A viable way to force carbonate?

[badun]

Got my ThinkGeek newsletter today and they have this item for sale:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/c908/

I use bottle conditioning and I'm not really interested in the keg method but occasionally it would be nice to have immediate gratification for parties, tailgating, etc. Anyone think this would provide decent results? I wouldn't use it for a Belgian or something I want to age gracefully but for a simple pale ale that's aged in the secondary I'd be willing to go this route for at least a few soda bottles worth.

 

[Walker]

Carbonating a beverage is in NO WAY going to be as instant as that little video makes it seem. It will take time for the CO2 to be absorbed by the liquid. You can speed it up by shaking the bottle containing the beverage, but it's still going to take a while to get it done.

I'd be leary using vinegar to produce the CO2. I find it hard to believe that this won't send some vaoprized vinegar into the beverage in the other bottle. Might not be terribly noticable with something that is already sour (like lemonade), but I wouldn't want a vinegar taste in my beer.

Dry ice and water would be a cleaner source for the CO2, but that makes it become less convenient (unless you happen to alwatys have a stash of dry ice on hand. )

 

[thrawn86]

maybe its just me, but I'd die before I showed up at a party with a 2l soda bottle full of beer. reminds me of the scene in superbad where the guys fill up laundry soap jugs full of coors.

that said, get a carbonation-cap, one of the 12g co2 pellet dispensers, and shake till your hearts delight.

 

[david_42]

thrawn86 - Attempting to use one of those canister carbonators with a 2L bottle will result in exploding the bottle. They deliver 500-800 psi. Even with a cornie, it's easy to pop the safety valve.

Systems designed to carbonate bottles using small CO2 canisters use valving to restrict the amount of CO2 added.

 

[Bobby_M]

maybe its just me, but I'd die before I showed up at a party with a 2l soda bottle full of beer. reminds me of the scene in superbad where the guys fill up laundry soap jugs full of coors.

that said, get a carbonation-cap, one of the 12g co2 pellet dispensers, and shake till your hearts delight.

I'd rather drink award winning beer out of a soda bottle than some poorly made phenolic junk out of a cork and caged Belgian bottle any day. The carb cap and dispenser should work if the user is extremely careful to only pull the trigger until the bottle is firm, then shake, repeat. Yes, you could blow up the whole thing by holding the trigger for 500 milliseconds too long.

 

[IrregularPulse]

I take mine in growlers when I take HB anywhere, but wouldn't be above soda bottles if it was a HB crowd. They'd understand.

 

[badun]

Thanks, I am leery of the vinegar taste as well.

Wasn't aware I would touch a nerve on the use of soda bottles. If I've made something special I make sure it's in an appropriate container. But if it's a session beer that I'm sharing with friends I really don't care what container it is in as long as it stays carbonated and keeps the funk out.

 

[DavidP]

Bringing beer to parties in a 2L bottle is a great conversation starter! And it's fun to watch people attempt to dispense beer by pointing the air valve at their glass

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

If I don't want to drag my portable kegerator along (or can't), I use PET botles in various sizes, including 2 liter.

I also give away 2 liter bottles of my brew as Christmas presents.

 

[Brewmoor]

So has anyone tried this? I doubt there would be a vineger taste. The conversion to CO2 should eliminate that. Do you think it would work with glass growlers? Would the pressure be too much?

I am thinking of experimenting with it.

 

[badun]

I tried the forced carbonation experiment yesterday with no success. I used a 16 ounce PET bottle for the beer and large soda bottle for the vinegar and baking soda. I did not have any leaks but the CO2 couldn't begin to displace the liquid in the beer bottle. I suppose I could have left it for several hours and hoped osmosis would infuse the beer but since I'd already primed the beer batch I decided to save what I had and just let it bottle condition. There are probably variables that could be changed (temperature, for one) that might make it work but I think realistically the options are bottle conditioning or whole hog kegging.