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KellanH Root Beer Fan
Joined: Jan 30, 2007 Posts: 12
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Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 5:45 pm Post subject: Forced carbonation techniques |
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Does anyone have experience force-carbonating in large quantities?
So far I've been carbonating in 2-liter bottles. I just moved up from a hand-held seltzer carbonator to home brewery system with a large CO2 tank and valves & gauges. The best success I've had so far is to use a combination of cold water and ice, add 20-30 lbs of pressure and shake vigorously for a minute or so.
My next move will be to add a 2.5 or 5 gallon keg. The folks at the local brewery supply place said to pressurize to 20 lbs. and let it sit for 2 or 3 days - no agitation. Just wondering if that's the best advice for root beer vs. alcoholic beer.
The variables seem to be pressure, temperature and agitation. I'm hoping to find a combination that will provide consistent, ample carbonation every time. Any advice would be welcomed.
Kellan |
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dmckean44 Root Beer Fan
Joined: Aug 15, 2005 Posts: 11 Location: San Diego, CA
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 7:13 am Post subject: Re: Forced carbonation techniques |
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Results can be inconsistant trying to force carbonate at room temperature. I have a separate chest refriderator set to 40 degrees that I carbonate in. I set pressure to 12 and leave it for 2 or 3 days. |
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Laughingcenter Root Beer Fantasizer
Joined: May 09, 2007 Posts: 30
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:51 pm Post subject: Re: Forced carbonation techniques |
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I've been kegging my homebrewed beer for about a year now, and using the 5 gal soda kegs. It hasn't been a real picky system as far as getting the initial carbonation for me. I aggitate the hell out of it, which speeds up the process a little bit. I'll crank it up to about 25psi, aggitate, let sit in fridge for an hour, and aggitate again. I leave the pressure on the whole time at that pressure and I have drank from that after 4 hours before and loved it. Not sure if there's any difference with non-alcohol beverages, but other than all the sugar, there's not a huge difference in the two that I think would cause any problems.
You want to be careful with the pressure in the keg not sending liquid back into the CO2 cylinder, though. After you're done getting it all carbonated, close off the valve or disconnect entirely, then bleed off the pressure in the keg to what you'll pour at, which for beer is around 2-3 psi for me. Hope this is helpful. |
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crazylawnguy Root Beer Follower
Joined: Dec 20, 2007 Posts: 28 Location: mich.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 12:15 pm Post subject: |
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for soda if you want it quick the colder the better(closest to 32 as you can get)use 40-50 pounds and shake the heck out of it for a few minutes.let it sit for at least an hour longer is better. you may have to release most of the pressure to despense(but dont open it)depense at 10-15 pounds. |
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tonyg Root Beer Fan
Joined: Mar 12, 2008 Posts: 4 Location: MN
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Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 4:50 pm Post subject: Re: Forced carbonation techniques |
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Where are you buying the equipment to do this??
thanks in advance,
tony |
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Laughingcenter
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Thom Root Beer Fan
Joined: Feb 06, 2010 Posts: 2
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 6:16 pm Post subject: Re: Forced carbonation techniques |
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Laughingcenter wrote: | You want to be careful with the pressure in the keg not sending liquid back into the CO2 cylinder, though. After you're done getting it all carbonated, close off the valve or disconnect entirely, then bleed off the pressure in the keg to what you'll pour at, which for beer is around 2-3 psi for me. Hope this is helpful. |
I wonder if this problem could be avoided by using check-valves. Welding supply houses carry little inline one-way valves that connect between welding hoses and regulators to prevent -say - the acetyline from travelling from the torch up to the oxygen regulator, which would be unfortunate, to say the least. You might have to adapt to different fittings, but a good welding-supplier would have whatever you needed in stock. |
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Laughingcenter
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Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 5:20 am Post subject: |
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I recently was introduced to another process for carbonation that is pretty interesting: dry ice! There is a local group that makes root beer for an annual festival in town, and I could not believe my eyes when I looked into the batch. It was nothing more than an igloo cooler filled with rootbeer and a huge chunk of dry ice sitting in there. google "dry ice carbonation" to get better details on how to do this, but if done right this could be a really great "yeast-free" way to carbonate bottle of home made root beer. |
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steveb Root Beer Fantasizer
Joined: Mar 19, 2010 Posts: 33
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Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 3:24 pm Post subject: |
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Has anyone used "the Carbonator" to force carbonation with 2 liter bottles? |
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oldguy Root Beer Fan
Joined: Apr 11, 2010 Posts: 3
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Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 3:51 am Post subject: |
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This is a basic physics question. The process is called "conditioning". The idea is to get carbonic acid to form in the liquid.
- cold is good, warm is bad (pressure of vaporization).
- gentle agitation (under pressure) is better than violent agitation.
- alcohol (ABV) has no practical relevance
- the christmas tree regulator on the bottle prevents back-flow. Typically the pressure in the bottle is in the 50 to 100 psi range (depending on temperature) and the pressure in the cask is in the 5 to 25 psi range.
- the differing between the methods suggested hear deals with the head. Barring oils and vegetable protein coagulants. The size of the bubbles determines the quality of the head. Smaller is better. Longer, colder, and lower pressure yield smaller bubbles (down to say 5 psi). Clean vessels and dispensing hoses count.
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washing and sanitizing bottles is a pain
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Unless you are really brewing (Fermenting) your product, the yeast is used to create a gyle (see Wikipedia) The CO2 bottle produces a better result, all else being equal. |
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