How to carbonate and bottle non-alcoholic soda

For the last year, I've been making a lot of syrups. Usually I keep the syrups in the fridge and add carbonated water to it whenever I want to drink it. But now I'd like to make a bigger batch and bottle it in 200ml (~7oz) glass bottles, so I can hand them out to local bars to see if there's any interest my sodas.

What would you guys advice concerning the carbonation? I see three options now, but they have several pros and cons:

  • I figured I could add a bit of syrup in every bottle and add carbonated water. PRO straightforward and cheap CON I guess I will loose a lot of carbonation while pouring the carbonated water
  • I mix the syrup and normal water and add champagne yeast to carbonate it. PRO lots of carbonation in an easy and cheap way CON not easy to control sweetness, alcohol levels and carbonation.
  • I add the syrup and water to a soda keg and add CO2 to it with a CO2 bottle. PRO lots of control over sweetness and carbonation. No alcohol at all. CON I imagine I will loose a lot of carbonation while filling the bottles from the soda keg just like in option 1. Also, seems like a pretty big investment and doubt if it will get me the result I want.

So, are these the options I have or are there other ways? What would you advice?

Cheers! Ernest

Topic force-carbonation soda carbonation yeast homebrew

Category Mac

1
answered at

I would re-bottle with carbonated water. One trick you can use is based on the fact that the amount of CO2 (or any gas) which can be dissolved in a liquid increases as it is chilled. If you chill soda water to near zero, it will be visibly far less fizzy. You can pour it between vessels and lose little gas.

In practice, simply storing it in a fridge should be sufficient as long as your new bottle has a good seal.

1
answered at

If you're looking for commercial quality and long-term stable carbonation- use a keg with C02 and a counter pressure bottle filler. You can DIY one yourself, or pick one up for ~$75USD. This is effectively a small-scale version of how breweries bottle. If done properly, it will hold carbonation about as well as a bottle condition.

Stay away from champagne yeast. It will be really hard to make a consistent product since you'll always be guessing at the carb level. Also, you want to avoid this combo:

Champagne yeast + glass bottle + sugar water + time = hand grenade

About

Geeks Mental is a community that publishes articles and tutorials about Web, Android, Data Science, new techniques and Linux security.