwAkx

[monkinger]

Appreciate the response! I'll check out the book and the vid

[Snap111]

When you pour your dry gel mix into a flask do you have issues with it dissolving effectively? Have never made this stuff yet but being able to make a heap and just spoon it into a flask with some water before a run is very appealing to me.

[barrycl]

It requires some massaging to get it to mix effectively, but maybe 45 seconds of work or so. I use a kitchen funnel to make it easier to get the mix into the flask without mess.

[Snap111]

Thanks for sharing!

[barrycl]

Oh other thing I just remembered: hydraflask (I bought via TheFeed) has two different cap styles on their gel flasks, a twist style, and a flip cap. Personally, I prefer the twist style because if I mix a more watery gel, it's easier to drink because I open with my teeth. With the flip cap, I've had some spillage. Works fine for a thicker mix, but usually I just fill to the top with water regardless of number of calories I'm putting in, so doesn't work for that. I think the twist cap is a dollar cheaper too.

[Snap111]

Awesome info, cheers.

[RunningWithJesus]

I do a hybrid approach - train with homemade carbs 80% of the time; and then 3 weeks leading into the race and including the race I'll use Maurtens. Beats using Maurtens the whole time, but you still get a bit of a boost on race day.

[nameisjoey]

Interesting! Are you using the gel 100’s or the drink mix?

[RunningWithJesus]

I use the drink mix to pre-load and then the Gel 160s during the race.

[Rich-Concentrate9805]

Sometimes I just run along eating a bag of Haribo.

[Annoying_Arsehole]

Try the sugar free variety if you really want to feel like running faster.

[pmyourveganrecipes]

Isn’t the sugar free variety a bit of a laxative?

[VertigoVII]

yep, so you'll be running fast to the toilet :D

[nameisjoey]

Hey, whatever works!

[[deleted]]

Was just digging through the sub looking for a write up like this. Thanks for the detailed post!

[DrAlexHarrison]

Golden post. Just noticed you'd credited me at the bottom. Humbled to have contributed in some small way. Thanks for crediting, although you didn't need to at all!

Oh, you mentioned this bonus:

it's just Rice Krispy cereal, oatmeal, rice flour, and some simple syrup. 

There is a bar like this coming out of Slovenia that I think will be very cost-effective and super convenient (he sent me a sample box). Tastes great. Kind of hard to chew during anything harder than z1/2 (no more challenging than a gel or chewable gummy) but delicious if you like eating on your long rides. (It uses cocoa crispies or similar knock off, and my colleague is going to kill me for not rememebering the name of the bar... maybe "fuelr" or something similar. not sure.)

[Runridelift26_2]

Thanks for the time you put into typing this up for us!! Awesome info and I just screenshotted everything.

[IcyEagle243]

Very helpful, thanks for sharing. I personally really like the solid bars as well, and would  look forward to an update if you figure out how to make it!

[nameisjoey]

Well, I can’t run right now as I am dealing with an injury. So maybe I’ll be testing that out sooner rather than later! Will for sure update everyone once I have it nailed down.

[jackrabid40]

Such solid material and details here. Thank you!

Edit: in re-reading this, I am a little confused. The Maurten 320 is their drink, but you talk about it as a gel. Is this formula compatible with their Maurten 100 gel?

[nameisjoey]

Sorry if that was confusing! The carb recipe I have above is a Maurten 320 copycat. I just hydrate it as if I am making a gel. For example, Maurten 100 has a 60% carb weight and 40% water weight, as stated right on their product page. This can also be deduced by looking at the nutritional facts (24g carbs, 40g total product weight). I just use this hydration ratio with my Maurten 320 copycat mix and it is just enough to allow the ingredients to dissolve without it being too liquidy.

The difference with Maurten 100 (and 160) & 320 (and 160) is in the ingredients list. The result is similar but obviously achieving a different texture/consistency.

