Hammer Perpetuem

"Does anyone have a suggestion about how much to put in a half-liter of water to make a drink to consume while hiking?? I tried to follow the directions on the bottle but I literally couldn't even swallow it – it was that nasty."

The standard proportions are ~12 oz of water to 2.5 oz of Perpetuem. I carry a 12 oz bottle and mix it double strength. For intake, take a swig of the mix and an equal volume swig of plain water. That should do the trick. Another thing you might consider is buying the unflavored variety and adding instant coffee for a more palatable flavor(everybody likes coffee flavor. Right?) and caffeine(enhances the metabolism of fat). This is a Peter Bakwin suggestion that I find very useful. Don't be afraid to experiment with the concentration of Perpetuem until you get a proportion that you can tolerate, but remember that the primary reason for increasing the concentration in the first place is to reduce the number of times you have to stop and mix more while on the move. A couple of 12 oz. bottles mixed this way should get you thru the day, unless you are hiking in excess of 12-14 miles.

It won't last all day (maybe 1-3 hours depending on various factors) but I find this method using a 24 oz bike bottle works for me.

1. Fill the bottle with water up to the constriction (roughly 2/3-3/4 full).
2. Fill the rest of the bottle with perpetuum from a ziplock baggie.
3. Shake vigorously
4. Sip as needed till empty

if you got a 16 or 32 serving tub, there was a scoop inside.
the standard serving is 2 level scoops in 20 oz of water.
this is 270 calories in 20 oz of water.

if you find this too hard to drink, try 1.5 or even 1 scoop per 20 oz water.
you'll get fewer calories per drink though.

there are several flavors and maybe you just don't like the flavor you got.
some people however just do not like the sort of chalky taste.
to me its yummy, drink it as a daily drink even when not exercising.

as mentioned above,
some people mix a really dense concentration, say 6 or 8 scoops in 6-8 oz of water.
its almost a paste. you just squeeze a bit into your mouth, then chase it down with pure water. you can get lots of good food fast this way.

once perpetuem is mixed with water, Hammer says it has about a 4 hour shelf life at room temperature. the protein can get rancid. it won't make you sick, but it might taste worse.
on long days I typically mix 3 hours worth at a time, and carry the rest in pre measured plastic baggies.

this is great! thanks guys – I'll give it a try.

I needed a no-thought idiot-proof recipe and I think this is exactly what I was looking for. I also like the idea of just trying to add my own flavor (this was free, so I thought I'd give it a shot).

I don't use Perp any more because I'm too cheap. I purchase maltodextrin & waxy maize in bulk, mix with protein powder. But it's about the same, other than flavoring. You can pretty easily mix 1000 calories of Perp or malto into a 20oz bottle & sip on that over several hours. Put a little water in the bottle, add 500-600 cal powder, shake like mad, add more powder & shake again, then top up with water. A friend even makes gel-strength stuff by dissolving the powder in warm water, but that's not really practical for backpacking.

A lot of expertise in this thread–I'll just add what I like:

About 540 calories (4 scoops, think) in 12 oz of water. I find the more dilute solutions harder to get down. When it's thick, it's like a shake.

I like the Caffe Latte flavor, and am not too fond of the fruity ones.

More information than you want: I put two scoops in snack sized ziplocs. When I want to mix up a batch on the trail, I tear the corner off, and dump it into my Gatorade bottle. Simple and mess free. I put two ziplocs worth in my bottle, then add some water. Shake, sip, digest, walk.