Force Carbonating Hard Seltzer (Need Help)

[Lee Whritenour]

Hey guys new here been lurking for awhile and finally have a reason to post. My brother and I are starting a small hard seltzer business and we're having issues force carbonating our seltzer. We have our recipe down but when we keg the seltzer and force carbonate up to 40PSI as soon as the seltzer is dispensed (With a Co2 tank connected or not connected) it immediately loses all carbonation (We cant figure out why), so we decided we need to bottle our seltzer. Is there a way to force carbonate bottles without losing pressure safely or does it have to be canned? Thanks!

 

[Dland]

If you are going into business, suggest you spend a few hundred on a commercial soda carbonater.. Pretty much all soda dispensing stations have one. It consists of a high pressure pump that forces carbonation into water as it is dispensed.
https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai...hUKEwj0q6DJi9jiAhVGUt8KHeY8B5IQ9aACCG4&adurl=


If one were just experimenting with small batches, you could force carb in a C keg and then bottle out of there.

Maybe you could sugar prime some yeast and carb in the bottles, but that would probably depend on how hard your seltzer is. Seems like the most difficult choice of the three methods I've mentioned though.

 

[Loud Brewing]

maybe not for large scale, but carb caps work great on pet bottles and are very cheap and efficent way to carbonate just about anything
https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Ca...ocphy=9031484&hvtargid=pla-351491106915&psc=1

 

[Yooper]

To balance a psi of 40 psi will require about 30-40 feet of dispensing line. What happens is that the lack of restriction causes the seltzer for fiercely come out of the tap, causing the c02 to come out of solution. As a result, the liquid is seemingly flat. That happens to me with soda and seltzer water. So to balance your system, assuming your seltzer is at 40 degrees or so, you'll need to lengthen the line and go no bigger than 3/16" inner diameter.
If it's warm when you try to bottle it, forget it. Warm carbonated liquids won't cooperate at all.

 

[PaulCr]

I only 'homebrew' seltzer but I have a method that works for me in small numbers:
1. Fill a corny keg with ingredients to taste and pressure up to, say, 50psi over a day or two.
2. Screw carbonation caps - corny keg-type connectors on top with PET bottle threads and a barb connector inside (and with enough PVC tube to reach the bottom of the bottles) - to the bottles you're filling.
3. Pressure up the bottles to the same pressure as the seltzer.
4. Connect the gas to the keg at the same pressure and a line with a keg connector at the 'liquid out' of the keg and a carb cap the other end to a pressurised bottle.
5. Slowly unscrew the connector at the bottle to allow a liitle gas to escape.
6. The liquid runs at the rate you wish as the keg tries to equalise the small difference in pressure but without de-gassing. The bottle should stay at almost the same pressure as the keg. When full enough, re-tighten the carb cap and the flow will stop.
7. Allow time to settle, then replace carbonation cap with a normal PET screw top.
Works for me, and drastically reduces my plastic footprint. Haven't found out yet how many pressure cycles a PET bottle can take, but I believe they're good for 130psi, so should be lots.
NB, Just repeating the obvious, but NEVER force carbonate glass.

 

[Lee Whritenour]

Thanks guys for the responses Im going to try the carb cap to see if fixes our carbonation issue. If I want to scale the business what is the best way to can the seltzer without losing the carbonation?

 

[S_McAndrew]

Anyone know of a "wide-mouth" Carb Cap? Would like to use those juice bottles for the hard seltzer.