Carbonator Installed.

Hey All,

I added a McCann Big Mac Carbonator to my system. My wife drinks a lot of seltzer and it seemed like a fun project. I picked up the carbonator used and it was pretty cheap. I hooked it all up this morning. My setup is as follows...

Water Line -> Carbon Filter -> Pressure Reducer -> Carbonator -> 5 Gallon Tank via Gas In -> Liquid out to Perlick 525. The only issue I ran into was that spring on the gas in popet wasn't strong enough to open the disconnect up so I wound up just removing it and sticking a needle valve on it to control the flow. It's a hack, but it worked...

Let me know if you have any questions. Just thought people may find it cool... see the photos.

Glad to hear you made the decision. What was the cost breakdown? I think mostly of the carbon filter and the carbonater unit. Definately something I'd like to look at when I get out of the apartment. Let us know the full results after a day or two. I assume that even though you're getting cold water into the keg, you're probably chilling it a bit further.

KevinM said:

Glad to hear you made the decision. What was the cost breakdown? I think mostly of the carbon filter and the carbonater unit. Definately something I'd like to look at when I get out of the apartment. Let us know the full results after a day or two. I assume that even though you're getting cold water into the keg, you're probably chilling it a bit further.

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The carbonator was $160... the filter + adapters ran about $50 (with the filter). Not too bad. I'll post results after I let the keg chill down to fridge temps.

Basically I used the carbonator to fill the keg with 5 gallons of room temp seltzer, then closed the lid, pressurized it, and put it into the fridge. My hope is that once that keg w/ 5 gallons gets down to fridge temps I can flow cold seltzer as it is displaced by room temp seltzer and so on. I should be able to get at least a few gallons of cold seltzer before it needs some more recovery time.

I love your regulator!

I looked it up but can't figure it out. What exactly are you using the carbonator for? Is it for beer or just seltzer?

I think mostly seltzer, which can be used for sodas as well. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f95/carbonator-co2-chiller-etc-home-seltzer-tap-250351/

Though locationarily I'm now confused, but the setup's the thing. As mentioned, the refilling process is why I'm interested in a few days from now. I expect it to be fine. Except that now I keep eyeing my apartment walls, considering the best place to drill through so I can run a water line from one of the sinks to a carbonation unit.

I looked into a powered carbonator, but my local water isn't all that great. I haul cornies of water up from the country place and carbonate them in the fridge. The downside is the first couple days after a swap-out the water is relatively flat. Working on a kegger under the counter in the wet bar (aka downstairs kitchen). I'll have two water kegs there, one online, one charging.

ryandlf said:

I looked it up but can't figure it out. What exactly are you using the carbonator for? Is it for beer or just seltzer?

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Seltzer and soda. It is what a soda fountain at 7-11 uses.

EFaden said:

The carbonator was $160... the filter + adapters ran about $50 (with the filter). Not too bad. I'll post results after I let the keg chill down to fridge temps.

Basically I used the carbonator to fill the keg with 5 gallons of room temp seltzer, then closed the lid, pressurized it, and put it into the fridge. My hope is that once that keg w/ 5 gallons gets down to fridge temps I can flow cold seltzer as it is displaced by room temp seltzer and so on. I should be able to get at least a few gallons of cold seltzer before it needs some more recovery time.

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my system is similar, although my carbonator is a selmix santa fe fast flow model with a bigger tank than your mccanns unit. i have found it best to force carbonate a full keg of water at 70-80psi overnight, then connect the carbonator and tap lines to the keg, basically with the keg already chilled down and carbonated the external carbonator will maintain a better flow than if you start with warm soda in the keg.. but, YMMV as always

now that you have a steady supply of soda, you can think about adding postmix heads (faucets) to your system..... well, not really simple faucets, but faucets that mix soda with flavored syrup.

marzsit said:

my system is similar, although my carbonator is a selmix santa fe fast flow model with a bigger tank than your mccanns unit. i have found it best to force carbonate a full keg of water at 70-80psi overnight, then connect the carbonator and tap lines to the keg, basically with the keg already chilled down and carbonated the external carbonator will maintain a better flow than if you start with warm soda in the keg.. but, YMMV as always

now that you have a steady supply of soda, you can think about adding postmix heads (faucets) to your system..... well, not really simple faucets, but faucets that mix soda with flavored syrup.

