Everyone wants to say "SodaStream" or "Drinkmate". If you want to spend for one and use it, be my guest. We are trying to offer alternatives that work better. I've heard varying degrees of success with both and EVERYONE is suggesting it, though few have tried it, seems like. We get it. It's popular. We are working on Mini-kegs as 1) They are cheaper than those machines, and 2) Safer, and 3) Work better.
i dont know if this helps but in biology we made rootbeer via fermentation and we fermented it in a food grade plastic bottle and when we were happy with the carbination we killed the yeast im quessing you could do this with alcoholic beverages as well just at the tail end of the brew seal the bottle (plastic) without the gas release and once it is done it should be carbinated i hope this helps it should be able to work
I used a Soda Stream exclusively for pop (which everyone else calls soda) for four years. I was so much into it that I had an array of flavors, mixed my own, and even changed up and used off-brand items. I regularly used only soda stream products and recharges for two of those four years. Via upgrades and replacements for broken items, I went through three soda streams. A buddy of mine and I even did conversions or made our own setups using their CO2 systems to make it work for all sorts of things. All that said, I wouldn't recommend it for mead or beer. We did successfully (sort of) use it once to carbonate beer, but when you are spending $30-$50 on parts and hours of labor just to modify something to make it work for carbonating other beverages, it gets to the point where you should just spend $120 on a mini-keg or something serious to do it. If someone takes their drinking seriously enough to make their own mead, they should buy their own airlock. If they take carbonated alcohol drinking seriously enough, they should just buy a mini-keg or serious CO2 bottling system. I guess I see a minikeg like a more expensive airlock, they are relatively cheap for what you are getting in terms of final product and you can reuse them forever. Can you make mead without an airlock? Sure, but a lot could go wrong. Can you make carbonated alcoholic beverages without a mini-keg? Sure, but a lot could go wrong.
Just offering this as someone that has been force carbonating liquids for 8+ years. I built a home carbonation rig based on a Portland bartender's spec (Jeffrey Morgenthaler look it up) back in 2015. Initial outlay was like $150. I use a 5# CO2 tank that lasts months legit 4-6 months while I'm carbonating 2 L of water every day. But the best part of this "open" system is that swapping out that tank cost $10-15. Sodastream and these proprietary kits are MASSIVELY more expensive, as you saw in this kit. Have used this to carbonate the first two ciders I've made based on your recipes to great success. And it really is simple to use effectively. Chill liquid overnight in 1 or 2L plastic bottles with an inch or 2 of headspace. I prefer 1L as they are easier to shake/store/handle/take on the go. Squeeze out the headspace so liquid is at top of bottle and screw on the carb cap Connect to CO2 and shake the hell out of the bottle for 45-60 seconds. I use 40-45 PSI for plain water, I use 30psi for ciders and carbonating cocktails. Some folks will argue to repeat the above 1-2 more times for best carbonation. I usually skip for plain water, but will repeat at least one more time for cocktails and the cider. Slowly remove carb cap. Especially important with anything not water as they will foam up. Replace with original bottle screw cap and store in fridge. They will stay carbonated for a long time. Best part is if they lose a bit of carbonation over time or because you've opened, you can easily refresh carbonation by repeating the above. No need for waiting for days, keeping carbonation rig connected, etc. I carbonate water this method daily, cocktails weekly, and as mentioned have done a strawberry and apricot cider. Two safety tips - 1) use 1 or 2 L bottles that were used to store carbonated liquid. Don't take a bottle from still water and use in this application and 2) don't freeze the plastic bottle you plan to carbonate in as that can cause the bottle to become brittle and explode. But, legit, this is super easy and damn near foolproof. And you can always move from plastic bottles to glass if you prefer that for long term storage Love the channel!
I have used this kit. I have found that if you purge the air from the hose, by venting gas unattached, then purge air from the pottle, by squeezing the bottle till the liquid reaches near the top, then attach the kit while squeezed, it works better. Nowhere near my efficiency with my soda stream (the hard plastic bottles and auto pressure release/purge valves) allow for higher pressure. We already owned it, I didn't buy it exclusively for my brews; I have made non alcoholic ginger beer for years already, now that I brew, it has a new life. Personal bias, but they can both work, one better than the other.....for me. love to see you experimenting. Keep it up!
Back in the dark ages (mid 80's) when I was brewing beer, I would first carbonate in a keg using a co2 bottle, then get the beer good and cold and use a special device that would dispense the beer into a bottle after purging it with co2, under about 5 psi or so. It would do it as calmly as possible so as not to agitate the beer which is already carbonated. When the bottle is full, you remove the filler and cap immediately. Worked every time. Great for long storage or when running off to a friend's house. They probably still make them. Really handy.
yes they still make kits for this specifically. keg carbing then bottling would probably be their best option if they didn't want to just use a keg in general
counter pressure bottle filler can be found at any large brewers supply house force carbonation works Every Time i switched to kegging after my third batch of bottle bombs
You can carbonate your brew on the keg and then bottle with a counter pressure bottle filler. You can jury-rig one with a picnic tap, a rubber stopper/bung, a ball lock connector for the keg, a piece of tubing and a bottling wand
I was just watching a video of a guy who used the same setup on sparkling water. He had the 5lb tank as it was the most economical, but his equipment looked a lot more beefy than yours. He indicated that the soda stream hits ~15psi but he drank his stuff out of regular pop bottles at ~50. from a setup standpoint everything looks the same, however just before he connected the top on the bottle he squeezed out the air so there would be minimal O2. Once the bottle was pressurized he inverted it and shook it and you could see substantially more gas going in. after that it was fizzy, no waiting. you can detach the hose and store in the fridge as once its sealed the work is done. It could be the case that your equipment just wasn't very good and either didn't start you at a very good pressure or leaked while you had it all attached. hopefully you give it another go now that you have the whole setup.
I carbonate my beers at 1C overnight at 35psi - alternately you can do it at room temperature over a week. It looks like your system has a leak, probably a slow leak through the hoses. EVA Barrier hose and Duotight connecters work best, and you can get t-pieces to do more than one bottle at a time. I can carbonate a 5L keg with a small bulb - the type you use on a seltzer bottle.
I use a blichmann fast carb system. Works well. Worried about pressure, use a system that you can change the pressure relief valve so you can't go to high. I use a 2.5 bar or about 36psi. Don't go above 30psi when force carbonating. Use kegland soda pop catb top and fittings. That allows daisy chaining them.
I should also add the vinyl tubing on the pressure system is also permeable to gas. Over time I had to replace all of the vinyl tubing in my kegerator because I was running multiple kegs and figurative miles of tubing. I run Eva-barrier tubing from kegland, which can be expensive. There are other less permeable forms of tubing out there that are more affordable if you are not going crazy with it like I am. Also keep a spray bottle of starsan. It is really good at finding leaks!
Youve given me an idea to use my fermzilla all rounder pressure fermentation vessel to carbonate my 5 gallons of cider once primary fermentation has completed. Its already set up with a PRV rated at 35 lbs and has 2 ball lock fittings on the lid for gas and a party tap. The great thing about this is it can be served from the vessel. Just leave a co2 tank hooked up to it and pop it in the fridge. It works great for beer. Why not cider? The initial cost is around $ 80-100 with a floating dip tube and filter. No lees will be picked up. Just a thought. Love your channel ❤️
You have most definitely piqued my interest in mini-kegs for sure. I don't have many brews (atm) that id like to force carbonate, however that will probably change. I love the idea of this and i like that you're both experimenting with it. Thanks again for the great content! On an aside, im hoping to join the VIP club early next year depending on finances
I previously suggested Drinkmate and have tried it with both mead, wine and hard liquor and it works. Technically SodaStream is only for water and additives. However, I look forward to mini-keg info. Thank you for all that you do. Where did your cat channel go. Last I looked it had been sometime since a new video of your fur babies and now I don't see it in my list.
Another great video. I usually put one plastic bottle in with my glass bottles to do a squeeze check on carbonation. With this Amazon setup, the soft bottle is indicative of a faulty device either in the seals or the device or the cap. Even the flattest soda has a little resistance😅.
I have the mini keg you do, but I also got the ball lock screw top for it, so I can use standard CO2 bottles. I think you had a leak in your system if you lost all the CO2 in 2 days, you need to use some slightly soapy water in a spray bottle to find the leaks at all the connections.
Hmm, got pretty much the same setup in the mail today (albeit with those sodastream canisters). I would have tried the exact same thing, a shame it didn't work as intended. For all instructions I might have found it's pretty much: Cool, reduce headspace, set pressure, shake, burp/release pressure (you might clear some pre-dissolved gas), add pressure and shake again. Anyway, nice informative video - like always - and good luck with the next batch.
I have used a soda stream to carbonate a test bottle when I bottle my batch because I'm impatient. It works but it's messy. I got the soda stream to play with carbonated teas when I owned a tea and herb shop. Works real well for that!
