1.13.2016

How to REALLY carbonate homemade soda and make big bubbles just likestore bought

Coca cola is most likely bottled at 34 psi at 43 degrees fareinheight based on pictures I've seen and coke standards (4.2 to 4.6 volumes of CO2).  Sugar percentage is 10.76 to 11.06.  


At home the same thing is achieved with  33 psi at 40 degrees farenheight or 30 psi at 36 f. Is your carbonation rig setup not working right?  Are you looking for how to get good big and better bubbles?  Well you have found the answer!  So I got a 5 lb co2 tank from my local homebrew store, a regulator off amazon as well as a tube with quick disconnect and a carbonator cap and a couple dozen bottles with caps from amazon.  I got vanilla and bitter almond extract and went to work developing NatureHacker Soda.
But I was hitting a wall, following any directions in my boxes or online led to very subpar small fine bubbles.  And it seems people accept this, with homemade rigs or sodastream.  What is the deal?  Have people just given up in getting those nice big bubbles like a fresh can of coke?  It seems like they have.  The only glimmer of someone still alive was kind of an idiot who recommended to pressurize at 150 psi (which no common valves or clamps able to withstand that someone could get hurt).

I was disappointed and ready to give up when I went to sleep and had a dream.  In this dream I broke all the rules and kept the CO2 on in the dream for 30 seconds or so while shaking the bottle.  In my dream I knew this would get soda back into the hose and make a mess (which could be dangerous if it grew mold) but I had an idea.  Hold the bottle way down as far as the hose would allow.  This would make it so if the soda went up the tube a little it wouldn't come into the regulator.  In the dream it worked so when I woke up I went to try it.  I first tried it with water and it worked!  The water had big crisp bubbles just like perrier.  The only problem was once I shut off the valve at the regulator the pressure in the bottle would shoot back up to the regulator and make a mess (thankfully it was water at this point).  So leaping forward as I always do I did it with a soda I had made (need to make sure it is cold) but instead of turning off the valve after it had been on 30 seconds while I was shaking it and holding it low, I turned off the main tank but kept the regulator on.  Then I used a monkey wrench to slightly unscrew the carbonator cap from my bottle to release the pressure, then I turned off the regulator valve.  It worked!  No soda shooting back up my regulator!  Then, knowing some soda I'm sure got in the hose while shaking, I just removed the hose from the regulator and keeping the quick disconnect connected to the carbonator cap which I took off the bottle, I rinsed the tube with water a few times.  Good as new!  And excellent huge carbonation bubbles!

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