How to tell if heat ruined your bead release: it will go as thin as skim milk and stay that way. If it's good it should be like cheap tomato sauce from a can.
About the water:
You can add water. It's not necessary to use distilled BUT I do use distilled with calcium carbonate added. You can do the same by getting cheap drinking water (store brand) and adding a TUMs tablet and letting that sit for an hour or two. (Shake it up to distribute the calcium carbonate)
It may seem excessive but if/when you buy the huge jar of the good stuff for $35-40 then it makes more sense. Why? Because some water districts add chemicals to "soften" the water and that destroys bead release over time. How much time depends on how much bead release and how much softener is in the water. (2 days up to 3 weeks) The calcium carbonate (TUMs) will use up the softener chemicals making it safe to use in bead release.
I discovered quite by accident that "distilled water" just means it has been through the distillation process once. There are no standards for distilled water. I have had some distilled water by a reputable company that ruined 2 batches of bead release. That's when we started adding calcium carbonate to the water we use. Texas and Florida have problematic water as far as being used to dilute bead release. Arizona water works just fine as is.
There are bunches of threads here with great bead release advice. For example: you can add a marble a wonky bead to a big jar of bead release so when you shake it, the marble will help mix it up.
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Yes, I am FosterFire Bead Release.
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