I have been making beer and kegging in corny kegs for almost 3 years now. About 6 months ago a very skilled homebrewer gave me a tip. Fill your corny keg with beer, or your choice of drink, not water does not work, cool to low temp, for me 2 deg C, then pressurize to high pressure, for me somewhere between 30 and 50 PSI. Shake well for about 5 min and refill with high pressure. Let stand in keezer of freezer for 30 to 60 min. Shake again and pressurize to serving pressure if needed and there you have it. When you need quick carbonation this is work amazing but for beer I have found that slow and lower pressure works better for me for mouth feel but otherwise I find no difference. Hope this helps. For the more technically inclined I use 20L corny kegs with a 2kg CO2 bottle and beer gas regulator in a 210L DIY keezer with temperature regulator.
Smiling! My son got me a SodaStream for Christmas, wanted to cut down on the Dr. Pepper. It worked great carbonated the bottled water (Sams Club Water} I used to fill their bottle with, and it worked great. Our city water sucks. The problem I have with it is it taste like it came out of my 86 F-150 tail pipes. I can taste the Co2 like it smells out of the old truck, not as strong but it's there. 73
I make hard seltzer for my wife in corny kegs (aside from my own beer brewing). I have a carbonation lid, which basically a corny lid with a tube that leads to a carb stone. Gas it @ 30# overnight after mixing together: spring water, vodka (to arrive ~5% ABV), around a cup of Splenda, & pick from a litany of Olive Nation extracts. Currently have a Kiwi/Lime/Strawberry on tap. Also a diet ginger ale made from 2 Soda Stream syrup containers. FYI these corny kegs are 5 gal.
I do this regularly with a small co2 tank and a standard regulator. You probably had a slight leak or there was just enough co2 to get you to pettilant. I generally set pressure at 30 psi like you did and shake all them bejeezus in there for about 5 minutes. All good for moderate ( not strong or sparkling) carbonation for friends and family 👍🏾
Thanks for the video you two. I think I will agree with the conclusion. I am trying carbonation for the first time in my brewing/winemaking and am still trying to find the best way if not natural carbonation.
Very nice video, I was wondering when you guys were going to check one of these kits out. In my humble opinion, it's better for you guys to go with the glass beer bottles which you can choose what ever kind and/or size you like and to use the Cooper's carbonation drops. Just be sure not to pasteurize your brew after fermentation is complete. It takes about 2 to 3 weeks and you should have a really nice result. Oh for the record, it usually takes just 24 to 48 hours to carbonate a full size keg with a 5 pound CO2 bottle and it lasts for months.
@@CitySteadingBrews you are correct my friends. If done correctly you will have a tiny amount of sediment at the bottom unless you use a beer gun. You guys saved me a lot of money when it comes to these kits. They are not affordable at all. BrewDemon has a kit where you can force carbonate through the bottle caps.
look into keglands oxebar 2 gallon plastic pressure bottles. They were a gamechanger for me. cheap, large, hasnt leaked once for me and also use balllock fittings. well worth the small investment.
I do think you'd get better results with a drinkmate. Yeah, it's a touch pricey initially. The canisters are very pricey. I just bought a kit from Amazon so i can hook up a 5 or 20 lb CO2 canister. (i also got the adapter to refill the factory canister). I've carbonated many different things in it very easily. I love bubbly stuff, so it's worth it for me. After i carbonate something,i transfer it to a flip top glass bottle that originally came with seltzer (French lemonade seltzer bought at Aldi for $4, awesome bottles!). I loved your experiment. Now i desire to make root beer mead!
You can get an all rounder Fermzilla for $80, ferment in it, carbonate in it, and bottle dircetly from it. Especially simple with a tapcooler. Great for low O2 bottling. I find carbonating a little higher than you actually want is good because it seems to drop slightly in storage.
When i was a kid 60 years ago my dad had a seltzer maker that was an aluminum canister with a valve on top that held a small CO2 cartridge. It worked fine for a scotch n soda. I think it was an early version of a soda stream. You can buy or rent large CO2 bottles from a welding supply shop. Talk to your local pizza shop and see where they get their's for their soda set up.
With the convenience of soda stream, I wish there was a way to carbonate using it. I wonder if I used screw on wine bottles, and drilled a small hole on one with tubing from the soda stream into the bottle if that would carbonate even a little bit ( just for that drinking session ) If you guys haven’t you should def make a DIY carbonator for people just getting into it who don’t have the resources to buy a bunch of mini kegs and kegerators etc. :) Cheers and thanks for another great video!
I have the DrinkMate. It's a question of time. Using their thick plastic bottle, I can carbonate in a few minutes, and usually drink it right away. Nothing stays in the bottle for more than an hour or two. Usually do it when I have guests over. If I run out, it just takes a few minutes to carbonate another bottle.
From what I have understood from working at plastic bottle manufacturer for almost 10 years is PET is oxygen permeable not co2 permeable. Not being a scientist or expert I would assume that would be why there would be soda stored in pet bottles. From what I understand is the expiration date on plastic bottles is for the plastic not the product inside going past good by date. Amber color is used to protect beer from getting a funky flavor from sunlight. I have also homebrewed and kegged beer. I guesstimate that there is a leak somewhere somewhere on the carbonation kit(maybe the cap is not seated on the bottle very well?)
Not a carbonated question. When you add water to a brew is it plain tap water or do you use a bottled water if some kind? I'm wondering how things in tap water (chemicals or possible infection causers) would affect the brew.
I have used similar kids in the past with a similar issue. Turned out that every single time I have have ended up having a leak in one of the connections. One of the easiest tricks is to pressurize the line and submerge it into water to make sure you don't have any leaks. With a setup like that you could then probably initially pressurize the bottle, then disconnect it and submerge the top to see if bubbles come out as well. I wouldn't be surprised if the leak was with that cap, but I'm betting it was more likely at one of the ends of the hose. I suppose you could do this in a glass bottle, but you would need it to be a much lower pressure and I wouldn't recommend it either. Those 1 gallon mini kegs are a great option though. I have 2 of them and have carbonated hydromels before with great success. Just check for leaks on the cap for the mini kegs very closely too... I've had leaks in the connections on the caps for those mini kegs in every single connection point...even the pressure relief valve...
I was trying to burst a beer bottle and it held 125psi (the top of my puny air compressor) for a week. Glass is a solid liquid. It is not gas permeable. Neon tubes and other glass containers do not lose pressure when sealed. When sodas go flat in their bottles they didn’t lose pressure, the CO2 “went into solution” where the gas formed carbonic (carbolic?) acid and wasn’t in a gaseous state. Your demo makes me wonder about the soda stream process…
I don't have any experience with force carbonation and very little experience with making alcohol at all. But I'd be very interested in seeing you guys explore the difference between nitrogen vs carbon dioxide carbonation, as it seems from what I've seen online, nitrogen is better in every way, its just harder to get, which makes it more expensive and less practical in a lot of cases. I'd also be interested in videos about using a keg to carbonate and then bottling from the keg, I would think its possible to bottle from a keg without losing a lot of carbonation if you didnt disturb the liquid too much after its absorbed all the carbonation
i've never had any problems with carbonation ever (beer, cider, etc) but the last time, I sweetened my brew (non fermentable sugar) before adding my usual 35g/galon regular sugar for carbonation. and It barely carbonated. I wonder if, somehow, the non fermentable sugars could inhibit the carbonation process.... hmm anyone ?
well my mead stoped fermantation i dont have a og but just took a readying with the one i just got in and its just above the 1.000 its like the 2ed or 3ed line what would that be and it been a week im waiting tell next week to check again and i want to back sweeten it with more honey and ok if it starts up again but is that ok also is there away to find the currnt apv with out a og my heydromiter had not come in yet
It sounds like it's finished. Nothing to worry about. As to how much alcohol? Only if you know all your measurements for ingredients and batch size. Can estimate it.
Good evening to you both, it's been two weeks since I started my mead fermentation. its a fermentation of 23 liters. I put 8.5 kilograms of honey, 9 grams of yeast food and a packet of Lalvin EC-1118. My first density reading was 1.122 and this evening it is 1.050. If I used the calculations you gave us, it would be 9.7% ABV. My question is, with the information I gave you, do you think I will need to add honey to reach the alcohol tolerance of the yeasts which are at 18%ABV or should it reach it on its own?
You aren't guaranteed to reach the alcohol tolerance of any yeast, that's just the maximum that could be possible. I usually brew 5 gallon (about 19 liter) batches and I use 15 pounds of honey with EC-1118 and very consistently get between 14 and 15%abv. Only once did I ever get up to 16%
I tried carbonating my cider in those fancy whipped cream dispensers you see at Starbucks, worked kinda well if you just wanna carbonate a couple of drinks at a time but for whole batches of brews it's probably not worth it either
So my journey with my monster nitro Franken brew continues! Thanks to the advice on other videos (and shear dumb luck) I have managed to get the monster fermenting though I don't trust that I will be able to naturally carbinate it so I'm probably going to attempt to force carb (it's a monster energy drink so it should be carbinated). All that to ask: can you force carb with beer gas? I'm asking because the monster nitro is one of those drinks that is nitro Infused and I believe beer gas is 25% Co2 and 75% nitrogen.