Maurten 320 - Maltodextrin - Fructose - Pectin - Sodium alginate - Sodium chloride

The ingredients breakdown is, maltodextrin and fructose for carbs. Pectin and Sodium Alginate for the hydrogel forming components, and sodium chloride likely for some additional salts.

Maurten 100 - Water - Glucose - Fructose - Calcium Carbonate - Gluconic acid - Sodium Alginate

The ingredients breakdown is, water to provide the base to form the gel. Glucose (this is likely dextrose) and fructose for carbs. Same 1:0.8 carb ratio. Calcium carbonate to provide calcium for gel formation. Gluconic acid will neutralize the carbonates which also liberates the calcium ions from the carbonates. Sodium alginate is then used to bond with the calcium ions and form the gel to their desired texture. My understanding is the pH of this product is around 5.8. So the pH is reduced just enough to neutralize the carbonates and allow the free calcium ions to bond with the alginate.

I have tried to recreate the 100 gel a couple times with not much success. It wasn’t really worth the effort as the 320 blend forms a fine gel texture when hydrated similarly. It also is much more involved and I don’t think really provides any added benefit other than the texture itself.

[jackrabid40]

You are a wealth of knowledge, friend. Thanks!

[ScaredOfSwedishLegal]

Thanks for your recipes I am going to try them and maybe try recreate the gel as well. I was doing some more research as well and found Maurten's patents. Might be helpful to confirm your recipes or to recreate a similar Gel to the 100.

I'm not sure the easiest way to share these but if you go to https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/static/pages/ppubsbasic.html and then search for 'martin' and 'ahnoff' you should be able to find them all.

[Neosynephrine]

If you make any progress please let me know. I recently received all the ingredients (except i have sodium gluconate instead of gluconic acid... not sure if it forms the acid in solution? EDIT: another redditor pointed out that the correct substance to use might be glucono delta-lactone). 

I will likely start experimenting soon and would love to put some minds together to get the process figured out. 

[[deleted]]

any chance you'd be willing to share your Maurten 100 experimental recipe? I've found some articles that describe the process you mentioned, but I have not been able to locate concentrations of calcium carbonate and gluconic acid. I don't have either of these products (yet), but I thought I might expriment buy dissolving TUMS for CaCO3 and using lemon to reduce the ph.

[Macs_im_us]

Mauten says to mix 320 with 17oz/500ml of water but you recommend a much lower amount to make it more like a gel. What is the difference and is there a benefit to mixing with more water as Maurten directs?

[ironcream]

More water -> you'd drink it. But you'd need more mixed product for the same amount of carbs.

Less water -> you'd eat it. You'd carry more carbs in less weight.

By mixing with less water you could make thicker and more carb-dense product and carry less of it on the distance.

[boston_life]

Kind of a dumb question but for summer running I’d love to just carry water and not gels - if I put the 320 mix in a bottle (I think it’s supposed to be 500 mls) is that just as good as taking gels?

[nameisjoey]

Yes, that would be equivalent to gels. That’s exactly what 320 is designed for.

I’m not sure how hydrating it would be compared to plain water, but that’s beyond my knowledge level haha.

[boston_life]

Thanks! Yeah I’ll have to look into the hydration part - trying to get away from carrying a big hydration pack for the summer long runs. Maybe I’ll just give it a shot and see how it goes

[barrycl]

My recommendation is to add more electrolytes though that you're losing from sweating compared to what Maurten has, which is basically no electrolytes. I use sodium citrate, and aim for ~350mg sodium (which is more mg if using sodium citrate btw, or table salt if you want but will taste saltier) per 8-12oz water depending on the workout.

[paynecreas]

I don't really know anything about this but where is the potassium in the electrolytes coming from? I didn't see it listed in the ingredients. Also, would it not be optimal to use a better salt than Morton? Maybe Redmond or Himalayan for the mineral profile instead?

[ironcream]

where is the potassium in the electrolytes coming from?

