kenyabob

Recipes 

Glad to see your response! What do you usually serve your seltzer at?

Also, wouldn't cold beer at 12 or so PSI be carbed in under a week? Or is that you are cranking it up to 20 something and that takes a bit longer?

I myself would still be tempted to use a bit of star san, although I am wondering whether or not star san 'disappears' the way it does in beer, or whether it comes through it all in something as simple as water.

KevinM

Recipes 

I carb my water at 40psi, and usually just fill the keg, set it on its side, attach the hose and rock it back and forth for a few minutes. Done.

Starsan doesn't exactly disappear. It supposedly degrades. About half of starsan is phosphoric acid, which is used in some sodas (especially colas). Another item is some benzosulfuric acid, 15%. And then there's some foaming agents, but they don't say from what. While I would use starsan to sanitize my containers, dump and fill (not worrying about foam), I probably wouldn't add starsan to the drinking water. Though I believe it's said to be possible to consume.

__________________
Primary: Sake
Secondary: GF Czech Lager
Waiting to be kegged, Italian Primitivo
Kegged&Ready: GF Orange&Coriander, GF Honey Lager, GF chocolate ale, GF English ale, Island mist (zinfandel), Island mist (cbry malbec).
Bottled: Infected Mead, Dry Hard ciders, Accidental Sorghumwine, various unnamed.

dutchoven

Recipes 

Thought I'd put a quick update out. Thanks to KevinM and others for the responses. I put a keg into service for carbonated water with a dedicated tap and my wife and I love it. I didn't go with a new keg, just used one of my nicer 5-gallon corneys. I cleaned, sanitized, and rinsed it well before the first fill. I haven't bothered to sanitize it since.

Here's my process for carbonating:

About a week before filling, I start making ice and transfer to gallon ziplock bags. My keg fridge has an icemaker with a dedicated carbon filter. I don't keep any open food in the fridge, so the ice stays pretty fresh. When its time to fill the keg, I add three or four bags of ice and fill using a carbon block filter. Once the keg is full, I cap and force carbonate at 30 psi through the beverage out post. After 10-15 minutes of vigorous shaking, the water is pretty well carbonated -- the ice drops the water temp to near freezing, so the CO2 dissolves immediately. I keep the keg on 30 psi and serve through about 10 feet of line.

kenyabob

Recipes 

I guess I just didnt appreciate how much higher a PSI you would use when dispensing carbonated water vs beer. It doesnt seem like it's three times as fizzy, although I am not a carbonation wiz. In fact, this post may confirm that.

Could I also just set it to 30 and wait a few days, then start serving? Also, if I wanted to transfer them into bottles so we can just have it in the fridge, could I turn down the serving psi to like 10?

kenyabob

Recipes 

I cleaned out some kegs this weekend, and refilled a clean keg with water. I followed the tips posted here, and man, it was some amazing water! I am using a picnic tap (haven't made the jump to building a collar, etc) so I think I need to bring my serving PSI wayyyy down, but otherwise, it tastes great! And I think we will go through the 5 gallons pretty quickly.