@CitySteadingBrews ok thanx for the reply. From what I've seen on the channel force carbing is an interesting and relatively new (?) Process for the page but it's all new for me so I figured I'd ask a trusted source before braving the interwebs. Research is in my future. I guess stay tuned for my next question about this crazy brew 😀
May be an ignorant question but could you not use a Soda Stream like device and then transfer it from the plastic immediately to a pressure safe glass bottle?
The oxebar brand name kegs are nylon infused and are designed for less outgassing and is designed to store alcohol for 6 mo check out keglands own description of the product and super cheap
I have a whipped cream dispenser that I use a co2 canister to carbonate my drinks as I drink them. I want to get a spärkel system to use, because sodastream tends to "lose" liquids if they aren't water.
I love the content on this channel and I’m about to start my first batch of wine when I wake up tomorrow. I have one question and I hope it’s appropriate. I remember Brian saying in a video that you can in-fact fold Wine Yeast packets with Brian’s patented method and store them in the freezer for up to 6 months. Am I crazy or does anyone else remember him saying that. Because if so I need to find out which video it was because I wanna save 1/2 of a yeast packet for a future batch.
I am playing catch-up on videos. This is off topic. I was gifted a pint of sorghum, then ask if I could use it as an add replacement to the honey when making mead. What are your thoughts?
No experience doing this - just a thought...maybe try dry ice that you break into small chunks? It would definitely take some mathing to figure out how much dry ice would be needed, but shouldn't be a problem based on all the videos I've seen where you calculate different things. I know from watching other videos plenty of people refill sodastream CO2 cannisters using dry ice.
I used this method but made 1 adjustment. After pressurizing the bottle I gently unscrewed the cap to force out the o2. Then pressurized again, gave it a shake and pressurized again. Then unhooked the regulator but left the carbonation cap on the bottle and put in the fridge. After 2 days there is still pressure in the bottle. I’m hoping this works
@@CitySteadingBrews how big is the one you’re using in the video I ordered the 1 gallon and it looks way smaller than the one y’all are using but might just be the camera perspective
Sweet and carbonated is complicated because you have to either stop the carbonation process without opening the bottles at just the right time, or, the safer way, use non-fermentable sugars to sweeten, then natural carb. OR... you can sweeten to taste, pasteurize or stabilize in some way, then force carbonate. As for sweet ciders, we have a few: Our basic cider ruclips.net/video/AVbhMldO0DI/видео.htmlsi=IIe01UUE3XNZj28L and the finishing video: ruclips.net/video/tvvuVJNn2jM/видео.htmlsi=XsjjZ9pRR1lb5fm2 Raspberry Cider: ruclips.net/video/inSnfyTnCH4/видео.htmlsi=qLfvveymGEEXgGy1 Blueberry Cider: ruclips.net/video/-pgpSKT9sjc/видео.htmlsi=3V9HR--awS7hojOE Here's the results from a search for cider on our channel: www.youtube.com/@CitySteadingBrews/search?query=cider
In case there was a leak somewhere in the system, you could pressurize a bottle, then dunk the whole system under water. I see no reason for that much gas to be used up unless there was a leak somewhere. That's nuts
so apparently what you should do is squeeze the bottle leave it dented in then put on the tube. Put 30psi of CO2 until the bottle inflates. Then shake it, the shake should make the bottle contract again and the repeat this process like 2 or 3 times. Maybe even try a soda stream that seems to work better
Love this video!!! I'm looking to carbonate one of my beverages but don't want to spend an arm and a leg to bottle individual bottles. Hopefully someone will find something affordable.
I have not tested yet. I would think the reason for soda stream would be is soda streams work great at carbonation water in 15 seconds. So while it's an acrylic bottle not PET, you would be able to transfer to glass after. My concern However is how to clean the sodastream after. They are interested for use on clean water and then add syrup after carbonation to keep the dingy from growing. As for the 30psi is a lot of pressure, that's a complicated mater. There was not a lot of air room in that bottle, 30 psi of liquid is next to 0 volumetric difference. Now if that was 30 psi of air, that is a significant amount of volumetric difference. Again I have not tested this, but if this was in glass, and it could not handle the pressure, it would release and the glass would go as far as the liquid pushed it. That said it would make one heck of a mess. Because the way a regulator works is with a pressure valve. Once the bottle breaks you go back down to ambient pressure so the canister will keep pushing out air until either its empty or the regular is closed. As for how much pressure it takes to break glass, remember champagnes are highly carbonated. Plastic containers that are designed for pressure rupture around 12 bar. Champagne bottles around 16 bar according to Google. 1 bar is the pressure exerted by about 10m of water. Also 1 atmosphere of pressure at sea level. Though minor fraction difference. Thus 12 bar is the pressure of water at 120m depth. Which is about 4 390 feet. Note deep water divers only go to 140 feet with special pressure equipment. At this depth your PSI is about 174 PSI. Or pounds per square inch. Scuba tanks hold 3000psi of air and you should never let it run below 500psi. Now 3000psi of air if the tank rupture while filling would go off like a bomb. So these tanks are pressure tested with water. They have and do rupture under pressure testing. But even though the test pressure is 5000 psi there is no risk to the building. Though I would not want to be in that room as 5000 psi is enough that if it rupture the few ounces of water that shoot out would hit like a 2 ton truck. All that being said, I would still use a bottle meant for the job, not the glass, because if there is a flaw in the glass and it does rupture, while it might not go flying, it's still glass, it's still in your hand, and it's still sharp and wants to cut you like the sadistic material it is
I bought the gauge and hoses/adapter kit off ebay, and bought a co2 canister with a much higher pressure from a place in town that sells o2, co2, etc... that thing will carbonate anuthing in like 3 minutes.
I mean the only way I have seen forced carbonation is in beer using sugar tablets with a little yeast full up your brew in your bottle with a bottle cap theses were 12 fl oz mind you but beyond that the only other way I can see is make mead like champagne which is on my list of things I want to try and see if it's a great way to get a nice part carbonation and a fruity mead
Amazon will adjust prices on items dependent on how they're selling and how many are in stock. I bought a watch for $75, two days later I came back to the link and they had it as "LAST ONE!" for $125.
Just a base line for you. The soda machines in every restaurant and bar are making carbonated water at a psi of 95 to 105 in an instant. My thoughts are you are under the threshold to bond the gas with the liquid at 30 psi.
My buddy Johnny who's head brewer at a place in Providence said that when you're force carbonating anything, you want the liquid as close to freezing as possible. Why? Apparently science and stuff. Lol Hope that helps In the future. He also said what you said that when you want the CO2 out you want it warmer, well when you're putting it in you want it colder.
Best way is to carbonate a keg and bottle from the keg. What *I* do is hook up a picnic tap to a carbonated keg, put a bottling wand into the picnic tap and use that yo fill bottles
soda stream forces the CO2 into the liquid below the top of the liquid, rather than into the top of the bottle above the liquid... There are adaptors to convert from the standard CO2 cylinders to the soda stream caniters or from the soda stream itself to a standard cylinder...soda stream make their money selling CO2 in their specific cylinders with their "different" connecter....
Sodastream isn't really meant to carbonate anything but water. It's just not as effective. The valves can clog creating a dangerous situation too. A mini keg is not only cheaper, but far more effective :)
i have a soda stream, got it as a gift a few years back, my intention is to get the connector so I can re-fill my own co2 canitsters at home to make it cheaper, there are different connectors depending on where in the world your soda stream was sold, so a converter for me in Australia will not work on US soda streams and vice versa, this is just a heads up
I have a big CO2 tank and use it to force carbonate sparkling water every day. Like 3-4 liters every day, been doing it for a year. Any liquid can be carbonated. Done it with wine and cider several times, works very well. Yes, any liquid, even milk (not recommended) can be carbonated. So you can get creative. Pro tip: When you are putting the carbonation cap on the bottle, squeeze out all the air! This makes room for the incoming CO2. Carbonation is determined by: surface area and temperature. The colder the liquid is, the more carbonation it can hold (hot liquid won't work). The more surface area exposed to the pressurized CO2, the faster the CO2 can be absorbed into the liquid. This is why people will leave it to sit under pressure for days. With a small surface area exposed, it takes days for enough CO2 to absorb into the liquid. So how to speed it up and carbonate an entire bottle in a minute? SHAKE IT! Connect the CO2 to the bottle (with the air squeezed out), it will pressurize, and start shaking. You will notice lots of CO2 bubbles flowing in as you shake. As you shake, less and less bubbles are coming in, as the liquid gets saturated. Shake until only a tiny amount of bubbles are going in. Viola! You have a pretty darn super carbonated liquid in less than a minute. If you do not want to shake it, then you have to let it sit for days/weeks depending on the container. The only thing to do is adjust the PSI until you attain a level of sparkly that you want. Done and done. I just use standard water bottles from bottled sparkling water or soda at the store, and I got my tank cranked up to 40-50 psi (for reference, Soda Streams are like 10-15 psi max), and the plastic bottles are perfectly happy. Use empty soda bottles or whatnot and you are perfectly safe, as they have been made to withstand the pressure. I love super sparkly water, so the pressure is a little excessive, but it is so good and so fast. Homebrew supply stores (lots available online) have the regulators, carbonation caps, and hoses for pretty cheap. Many welding stores have food-grade CO2 tanks available, and many places will deliver. Yes, you want food-grade CO2, unless you want industrial nasties like benzene, which you do not. I have a large 20 L tank that lasted 7'ish months of making 3-4 liters of carbonated water every day. And it was ~$50 to fill it up. So we are talking pennies per liter of the most carbonated water probably on the planet. All for less than a Soda Stream or similar. Especially over time, as the refills for those are super expensive. I have also used it to carbonate cider and wine, exactly the same process. Dump the liquid into a bottle, squeeze out the air, hook it up, and shake. Wine and cider will foam up quite a bit when you open it, so you have to be careful and slow unless you want a volcano.
