Water Carbonator

[Deephaven 19]

I used to drink around a 12 pack of Mt Dew a day. Obviously not healthy for me. In an effort to quit I tried to substitute all sorts of things and nothing worked…until I tried carbonated water. I had no idea that I was addicted more to the carbonation than the beverage. This of course let to a habit of drinking nearly a 12 pack of bubbly water a day. Needless to say I got really sick of carrying it from the grocery store to the house, so I decided to build a carbonator.

The process is rather simple. Put some water in a vessel that is capable of withstanding at least 60psi, evacuate the air, add in some CO2 and shake to distribute. Colder water of course absorbs the CO2 faster, but that is easily resolved by some planning ahead and storing water in the refrigerator.

I went to the local welding shop and purchased a CO2 tank, a regulator, and a gauge. From the local hardware store I purchased a shraeder valve for a car tire, some high pressure hose, some copper fittings and pipe, and both the male and female quick connects for an air compressor.

The tank is rather large and ugly so I wanted to put it in the basement. Considering my furnace room is right below my kitchen this made things easy. In fact I actually chose my install location based on a straight run of copper J

Here is the tank in the basement:

A very boring pic of the copper tube being run through the floor J

Two views of the gauge upstairs (not really necessary, but it is nice to know that the regulator is working downstairs so you don’t blow up the vessel)

The hose to connect the CO2 to the bottle

[Deephaven 19]

And now for the fun, using it. First take a 2 Liter soda bottle (safe to over 200 psi) and fill it with water. I have a reverse osmosis filter that supplies mine and cleans it from our well. Fill the bottle only 2/3rds full and attach the hose.

Squeeze out all of the air. The warmer the water the less you can have in the bottle. Less air space (ie less CO2) or warmer water both equal less carbonated water. If you find you like Pellegrino you can use less space than I do, but I really like bubbles so I fill mine to the top of the label on the bottle. Connect the hose to the quick release.

Slowly open the valve until the bottle fills. I didn’t trust my research and wore safety goggles for the first couple weeks, but that is completely unnecessary. For legal reasons though I recommend that you wear them Once the bottle is filled with CO2, shake it like hell. You have to really shake it well for a good 10 seconds (again depending on the amount of carbonation you want). Then close the valve, remove the hose and pour yourself a glass!

Sorry for the lame phone pictures, but I wanted to get this up!

[todd.brust 106]

You sure are a different one.

Does this just taste like club soda I take it?

[Deephaven 19]

Close. Club soda isn't purified water. Tastes more like carbonated water...but not being European I understand why you question that. There carbonated water is what restaurants assume you will drink when you sit down.

[dem beats 10]

awesome!

Thanks for sharing that.