Proper method od making Coke (cola)

My soda comes out feeling flat at times and im not sure what I am doing wrong, when pouring it creates a big foam like it would when buying the coke from the store and the taste is pretty similar based on the 1:5 ratio. Just dont taste the fizzyness of it.

These are the steps I take please let me know what to correct;

- Pour filtered water into 2L PET bottle
- Refrigerate until really cold
- fill with co2 (45+ PSI) for 30+ seconds
- remove coke syrup from fridge (cold) and add to water.
- shake for 10 seconds and put in fridge for 1 hour

Anything wrong? Thank you.

Probably the shaking makes it foam, and then you're not adding co2 after opening it, losing the co2.

The easiest way would be to mix the soda in water first, and THEN giving it the blast of co2 and proceed.

So leave the carbonator cap in the bottle after carbing it? I usually remove the cap after every fill so I can fill other bottles

MagicMike said:

So leave the carbonator cap in the bottle after carbing it? I usually remove the cap after every fill so I can fill other bottles

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Well, yes, if you can. Because by removing the cap, you're letting out the co2 (like when you open a bottle of commercial coke). Those caps are expensive, but you can buy a couple more, or make a homemade one, if you need more than one.

But at the very least, mix up the soda first, THEN carb it up. Change the cap later if you need it again. By adding the syrup to the carbonated water, you're creating "nucleation points", causing the co2 to come out of the water.

Ahhh gotcha alright, well I noticed that when using my cap it's sealed really tight and no air is let out, but when forcing co2 the pressure inside the bottle becomes so strong that I can see the air bubbles spitting out of the tip, is this excess co2? Should I worry about this co2 being leaked and will it make the soda go flat? Or you think it's just a temporary exit process until it seals it with sufficient pressure?

BTW Im using one of these metal carbornation caps, if it matters

MagicMike said:

Ahhh gotcha alright, well I noticed that when using my cap it's sealed really tight and no air is let out, but when forcing co2 the pressure inside the bottle becomes so strong that I can see the air bubbles spitting out of the tip, is this excess co2? Should I worry about this co2 being leaked and well it make the soda go flat? Or you think it's just a temporary exit process until it seals it with sufficient pressure?

BTW Im using one of these metal carbornation caps, if it matters

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It shouldn't spit out of the tip at all. I don't know what those metal ones look like, but I have a plastic one. I think mine is rated for 40 psi or something like that, and it shouldn't be leaking. Can you "seat" the poppit on there better or something?

When it's twisted on there I can push really hard and it doesnt get soft so I am assuming the grip is working, but it leaks when its over pressurized? I dunno what to tell you.

Edit: The leak I am reffering to is when I disconnect tha gas connect adapter, not when its fully attached.

-Fill your clean bottle 4/5 of the way full with water and chill it.
-When as cold as you can get it without freezing (anything above 5 degrees celcius is no good for me)
-squeeze out most of the air when you put the carbonator cap on.
-Carb your water. Shake vigorously for 30 seconds or longer at 35 psi. The empty space in the bottle will allow the water to shake around more, you get more CO2 absorbtion vs having a full bottle that your shaking. This also means your cap doesn't get syrup all over it, only water, so I don't bother washing mine after every use.
-remove carbonator cap
-top off with syrup
-put regular pop bottle cap back on bottle. As for skaing the bottle afterwards to make sure the syrup mixes with the water well, I don't really bother, it seems to evenly distribute around the bottle without me needing to do extra work.

This obviously isn't the only way to do it, but its the way I've been doing it to make maybe 150 liters of pop now, so it works for me. If I had to guess what your problem is, its that your water is not getting shaken around enough while the CO2 pressure is applied.