Just buy a plastic bottle to plastic bottle cap fitting. Have one bottle with your brew and another with a ferment of calculated sugar content so that it does not explode. Connect them with the fitting and do some homegrown carbonation.
@@CitySteadingBrews I did but unlike a proper cap fitting I jury rigged one which did not enable the max pressure of what the bottles could take. I plan to buy a proper one but ... life. It will work well but be careful to flush out as much of the air (by squeezing the bottles) so you do not get a slight vinegar taste that can be felt if you try to sparkle water. For brews I doubt it will affect much as they have those tastes in them regardless.
@@CitySteadingBrews If you do the math on the sugar right you cannot achieve higher than usual pressures. As a sidenote I have had the pleasure to find rock hard Grape must bottles left for weeks closed and still intact, after carefull release of the gas they started fermenting again. IMHO there is a fermentation cut-off point when the pressure and CO2 lowers the pH in as much as it hampers the ability of the yeast to excrete and stops them from fermenting the sugars. Or you can get some type of pressure regulator as a safety feature.
Seems like there was a small leak in your CO2 system unfortunately. That CO2 canister should allow for multiple bottles of brew. I would try to use your next canister on a cold brew as you did but shake vigorously for about 3 mins. Over carbonation is a possibility but for a "soda" like brew it's to be expected to have about as much carbonation as a soda. (Very high levels of CO2.) After your first attempt of shaking I would have recommended to put the brew back on pressure and shake for a couple more minutes. As you shake, your dissolving the CO2 into solution. It's also said that the more headspace you have available, allows for more surface area for the CO2 to dissolve into solution. I don't think this was your issue though. It's really unfortunate you guys are having a hard time, DON'T GET DISCOURAGED PLEASE! There is a slight learning curve to get comfortable with the process. BUT once you find the sweet spot for your brews I promise you will be very satisfied. Thank you guys for everything you do! Also 12 bucks for such little CO2 is a bummer... Should you decide to go for a 5 lb canister it is much more affordable. In my area I spend $5 a pound.
@@CitySteadingBrews Also it's recommended to squeeze the bottle till the liquid is at the top of the bottle, cap it and then release CO2. All that air is not dissolving into the liquid and it prevents high concentration of CO2 to come into contact with your liquid. In a keg system air is purged by letting CO2 flow and opening pressure release valve for a few seconds. For making multiple bottles you can buy some tubing, T joints, hose clamps and make an array of connectors to carbonate multiple bottles. Brewing store may help you with that. Hope it helps.
I definitely like the little keg. Even with a soda stream you would still want to decant into glass afterwards, and the keg does 4 times as much (?) and has a tap. That keg will be hard to beat. For reference a soda stream uses about 15 psi at 35f, and results in moderate to high carbonation in seconds. That thing must have issues? Thanks for being our lab rats 😁
I have a pretty specific question. Have you guys ever thought of doing a video solely on Honey? For I have just recently learned the Honey I've been using may or may not be real and may contain hydroxymethyl furfuraldehyde (HMF). Which itself may or may not be toxic to humans. I know the easiest solution for me is to just stop buying this brand of Honey. However, I feel as though if I were easily duped into believing such a Great label of extraordinary promise, there might be others as well. Even the bad Honey made a decent Mead, but I did notice I was getting stalls, which I'm not use to. You wouldn't have to name any brands or anything as such. Maybe how and why you guys choose certain Honeys. Honey isn't cheap anymore, so it's hard to find a good quality without breaking the bank. Just wondering, and as always--Great videos!
@CitySteadingBrews Awesome! You guys Rock! That's exactly why I was even hesitant to ask because I know companies don't like their dirty laundry aired out, so to speak. But I truly believe in a community of Mead makers, we ought to know what's real or not, and what's safe or possibly toxic. I look forward to watching your video on the topic, I know you guys will nail it
Let it sit for a minimum of 15-30 minutes after shaking for a more or less decent carbonation. It needs time to carbonate well. If you leave it over night it will be better. (Using 19Liter Kegs and a 6Kg CO2 for my Gingerbeer or traditional beer) I have that stuff because of my Keezer because I prefer my own self brewed beer from tap. My mead stays uncarbonated !!!
Everyone wants to say "SodaStream" or "Drinkmate". If you want to spend for one and use it, be my guest. We are trying to offer alternatives that work better. I've heard varying degrees of success with both and EVERYONE is suggesting it, though few have tried it, seems like. We get it. It's popular. We are working on Mini-kegs as 1) They are cheaper than those machines, and 2) Safer, and 3) Work better.
I'd also like to add your setup looks much easier to shake in the middle of the process than the soda stream.
We use a Drinkpod Fizzpod. It's good for alcohol and even fruit in your drinks.
I want to try this on some limoncello!
i dont know if this helps but in biology we made rootbeer via fermentation and we fermented it in a food grade plastic bottle and when we were happy with the carbination we killed the yeast im quessing you could do this with alcoholic beverages as well just at the tail end of the brew seal the bottle (plastic) without the gas release and once it is done it should be carbinated i hope this helps it should be able to work
I used a Soda Stream exclusively for pop (which everyone else calls soda) for four years. I was so much into it that I had an array of flavors, mixed my own, and even changed up and used off-brand items. I regularly used only soda stream products and recharges for two of those four years. Via upgrades and replacements for broken items, I went through three soda streams. A buddy of mine and I even did conversions or made our own setups using their CO2 systems to make it work for all sorts of things. All that said, I wouldn't recommend it for mead or beer. We did successfully (sort of) use it once to carbonate beer, but when you are spending $30-$50 on parts and hours of labor just to modify something to make it work for carbonating other beverages, it gets to the point where you should just spend $120 on a mini-keg or something serious to do it.
If someone takes their drinking seriously enough to make their own mead, they should buy their own airlock. If they take carbonated alcohol drinking seriously enough, they should just buy a mini-keg or serious CO2 bottling system. I guess I see a minikeg like a more expensive airlock, they are relatively cheap for what you are getting in terms of final product and you can reuse them forever. Can you make mead without an airlock? Sure, but a lot could go wrong. Can you make carbonated alcoholic beverages without a mini-keg? Sure, but a lot could go wrong.
Just offering this as someone that has been force carbonating liquids for 8+ years. I built a home carbonation rig based on a Portland bartender's spec (Jeffrey Morgenthaler look it up) back in 2015. Initial outlay was like $150. I use a 5# CO2 tank that lasts months legit 4-6 months while I'm carbonating 2 L of water every day. But the best part of this "open" system is that swapping out that tank cost $10-15. Sodastream and these proprietary kits are MASSIVELY more expensive, as you saw in this kit. Have used this to carbonate the first two ciders I've made based on your recipes to great success.
And it really is simple to use effectively.
Chill liquid overnight in 1 or 2L plastic bottles with an inch or 2 of headspace. I prefer 1L as they are easier to shake/store/handle/take on the go.
Squeeze out the headspace so liquid is at top of bottle and screw on the carb cap
Connect to CO2 and shake the hell out of the bottle for 45-60 seconds. I use 40-45 PSI for plain water, I use 30psi for ciders and carbonating cocktails.
Some folks will argue to repeat the above 1-2 more times for best carbonation. I usually skip for plain water, but will repeat at least one more time for cocktails and the cider.
Slowly remove carb cap. Especially important with anything not water as they will foam up.
Replace with original bottle screw cap and store in fridge. They will stay carbonated for a long time.
Best part is if they lose a bit of carbonation over time or because you've opened, you can easily refresh carbonation by repeating the above.
