Best way to carbonate water

[Kalyori]

We've recently purchased a Kegmaster 4 and 3x19L kegs all for carbonating water.
Carbonated my first keg yesterday and found it to be nice but a quite flat tasting. (Coming from a SodaStream.)

To carbonate the keg, I set the PSI to 30 and for 20 minutes I repeatedly did a 10 second burst of gas followed by a 1 second release, and gave the barrel a slight turn upside down at the very end.
The manual that came with it said not to go above 40 PSI, so I'm thinking I can bump it up to 35/40, though I'll probably have to gas it for longer next time as well... Or maybe I should shake it more after I've finished?

Currently set dispensing pressure to 30 PSI so hopefully it will gradually carbonate over time as well.

Any thoughts on what I could do to carbonate better / faster? I'm very new to this.

 

[mtb]

You're wasting a ton of gas using that method. Use the Ross method.

 

[Blind Dog]

Search 'Ross method of carbonation'. Simple. Works. Can't say it works for water as I've never required 19 litres of fizzybwater on tap. Beer, yes.

There's also a few threads on here about adding minerals etc. to replicate Evian or whatever. I think, can't say I've paid much attention to them.

 

[Blind Dog]

You're wasting a ton of gas using that method. Use the Ross method.

Great minds and all that

 

[Kalyori]

Thanks guys!

So if I understand correctly:

• Set the pressure to 40 PSI
• Rock back and forth for 50 seconds
• Turn off gas and rock while waiting for pressure to drop and stabilise
• Repeat until it's within the target pressure?

I have a t-piece as well -- but it'll either be unconnected or connected to another keg. Will that be fine?

I don't think we'll bother adding minerals or anything to it. We've been drinking plain soda water for many years now and love it.

 

[tugger]

And do it as cold as possible. 1 or 2 degrees.

 

[mtb]

Thanks guys!

So if I understand correctly:

• Set the pressure to 40 PSI
• Rock back and forth for 50 seconds
• Turn off gas and rock while waiting for pressure to drop and stabilise
• Repeat until it's within the target pressure?

I have a t-piece as well -- but it'll either be unconnected or connected to another keg. Will that be fine?

I don't think we'll bother adding minerals or anything to it. We've been drinking plain soda water for many years now and love it.

Try steps 1-3 and test it out before bothering to repeat the process. Carbonated water won't react to this method in the same way as carbonated beer, in that you should be able to pour from the keg immediately after without worrying about excessive foam. Just make sure the keg is at pouring pressure (10psi at ~3C) and test if you like it; if not, pump up pressure to 40psi, shake for another 10sec, check again.

 

[Kalyori]

And do it as cold as possible. 1 or 2 degrees.

The place that sold us the system advised us not to go below 3c with water as they'd had someone that had broken theirs by dropping it below that, so I'm a little hesitant to do so. We've currently got the fridge set to 6c but it sits around 3-4 after it's chilled the water.

Try steps 1-3 and test it out before bothering to repeat the process. Carbonated water won't react to this method in the same way as carbonated beer, in that you should be able to pour from the keg immediately after without worrying about excessive foam. Just make sure the keg is at pouring pressure (10psi at ~3C) and test if you like it; if not, pump up pressure to 40psi, shake for another 10sec, check again.

I see I see. I've got pouring pressure set to 30 PSI -- is there any reason not to do that?

 

[ratchie]

Only fill the keg 3/4 full more head space and it will carbonate it quicker.

 

[mtb]

Pouring beer at 30PSI usually leads to a big glass of head and nothing else, but you're probably okay doing it with water. Test at different PSI to find the sweet spot.

 

[Kalyori]

Only fill the keg 3/4 full more head space and it will carbonate it quicker.

Ah right, good to know.

Pouring beer at 30PSI usually leads to a big glass of head and nothing else, but you're probably okay doing it with water. Test at different PSI to find the sweet spot.

I see. Will do.

Thanks again for all the input guys -- will report back with how I go with the carbonating.

 

[mtb]

No worries. Also ratchie I have to disagree, although it might carbonate marginally quicker, it isn't worth the capacity loss.

 

[Adbrewer]

I quite often carbonate a 19l keg full of water. It takes me between 7 and 10 mins for it to be carbonated to the level I like using the Ross method (at approx. 40psi).

 

[mtb]

Yeah, judging by what a sodastream does, you'd want to carbonate water at a higher level than beer. 7-10min though, that's lots of shaking, you must have biceps of steel Adbrewer :lol:

 

[pcqypcqy]

I always keep a keg of soda water on the go to keep SWMBO happy.

I set it to my normal beer pressure (which varies 8 to 12 psi) and let it carbonate over time. Tastes like normal sodawater. If I'm in a rush, I'll leave it set high (30 psi ish) overnight, maybe for 2 nights, then set it back to beer pressures. Gets close enough quickly, and it gets better every day.

If you have 3 kegs on the go at any given time, you should be able to just set them to 12 psi say and let them carbonate over time. Depending on how quickly you get through them, you should have enough time to let it carbonate slowly before you need to tap that keg. If I have another spare keg with no beer in, this is what I do (one serving, one carbonating). Takes 7 to 14 days to fully carbonate.

I wouldn't leave it at 30 psi as you'll probaly launch soda water all over the place out of your glass. This also depends on the length of your line. I run my soda water tap on a fairly short line, and find that at around 10psi that the water shoots out pretty fast. I wouldn't want to go any faster, and it achieves a good level of carbonation at this pressure.

 

[Kalyori]

Thanks guys!

I'd say we drink around 10L of soda water a day so we'll probably go through a keg every two days.
I think I have quite a few good things to try now.

I wanted to ask in regard to the rocking of the keg (with the ROSS method) just how much you're supposed to shake it? Is it simply tilting it left and right or is it more of a rough shake left and right?

 

[pcqypcqy]

Thanks guys!

I'd say we drink around 10L of soda water a day so we'll probably go through a keg every two days.
I think I have quite a few good things to try now.

I wanted to ask in regard to the rocking of the keg (with the ROSS method) just how much you're supposed to shake it? Is it simply tilting it left and right or is it more of a rough shake left and right?

Give it a good rough shake. The rougher the better. You'll work out a pressure and timing that works for you.

If you're going through the three kegs in a week, I'd say do the ROSS method for the first 3 kegs, and then set the pressure to 20 psi. Then, as a keg empties, re-fill it and just connect it to 20psi without rocking it. I reckon 4 days at 20 psi will get you close, and should serve OK out of your tap.

You can then adjust this based on how it all goes.

 

[mtb]

An alternative to shaking is to simply lay the keg on its side, and rock it back & forth with your foot. Great way to keep the hands free for a nice cold glass of whatever.

 

[Maheel]

An alternative to shaking is to simply lay the keg on its side, and rock it back & forth with your foot. Great way to keep the hands free for a nice cold glass of whatever.

yeah i use the "roll with foot method"

connect to gas in
lay keg on side with gas post "down"
roll back and forth with foot listening to burbule of gas going in
think about beery goodness for a min or so
stand back up and place in keezer

 

[mtb]

drink about beery goodness for a min or so

FTFY