Force carbonate in PET bottles?

caphector · 07-13-2009, 05:20 AM

So I was looking over kegorator/keezer setups, and was getting into the idea of force carbonation.

So I decided to have a go at force carbonating soda; in a burst of insufficient thought, I grabbed a 20 lb CO2 canister, some tubing, a regulator, a carbonation cap, some hose clamps, and a quick disconnect. I mixed them together until combined, mixed up a ginger/rhubarb soda, and tried to carb it at room temperature.

Naturally, I failed miserably at this point, no carbonation. Thinking a bit further, and re-reading the boring bits of the docs I realized that I needed the liquid to carbonate to be cold.

Has anyone tried force-carbing in soda bottles, and what is the optimal temperature/pressure? Doing it at 40 PSI ATM, which worked well on a mead I was able to get below 32°s.

**BargainFittings** · 07-13-2009, 11:52 AM

Anything in the 30s will work.

You can force carb at room temp. It just doesn't absorb the c02 easily.

lustreking · 07-13-2009, 02:04 PM

I have found that soda takes longer to carbonate than beer does.

**Yooper** · 07-13-2009, 02:15 PM

I do it all the time. I hook it up to 40 psi, and gently shake until no more gas goes in. I do that several times over the course of a day, and it's carbed up nicely. If the soda is room temperature, you may have to use a higher pressure to carbonate.

It's true that it's faster and easier with cold soda. Often, I'll stick it in the fridge and keep it on the gas at 30 psi, and that really does the trick.

**Bobby_M** · 07-13-2009, 04:25 PM

Also, even though you can carb warm liquid at higher pressures, it is also less likely to hold onto that carbonation if you open the container while it's still warm. People that serve warm soda at parties and justify it by placing a bucket of ice nearby know nothing about physics.

sonetlumiere85 · 11-30-2009, 02:39 PM

Shake the soda with the carb cap and CO2 connected until you don't hear the tank/regulator making noise. Leave a good amount of headspace, and do it cold. I had great results with this method when making 8 500mL bottles of soda in succession.

**Shooter** · 11-30-2009, 06:52 PM

Same experience here as others, I get the liquid COLD and then shake for a few minutes at 40 PSI. Sometimes I hit them once more the next day, especially if the bottles have softened at all over night.