Best way to carbonate water

[Danscraftbeer]

Set and forget is were I am. I rarely fiddle with pressure variations. Chilled at 12 psi serving pressure. To serve.

I'm far over the rock roll with your foot shake to make it all happen faster its not worth it. IMO
Take the lazy way with capacity if you can. Set it to serving pressure. Let it condition for 4 days.
What I have found with trying to carbonate faster is that its only good after 4 days anyway.
I think trying to make instant fizzy drink via instant carbonation is a fantasy4 . Best soda water on my tap.
4 days conditioning time at serving pressure at 4c. That my verdict.

 

[ratchie]

Around 3-4L each a day on average, so I'd say about 10L a day. A 19L keg only lasts us 1.5-2 days.

I guess over the next few weeks we'll experiment and figure out how to get it how we want it. It may be hard to match the fizziness of 800ml of water blasted in a Soda Stream (1000 PSI?) for 6+ seconds.

Try a 3/4 full keg you'll get a lot more fizz.

 

[Dave70]

"summer time training" Dave? Hope it's booze related.

Well, of course..

 

[Jrrj]

The reason people report flat water after force-carbonation protocols is that the water needs to be cold (~4 degrees) - if your tap water is 20 degrees you won't get fast carbonation even at 40psi.

Given the whole 19litres needs to cool, I personally put the keg on the gas at 40psi for 24 hours in the fridge. This is long enough for the water to cool and the 40psi gas to do its thing.

If you have the KK4 3-tap only for water though, you probably don't need to have a keg ready in 24 hours because you'd be rotating kegs. In which case serving and carbonating at 20psi should work fine (30psi makes for a very violent pour and will lose a lot of the carbonation. At 4 degrees it will also result in literally painfully high carbonation.).

 

[Kalyori]

Thanks guys, will keep in mind everything you've said!

The reason people report flat water after force-carbonation protocols is that the water needs to be cold (~4 degrees) - if your tap water is 20 degrees you won't get fast carbonation even at 40psi.

Given the whole 19litres needs to cool, I personally put the keg on the gas at 40psi for 24 hours in the fridge. This is long enough for the water to cool and the 40psi gas to do its thing.

If you have the KK4 3-tap only for water though, you probably don't need to have a keg ready in 24 hours because you'd be rotating kegs. In which case serving and carbonating at 20psi should work fine (30psi makes for a very violent pour and will lose a lot of the carbonation. At 4 degrees it will also result in literally painfully high carbonation.).

We currently leave our kegs in the fridge for 24 hours before carbonation, and the temperature is set to 6 degrees (but the fridge reports 3.) But not sure if the keg is actually getting to 3c -- I'd assume it would over 24 hours though.

We've got a 2-tap but yeah we're rotating kegs.

 

[pcqypcqy]

Thanks guys, will keep in mind everything you've said!



We currently leave our kegs in the fridge for 24 hours before carbonation, and the temperature is set to 6 degrees (but the fridge reports 3.) But not sure if the keg is actually getting to 3c -- I'd assume it would over 24 hours though.

We've got a 2-tap but yeah we're rotating kegs.

If you're chilling before carbonating via the ROSS method, can't hurt to hook the keg up to gas while the keg cools down. Every little bit helps

 

[Kalyori]

I notice in the Kegmaster 4's manual it says "Warning: Do not exceed 40 PSI on your system" however I'm wondering if that's just for dispensing? I.E., when the out is connected to the keg?

If I disconnect the out from all kegs can I pump the PSI up to 50, 60, 70, etc., for carbonation and then release the excess gas so it's back below 40 PSI levels?

If you're chilling before carbonating via the ROSS method, can't hurt to hook the keg up to gas while the keg cools down. Every little bit helps

True, good point. We're gunna see if we can get another hose so we can gas 3 kegs at once as well rather than just the 2.

 

[pcqypcqy]

I notice in the Kegmaster 4's manual it says "Warning: Do not exceed 40 PSI on your system" however I'm wondering if that's just for dispensing? I.E., when the out is connected to the keg?

If I disconnect the out from all kegs can I pump the PSI up to 50, 60, 70, etc., for carbonation and then release the excess gas so it's back below 40 PSI levels?


True, good point. We're gunna see if we can get another hose so we can gas 3 kegs at once as well rather than just the 2.

You can get a manifold to split the gas lines, or you could even just do it with some t-splitters. Have a look at any home brew shop website, it's all standard gear.

I think 40 psi is the working limit for the kegs themselves, after which the safety valve will release the pressure.

