Could you use a home soda maker to add gas to beer?

Question

Could you use a home soda maker to add gas to beer?

Neil Meyer

2016年5月23日 12:32

I have been making my own beer now for a while. I have been struggeling with beer that goes flat after a while. I'm searching for a gas solution and was wondering if those old soda machines we used as children to make cold drinks out would suffice for beer making.

Something like this.

My beer is actually turning out well except for the flatness so if I could just get this right I think I will have a good product. Has anyone had any experience with such a piece of equipment and what may be some of the pitfalls?

Thank You.

Topic gas homebrew

Category Mac

cesar moro · Accepted Answer · 2016年5月23日 12:32

1

cesar moro answered at 2016年5月23日 12:32

I will try to carbonate that will give you a beer with 4.0 CO2 then mix that with the same ammount of beer wiout carbonate then spend on the fridge for 24hs. boom you have beer at 2. CO2 ;)

Mr_road · Accepted Answer · 2016年5月23日 11:33

Yes, it will force CO2 into the liquid, but you probably don't want your lovely beer to be as fizzy as your cola. Therefore, if you would use 3 or 4 presses for the Soda, use only 1 or 2 presses for your beer, a bit of experimentation and I am sure it will all be fine.

If I were doing it I would carbonate it just before serving and serve it out of the soda machine bottle.

One potential pit fall I can see is foaming, as you force the gas it the beer may foam, at which point you will have to clean the machine.

Please report back on your experimentation.

Evil Zymurgist · Accepted Answer · 2016年5月20日 21:57

A cO2 soda maker won't work well, as these usually have a preset infusion volume of cO2 for soda not beer. Soda has a co2 volume of 4.0 most beer styles are around 2.4

There is a cO2 gun of sorts we use in homebrew that attaches to a 2liter soda bottle and uses beverage co2 cartridges but it's unique in than you can give it shots of cO2. So you can carb up a small sample of beer.

I would instead address your carbonation loss issues.

If you're bottling you may need to store your caps better so the seals don't dry out, cool dry place. If the seal is hard get some new ones.

Capper may be worn out, after awhile the crimp area can deform so it doesn't seal airtight, even though it doesn't leak liquid it could still leak gas.

If your kegging, rebuild your keg. Check for leaks at the regulator and all fittings. Though I doubt you are or you would be refilling your tank a lot.

jalynn2 · Accepted Answer · 2016年5月20日 20:24

Yes, those machines simply force CO2 into the liquid under pressure so they would work for beer too. The disadvantage is that the CO2 cartridges are relatively expensive, and you can only do a small batch at a time. It is also difficult to control the level of carbonation in any precise manner. DO NOT TRY TO USE GLASS BOTTLES -- the glass for normal beer bottles won't stand up to pressure. I could see using it if you open a bottle and find it to be undercarbonated, but I wouldn't try to use it as your primary source of carbonation. You mention that your beer goes flat after a while. How are you bottling and carbonating it now?

Could you use a home soda maker to add gas to beer?

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