volumes of CO2 in root beer?

how many volumes are recommended for root beer?
i cant find any reliable homebrew sources that specify vol CO2
i need to calc hose requirements for my small scale operation
thanks

I've been serving root beer for years. I've found that 3.5-4.0 volumes of CO2 best duplicates that of commercially available soda. At 40˚F that requires between 25-30 psi. In order to balance out a pressure that high I serve my root beer through 40' of 3/16" ID thick walled beverage tubing. I keep the excess coiled up and neatly zip tied in the back of my kegerator. I feel this combo gives me the perfect amount of carbonation and a perfect pour with no foam.

4 atmospheres of pressure.

Ditto. I run my soda at 32 psi and have 20' of 3/16" for the tap.

johnsma22 said:

I've been serving root beer for years. I've found that 3.5-4.0 volumes of CO2 best duplicates that of commercially available soda. At 40˚F that requires between 25-30 psi. In order to balance out a pressure that high I serve my root beer through 40' of 3/16" ID thick walled beverage tubing. I keep the excess coiled up and neatly zip tied in the back of my kegerator. I feel this combo gives me the perfect amount of carbonation and a perfect pour with no foam.

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any idea how i could scale that down to 2L batches carb'd by a co2 keg charger?

since it wont be under constant pressure i am hoping to find out how to pressurize it once - safely

thanks much

wilbanba said:

any idea how i could scale that down to 2L batches carb'd by a co2 keg charger?

since it wont be under constant pressure i am hoping to find out how to pressurize it once - safely

thanks much

Click to expand...

I don't know if you can do it with a co2 charger. I mean, that's alot of co2 psi, and you'd run through those little containers really fast. Maybe you could prime it like usual, with yeast? And then just push it with the co2 chargers. You'd still need about 20-30 feet of line, though.

YooperBrew said:

I don't know if you can do it with a co2 charger. I mean, that's alot of co2 psi, and you'd run through those little containers really fast. Maybe you could prime it like usual, with yeast? And then just push it with the co2 chargers. You'd still need about 20-30 feet of line, though.

Click to expand...

thanks again for the help
i was looking at the carb sticky and saw a plan for a 2L system using a charger, bev nozzle, and NPT fittings
i am trying to figure out pressures for a system like this but i guess its just to push?!
i have an ultraflate+ with a shrader fitting and a DIY "carbonater" cap
but am stuck otherwise
cheers

ok im moving to a 5# bottle of co2 and a line to fill a 2L bottle with a DIY carbonater
how do i calculate pressure requirements for this type of system
i realize others have done this but i dont understand how to calc pressures without ouput lines

johnsma22 said:

I've been serving root beer for years. I've found that 3.5-4.0 volumes of CO2 best duplicates that of commercially available soda. At 40˚F that requires between 25-30 psi. In order to balance out a pressure that high I serve my root beer through 40' of 3/16" ID thick walled beverage tubing. I keep the excess coiled up and neatly zip tied in the back of my kegerator. I feel this combo gives me the perfect amount of carbonation and a perfect pour with no foam.

Click to expand...

Hello, with 40' of beverage tubing; doesn't that fill up with root beer that ends up just hanging in the lines? How do you get all that root beer back into the keg after you're finished pouring?

Thanks!

Sorry it took me 3 months to get back to you on this one, LOL! I've been busy. The root beer doesn't go back into the keg after I'm done pouring. Laws of physics being what they are, it can't. After some period of inactivity on the root beer tap the quantity of root beer that stays in the line goes flat and tastes like serving line, yuck! It's cold, but it's flat and tastes gross. I just pour a cup full and dump it. Then it's good to go.

FWIW, 3/16" ID beverage tubing holds about 4.9 ml per foot. At 40' that 196 ml's or about 6 ounces that I pour down the drain if I don't use the root beer tap for a day or so.