No need for waiting for days, keeping carbonation rig connected, etc. I carbonate water this method daily, cocktails weekly, and as mentioned have done a strawberry and apricot cider.
Two safety tips - 1) use 1 or 2 L bottles that were used to store carbonated liquid. Don't take a bottle from still water and use in this application and 2) don't freeze the plastic bottle you plan to carbonate in as that can cause the bottle to become brittle and explode. But, legit, this is super easy and damn near foolproof. And you can always move from plastic bottles to glass if you prefer that for long term storage
Love the channel!
I have used this kit. I have found that if you purge the air from the hose, by venting gas unattached, then purge air from the pottle, by squeezing the bottle till the liquid reaches near the top, then attach the kit while squeezed, it works better. Nowhere near my efficiency with my soda stream (the hard plastic bottles and auto pressure release/purge valves) allow for higher pressure. We already owned it, I didn't buy it exclusively for my brews; I have made non alcoholic ginger beer for years already, now that I brew, it has a new life. Personal bias, but they can both work, one better than the other.....for me.
love to see you experimenting. Keep it up!
my next step is to get a mini keg and play with that next.
I'm one step ahead of you there!
Back in the dark ages (mid 80's) when I was brewing beer, I would first carbonate in a keg using a co2 bottle, then get the beer good and cold and use a special device that would dispense the beer into a bottle after purging it with co2, under about 5 psi or so. It would do it as calmly as possible so as not to agitate the beer which is already carbonated. When the bottle is full, you remove the filler and cap immediately. Worked every time. Great for long storage or when running off to a friend's house. They probably still make them. Really handy.
yes they still make kits for this specifically. keg carbing then bottling would probably be their best option if they didn't want to just use a keg in general
counter pressure bottle filler can be found at any large brewers supply house
force carbonation works Every Time
i switched to kegging after my third batch of bottle bombs
@@redoorn that's the term I couldn't remember. Been too many years and too many full grain mashes I guess. ;)
You can carbonate your brew on the keg and then bottle with a counter pressure bottle filler. You can jury-rig one with a picnic tap, a rubber stopper/bung, a ball lock connector for the keg, a piece of tubing and a bottling wand
Super glad to see you guys so close to 200k. Thanks for getting me into brewing
Thanks for watching!
I was just watching a video of a guy who used the same setup on sparkling water. He had the 5lb tank as it was the most economical, but his equipment looked a lot more beefy than yours. He indicated that the soda stream hits ~15psi but he drank his stuff out of regular pop bottles at ~50. from a setup standpoint everything looks the same, however just before he connected the top on the bottle he squeezed out the air so there would be minimal O2. Once the bottle was pressurized he inverted it and shook it and you could see substantially more gas going in. after that it was fizzy, no waiting. you can detach the hose and store in the fridge as once its sealed the work is done. It could be the case that your equipment just wasn't very good and either didn't start you at a very good pressure or leaked while you had it all attached. hopefully you give it another go now that you have the whole setup.
I carbonate my beers at 1C overnight at 35psi - alternately you can do it at room temperature over a week. It looks like your system has a leak, probably a slow leak through the hoses. EVA Barrier hose and Duotight connecters work best, and you can get t-pieces to do more than one bottle at a time. I can carbonate a 5L keg with a small bulb - the type you use on a seltzer bottle.
I use a blichmann fast carb system. Works well.
Worried about pressure, use a system that you can change the pressure relief valve so you can't go to high. I use a 2.5 bar or about 36psi. Don't go above 30psi when force carbonating.
Use kegland soda pop catb top and fittings. That allows daisy chaining them.
I should also add the vinyl tubing on the pressure system is also permeable to gas. Over time I had to replace all of the vinyl tubing in my kegerator because I was running multiple kegs and figurative miles of tubing. I run Eva-barrier tubing from kegland, which can be expensive. There are other less permeable forms of tubing out there that are more affordable if you are not going crazy with it like I am. Also keep a spray bottle of starsan. It is really good at finding leaks!
Good points!
I love your guys videos. I always enjoy grabbing snacks and a drink to sit and watch. Cheers 😊
I have been force carbonating for a while. I usually give brews to or three days for the CO2 to dissolve into the brew.
Youve given me an idea to use my fermzilla all rounder pressure fermentation vessel to carbonate my 5 gallons of cider once primary fermentation has completed. Its already set up with a PRV rated at 35 lbs and has 2 ball lock fittings on the lid for gas and a party tap. The great thing about this is it can be served from the vessel. Just leave a co2 tank hooked up to it and pop it in the fridge. It works great for beer. Why not cider? The initial cost is around $ 80-100 with a floating dip tube and filter. No lees will be picked up. Just a thought. Love your channel ❤️
You have most definitely piqued my interest in mini-kegs for sure. I don't have many brews (atm) that id like to force carbonate, however that will probably change. I love the idea of this and i like that you're both experimenting with it. Thanks again for the great content!
On an aside, im hoping to join the VIP club early next year depending on finances
Sounds great!
I previously suggested Drinkmate and have tried it with both mead, wine and hard liquor and it works. Technically SodaStream is only for water and additives. However, I look forward to mini-keg info. Thank you for all that you do. Where did your cat channel go. Last I looked it had been sometime since a new video of your fur babies and now I don't see it in my list.
Another great video. I usually put one plastic bottle in with my glass bottles to do a squeeze check on carbonation. With this Amazon setup, the soft bottle is indicative of a faulty device either in the seals or the device or the cap. Even the flattest soda has a little resistance😅.
Yeah, I'm guessing there's a leak somewhere.
I have the mini keg you do, but I also got the ball lock screw top for it, so I can use standard CO2 bottles. I think you had a leak in your system if you lost all the CO2 in 2 days, you need to use some slightly soapy water in a spray bottle to find the leaks at all the connections.
Hmm, got pretty much the same setup in the mail today (albeit with those sodastream canisters). I would have tried the exact same thing, a shame it didn't work as intended.
For all instructions I might have found it's pretty much: Cool, reduce headspace, set pressure, shake, burp/release pressure (you might clear some pre-dissolved gas), add pressure and shake again.
Anyway, nice informative video - like always - and good luck with the next batch.
Yup, still experimenting. I saw this for $52 and hoped it would be a great way to do it.
I have used a soda stream to carbonate a test bottle when I bottle my batch because I'm impatient. It works but it's messy. I got the soda stream to play with carbonated teas when I owned a tea and herb shop. Works real well for that!
Thanks for testing this, I've been curious about it. I've had decent luck with natural carbonation so I'll probably stick with that for now.
We just like to know more about what is out there! If natural carb is working, go with it! We're still doing both :)
I have been making beer and kegging in corny kegs for almost 3 years now. About 6 months ago a very skilled homebrewer gave me a tip. Fill your corny keg with beer, or your choice of drink, not water does not work, cool to low temp, for me 2 deg C, then pressurize to high pressure, for me somewhere between 30 and 50 PSI. Shake well for about 5 min and refill with high pressure. Let stand in keezer of freezer for 30 to 60 min. Shake again and pressurize to serving pressure if needed and there you have it. When you need quick carbonation this is work amazing but for beer I have found that slow and lower pressure works better for me for mouth feel but otherwise I find no difference. Hope this helps. For the more technically inclined I use 20L corny kegs with a 2kg CO2 bottle and beer gas regulator in a 210L DIY keezer with temperature regulator.
Just started my first mead today. Love your stuff!!
Awesome!
Smiling!
My son got me a SodaStream for Christmas, wanted to cut down on the Dr. Pepper. It worked great carbonated the bottled water (Sams Club Water} I used to fill their bottle with, and it worked great. Our city water sucks.
The problem I have with it is it taste like it came out of my 86 F-150 tail pipes. I can taste the Co2 like it smells out of the old truck, not as strong but it's there.
73
thank you for this break down and I love❤ the pour cam!!!;
I make hard seltzer for my wife in corny kegs (aside from my own beer brewing). I have a carbonation lid, which basically a corny lid with a tube that leads to a carb stone. Gas it @ 30# overnight after mixing together: spring water, vodka (to arrive ~5% ABV), around a cup of Splenda, & pick from a litany of Olive Nation extracts. Currently have a Kiwi/Lime/Strawberry on tap. Also a diet ginger ale made from 2 Soda Stream syrup containers. FYI these corny kegs are 5 gal.
I do this regularly with a small co2 tank and a standard regulator. You probably had a slight leak or there was just enough co2 to get you to pettilant. I generally set pressure at 30 psi like you did and shake all them bejeezus in there for about 5 minutes. All good for moderate ( not strong or sparkling) carbonation for friends and family 👍🏾
Thanks for the video you two. I think I will agree with the conclusion. I am trying carbonation for the first time in my brewing/winemaking and am still trying to find the best way if not natural carbonation.
