Kayvon
Member
- Joined
- May 14, 2013
- Messages
- 16
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The Question
How do I prevent fermentation from occurring in 2-liter bottles of force-carbonated soda?
The Problem
I've force-carbonated many bottles of 2-liter soda on multiple occasions. The bottles are chilled prior to carbonation, but left on the counter afterwards to save space in the fridge. On a couple different occasions, I opened a 2-liter only to have the contents foam immediately out, leaving a mostly-empty bottle. The first such incident was a mango-lime soda. The other was a ginger ale. Both had been made with syrups that were boiled prior to use. Oddly, I have not had any problems with my root beers or cream sodas, even after a week or two without refrigeration.
The Theory
So, I've got a couple guesses here. One is that the bottles themselves need to be cleaned again immediately prior to use with hot, hot water. The other is that the offending sodas both contained citric acid, which would invert the sugar and might leave it more susceptible to fermenting. Oddly, the cream sodas contains a lot of lemon juice but hasn't had that problem. (Come to think of it, the citric acid was added after the syrups were boiled and cooled, so that may be another possible source of bacteria.)
Less likely, there may be some latent yeast in the bottles from when I used yeast-based carbonation. I cleaned all the bottles with blazing hot water after the first incident, which should have killed any yeast, so this seems unlikely. I no longer use yeast as I prefer the forced carbonation flavor.
The Question, Revisited
Are there some steps I can take to prevent unrefrigerated sodas from fermenting?
How do I prevent fermentation from occurring in 2-liter bottles of force-carbonated soda?
The Problem
I've force-carbonated many bottles of 2-liter soda on multiple occasions. The bottles are chilled prior to carbonation, but left on the counter afterwards to save space in the fridge. On a couple different occasions, I opened a 2-liter only to have the contents foam immediately out, leaving a mostly-empty bottle. The first such incident was a mango-lime soda. The other was a ginger ale. Both had been made with syrups that were boiled prior to use. Oddly, I have not had any problems with my root beers or cream sodas, even after a week or two without refrigeration.
The Theory
So, I've got a couple guesses here. One is that the bottles themselves need to be cleaned again immediately prior to use with hot, hot water. The other is that the offending sodas both contained citric acid, which would invert the sugar and might leave it more susceptible to fermenting. Oddly, the cream sodas contains a lot of lemon juice but hasn't had that problem. (Come to think of it, the citric acid was added after the syrups were boiled and cooled, so that may be another possible source of bacteria.)
Less likely, there may be some latent yeast in the bottles from when I used yeast-based carbonation. I cleaned all the bottles with blazing hot water after the first incident, which should have killed any yeast, so this seems unlikely. I no longer use yeast as I prefer the forced carbonation flavor.
The Question, Revisited
Are there some steps I can take to prevent unrefrigerated sodas from fermenting?