Carbonation

A lot of people ask how we built our force carbonation system. Here is the basic recipe.

Items you will need:

• Cornelius Dual-Guage Regulator
• Tubing & Ball-Lock Gas-In Disconnect
• Shutoff Valve
• The Carbonator Cap
• Teflon tape (any hardware store)
• CO2 Tank (local welding supply store)
• Nylon washer (any hardware store, for the connection of tank to regulator)
• 1 or 2 liter bottle with standard threads

After, basically just connect everything up—it's very straight forward. Make sure to use teflon tape at all connection points. A much more elaborate reading (including some of the science behind the fizz) can be found at this wonderful resource.

Some important notes about the process of carbonating:

• It requires the liquid to be really cold. We keep our bottles in the freezer with a little bit (about 1/6 total volume) of frozen water in them. Then, fill it up with tap water and let it sit for a minute to chill off.
• You must agitate it! This means once you've connected everything and turned on the gas, shake it for about 30 seconds to get the CO2 to settle into solution.
• The higher the sugar content, the more likely it is to overflow into a foamy mess. Straight water can be opened immediately. Anything else may require a minute to settle back down before you open it—and when you do, go slowly!

Happy carbonating!