The Mini keg works well. We used it here: ruclips.net/video/FInoEHDrIVE/видео.htmlsi=oX8zdEX9J4a837xW
Very nice video, I was wondering when you guys were going to check one of these kits out. In my humble opinion, it's better for you guys to go with the glass beer bottles which you can choose what ever kind and/or size you like and to use the Cooper's carbonation drops. Just be sure not to pasteurize your brew after fermentation is complete. It takes about 2 to 3 weeks and you should have a really nice result. Oh for the record, it usually takes just 24 to 48 hours to carbonate a full size keg with a 5 pound CO2 bottle and it lasts for months.
Carbonation drops are just sugar tablets.
@@CitySteadingBrews you are correct my friends. If done correctly you will have a tiny amount of sediment at the bottom unless you use a beer gun. You guys saved me a lot of money when it comes to these kits. They are not affordable at all. BrewDemon has a kit where you can force carbonate through the bottle caps.
Thanks for sending time and money to help educate us..
Love the shirt Brian!
look into keglands oxebar 2 gallon plastic pressure bottles. They were a gamechanger for me. cheap, large, hasnt leaked once for me and also use balllock fittings. well worth the small investment.
I'm doing metal kegs... just not a plastic fan :)
I do think you'd get better results with a drinkmate. Yeah, it's a touch pricey initially. The canisters are very pricey. I just bought a kit from Amazon so i can hook up a 5 or 20 lb CO2 canister. (i also got the adapter to refill the factory canister). I've carbonated many different things in it very easily. I love bubbly stuff, so it's worth it for me. After i carbonate something,i transfer it to a flip top glass bottle that originally came with seltzer (French lemonade seltzer bought at Aldi for $4, awesome bottles!). I loved your experiment. Now i desire to make root beer mead!
Better? No. The keg is a very good way to carbonate.
My bicycle tires are butyl rubber, and when I fill them with a CO2 cartridge, they are fairly permeable and go flat fairly quickly.
You can get an all rounder Fermzilla for $80, ferment in it, carbonate in it, and bottle dircetly from it. Especially simple with a tapcooler. Great for low O2 bottling. I find carbonating a little higher than you actually want is good because it seems to drop slightly in storage.
Again, plastic and I have no need or want of a 7+ gallon fermenter, lol.
When i was a kid 60 years ago my dad had a seltzer maker that was an aluminum canister with a valve on top that held a small CO2 cartridge. It worked fine for a scotch n soda. I think it was an early version of a soda stream. You can buy or rent large CO2 bottles from a welding supply shop. Talk to your local pizza shop and see where they get their's for their soda set up.
It's closer to a mini-keg of today actually!
With the convenience of soda stream, I wish there was a way to carbonate using it. I wonder if I used screw on wine bottles, and drilled a small hole on one with tubing from the soda stream into the bottle if that would carbonate even a little bit ( just for that drinking session )
If you guys haven’t you should def make a DIY carbonator for people just getting into it who don’t have the resources to buy a bunch of mini kegs and kegerators etc. :)
Cheers and thanks for another great video!
We are using a mini-keg and working on better ways.
I have the DrinkMate. It's a question of time. Using their thick plastic bottle, I can carbonate in a few minutes, and usually drink it right away. Nothing stays in the bottle for more than an hour or two. Usually do it when I have guests over. If I run out, it just takes a few minutes to carbonate another bottle.
We are using a mini-keg and working on better ways.
From what I have understood from working at plastic bottle manufacturer for almost 10 years is PET is oxygen permeable not co2 permeable. Not being a scientist or expert I would assume that would be why there would be soda stored in pet bottles. From what I understand is the expiration date on plastic bottles is for the plastic not the product inside going past good by date. Amber color is used to protect beer from getting a funky flavor from sunlight. I have also homebrewed and kegged beer. I guesstimate that there is a leak somewhere somewhere on the carbonation kit(maybe the cap is not seated on the bottle very well?)
Yep, good info. I bet there's a leak somewhere too.
Not a carbonated question. When you add water to a brew is it plain tap water or do you use a bottled water if some kind? I'm wondering how things in tap water (chemicals or possible infection causers) would affect the brew.
We use filtered water.
I have used similar kids in the past with a similar issue. Turned out that every single time I have have ended up having a leak in one of the connections. One of the easiest tricks is to pressurize the line and submerge it into water to make sure you don't have any leaks. With a setup like that you could then probably initially pressurize the bottle, then disconnect it and submerge the top to see if bubbles come out as well. I wouldn't be surprised if the leak was with that cap, but I'm betting it was more likely at one of the ends of the hose.
I suppose you could do this in a glass bottle, but you would need it to be a much lower pressure and I wouldn't recommend it either. Those 1 gallon mini kegs are a great option though. I have 2 of them and have carbonated hydromels before with great success. Just check for leaks on the cap for the mini kegs very closely too... I've had leaks in the connections on the caps for those mini kegs in every single connection point...even the pressure relief valve...
Leaky kids are the worse.
@@dragoscoco2173definitely meant to type kits, but yes leaky kids are pretty bad too 😂. It's fall so I have three of those.
I was trying to burst a beer bottle and it held 125psi (the top of my puny air compressor) for a week.
Glass is a solid liquid.
It is not gas permeable.
Neon tubes and other glass containers do not lose pressure when sealed.
When sodas go flat in their bottles they didn’t lose pressure, the CO2 “went into solution” where the gas formed carbonic (carbolic?) acid and wasn’t in a gaseous state.
Your demo makes me wonder about the soda stream process…
I don't have any experience with force carbonation and very little experience with making alcohol at all. But I'd be very interested in seeing you guys explore the difference between nitrogen vs carbon dioxide carbonation, as it seems from what I've seen online, nitrogen is better in every way, its just harder to get, which makes it more expensive and less practical in a lot of cases. I'd also be interested in videos about using a keg to carbonate and then bottling from the keg, I would think its possible to bottle from a keg without losing a lot of carbonation if you didnt disturb the liquid too much after its absorbed all the carbonation
At some point we may look into nitrogenating, but... as you said, harder to get, so that lessens the interest for our viewers.
i've never had any problems with carbonation ever (beer, cider, etc) but the last time, I sweetened my brew (non fermentable sugar) before adding my usual 35g/galon regular sugar for carbonation. and It barely carbonated. I wonder if, somehow, the non fermentable sugars could inhibit the carbonation process.... hmm anyone ?
It is a possibility that I need to look into.
well my mead stoped fermantation i dont have a og but just took a readying with the one i just got in and its just above the 1.000 its like the 2ed or 3ed line what would that be and it been a week im waiting tell next week to check again and i want to back sweeten it with more honey and ok if it starts up again but is that ok also is there away to find the currnt apv with out a og my heydromiter had not come in yet
It sounds like it's finished. Nothing to worry about. As to how much alcohol? Only if you know all your measurements for ingredients and batch size. Can estimate it.
ok i do know that it was 1oz of blackberrys and 1oz of razzberrys with 2 lb of honey to a gallon fermantaer@@CitySteadingBrews
@kodoczadwar4605 probably around 1.070 to start then.
Good evening to you both, it's been two weeks since I started my mead fermentation. its a fermentation of 23 liters. I put 8.5 kilograms of honey, 9 grams of yeast food and a packet of Lalvin EC-1118. My first density reading was 1.122 and this evening it is 1.050. If I used the calculations you gave us, it would be 9.7% ABV. My question is, with the information I gave you, do you think I will need to add honey to reach the alcohol tolerance of the yeasts which are at 18%ABV or should it reach it on its own?
You aren't guaranteed to reach the alcohol tolerance of any yeast, that's just the maximum that could be possible. I usually brew 5 gallon (about 19 liter) batches and I use 15 pounds of honey with EC-1118 and very consistently get between 14 and 15%abv. Only once did I ever get up to 16%
@@jcast25 Thanks a lot. but if it doesn't go up to 10 or 12% abv is it safe to bottle?
Yes. Just let it finish completely. Once the sugars are converted, there's nothing to ferment.
I tried carbonating my cider in those fancy whipped cream dispensers you see at Starbucks, worked kinda well if you just wanna carbonate a couple of drinks at a time but for whole batches of brews it's probably not worth it either
So my journey with my monster nitro Franken brew continues! Thanks to the advice on other videos (and shear dumb luck) I have managed to get the monster fermenting though I don't trust that I will be able to naturally carbinate it so I'm probably going to attempt to force carb (it's a monster energy drink so it should be carbinated).
All that to ask: can you force carb with beer gas? I'm asking because the monster nitro is one of those drinks that is nitro Infused and I believe beer gas is 25% Co2 and 75% nitrogen.
I guess you could? I haven't tried.
@CitySteadingBrews ok thanx for the reply. From what I've seen on the channel force carbing is an interesting and relatively new (?) Process for the page but it's all new for me so I figured I'd ask a trusted source before braving the interwebs. Research is in my future. I guess stay tuned for my next question about this crazy brew 😀
May be an ignorant question but could you not use a Soda Stream like device and then transfer it from the plastic immediately to a pressure safe glass bottle?
