# Alcoholic Creaming Soda



## TheBrownFalcon (26/12/10)

Hi all. Wondering if anybody can help me with a problem i have. I have a keg system and tried to make a keg of alcoholic creaming soda. I used the creaming soda from the soda stream range, it makes 12ltrs. So i added the contents, 10.2ltrs of water and 1.8ltrs of home made alcohol. The problem is it won't gas. Tried it twice, 300kpa over 24hrs. Not a bit of gas in it. Can anybody help. I have used the cola from soda stream but i did not add the alcohol and it was fine. Is it the alcohol, and if so, is there a way to fix it. Any help would be great.


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## brettprevans (27/12/10)

So it's a keg problem not a 'beer' issue. You would have been better off putting this is the gear and equipment section as it's an equip issue. Makes no differance whether it's creaming soda, water, beer, pure alc etc. It will carb up under pressure. 

So my thoughts are that ur not getting pressure:
1. 24hrs is not enough time to let ur kegs gas up unless your force carbing. Search for the 'Ross method'. Otherwise kegs take a few days. Mine normally take 4 days or so to carb up. 
2. You have a leak. Either a keg seal or poppet or a leak in the gas line. U can use soapy water to help show any leaks. Or u can try turning on the gas and listening for any hissing of leaking gas. Sometimes the keg lids leak because they aren't sitting quite right. Of course if ur out if gas u won't be able to do this. 
3. Ur out of gas. Check ur regulator to see if you've got gas left. 
4. U recently put in a one way valve and put it the wrong way round. If so just disconnect and turn the valve around. 

Let us know if it's one of these things or not and we can go from there.


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## TheBrownFalcon (27/12/10)

citymorgue2 said:


> So it's a keg problem not a 'beer' issue. You would have been better off putting this is the gear and equipment section as it's an equip issue. Makes no differance whether it's creaming soda, water, beer, pure alc etc. It will carb up under pressure.
> 
> So my thoughts are that ur not getting pressure:
> 1. 24hrs is not enough time to let ur kegs gas up unless your force carbing. Search for the 'Ross method'. Otherwise kegs take a few days. Mine normally take 4 days or so to carb up.
> ...


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## TheBrownFalcon (27/12/10)

Thanks for the reply.
I've always gassed at 300kpa over 24hrs and they've always been fine. There are no leaks and the gas bottle was refilled about 3 kegs ago. No new valves have been put in, nothing has changed. so i'm stumped. i'll try gassing over 2 days and see if that does anything. I thought it might have something to do with the alcohol i added.


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## Airgead (27/12/10)

TheBrownFalcon said:


> Thanks for the reply.
> I've always gassed at 300kpa over 24hrs and they've always been fine. There are no leaks and the gas bottle was refilled about 3 kegs ago. No new valves have been put in, nothing has changed. so i'm stumped. i'll try gassing over 2 days and see if that does anything. I thought it might have something to do with the alcohol i added.



Could be a gummed up gas in post in the keg or a blockage somewhere in the gas in post or poppet.

Creaming soda will certainly carb up if its getting pressure.

The real question though is creaming soda? Dude...WTF? :blink:


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## TheBrownFalcon (27/12/10)

Airgead said:


> Could be a gummed up gas in post in the keg or a blockage somewhere in the gas in post or poppet.
> 
> Creaming soda will certainly carb up if its getting pressure.
> 
> The real question though is creaming soda? Dude...WTF? :blink:




Yeah creaming soda is for the wife. i made up a fridge with his and hers taps. Usually make her ginger beer but wanted to make something like the vodka cruisers. Anyway, iv'e recently cleaned and put new seals in the posts. when its gassing i can vent the keg and its seems to be definately getting a lot of pressure. i'll gas for 2 days and see if it makes a difference. thanks.


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## Airgead (27/12/10)

TheBrownFalcon said:


> Yeah creaming soda is for the wife. i made up a fridge with his and hers taps. Usually make her ginger beer but wanted to make something like the vodka cruisers. Anyway, iv'e recently cleaned and put new seals in the posts. when its gassing i can vent the keg and its seems to be definately getting a lot of pressure. i'll gas for 2 days and see if it makes a difference. thanks.



Sounds like you just need to give it more time. Beer looks like it carbs faster as the proteins make any foam more stable so even a really undercarbed beer will throw a head and make it look and seem more carbed than it is. Your creaming soda won't.

Glad you said it was for the missus... otherwise we would have made you hand in your man card on the spot.


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## TheBrownFalcon (27/12/10)

Airgead said:


> Sounds like you just need to give it more time. Beer looks like it carbs faster as the proteins make any foam more stable so even a really undercarbed beer will throw a head and make it look and seem more carbed than it is. Your creaming soda won't.
> 
> Glad you said it was for the missus... otherwise we would have made you hand in your man card on the spot.




Thanks Airgead, i'll keep my man card for another day. i strickly keep to the beer side of things. Always good to keep the wife happy.
i'll let you know how the 2 day carb goes.


