Bacteriostatic Water vs Acetic Acid

This is a pretty common topic that I see come up fairly often. Or, at least, find out many researchers were not aware of the correct applications for the two different waters for reconstitution purposes. Bac water can be used with most growth hormone peptides, Healing peptides, and Neuropeptides. However, there is one specific family of peptides than should only be used with Acetic Acid Water!

Acetic Acid Water or Bacteriostatic Water?

Peptides come in a small glass vial. It will likely have a small amount of the raw powder, or a compressed disc, inside of it. The peptide will be inactive until it is reconstituted with water inside the vial. This will essentially ‘bring the substance to life’ and make it active.

But keep in mind that it wont last for ever once it is reconstituted and will have a limited shelf life. The vial needs to be stored in a refrigerator once reconstituted to prevent spoiling. And as I mentioned earlier, the type of water you use is very important!

Acetic Acid Water for IGF Peptides

Acetic acid is one of the simplest and more common organic acids. It is the chemical responsible for the sour taste of vinegar. It is a weak acid and as such does not completely dissociate in water so the intact and dissociated forms are in equilibrium in solution. 

For reconstitution, this is AA water should have a base deionized/sterile water solution mixed with 0.6% Acetic Acid. 

It is imperative that you use Acetic Acid Water to reconstitute IGF sequence peptides like the beloved IGF-1 LR3. This is because the amino sequence for IGF peptides are so fragile that the alcohol in bacteriostatic water will damage the sequence and render the entire vial ineffective after just a couple of days.

This is why most people mistakenly think they get fake LR3. The acetic acid water doesn’t break down the sequence but still provides anti-fungal and antibacterial qualities to help your peptide product remain sterile.

How to Use Bac Water

The other type of reconstitution water is Bacteriostatic Water which is simply Deionized/sterile water as a base with 0.9% benzyl alcohol solution to prevent bacterial growth. This type of water can basically be used with all other peptides (except the aforementioned IGF sequence peptides). 

I’ll be honest, not many companies have acetic acid water. I’ve even heard of some companies incorrectly using actual white vinegar instead of lab grade acetic acid. And one particular company that I purchased bac water from had all kinds of particles floating around in it. Which actually looked like tiny shreds of filtration particle where the person making it probably had no clue what they were doing and used the ultra thin oil filters rather than the thinner filters for aqueous based products. So, be very selective on who you get your reconstitution water from.

Where to get Acetic acid and Bac Water

Our friends at Amino Asylum have both waters and you can use my code: LW20 to get 20% off your order.

CLICK HERE to see my full Amino Asylum review on all of their products.