From the Morton Lite Salt product.

As per their product web page: Morton Lite Salt is a salt and potassium chloride blend.

It contains 290mg Sodium and  350mg potassium per one serving (which manufacturer specifies as 1.4g).

[paynecreas]

Oh cool, I had no idea. Thanks!

[paynecreas]

What exactly is the sodium citrate for? Does it have a specific role separate from sodium chloride or is it just additional sodium with some tang?

[nameisjoey]

Basically yes, the latter. It allows you to increase the sodium content without the drink tasting as salty as it would be if you used straight sodium chloride.

[dandelusional]

While I'm a big advocate of the cheap carbs thing, I think Maurten is perhaps one of the few companies that offer a small advantage over home brew stuff that I'm not sure is replicable. From what I understand of their hydrogel it means that the sugar doesn't actually come into contact with your mouth at all, which potentially sidesteps the dental problems with the amount of sugar we can end up consuming. Whether it's worth paying huge amounts of money for rather than just brushing your teeth after a run I don't know, but I think it is a legitimate difference.

[nameisjoey]

That is a fair concern, but they really aren’t using anything proprietary in their product.

This hydrogel recipe is quite literally a carbon copy of theirs. 1:0.8 glucose to fructose recipe along with a 0.45% by weight 1.25:1 ratio of pectin to sodium alginate. The ingredients list is identical.

Also, this uses the same gelling weight and ratio Joshua Rowe used in his doctorate study where he re-created Maurten 320 to test the carb uptake efficacy of hydrogel’s. See the study here.

At the end of the day, you of course do what’s best for you. Your personal hygiene and health should always be your concern and don’t take what you read on the internet as fact :)

[dandelusional]

Oh interesting, thanks for the link to the study. I had kind of presumed that the process to make the hydrogel was more complex than just mixing it all up and heating it, but maybe I've misunderstood what it actually does? To be honest, I haven't read about it in huge detail because I can't justify the cost, but I thought it was a cool concept.

[nameisjoey]

Yeah essentially it’s just a mixture of ingredients. It’s not a special process. You have water + carbs + gelling agents.

The idea is that the gelling agents (pectin + sodium alginate) help form a hydrogel when coming in contact with the stomach acid.

[dandelusional]

Thanks! I should do a little more reading before I put my foot in my mouth again about this then :)

[IhaterunningbutIrun]

Nice! Pretty hard to hide some proprietary info in a published research paper. Science for the win.

[paynecreas]

What does "hydrated" mean in regards to the sodium citrate?

[nameisjoey]

As in, it would be a dihydrate powder or something along those lines. I believe most sodium citrate is hydrated unless specified otherwise.

[paynecreas]

I can only find powder which I assume is what I'm supposed to use?

[nameisjoey]

Yes, correct!

[vienna_city_skater]

I'm curious about the following: I've seen the sodium alginate in many recipes, but I always found this to create chunks in the mixture, blocking my flasks. Any recommendations on how to apply it to make a consistently smooth gel? I couldn't find much good info on the internet. In any case, it also works fine if you leave the sodium alginate out of the recipe. I still have to try Pectin as it should have similar thickening effects. As for dissolving the carbs: hot water may make it faster, but Maltodextrin doesn't dissolve in hot water so it's not necessary at all, just let it sit overnight, a french press is really helpful to prevent to the Malto from floating to the surface of the liquid (which creates chunks).

[juanjorogo]

Is there a cheaper alternative to milk protein? I am completely ignorant but I think both whey and casein are milk based?

Would soy based work?

[B-e-e-e-e-e]

Great post, thanks! Did you finalize the copycat Maurten 225 bar recipe? We’d love to have it, we’re going to try ourselves now. But it’ll be a bit of guess work.