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## TheBrownFalcon (29/12/10)

TheBrownFalcon said:


> Thanks Airgead, i'll keep my man card for another day. i strickly keep to the beer side of things. Always good to keep the wife happy.
> i'll let you know how the 2 day carb goes.




OK. Carb for 2 days and still no result. not a bit of gas in it. when i turn the gas on the gauge reads full and i can turn up the pressure on the reg to 300kpa but when i vent the keg i don't think it has the same amount of pressure coming out as it did before this problem. i tried it on another keg and it seems to be the same. Maybe a problem with the reg ??? i'll keep looking.


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## brettprevans (29/12/10)

What fittings r u using? If JG turn the gas on and depress the inner pin of the HG gas fitting and see if gas comes out. If not you e got a blockage or ur reg has issues.

If gas comes out then it has to be an issues with the keg. Either the gas in post or or seals aren't sealing or the pressure release valve is leaking.


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## TheBrownFalcon (30/12/10)

citymorgue2 said:


> What fittings r u using? If JG turn the gas on and depress the inner pin of the HG gas fitting and see if gas comes out. If not you e got a blockage or ur reg has issues.
> 
> If gas comes out then it has to be an issues with the keg. Either the gas in post or or seals aren't sealing or the pressure release valve is leaking.




OK. thanks for the help. i'm using coca-cola kegs with pin locks. i'll try pressing the gas valve tomorrow. i've also got a keg of beer chillin' so i might put it on gas tomorrow and see how it goes. i'll keep you posted.


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## TheBrownFalcon (31/12/10)

TheBrownFalcon said:


> OK. thanks for the help. i'm using coca-cola kegs with pin locks. i'll try pressing the gas valve tomorrow. i've also got a keg of beer chillin' so i might put it on gas tomorrow and see how it goes. i'll keep you posted.




OK. gassed the beer i had chill'n for 24hrs at 300kpa and it is fine. gassed and a good head. So, i guess it's got something to do with the home made spirit i put in the creaming soda. i'll look around and see if i can find anybody else having the same problem. thanks all for your help. :icon_cheers:


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## Housecat (31/12/10)

TheBrownFalcon said:


> OK. gassed the beer i had chill'n for 24hrs at 300kpa and it is fine. gassed and a good head. So, i guess it's got something to do with the home made spirit i put in the creaming soda. i'll look around and see if i can find anybody else having the same problem. thanks all for your help. :icon_cheers:



Here are some of my thoughts:

I like to use logical fault finding for my problems at work and at home.

Meaning,work out where the system is working up until:
The regulator is working because you have just gassed a different keg (I assume you haven't tipped out the creaming soda and have more than one keg)
The gas disconnect you used to gas the beer is working fine. (I'll also assume you used a different gas disconnect to gas the beer)
The gas in post on your beer keg is also working as gas is now in your beer!

Essentially, you have a working system. Sweet :icon_cheers: 

However, when you introduce the creaming soda keg and use the second gas disconnect you get problems. :angry: 

My suggestion would be to swap the two gas disconnects and try gassing the creaming soda again. 
From this you should find out what the problem is:
If the keg does gas up, it is most likely a blockage somewhere from the T-piece to the first gas disconnect you used to gas the creaming soda.
Or ,
if the keg still doesn't gas up, the in post on your creaming soda keg may be blocked.

Decide which it is and rectify as needed! Refit and try it out again.

Hope this makes sense and helps you out.

HC


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## MeLoveBeer (31/12/10)

If your keg has a bleed valve, hook the gas up, give it a sec and then check that gas bleeds when you open the valve on the keg... I've had a bleed valve stay open on me once before (but the noise would usually alert you to it pretty quickly).

As others have said, its not going to be the solution in the keg thats the issue (you could carbonate practically any liquid in a keg)


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## TheBrownFalcon (31/12/10)

MeLoveBeer said:


> If your keg has a bleed valve, hook the gas up, give it a sec and then check that gas bleeds when you open the valve on the keg... I've had a bleed valve stay open on me once before (but the noise would usually alert you to it pretty quickly).
> 
> As others have said, its not going to be the solution in the keg thats the issue (you could carbonate practically any liquid in a keg)




Thanks again guys. i used the same gas line as i have only the one. so, the keg vents nicely when under the 300kpa so i guess i'll take out the gas inlet out and see how it looks. pretty sure i cleaned them and put new seals in only a few months ago. i'll check and report back. thanks.


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## brettprevans (31/12/10)

Mate it's got nothing to do with the contents of the keg. Keep looking at the equipment.


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## Airgead (31/12/10)

TheBrownFalcon said:


> Thanks again guys. i used the same gas line as i have only the one. so, the keg vents nicely when under the 300kpa so i guess i'll take out the gas inlet out and see how it looks. pretty sure i cleaned them and put new seals in only a few months ago. i'll check and report back. thanks.