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That actually sounds like a better idea.... Which carbonator do you have? Is a bigger tank better? Did you have any issues with the disconnects not opening?

EFaden said:

That actually sounds like a better idea.... Which carbonator do you have? Is a bigger tank better? Did you have any issues with the disconnects not opening?

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troll......

Turns out I had a big problem today. The pressure relief valve on my keg blew and spewed a LOT of seltzer..... not entirely sure why it blew though. Ordered a new valve and some other parts. What are those valves set for? The carbonator says to run it at 100PSI, which the keg should be able to handle without a problem.

After reading this thread, I was inspired. We make Organic Soda and sell it. Forever are we having issues pumping out to the demand that we are getting. Without giving away any major secrets. This is our setup.

1. We boil down our ingredients. (Slurry)
2. The slurry is put into Keg A.
3. Because our water is not the best where we live we use bottled water, and highly filtered water in 5 gal. jugs, so we fill Keg B with the water.
4. We run the water through the Carbonation Machine at 10 psi CO2, Compressed Air, Beer Gas, it doesnt matter, as we are just delivering the water to the pump.
5. We run another line to the pump with CO2, we have experimented with Liquid CO2, it did not make a difference. Depending on the Soda we are making between 75 - 100 PSI.
6. From the "Out" of the pump the carbonated water to Keg A (it has the lid on it to help prevent CO2 from coming out of the liquid) with the slurry in the bottom, via the out post on Keg A. This helps 2 things, It helps mix the slurry and minimizes turbulence (if used the in post of Keg A, the water falls to the bottom).
7. Attach needle valve to the In post to bleed the excess pressure very slowly.
8. When fluid starts coming out, shut the valve disconnect.
9. Cool to 1˚C 5 - 6 Hours, sometimes with a 0.5 Micron stone
10. Bottle, we use a Beer Gun, Consumer Grade Counter Pressure Filler we find less effective. And hopefully we will purchase a industrial grade Dual Head Auto CP Filler.

We have played with filling sanitized kegs with water and bring the water to 1˚C then running it through the Carbonator.

As part of our quality assurance, we test each lot for Vol. Co2, and get consistent results of 2.5 - 4.1, again depending on what we are wanting.

In 1,600 or so batches in the last year and a half, we have found that Carb Stones are fantastic and more accurate than force carbing; by shaking etc. and use less co2, as you have more control. It makes sense, if you carb a keg for 7 hrs with a stone at 35 psi. You will have the same result almost everytime

Brew medic. I just wanted to Let you know that we've been inspired by your brew method and are gonna give it a go. Carbing in a keg was never successful for us, maybe due in part by lack of patience, so we purchased a carbonator. Thanks for your detailed write up. Curious if you have pictures of your setup and a Facebook

my friend and i replicated the carbonation stone type corny lid and i use that to make club soda. it's works great at 40psi

Eric

I bought the same pump as you. I am designing my own setup that is similar to yours. I have a few questions though.

What pressure co2 are you running?

Do you have pictures of the needle valve on the corny keg?

Do you have part numbers for the needle valve and any adapters you needed to attach the valve to the keg?

How well does it work?

My pump should arrive tomorrow. My taps are going to be outside built into a future concrete counter. I have condensing humidity every night because my house is in a valley. Do you have any recommendations for locating the pump? At first I was going to put it in the chest freezer I plan to use, then I heard that was a bad idea due to humidity. I am considering putting it in a box with desicants, but that seams like a lot of maintenance. What does everyone think?