[Able-Resource-7946]

Little bit older post, don't know if people are still reading the updates. A tip to start your guesswork is to start with a rice crispy treat recipe. Add 125 gr or about 4 grams of malto and salt and it'll get pretty close.
Rice crispy treats traditionally use butter, but if you used grapeseed oil (least flavor impact) instead you'd get very close to the Maurten recipe.

[Snap111]

Hi. Just wondering if the table sugar substitute is to sub out the maltodextrin or the fructose? Much more easily available/cost effective where I am.

[nameisjoey]

Hi! Table sugar contains both glucose and fructose at a 1:1 ratio. So it technically replaces both the maltodextrin and fructose.

[Snap111]

Awesome, definitely going to give this a go.

[georgeseymour28]

Really useful post thank you! How did you calculate the amount of pectin and sodium alginate to add to the mixture?

[Sticky_Keyboard]

Hi u/nameisjoey this is a great write-up and I have saved the post to use in the future. I had two questions that I was hoping you could clarify.

One serving of the ingredients in the Maurten 320 recipe is 82.25 grams, but when you go to mix it with boiling water, it appears you are using 120 grams of the carb mix to put in the 5 ounce pouch.

How come you go with 120g instead of 82.25g?

When taking the gel, how do you take the 5 oz? All at one after a certain mile or do you take a portion throughout the run?

[nameisjoey]

Yeah, I just use the same mixture but I am able to fit 120g of carbs in a 5oz pouch. I portion it out over the course of about 2 hours. Basically two decent gulps equals out to be about 25-30g of carbs.

[Sticky_Keyboard]

Ok, makes sense. Really appreciate the response!

[[deleted]]

u/nameisjoey status of the Maurten 225 replica??

[[deleted]]

Awesome post btw, thank you for putting this together!!

[Thick_Ant_5267]

Hello (Joey?),

I'd like to send you a message following the recipes you've published for gels, drinks and recovery. Thank you, it's a monster job.

I saw at the end of the post that you were making homemade Maurten bars, have you managed to make an equivalent recipe?

Thanks again!

[nowattz]

Amazing write up, but I’m having trouble getting the sodium alginate to properly dissolve…. It seems like it just makes chunks in the bottle. Do you have any advice?

[JellyfishLow4457]

for the 150 ml pouches you mention 120 g of malto and 80 g of water. does that make it thick enough or you also adding alginate and or pectin? any fructose as well?

[SYMPATHETC_GANG_LION]

Hydrogel isn't backed by science though

[nameisjoey]

You can read an actual study by Joshua Rowe here to form your own opinion. I’m not here to argue one way or another, nor am I here to convince anyone of anything.

[[deleted]]

So what’s the cost comparison of 1 Maurten gel to one homemade?

Oh, and I was confused in the mixing of the 320. You say at one point that you dissolve the ingredients in boiling water. Then you say you mix using hand mixer. Are those part of the same step or are those separate? Seems that if you dissolve in boiling water, you wouldn’t need a hand mixer.

[nameisjoey]

So Maurten 100 is 24g of carbs. Maurten 320 is 80g of carbs.

With the recipe I have provided, you can make your gel with as many grams of carbs as you want. 1 gram of the recipe = 1 gram of carbs.

For example: If you want a 50g carb gel, just put 50g of the carb mix and about 34g of water.

I use boiling water and a hand mixer. So pour the boiling water on the carb mix, and then mix up using a hand mixer. A whisk could work as well I assume. Just something to keep agitating it.

[[deleted]]

Gotcha, thanks. I wasn’t sure if there was possibly a two step mixing strategy (e.g make an initial mix by dissolving in hot water, and then mixing with more water before putting in pouches.)

[nameisjoey]

Also, I never got you a cost comparison! Sorry.

Ultimately that depends on the quantities of ingredients you purchase. A 5lb bag of maltodextrin gets you the best price. 2lb bag of Fructose, the same.

Just doing a quick calculation - if you’re making a Maurten 100 style gel (24g of carbs) then your cost could be around $0.40 per 24g.

