Carbonating beverages

Since the subject of making carbonated water comes up frequently, I thought I would post details on how I do it here, with a list of supplies in case you want to do this yourself. Certainly Sodastream is one option which is certainly easier to set up. You just buy the Sodastream system and supplies and off you go. The problem with Sodastream is that the carbonators don't really last all that long and they are expensive. The large size (130L) costs $30 to exchange and $50 to buy one outright from Sodastream. Perhaps they are cheaper at other places, I'm not sure. I'm not really sure how to compare the Sodastream carbonator to say a 5lb CO2 bottle since Sodastream doesn't list the quantity of CO2 by weight. If I were to guess I'd say you're probably getting about 1lb of CO2 with the large carbonator at best which means a 5lb bottle of CO2 is going to be about 5 times more. My local home brew supply shop charges $10 to refill a 5lb CO2 bottle. So you get about 5 times more for 1/3rd the cost. The materials I'm listing will cost you roughly $125 before shipping charges. Add to this $10 to get your tank filled. So the initial cost is a bit more, but long term it's going to pay for itself, especially if you make a lot of fizzy water and I do. I love carbonated water and always keep some in the fridge. Occasionally I make my own root beer and ginger ale. If your family goes through a lot of soda and you want to make your own (using your own sweeteners), a system like this makes a lot of sense. I have a 20lb bottle and I don't think I've had it filled in over a year and the bottle is not even close to being empty plus I make a lot of fizzy water.

Here's what you need and how to do it.

Regulator:
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/regulator/double/commercial_double_gauge_beer_co2_regulator.shtml

5lb Tank (or larger):
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/tanks/co2/C5.shtml

Ball lock:
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/couplers/homebrew/BLGI-MFLB.shtml

Carbonator cap (might want to buy 2-3 so you can do more bottles at once):
http://www.amazon.com/LiquidBread-The-Carbonater/dp/B0064OKADS

5/16" hose:
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/hoses/airtubing/516BAL_beer_air_line_mfl.shtml

The squeeze clamp that comes with the hose sucks, so buy a better clamp at your local hardware store along with some tephlon tape to seal the all the fittings. That's all you need besides a wrench to tighten everything. Set the regulator to between 30-40 psi after you get the tank filled. I keep mine at 40.

You can have the tank filled at home brew shops, some liquor stores, gas distributors, and perhaps welding supply shops. Naturally the bigger tank you have, the less you'll need to fill it. You may want to check around and see how far you have to go to get it refilled before you decide on a bottle size. The carbonator cap fits both 2 liter bottles and 20 oz bottles(or any other bottle that uses the same size cap). I use coke bottles because the plastic is a bit thicker than the really cheap soda bottles. Make sure you remove the plastic ring from the bottle.

With this setup you can carbonate most anything liquid like soda, tea, water, juice, and even home brew beer. You can also recharge partially used 2 liter soda bottles so they don't go flat. Charging the bottles is pretty simple. You just push the pin on the carbonator cap and squeeze the air out of the bottle, turn on the valves, and put the ball lock valve on the carbonator cap to charge and shake the hell out of it for a couple of minutes then remove the ball lock and turn off your valves. You can drink it right away, but it gets a bit more fizzy if you let it sit for an hour or so for whatever reason. If you do it right you'll get at least as much carbonation as commercial soda.

Lots of stuff on the utubes:

Here's what you need

Regulator:
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/regulator/double/commercial_double_gauge_beer_co2_regulator.shtml

5lb Tank (or larger):
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/tanks/co2/C5.shtml

Ball lock:
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/couplers/homebrew/BLGI-MFLB.shtml

Carbonator cap (might want to buy 2-3 so you can do more bottles at once):
http://www.amazon.com/LiquidBread-The-Carbonater/dp/B0064OKADS

5/16" hose:
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/hoses/airtubing/516BAL_beer_air_line_mfl.shtml

The squeeze clamp that comes with the hose sucks, so buy a better clamp at your local hardware store along with some tephlon tape to seal the all the fittings. That's all you need besides a wrench to tighten everything. Set the regulator to between 30-40 psi after you get the tank filled. I keep mine at 40.

You can have the tank filled at home brew shops, some liquor stores, gas distributors, and perhaps welding supply shops. Naturally the bigger tank you have, the less you'll need to fill it. You may want to check around and see how far you have to go to get it refilled before you decide on a bottle size. I would venture to guess that a 5lb tank would probably charge at least 100 2 liter PEP bottles and possibly more. My 20lb tank seems to last forever and I make a lot of fizzy water. The carbonator cap fits both 2 liter bottles and 20 oz bottles(or any other bottle that uses the same size cap). I use coke bottles because the plastic is a bit thicker than the really cheap soda bottles. Make sure you remove the plastic ring from the cap.

With this setup you can carbonate most anything liquid like soda, tea, water, juice, and even home brew beer. You can also recharge partially used 2 liter soda bottles so they don't go flat. Charging the bottles is pretty simple. You just push the pin on the carbonator cap and squeeze the air out of the bottle, turn on the valves, and put the ball lock valve on the carbonator cap to charge and shake the hell out of it for a couple of minutes then remove the ball lock and turn off your valves. You can drink it right away, but it gets a bit more fizzy if you let it sit for an hour or so for whatever reason. If you do it right you'll get at least as much carbonation as commercial soda.

If you go with the cheapest setup, that's about $122 not counting shipping, tax, and the misc things like the clamp and tephlon tape. So the initial setup is more expensive, but you're not tied to sodastream for the CO2 and other supplies so in the long run it will be a lot cheaper.

Lots of stuff on the utubes:

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