Ramdough said:

Eric

I bought the same pump as you. I am designing my own setup that is similar to yours. I have a few questions though.

What pressure co2 are you running?

Do you have pictures of the needle valve on the corny keg?

Do you have part numbers for the needle valve and any adapters you needed to attach the valve to the keg?

How well does it work?

My pump should arrive tomorrow. My taps are going to be outside built into a future concrete counter. I have condensing humidity every night because my house is in a valley. Do you have any recommendations for locating the pump? At first I was going to put it in the chest freezer I plan to use, then I heard that was a bad idea due to humidity. I am considering putting it in a box with desicants, but that seams like a lot of maintenance. What does everyone think?

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I'm at between 80 and 90 PSI per the carbonator instructions. As for the keg... It isn't a needle valve, I literally replaced the valve with a stainless steel bolt. I won't actually recommend this because I disabled the safety mechanism, but I was personally alright with it because the carbonator also has a blowoff....

It works well... the one thing I would recommend is that if you are dispensing from a beer faucet either use 1/8" hose or a lot of 3/16" because you need to drop the pressure before it its the faucet at 90 PSI...

EFaden said:

The only issue I ran into was that spring on the gas in popet wasn't strong enough to open the disconnect up so I wound up just removing it and sticking a needle valve on it to control the flow. It's a hack, but it worked...

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Eric,

I was referring to what you said above about a needle valve.

From what you just said in your last post it sounds like you also removed your blow off valve as well?

Thanks for your help.

Btw. How many feet of 1/8" line do you think I should use?

Also, on my last post I quoted your mention of the needle valve. Do mind providing pictures, part numbers, etc So I can copy your design?


I originally thought you were using a needle valve for flow control so you could use regular beer lines. Are you using 1/8" line in your setup?

Thanks for all of your help.

Ramdough said:

Btw. How many feet of 1/8" line do you think I should use?

Also, on my last post I quoted your mention of the needle valve. Do mind providing pictures, part numbers, etc So I can copy your design?


I originally thought you were using a needle valve for flow control so you could use regular beer lines. Are you using 1/8" line in your setup?

Thanks for all of your help.

Click to expand...

I don't use a needle valve. As for part numbers I don't really have them off hand and like I stated above there is a risk with the way I am doing it because I disable the safety valve. For my soda I started with 15 feet and then cut it off by a foot at a time until I dialed it in. I wound up running about 8 to 10 feet.

EFaden said:

. The only issue I ran into was that spring on the gas in popet wasn't strong enough to open the disconnect up.......

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How did you solve the issue of the poppet not opening?

Thanks.

Ramdough said:

How did you solve the issue of the poppet not opening?

Thanks.

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I replaced it with a bolt. ... as for the needle valve... I just read my original post. That was my first idea before I got the 1/8" line.... Didn't work out well... the pressure differential across the valve caused massive gassing out.

Got it. Thanks.

You can buy new pressure relief valves. Aren't the corny kegs rated for 130 psi or more?

Ramdough said:

Got it. Thanks.

You can buy new pressure relief valves. Aren't the corny kegs rated for 130 psi or more?

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Yeah... but it was just easier to replace it with a bolt. The carbonator has a safety valve on it also.

What about using a cold plate? You could set it in your freezer under your icemaker. Then just use a picnic tap you could have soda on tap without the keg hassles.

crazyirishman34 said:

What about using a cold plate? You could set it in your freezer under your icemaker. Then just use a picnic tap you could have soda on tap without the keg hassles.

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You can't put the cold plate in a freezer... the lines would freeze. I have had that problem with the lines in the fridge if they wind up sitting in front of the vent from the freezer.

The way I have mine hooked up is out of the booster into the carbinator. Then the soda water goes into a glycol flash chiller that circulates cold glycol to the soda gun and back to keep the soda cold.

crazyirishman34 said:

The way I have mine hooked up is out of the booster into the carbinator. Then the soda water goes into a glycol flash chiller that circulates cold glycol to the soda gun and back to keep the soda cold.

