Kids Party Soda Keg

[woodwormm]

i was thinking it would be pretty cool for the kids to put on a keg of fizzy at the next kid's party... (maybe not cool for the parentals after all that sugar though!)

so... does anyone know the process for using a soda keg as a soda keg?

i was thinking fill with water, pour in a measure of soda stream syrup, carbonate over a week, serve.

does this sound correct?

any knowledge/ideas appreciated.

 

[Goofinder]

You could always just fill with water, carbonate and add the sodastream stuff/cordial/whatever at pouring time. That way you end up with more variety and no sticky crap to clean up afterwards. I permanently have a keg of soda water on at home.

And yeah, it's as simple as fill it up with whatever and force carbonating (which you can do slowly over a week or faster if you want).

 

[Eater]

can only offer the advice that is on the sodastream here, carbonate first then add the syrup. But im sure over a long period of time in a sealed keg it shouldnt make a hellavu difference, certainly does in the short term.

 

[NickB]

Yes and no.

Mix the syrup to your desired flavour in the keg, then carbonate - however soft drink is carbonated much higher than beer, (something like 20 + psi I believe), and with higher pressure, you'd need to lengthen your lines as well. That being said, if it was all being consumed on the one day, then you could probably get away with carbing to a higher level, then dropping back to serving pressure when the party kicks off.

Cheers

 

[bignath]

I have a completely steel (by that i mean no rubber handles or bottom) schweppes keg which is a bit thinner but a lot taller than a standard corny. I reckon it is 23lt judging by some quick and completely unscientific measuring....
This is my dedicated soft drink keg. I half fill with water, add two sodastream flavours, and then top up with water. Force carb to (i think) 250 or so for about 5 minutes and then leave. Come back the next day when it's chilled down and then usually it's pretty much good to go. Process would obviously be different if it was chilled first and then carbed....

The only problems i have with my current setup:
1. I need to be careful when switching the gas line between kegs. I plan to have a separate line with non return valves for both my taps soon, but at the moment i manage by burping the keg, and dropping the pressure before i connect the gas line to each keg. I don't want my soda carbed like beer, and i sure as hell don't want my beer carbed like soda.
A little time consuming i know, but it's working for me at the moment.

2. Make sure the kids know which one is the soda tap and which is daddy's tap.

I haven't altered the lines on this keg as i couldn't really care less for the quality of my "soft drink" (my beer is a different story). Comes out just like if you were pouring it from a 2lt bottle of coke. A few seconds and the head dies off.

Sodastream is recommended to be made up to 12lt per flavour container, so my 23ish litre keg is pretty much bang on.

Soft drink for 50c a litre. It rocks.

 

[brettprevans]

Math has pretty much given u the answers. So just to confirm that most kegs are from the US where they are used as 'soda' kegs. Its what they were designed for.

I vote for carbing then adding at pour for variety as suggested. U can just add cordial if u want. I run a keg of mineral water for wife and kids and will mix stuff in it if we want. Yup a higher pressure is needed. One way valve is a great way to achieve this.

 

[Fourstar]

I run a keg of mineral water for wife and kids and will mix stuff in it if we want. Yup a higher pressure is needed. One way valve is a great way to achieve this.

I just did a mineral water this week. Decided on replicating san pellegrino and i managed to scrounge up its water profile.

For those in melbourne, add the following salts to a keg full of water force carbonate* and enjoyl

San Pellegrino, no energy wasted on transporting water from Italy to AUS and cost no more than $1 for a kegs worth of the stuff (would cost atleast $80 for the equivilant in bottles.)

Gypsum - 7g
Epsom Salt - 10g
Calcium Chloride - 2g
Baking Soda - 3g
Chalk - 3g

* Note: when you add CO2, this will drop the pH and cause the salts to dissolve (chalk stays cloudy at 7pH until it drops). after 3 days the salts should have fully disolved, atleast thats what ive noticed. after 1 day it was still a little gritty with salts(but not cloudy) but after that it came good.

 

[hoohaaman]

Thanks so much for this info.was about to embark on the same journey.Just saved me heaps of time.

 

[Bribie G]

Last summer I did a standard 19L Cornie with one sodastream lemonade made up to 13L then topped up with three 2L Woolies Lemonades that were on special for about $1.30 each. I just kept it at beer pressure and it took about two weeks to carb up to fizzy, but was quite acceptable after one week.

Edit: if I do it again I'll use ALDI 1.25L PETs for 69c each as I go through a fair few of them for bottling my keg excess, giving beer to people, taking to BBQs etc - see avatar.

 

[Fourstar]

Edit: if I do it again I'll use ALDI 1.25L PETs for 69c each as I go through a fair few of them for bottling my keg excess, giving beer to people, taking to BBQs etc - see avatar.

"Sittin on the dock of the bay!" B)