Soda water not the same as the real thing - bubbles are tiny?

Tiny bubbles!

So, SWMBO is preggo, and cannot drink beer. I boiled up 5 gal water, cooled, and kegged it to make her soda water for her to mix with fresh lime, juice, etc.

I carbonated by chilling to 38F, cranking my reg to about 45, and shaking the crap out of the keg. After some trial and error, it dispenses correctly at 30 PSI, (20' 3/16" thick walled bev tubing, perlick 525SS tap). This is about the carbonation I was shooting for, (and by correctly I mean, if I go less than 30 PSI I get the characteristic "chuffing" of bubbles in the line...and I can see bubbles in the line, if I go more than 30 PSI it flows too fast and knocks out carbonation).

So, I think it's correctly carbed. But, it doesn't look like soda water in a glass. It's got itty bitty bubbles, not the big huge bubbles that normal (commercial) soda water has. Any reason for this? This is the first time I've tried to do anything "soda like".

Thanks...

Water quality might effect the carbonation. If you have low minerals it might not have the nucleation points to make lots of bigger bubbles.

BargainFittings said:

Water quality might effect the carbonation. If you have low minerals it might not have the nucleation points to make lots of bigger bubbles.

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It's hard to believe that something so subtle as this would have such a big impact on quality.

Mixing it with fresh lime sounds lovely though. I'm sticking to water mostly these days because of my diet.

Could be the minerals. I know most commercial Soda water is actually high in Sodium.

Thanks for the thread resurrection. A little update:

I swapped out my 20' of 3/16" vinyl bev tubing for 35' of 3/16" poly tubing from McMaster, (I think like 12 cents/foot?). I also increased carbonation to 35 PSI. The extra tubing seemed to really help slow the flow down, and the soda water is a lot more like the "real thing". My wife is happy with it now, as am I.

I think there's still room for improvement. I couldn't get the poly tubing onto the 1/4" tailpiece no matter how hot I heated it. It fit onto the 1/4" QD MFL tailpiece, but that one had a "rounder" end. I settled for connecting 3/16" vinyl line to the tap tailpiece, then inserting the poly line into the vinyl line and hose clamping it. This works, but at the junction of the two lines there is a diameter change, which causes a pressure drop and lots of CO2 to come out of suspension, (I can see it when I open the fridge). I think if I could reduce this, um, "foaming" (to use the beer term), I'd get even better performance.

Nevertheless, the solution, for the most part, seemed to be the same thing I repeat over and over and over in the kegging forum. LONGER LINES!

I get big bubbles when I pour and for about a minute afterward, then tiny ones. I've been using 20' of 3/16ths and 35 psi. Next time I need to replace a beer line, I may use the soda line and get a longer one.

I fill my corny up with water (muni supply) right out of the tap, throw in a pinch of sea salt and hook it up to the gas. Sometimes I shake it other times I set and forget it. 30-35 psi, about 18-20' (I can't remember the length) of 3/16 with a picnic tap. It always turns out perfectly bubbly.

One thing I do is pour off the first 6 oz. or so of the water that was in the line because I just don't like the taste or feel of it.

Congrats by the way

I just went and poured one because this thread reminded me of it sitting in the kegerator. hmm hmm delish

Do you have to boil or does the cold and pressure keep the water sanitary?

adamjab19 said:

Do you have to boil or does the cold and pressure keep the water sanitary?

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I boil to be sure. I boil for 10-15 min, (also knocks oxygen out of solution), then transfer while still boiling hot to the corny using a silicone hose. I then put it on CO2 as it cools. I figure there's nothing that can live through all that and hurt us.

Normally I wouldn't be quite as paranoid, but with a pregnant wife, you can never be too sure.

shortyjacobs said:

I boil to be sure. I boil for 10-15 min, (also knocks oxygen out of solution), then transfer while still boiling hot to the corny using a silicone hose. I then put it on CO2 as it cools. I figure there's nothing that can live through all that and hurt us.

Normally I wouldn't be quite as paranoid, but with a pregnant wife, you can never be too sure.

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Same here. Due in September!

adamjab19 said:

Same here. Due in September!

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Congrats! We're due in October. Can't wait! Went looking at carseats and strollers and cribs today, just to get an idea what is out there....holy hell, those baby seats are more comfy looking than a Lay-Z-Boy.

adamjab19 said:

Do you have to boil or does the cold and pressure keep the water sanitary?

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I never boil and everything works out. Maybe I should start?

If she asked you for a glass of water, would you fill a glass from the faucet?

Unless you wouldn't drink the water straight out of the tap, I can't imagine there's any reason to boil the water. Do what you want to do, but strikes me as massive overkill.

the_bird said:

If she asked you for a glass of water, would you fill a glass from the faucet?

Unless you wouldn't drink the water straight out of the tap, I can't imagine there's any reason to boil the water. Do what you want to do, but strikes me as massive overkill.

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This is true. If she were to drink all 5 gallons of water in a day, there'd be no worries. But it will take months to go through 5 gal of soda water.

Take a water bottle, starsan it if you'd like, and fill it with tap water. Wait 1 month. It will taste awful, and quite possibly start visibly growing things. I've seen glasses of tap water start molding after mere weeks.

The problem is, your pipes, your faucet, and especially your faucet aerator still harbor bacteria. Also, Starsan only sanitizes, it doesn't sterilize. Sanitize means massive reduction of bacteria, but not elimination. Even small colonies can grow into big ones if given time. By transferring at boiling temps, then putting it on CO2, the water only sees a sterile environment after it cools, so chances of infection approach 0.

Plus it takes 15 minutes, and I can do it while I'm mashing a batch of beer.

Yeah, but it's going to be in the fridge, which will slow down the growth of anythign that's in the water. There's virtually nothing in the tap water for any bugs to feed upon. Your "glass of tap water" example is flawed because that's not a closed system, it's constantly having dust and mold and all kinds of crap landing on it (some of which is bound to be food for the mold).

I'd probably be going through 5 gallons in a couple of weeks, anyway.

If it's no problem, fine, but I'm still of the opinion that it's overkill.