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I wanted to do that... flash chillers are too expensive... where did you get yours.

I bought it a couple years ago from a fellow that works for pepsi. I think that I paid about $200 for it. It has 6 stainless coils in the bath. I use 3 for the soda and 3 for water.

EFaden said:

That was my first idea before I got the 1/8" line.... Didn't work out well... the pressure differential across the valve caused massive gassing out.

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Where did you get a 1/8" tail piece or MFL fitting? Or did you use something else?

I am hoping to use MFL fittings on the line so I can swap it out easily.

Why not use a spunding type valve to keep the pressure at 100psi while you fill the keg? That would keep the Co2 in solution.

Ramdough said:

Where did you get a 1/8" tail piece or MFL fitting? Or did you use something else?

I am hoping to use MFL fittings on the line so I can swap it out easily.

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I use a 1/8" MFL. I got it through one of the distributors... I have a commercial account. I haven't really seen anyone else carry them.

crazyirishman34 said:

Why not use a spunding type valve to keep the pressure at 100psi while you fill the keg? That would keep the Co2 in solution.

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I thought about that. At this point my whole tank is full of seltzer... I use seltzer to push also... so the tank never empties.

One thing that you might think about is just eliminating the keg. When I first start my system up and it is still warm we just pour the soda over ice. The soda water stay carbed about the same as Poland springs. One thing is I run the Co2 inlet pressure at 120psi.

crazyirishman34 said:

One thing that you might think about is just eliminating the keg. When I first start my system up and it is still warm we just pour the soda over ice. The soda water stay carbed about the same as Poland springs. One thing is I run the Co2 inlet pressure at 120psi.

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I thought about that. But we are regularly out of ice... we don't have an automated ice maker.

Eric


I am still slowly planning my system and I had an idea.

Do you think I could get the same result by having a soda keg with tap water on one terminal and feed the output to a carbonator pump that is in a keezer with the soda keg? That way the keg would be at a lower pressure and I could also have cold tap water on hand as well as cold soda water. I would have to really control humidity in the keezer, but I plan on putting the pump in the keezer anyway since I plan to put my keezer outdoors and do not want to expose my pump to the outdoor environment in Texas.

What do you think?

Ramdough said:

Eric


I am still slowly planning my system and I had an idea.

Do you think I could get the same result by having a soda keg with tap water on one terminal and feed the output to a carbonator pump that is in a keezer with the soda keg? That way the keg would be at a lower pressure and I could also have cold tap water on hand as well as cold soda water. I would have to really control humidity in the keezer, but I plan on putting the pump in the keezer anyway since I plan to put my keezer outdoors and do not want to expose my pump to the outdoor environment in Texas.

What do you think?

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Would work... but the problem is that the carbonator has a tank which will still warm up to room temperature.

Honestly the best way to cool your soda water is either with a cold plate or a flash chiller. If you don't have the soda coming out at 32 deg or so it is going to loose your carbonation, One thing that you could use is a motorless carbinator that way you could have 5 gallons of soda water on hand at any time.

http://www.beverageequipmentco.com/home_soda_system.htm

EFaden said:

Would work... but the problem is that the carbonator has a tank which will still warm up to room temperature.

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Actually, I was planning on putting the carbonator pump (and tank) in the freezer. The reason is that the keezer is going to be outside and I do not want bugs, dust, and critters messing with the pump.

are you going to keep the freezer above freezing temps? If not the water will freeze

crazyirishman34 said:

are you going to keep the freezer above freezing temps? If not the water will freeze

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Yes, I plan on keeping it between 34 an 36. In the winter I plan to cover the taps with a foam box and put a small plumbers strip heater in there for nights below freezing. Where I live it only freezes maybe a couple weeks a year.