Carbonator Cap help

[vgravedoni]

hey guys, I recently purchased a carbonator cap as well as a full 5# food-grade C02 tank. It works like a charm - although I've been getting a weird taste in the sodas I've been trying to produce (root beer and cream soda). The pre-carbed soda tastes great, but after it's been carbonated it tastes "thin" (hard to explain) as well as having a sharp taste. I think maybe it's a little over-carbed but most places I read said to carbonate these drinks between 30-40 PSI. My normal process is squeezing out all of the air in the bottle, turning on the gas and shaking the bottle for about 15-20 seconds. I've tried carbing the water by itself and then adding homemade syrup as well as carbonating the entire mixed drink. Any information on how to fix this, as well as any other helpful info on producing sodas using a carbonator cap would be very appreciated!


PS - this is the carbonating kit that I purchased http://www.kegoutlet.com/sp202-soda-carbonating-kit-5-lb-co2-tank.html

 

[daft]

How does the straight carbed water taste? The carbing causes carbonic acid which is pretty harsh and sharp. Combined with a few off flavors in your water supply, it can taste like a sulfuric witches brew (to me anyway... everyone here just rhapsodizes about it).

A solution is to sweeten the crap out of it. Especially root beer which itself contains a lot of bitter swampy flavors which need balancing out at just the right level. You can't be half hearted with the syrup but have to include sweetness with tanginess... even to the point of coverup. Taste a commercial root beer carefully and it is absurdly sweet.

It may be a personal taste... I hate bitterness and gag at the taste of coffee, beer, or soda water. That does not mean I like gooey sweetness; just a balance of sweet and sour tang.

 

[Bellybuster]

I have carb'd water on tap all the time. I tried using tap water once and yuck!! Nasty! The water is fine from the tap though.
Are you using tap water?

 

[AnOldUR]

I run tap water through a carbon filter before carbing. Seltzer tastes fine. Just like what you buy in the store, but it probably depends on your water.

 

[vgravedoni]

I'm using tap water! The mix pre-carbonation is delicious but it's after the carbonation that it has a foul tanginess that throws the whole thing off. Maybe lower the PSI and let it sit a little longer rather than shaking it? I'll try some spring water next time and see if that makes a difference

Also - I would like to increase the sweetness, but I don't want to have TOO high of a sugar content for health reasons. I'm already sitting at around 40-50g of sugar per 12 oz bottle. I'll try and increase it a tad and see if it masks it at all

 

[daft]

Unless you find the fault in the tapwater, I bet it's just the final amount (not method) of carbing that gives the evil taste. Just a fact of life for us folks with acute bitter taste buds (physically different than your sour taste buds). BTW you should try for chilled water before carbing for faster uptake of carb.

My tapwater tastes evil carbed, but I believe it is extremely clean. We get monthly testing reports, and they are such fanatics that even fluoride is forbidden. A million folks therefore have some of the worst teeth in the country, and we get cases like children who die in the dentist chair because they are getting every tooth redone under anesthesia by a dentist more competent in fleecing insurance companies than whatever. I have used a carbon filter elsewhere, and it rapidly turns into a swamp of crap needing expensive replacement schedule.

Also - I would like to increase the sweetness, but I don't want to have TOO high of a sugar content for health reasons.

I think you'll find it's just a fact of life that extreme sweetness is needed to balance the yucky carbonic acid. It looks like a false dream that you can ease back on the sweetness for health... we all would like to do that, but apparently only those with crippled bitter taste senses can.

I was misunderstood here years ago when saying a bunch of taste tests couldn't evolve their way to better rootbeer. Both the carb and bitter root flavors need a mule kick of excess sweetness to balance. You may have half the needed sugar, and still say it needs less, but unfortunately it needs double or quadruple to suddenly snap into place... counterintuitive.

My solution was to switch to agave syrup which really, really is much healthier. Not the usual junk science, but it has only about a third the glycemic shock of sugar. It has a perfect carmelly flavor and packs more sweetness into less volume. Unfortunately it isn't practical now because the pretentious booze knuckleheads have skyrocketed the price of agave with gourmet tequila popularity.

 

[vgravedoni]

thanks for the info! I've been using tap water but I'll buy some spring water for next time. I'm thinking I'll tone down the C02 to maybe 25-30 PSI and tone up the sweetness a bit as well. I was hoping to have a small-scale soda operation to do in my spare time to sell at my father's tavern, but I wanted to get my recipes down pat before I moved on to a corny keg, etc. So I don't want there to be 70g of sugar per 16oz bottle

 

[MrFoodScientist]

I've noticed for me that for whatever reason, chlorine tastes in tap water (which vary depending on your municipality's method and dosage) are more noticeable in carbonated water than still water.

Activated carbon filters should get some or most of that out. Even if you just run through a Brita pitcher or something like that, the taste should improve.

Also, if you want to increase the sweetness without increasing sugar level you can invert your sugar before adding other flavors to the syrup. 40-50g per 12oz is on par already with commercial sodas, so you're likely worse off health wise going with more sugar.

 

[KevinM]

Another option is going to be getting a water reading. Find out the mineral content since something there could be throwing it off.
Some things dissolve better in a carbonated environment and is how mineral waters are created (including deep in the bowels of the earth). You might be able to find out why and then try the filtering, since buying water for soda could wind up being a little less cost effective than preferred.