If you have a partial blockage or a leak somewhere you could be getting a little pressure into the keg (enough to make a noise when you pull the valve) but not enough to actually carb it up... I'd be looking at the poppet in the gas post. It may be stuck or blocked somewhere. I've never used pinlock but I'm fairly sure the internals are similar to the ball lock posts. Or you could have a leaky seal somewhere. which is venting most of thepressure... though that would likely show up as an empty gas cylinder after a couple of days. My money is on a blockage somewhere.

Cheers
Dave


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## TheBrownFalcon (31/12/10)

Airgead said:


> If you have a partial blockage or a leak somewhere you could be getting a little pressure into the keg (enough to make a noise when you pull the valve) but not enough to actually carb it up... I'd be looking at the poppet in the gas post. It may be stuck or blocked somewhere. I've never used pinlock but I'm fairly sure the internals are similar to the ball lock posts. Or you could have a leaky seal somewhere. which is venting most of thepressure... though that would likely show up as an empty gas cylinder after a couple of days. My money is on a blockage somewhere.
> 
> Cheers
> Dave




i'm back. just pulled out the gas post inlet and all is good, no blockage. i'll pull out the guts of the post tomorrow and make sure it's working properly. other than that the only thing i can do is transfer the contents to another keg to eliminate that keg and see how it goes. it's now time to sit back and have few brews and enjoy NYE. thanks guys and hope you have a good one..... :icon_cheers:


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## SuiCIDER (6/1/11)

Is it possible to make this without a kegging system?


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## Airgead (6/1/11)

SuiCIDER said:


> Is it possible to make this without a kegging system?



Don't think so. If you tried bottle carbing there is so much sugar that you would get bombs. Or you would end up adding so much alcohol that the yeast would die and they wouldn't carb up.


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## Tanga (6/1/11)

SuiCIDER said:


> Is it possible to make this without a kegging system?



You could always make ghetto alcoholic water and add it to the creaming soda mix instead of cordial if you like that flavour. Plenty of fizz if you use the high carbonation oztop. Or if you want to make it in a fermenter then go for it. 100g of dextrose and 5mL of lemon juice (preservative free - fresh squeezed is best) for every litre of water. Ferment out, prime and bottle. When you're ready to drink it refrigerate and make up as per instructions on the creaming soda mix (only use your ready carbonated and alcoholic water instead). Should end up around 5% alc/volume.
*
NOTE: There will be a winey aftertaste (similar to ruskis) that may not be for everybody. I recommend making up a small batch and seeing if you like it before doing a full 20L.*

PS Though, that said, the total cost - dext, yeast, lemons, and the creaming soda cordial to make up 20L should all come to 15 bucks tops. That's less than 25c / 330mL alcopop.


*Option 2*
If you don't like the winey taste you can make your alco water with just water and tasteless spirit (vodka) and add yeast and priming sugar. There shouldn't be enough ferment there to add any discernible flavour, just bubbles. You will still have to add the cordial only when you're ready to drink it though.

*Option 3*

Or, if you have a soda stream maker, then make up creaming soda as per instructions (substituting some vodka for water).

Although option 2 and 3 will be much more expensive than 1 (about 6 times as much if you use cheap and nasty vodka), they will all be much cheaper than buying cruisers.


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## TheBrownFalcon (14/1/11)

Airgead said:


> Don't think so. If you tried bottle carbing there is so much sugar that you would get bombs. Or you would end up adding so much alcohol that the yeast would die and they wouldn't carb up.




OK. I'm back. I pulled the keg out and checked the popet valves and all looks good. no blockages. So i rocked the keg, no a lot just enough to mix the contents, connected the gas to the gas inlet, turned it upside down, turn up the pressure to 300kpa and forced carbed till the gas stopped. Released the pressure and poured a glass. It was gassed and great. Not sure why this worked. could have jus needed a shake up or just needed to be force carbed. Thanks all for your help it was much appreciated. Still don't know why it didn't carb normally. Anyway all is good. Gonna try some different flavours and see how they go. Thanks again. :icon_cheers:


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## Airgead (14/1/11)

TheBrownFalcon said:


> OK. I'm back. I pulled the keg out and checked the popet valves and all looks good. no blockages. So i rocked the keg, no a lot just enough to mix the contents, connected the gas to the gas inlet, turned it upside down, turn up the pressure to 300kpa and forced carbed till the gas stopped. Released the pressure and poured a glass. It was gassed and great. Not sure why this worked. could have jus needed a shake up or just needed to be force carbed. Thanks all for your help it was much appreciated. Still don't know why it didn't carb normally. Anyway all is good. Gonna try some different flavours and see how they go. Thanks again. :icon_cheers:



The smaller the headspace in the keg the longer it will take to carb as there is less co2 sitting above it. Turning it upside down bubbles the co2 through the liquid rather than just sitting on top of it so it dissolves faster and thus carbs faster. Shaking the keg works as well - the shaking helps the co2 disperse through the liquid. You can carb a keg in a few minutes by shaking. Have a look on here for the "ross method".

Cheers
Dave


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