Read my pinned comment.
I enjoy these experimental videos! Thanks for being the guinea pigs 😅
The oxebar brand name kegs are nylon infused and are designed for less outgassing and is designed to store alcohol for 6 mo check out keglands own description of the product and super cheap
I will use metal or glass whenever possible.
I have a whipped cream dispenser that I use a co2 canister to carbonate my drinks as I drink them. I want to get a spärkel system to use, because sodastream tends to "lose" liquids if they aren't water.
The mini keg may be good for you. We are doing a video about it soon.
I love the content on this channel and I’m about to start my first batch of wine when I wake up tomorrow. I have one question and I hope it’s appropriate. I remember Brian saying in a video that you can in-fact fold Wine Yeast packets with Brian’s patented method and store them in the freezer for up to 6 months. Am I crazy or does anyone else remember him saying that. Because if so I need to find out which video it was because I wanna save 1/2 of a yeast packet for a future batch.
Fridge. We store in the fridge.
What happens if you fill the bottle, release the connection and let it sit 3-7 days? Does the canister need to stay attached?
If there was no carbonation, nothing. If it was carbonated, I would think it will hold carbonation.
I am playing catch-up on videos. This is off topic. I was gifted a pint of sorghum, then ask if I could use it as an add replacement to the honey when making mead. What are your thoughts?
Honey would finish off what the sorghum, to get to 3lbs.
Sure. Sorghum syrup will ferment.
No experience doing this - just a thought...maybe try dry ice that you break into small chunks? It would definitely take some mathing to figure out how much dry ice would be needed, but shouldn't be a problem based on all the videos I've seen where you calculate different things. I know from watching other videos plenty of people refill sodastream CO2 cannisters using dry ice.
I used this method but made 1 adjustment. After pressurizing the bottle I gently unscrewed the cap to force out the o2. Then pressurized again, gave it a shake and pressurized again. Then unhooked the regulator but left the carbonation cap on the bottle and put in the fridge. After 2 days there is still pressure in the bottle. I’m hoping this works
Do y’all have a link for the big mouth fermenter y’all have been using?
Nope, it's at Northern Brewer.
@@CitySteadingBrews how big is the one you’re using in the video I ordered the 1 gallon and it looks way smaller than the one y’all are using but might just be the camera perspective
Does anyone have a good recipe for carbonated sweet hard cider? I'd like to start brewing but want a solid recipe to start.
Sweet and carbonated is complicated because you have to either stop the carbonation process without opening the bottles at just the right time, or, the safer way, use non-fermentable sugars to sweeten, then natural carb. OR... you can sweeten to taste, pasteurize or stabilize in some way, then force carbonate. As for sweet ciders, we have a few: Our basic cider ruclips.net/video/AVbhMldO0DI/видео.htmlsi=IIe01UUE3XNZj28L and the finishing video: ruclips.net/video/tvvuVJNn2jM/видео.htmlsi=XsjjZ9pRR1lb5fm2
Raspberry Cider: ruclips.net/video/inSnfyTnCH4/видео.htmlsi=qLfvveymGEEXgGy1
Blueberry Cider: ruclips.net/video/-pgpSKT9sjc/видео.htmlsi=3V9HR--awS7hojOE
Here's the results from a search for cider on our channel:
www.youtube.com/@CitySteadingBrews/search?query=cider
In case there was a leak somewhere in the system, you could pressurize a bottle, then dunk the whole system under water. I see no reason for that much gas to be used up unless there was a leak somewhere. That's nuts
so apparently what you should do is squeeze the bottle leave it dented in then put on the tube. Put 30psi of CO2 until the bottle inflates. Then shake it, the shake should make the bottle contract again and the repeat this process like 2 or 3 times. Maybe even try a soda stream that seems to work better
They don't really.
Love this video!!! I'm looking to carbonate one of my beverages but don't want to spend an arm and a leg to bottle individual bottles. Hopefully someone will find something affordable.
Coming soon.
Yry inverting the bottle before adding co2 amd it might work faster.
I see a Keezer or Kegerator in your near future. I love the Keezer I made.
Lol, doubt it. The mini kegs fit in the fridge. Works for us!
I have not tested yet. I would think the reason for soda stream would be is soda streams work great at carbonation water in 15 seconds. So while it's an acrylic bottle not PET, you would be able to transfer to glass after.
My concern However is how to clean the sodastream after. They are interested for use on clean water and then add syrup after carbonation to keep the dingy from growing.
As for the 30psi is a lot of pressure, that's a complicated mater. There was not a lot of air room in that bottle, 30 psi of liquid is next to 0 volumetric difference. Now if that was 30 psi of air, that is a significant amount of volumetric difference. Again I have not tested this, but if this was in glass, and it could not handle the pressure, it would release and the glass would go as far as the liquid pushed it. That said it would make one heck of a mess. Because the way a regulator works is with a pressure valve. Once the bottle breaks you go back down to ambient pressure so the canister will keep pushing out air until either its empty or the regular is closed.
As for how much pressure it takes to break glass, remember champagnes are highly carbonated. Plastic containers that are designed for pressure rupture around 12 bar. Champagne bottles around 16 bar according to Google.
1 bar is the pressure exerted by about 10m of water. Also 1 atmosphere of pressure at sea level. Though minor fraction difference. Thus 12 bar is the pressure of water at 120m depth. Which is about 4
390 feet. Note deep water divers only go to 140 feet with special pressure equipment. At this depth your PSI is about 174 PSI. Or pounds per square inch.
Scuba tanks hold 3000psi of air and you should never let it run below 500psi. Now 3000psi of air if the tank rupture while filling would go off like a bomb. So these tanks are pressure tested with water. They have and do rupture under pressure testing. But even though the test pressure is 5000 psi there is no risk to the building. Though I would not want to be in that room as 5000 psi is enough that if it rupture the few ounces of water that shoot out would hit like a 2 ton truck.
All that being said, I would still use a bottle meant for the job, not the glass, because if there is a flaw in the glass and it does rupture, while it might not go flying, it's still glass, it's still in your hand, and it's still sharp and wants to cut you like the sadistic material it is
I bought the gauge and hoses/adapter kit off ebay, and bought a co2 canister with a much higher pressure from a place in town that sells o2, co2, etc... that thing will carbonate anuthing in like 3 minutes.
Oh I get it, there's no D20 because it's all the weapon dice
I mean the only way I have seen forced carbonation is in beer using sugar tablets with a little yeast full up your brew in your bottle with a bottle cap theses were 12 fl oz mind you but beyond that the only other way I can see is make mead like champagne which is on my list of things I want to try and see if it's a great way to get a nice part carbonation and a fruity mead
That's natural carbonation not force carbonation.
Amazon will adjust prices on items dependent on how they're selling and how many are in stock. I bought a watch for $75, two days later I came back to the link and they had it as "LAST ONE!" for $125.
Oh and you can get a bottling wand for the keg and bottle your beer after carbonation.
Just a base line for you. The soda machines in every restaurant and bar are making carbonated water at a psi of 95 to 105 in an instant. My thoughts are you are under the threshold to bond the gas with the liquid at 30 psi.
Possibly. May need more time.
My buddy Johnny who's head brewer at a place in Providence said that when you're force carbonating anything, you want the liquid as close to freezing as possible. Why? Apparently science and stuff. Lol
Hope that helps In the future.
He also said what you said that when you want the CO2 out you want it warmer, well when you're putting it in you want it colder.
Mhm. This was cold.
Best way is to carbonate a keg and bottle from the keg. What *I* do is hook up a picnic tap to a carbonated keg, put a bottling wand into the picnic tap and use that yo fill bottles
Yup. We are working on that too.
I dont think ive ever seen Derica this scared before.
Isn't there carbonation tablets?
Those are just sugar. That's for natural carbonation.
@@CitySteadingBrews I haven't tried it but I heard a small piece of Alka-Seltzer
I wouldn't use that to carbonate...
soda stream forces the CO2 into the liquid below the top of the liquid, rather than into the top of the bottle above the liquid... There are adaptors to convert from the standard CO2 cylinders to the soda stream caniters or from the soda stream itself to a standard cylinder...soda stream make their money selling CO2 in their specific cylinders with their "different" connecter....
Sodastream isn't really meant to carbonate anything but water. It's just not as effective. The valves can clog creating a dangerous situation too. A mini keg is not only cheaper, but far more effective :)
i have a soda stream, got it as a gift a few years back, my intention is to get the connector so I can re-fill my own co2 canitsters at home to make it cheaper, there are different connectors depending on where in the world your soda stream was sold, so a converter for me in Australia will not work on US soda streams and vice versa, this is just a heads up
I don't have one. I prefer the mini-keg idea. It's cheaper and more effective.
@@CitySteadingBrews I will take your word for that, I only carbonate water with mine , and it was a gift, I didn't go out and do research😃
@@CitySteadingBrews If i had intended to buy a carbonation solution for myself I probably would have gone with a mini-keg, no need for converters etc
Try champagne bottles there made for high pressure ( thick glass).