 

[Donz]

The BEST way to carbonate soda water, is simple.
1: before you put the water in the keg, put 2 ltrs of it (hot) into a 25LTR sanitized container.
2: Add 1 can of coopers mexican cervesa and 1 Kg of brewblend #20.
3: stir untill disolved
4. fill to the 21Ltr mark and cool to 20 deg C or under.
5 add yeast and sit for a week or so.
Then you can put your soda water into a keg and add 30 psi for 3 days, then drop the pressure to 10 psi.
you will get a nice refreshing carbonated soda water to enjoy all year round

 

[mtb]

The BEST way to carbonate soda water, is simple.
1: before you put the water in the keg, put 2 ltrs of it (hot) into a 25LTR sanitized container.
2: Add 1 can of coopers mexican cervesa and 1 Kg of brewblend #20.
3: stir untill disolved
4. fill to the 21Ltr mark and cool to 20 deg C or under.
5 add yeast and sit for a week or so.
Then you can put your soda water into a keg and add 30 psi for 3 days, then drop the pressure to 10 psi.
you will get a nice refreshing carbonated soda water to enjoy all year round

That would make beer..?

 

[tugger]

I can carbonate water instantly at 20c.
6 bar of co2 feeding into a pump then to an 8 bar holding tank.

 

[mtb]

You crank your regulator up to 600kPA? Isn't that in the..

 

[tugger]

Not when your tanks are 10 bar rated.

 

[mtb]

The point I'm making is not your tank capacity, but your reg capacity. The KegKing MKIII for example doesn't even measure output pressure above ~6.8bar (100PSI).
Worth mentioning mostly for the benefit of others so they don't go blowing up their gear*.

Isn't it more economical to carb at lower temps anyway? Sounds like it'd save a fair bit of gas.. albeit at the cost of fridge space.

*I make a fairly grand assumption here that the reg has a safe operating pressure limit, the title of that KegKing one seems to imply it's 50PSI, not sure though.

 

[Rocker1986]

The BEST way to carbonate soda water, is simple.
1: before you put the water in the keg, put 2 ltrs of it (hot) into a 25LTR sanitized container.
2: Add 1 can of coopers mexican cervesa and 1 Kg of brewblend #20.
3: stir untill disolved
4. fill to the 21Ltr mark and cool to 20 deg C or under.
5 add yeast and sit for a week or so.
Then you can put your soda water into a keg and add 30 psi for 3 days, then drop the pressure to 10 psi.
you will get a nice refreshing carbonated soda water to enjoy all year round

He's just taking the piss out of the watery nature of those beers is all.

I have a dedicated soda water keg but it just gets carbonated the same way as my beer kegs do. 45PSI overnight then rested for a while before being re-connected at serving pressure. I periodically give it a hit of higher pressure gas to keep the carbonation level higher than the beers though. It generally goes on tap once the first of the three beer kegs runs out, and stays there until the next block of 3 beer kegs goes in to be chilled, carbed and tapped. If it still has water in it when it's removed then obviously I don't have to do the high pressure overnight next time it goes in, it just gets chilled down before connecting anything to it.

 

[mtb]

He's just taking the piss out of the watery nature of those beers is all.

How did I not notice that.. this damn aspergers wreaks havoc on my sense of humour!

 

[Pnutapper]

The point I'm making is not your tank capacity, but your reg capacity. The KegKing MKIII for example doesn't even measure output pressure above ~6.8bar (100PSI).
Worth mentioning mostly for the benefit of others so they don't go blowing up their gear*.

Isn't it more economical to carb at lower temps anyway? Sounds like it'd save a fair bit of gas.. albeit at the cost of fridge space.

*I make a fairly grand assumption here that the reg has a safe operating pressure limit, the title of that KegKing one seems to imply it's 50PSI, not sure though.

tugger may be referring to a turbo carbonator. They are used to carbonate water at ambient temperatures in very high volume on demand. They are typically found in arenas, cinemas etc.

Post mix regulators typically go up to 1000kPa, but some higher again depending on the equipment used to carbonate water. These regs are set to 600kPa. They feed a carbonator that is submerged in an ice bank chiller water bath. Typically 0 - 1 deg C

 

[tugger]

It's on a multi carbonator.
I use it for bottled carbed water at 11000 litres per hour.
Running it at 20c it stops the bottles sweating in the cardboard packs as it's un pasteurised.

 

[Pnutapper]

It's on a multi carbonator.
I use it for bottled carbed water at 11000 litres per hour.
Running it at 20c it stops the bottles sweating in the cardboard packs as it's un pasteurised.

Now THAT is what I call high volume!!!

 

[pirateagenda]

instead of the ross method, i now have a carb cap hooked up to a liquid disconnect, which means i can hook my gas up to the liquid post.
Leave it connected to liquid post and every half hour or so or whenever you remember pop the prv, then the gas bubbles through the beer until the head pressure is equalised. Just do all this at serving pressure.
Works pretty quickly and no shaking up the keg.