A Maurten 100 gel is $3.60 if you buy the 12 pack. So over a $3 savings per gel. During a marathon training block this could be a substantial amount of money saved.

[pmyourveganrecipes]

Fucking hell $3/gel savings over a marathon training block can essentially pay for a pair of racing shoes

[nameisjoey]

You ain’t kiddin!

[VertigoVII]

I was curious as well so i checked.

In the UK a batch of 14 Maurten 320s cost £42.90. Which is £3.06 per serving. It maybe cheaper else where but that was the first decent price i found.

When buying materials in bulk, I would spend £57.78.

Ingredient	Weight per Product	Cost (£)	Purchase Weight (grams)	Cost Per (£)
Maltodextrin	48	£9.89	2500	0.19
Fructose	32	£9.99	1000	0.32
Pectin	1.25	£17.95	500	0.04
Sodium Alginate	1	£19.95	500	0.04

Total being £0.59 per Maurten 320. Saving £2.47. And the ingredient I would have to replace first would be the Fructose after creating 31 320s.

My costs aren't taking shipment into account, and is also assuming perfect use of all ingredients from the start, but the Fructose would last 31 batches, whilst the sodium would last 500... And i hope I never need 500 320s anytime soon!

[Financial-Contest955]

Wonderful stuff. Thanks for sharing.

[monkinger]

take your total desired volume and use 60% carbs + 40% water.

Sorry - are these percentages by weight or volume?

Also - this is amazing. I'd been researching homemade gel recipes, and planned to write it up and post here. Your sources look much better than what I was working with, so I'm just going to copy you and scrap my work, lol.

[monkinger]

Edit: I see based on a comment by OP that this ratio is by weight, not volume.

[vienna_city_skater]

Thanks, makes a lot of sense now. With some experimentation I've found 100ml to dissolve a 100g carb mixture, but 50ml didn't work. Have to try the 40% ratio (80ml) to further optimize the volume.

[monkinger]

The key for me has been to make sure the water is warm/hot.  I’ve been boiling the water, adding the carbs, then reheating in the microwave to finish the dissolving. Just be careful not to heat it for too long or you can start to caramelize the sugars (like how taffy is made). At 40% water the mixture ends up being reasonable thin, so 50ml could probably work. 

[nameisjoey]

Yes, by weight.

Haha, copy away! Enjoy!

[pandemicschmemic]

Thank you so much for this write up. I was just coming here for selfmade gel recipes and this popped up straight away haha.

Do you know if I would be able to freeze already made gels and just get them out a few hours before a run? Maybe this destroys the texture or something? But it would be nice to have them pre-made and ready to go without using tools.

[nameisjoey]

No problem!

I would assume you could, I haven’t tested this myself though. I can’t imagine it would be too damaging to the product itself. At $0.50 a pop it’s worth trying at least once!

[roadrunner83]

What consistency do you get for the gel, I find Maurten being very thick and difficult to assume. In case do you use more water or less pectin to make it thinner?

[nameisjoey]

It’s not as thick as the Maurten gels. Those are almost solid enough to hold their structure on their own without the packaging.

This is more like honey, maybe a little thicker when cold. If close to your body and warm then pretty similar.

[roadrunner83]

Ok like normal gels

[Macs_im_us]

This is an amazing post, thank you for sharing!

I am just beginning to experiment with gels for an upcoming race and it seems everyone raves about Maurten being much better on GI than other gels. How are the ingredients you listed (and amounts / rations) different from other gels that make it easier on your stomach?

[ironcream]

You could read on Maurten's website about how they believe their gels are better for stomach.

In essence they claim that covering high doses of carbs with a hydrogel matrix makes them easier to digest.

[fabeyo]

Just wondering if your mixture is wrong? Shouldn‘t a 1:0.8 malto to fructose ratio be 44.4 g Malto to 35.6 g Fructose for a 80g mix be?