In this case, that would make no difference though.
You need to shake a little more Bejesus into it! That will help the co2 dissolve in solution quicker.
Lol
Carb in the plastic them transfer to glass?
It would lose the carbonation during transfer.
Damn guys, I have only done natural carbonation. This gives me pause and makes me think. Thank you.
We are doing both. I have a feeling natural carbing may taste better. Going to test that theory.
Again, thank you.@@CitySteadingBrews
Perhaps that device is for 2 liter bottles?
Then it should have worked really well :)
What if you carb first then put in glass once it is carbonated
Moving it can oxidize and may lose carbonation too.
I have a big CO2 tank and use it to force carbonate sparkling water every day. Like 3-4 liters every day, been doing it for a year. Any liquid can be carbonated. Done it with wine and cider several times, works very well. Yes, any liquid, even milk (not recommended) can be carbonated. So you can get creative.
Pro tip: When you are putting the carbonation cap on the bottle, squeeze out all the air! This makes room for the incoming CO2.
Carbonation is determined by: surface area and temperature. The colder the liquid is, the more carbonation it can hold (hot liquid won't work). The more surface area exposed to the pressurized CO2, the faster the CO2 can be absorbed into the liquid.
This is why people will leave it to sit under pressure for days. With a small surface area exposed, it takes days for enough CO2 to absorb into the liquid.
So how to speed it up and carbonate an entire bottle in a minute? SHAKE IT! Connect the CO2 to the bottle (with the air squeezed out), it will pressurize, and start shaking. You will notice lots of CO2 bubbles flowing in as you shake. As you shake, less and less bubbles are coming in, as the liquid gets saturated. Shake until only a tiny amount of bubbles are going in.
Viola! You have a pretty darn super carbonated liquid in less than a minute.
If you do not want to shake it, then you have to let it sit for days/weeks depending on the container. The only thing to do is adjust the PSI until you attain a level of sparkly that you want. Done and done.
I just use standard water bottles from bottled sparkling water or soda at the store, and I got my tank cranked up to 40-50 psi (for reference, Soda Streams are like 10-15 psi max), and the plastic bottles are perfectly happy. Use empty soda bottles or whatnot and you are perfectly safe, as they have been made to withstand the pressure. I love super sparkly water, so the pressure is a little excessive, but it is so good and so fast.
Homebrew supply stores (lots available online) have the regulators, carbonation caps, and hoses for pretty cheap. Many welding stores have food-grade CO2 tanks available, and many places will deliver. Yes, you want food-grade CO2, unless you want industrial nasties like benzene, which you do not. I have a large 20 L tank that lasted 7'ish months of making 3-4 liters of carbonated water every day. And it was ~$50 to fill it up. So we are talking pennies per liter of the most carbonated water probably on the planet. All for less than a Soda Stream or similar. Especially over time, as the refills for those are super expensive.
I have also used it to carbonate cider and wine, exactly the same process. Dump the liquid into a bottle, squeeze out the air, hook it up, and shake. Wine and cider will foam up quite a bit when you open it, so you have to be careful and slow unless you want a volcano.
That was a great experiment. I’m with y’all don’t like the plastic bottles.
I don’t like force carbing in my kegs either…i always get better results to put it on gas cold 🥶 n my kegerator and let it set for a week or two
Isn't that still force carbing?
I had to watch your video on very low volume. Is there any chance the bottle can burst? Sorry if I missed it.
It would take a LOT to burst that bottle. I don't believe that canister could produce enough pressure.
What if I use sugar cubes to carbonate?
They're sugar... so it will, but I don't have measurements for them.
if you don't like plastic bottles you can try 4l or 8l Oxebar kegs! same concept
We have mini-kegs for 1 gallon, but we were simply trying something that seemed practical and inexpensive for in the bottle carbing.
It will take a few days for it to carbonate. Also it will carbonate better when you keep it cold, so it should be refrigerated while it's carbonating.
We did.
Steer clear of soda stream. No bueno for anything with sugar in it.
Yup.
Amazon sellers will raise prices to keep a little inventory so they don’t lose their listing and rank if they sell out.
Future steadfest giveaway lol
Nah, I took it all apart and cannibalized the parts already, lol.
Just buy a plastic bottle to plastic bottle cap fitting. Have one bottle with your brew and another with a ferment of calculated sugar content so that it does not explode. Connect them with the fitting and do some homegrown carbonation.
Have you actually done this?
@@CitySteadingBrews I did but unlike a proper cap fitting I jury rigged one which did not enable the max pressure of what the bottles could take. I plan to buy a proper one but ... life.
It will work well but be careful to flush out as much of the air (by squeezing the bottles) so you do not get a slight vinegar taste that can be felt if you try to sparkle water. For brews I doubt it will affect much as they have those tastes in them regardless.
This seems quite dangerous without some sort of regulator.
@@CitySteadingBrews If you do the math on the sugar right you cannot achieve higher than usual pressures.
As a sidenote I have had the pleasure to find rock hard Grape must bottles left for weeks closed and still intact, after carefull release of the gas they started fermenting again. IMHO there is a fermentation cut-off point when the pressure and CO2 lowers the pH in as much as it hampers the ability of the yeast to excrete and stops them from fermenting the sugars.
Or you can get some type of pressure regulator as a safety feature.
37 psi, yup.
I’ve exploded 2L and 16oz plastic soda bottles and they burst at around 180 psi.
Turn the bottle upside down when you carbonate. Also 15psi for a longer stretch of time works better for me.
You can force carbonate by setting the PSI to around 35 lb in gently agitating for about 10 to 20 minutes
Seems like there was a small leak in your CO2 system unfortunately. That CO2 canister should allow for multiple bottles of brew. I would try to use your next canister on a cold brew as you did but shake vigorously for about 3 mins. Over carbonation is a possibility but for a "soda" like brew it's to be expected to have about as much carbonation as a soda. (Very high levels of CO2.) After your first attempt of shaking I would have recommended to put the brew back on pressure and shake for a couple more minutes. As you shake, your dissolving the CO2 into solution. It's also said that the more headspace you have available, allows for more surface area for the CO2 to dissolve into solution. I don't think this was your issue though. It's really unfortunate you guys are having a hard time, DON'T GET DISCOURAGED PLEASE! There is a slight learning curve to get comfortable with the process. BUT once you find the sweet spot for your brews I promise you will be very satisfied. Thank you guys for everything you do! Also 12 bucks for such little CO2 is a bummer... Should you decide to go for a 5 lb canister it is much more affordable. In my area I spend $5 a pound.
Agreed.
@@CitySteadingBrews Also it's recommended to squeeze the bottle till the liquid is at the top of the bottle, cap it and then release CO2. All that air is not dissolving into the liquid and it prevents high concentration of CO2 to come into contact with your liquid. In a keg system air is purged by letting CO2 flow and opening pressure release valve for a few seconds.
For making multiple bottles you can buy some tubing, T joints, hose clamps and make an array of connectors to carbonate multiple bottles. Brewing store may help you with that.
Hope it helps.
I definitely like the little keg. Even with a soda stream you would still want to decant into glass afterwards, and the keg does 4 times as much (?) and has a tap. That keg will be hard to beat. For reference a soda stream uses about 15 psi at 35f, and results in moderate to high carbonation in seconds. That thing must have issues? Thanks for being our lab rats 😁
Weird science! ❤️
I have a pretty specific question. Have you guys ever thought of doing a video solely on Honey? For I have just recently learned the Honey I've been using may or may not be real and may contain hydroxymethyl furfuraldehyde (HMF). Which itself may or may not be toxic to humans. I know the easiest solution for me is to just stop buying this brand of Honey. However, I feel as though if I were easily duped into believing such a Great label of extraordinary promise, there might be others as well. Even the bad Honey made a decent Mead, but I did notice I was getting stalls, which I'm not use to.
You wouldn't have to name any brands or anything as such. Maybe how and why you guys choose certain Honeys. Honey isn't cheap anymore, so it's hard to find a good quality without breaking the bank. Just wondering, and as always--Great videos!
We are actually working on this. Sadly, we don't wish to be sued, so we have to tread lightly.
@CitySteadingBrews Awesome! You guys Rock! That's exactly why I was even hesitant to ask because I know companies don't like their dirty laundry aired out, so to speak. But I truly believe in a community of Mead makers, we ought to know what's real or not, and what's safe or possibly toxic. I look forward to watching your video on the topic, I know you guys will nail it
Let it sit for a minimum of 15-30 minutes after shaking for a more or less decent carbonation. It needs time to carbonate well.
If you leave it over night it will be better. (Using 19Liter Kegs and a 6Kg CO2 for my Gingerbeer or traditional beer)
I have that stuff because of my Keezer because I prefer my own self brewed beer from tap.
My mead stays uncarbonated !!!