 

[Zoetemeyer]

Sorry for being late to the party, but even after reading this post, as entertaining as it was, I still have a couple of questions. I have recently hooked up a 19l keg of water to my Keg King fridge. I chilled it for a few days first (fridge says 1-3 degrees, but not sure about the contents of the keg). I then hooked it up at 30 PSI for three days. Then, I connected it up to the tap. It's not very carbonated. How long should it take? Should I reduce serving pressure once it gets to the level I want and by how much? It also tastes a bit funky, but I can't describe the taste. Is that normal? Lastly, at this rate, It will take me week to prep a keg of water and probably less than that to consume it. Guess I'm going to have to try the force carb method next time.

 

[hooper80]

Sorry for being late to the party, but even after reading this post, as entertaining as it was, I still have a couple of questions. I have recently hooked up a 19l keg of water to my Keg King fridge. I chilled it for a few days first (fridge says 1-3 degrees, but not sure about the contents of the keg). I then hooked it up at 30 PSI for three days. Then, I connected it up to the tap. It's not very carbonated. How long should it take? Should I reduce serving pressure once it gets to the level I want and by how much? It also tastes a bit funky, but I can't describe the taste. Is that normal? Lastly, at this rate, It will take me week to prep a keg of water and probably less than that to consume it. Guess I'm going to have to try the force carb method next time.

I love my soda water to burn my throat with bubbles. I do 3 days at 50 psi.

 

[Rocker1986]

I usually do the same as I do for beer, 24 hours at around 45PSI (with beer this leaves it slightly undercarbed, but the CO2 dissolves more readily in water). If it's not fizzy enough at that point then I just leave it longer, even if the fizz is a bit high, pouring a few glasses drops it down a bit, but it's a lot more forgiving than overcarbed beer. I don't usually leave it on serving pressure though because often times there are beer kegs in there with it and the carbonation level is lower than I like for soda water, instead I just turn the gas off to the other kegs and hit it with 5 minute bursts of 30PSI or so every few days, that keeps the fizz level up nicely.

Not sure about the flavor you're referring to but soda water does taste different to regular water due to the carbon dioxide in it. Maybe that's it?

 

[Airgead]

Not sure about the flavor you're referring to but soda water does taste different to regular water due to the carbon dioxide in it. Maybe that's it?

Or it could be something manky in the keg. Maybe some gunge in the liquid out post or something that has tainted the o rings. I had one keg that had been used to serve "sour syrup" before I got it. Took ages to get the taint out of that one. Needed a massive clean and a full new set of seals (including the little poppet seals) before things tasted right.

 

[Rocker1986]

Definitely a possibility as well. Hard to diagnose without a description of the taste though.

 

[Zoetemeyer]

I usually do the same as I do for beer, 24 hours at around 45PSI (with beer this leaves it slightly undercarbed, but the CO2 dissolves more readily in water). If it's not fizzy enough at that point then I just leave it longer, even if the fizz is a bit high, pouring a few glasses drops it down a bit, but it's a lot more forgiving than overcarbed beer. I don't usually leave it on serving pressure though because often times there are beer kegs in there with it and the carbonation level is lower than I like for soda water, instead I just turn the gas off to the other kegs and hit it with 5 minute bursts of 30PSI or so every few days, that keeps the fizz level up nicely.

Not sure about the flavor you're referring to but soda water does taste different to regular water due to the carbon dioxide in it. Maybe that's it?

Thanks...I currently drink lots of soda water made with a soda stream, but this has a more chemical taste. I'm thinking it might be the lines, as they are brand new. I let them sit with water in them overnight and poured a small jug from it, which still had the taste. The second pour tasted fine. I will see what it tastes like once the water has once again sat in it to see if the taste continues to leach or if it was just on startup.

 

[Zoetemeyer]

Or it could be something manky in the keg. Maybe some gunge in the liquid out post or something that has tainted the o rings. I had one keg that had been used to serve "sour syrup" before I got it. Took ages to get the taint out of that one. Needed a massive clean and a full new set of seals (including the little poppet seals) before things tasted right.

The keg and lines are brand spankin' new...which, of course, could also be the problem.

 

[Rocker1986]

Thanks...I currently drink lots of soda water made with a soda stream, but this has a more chemical taste. I'm thinking it might be the lines, as they are brand new. I let them sit with water in them overnight and poured a small jug from it, which still had the taste. The second pour tasted fine. I will see what it tastes like once the water has once again sat in it to see if the taste continues to leach or if it was just on startup.

What sort of lines are they? I don't remember having that issue with my lines but in saying that the first thing that went through any of them was beer.

 

[Jack of all biers]

Yeah I had this same thing. First thing I tested my lines/kegs with was carbonated water. Keg king lines. Left them sit with water in for a night, flushed and taste went away after that from memory.

 

[Zoetemeyer]

What sort of lines are they? I don't remember having that issue with my lines but in saying that the first thing that went through any of them was beer.

They're all proper poly beer lines...