I make 1 gallon batches of hard cider and have been using Liquid Bread's Carbonater Caps to force carbonate. The issue that I have with this is bottling from the 2 liter PET soda bottle makes a lot of foam and loses CO2 in the process.
So I decided to take it to the next level, and attach some plumbing to the bottom of the PET bottles.
The fitting to the bottle is a 10-32 to 1/8 NPT stainless adapter, inserted through a 3/16" hole in the bottom of the bottle. Then there's a stainless elbow, a chrome plated brass ball valve and a 1/4" stainless barb. The only tricky part was attaching a 10-32 stainless nut to the adapter, on the inside of the bottle. Had to use a dowel with double sided tape to get the nut started, then snug it up with a 3/8 socket on a long extension.
I needed stands to hold the bottles upright, so I fabricated a couple from wood scraps in my workshop - I painted them black for moisture resistance (they WILL get wet) -
The first test was Thanksgiving Day, I "kegged" some home made hard pink lemonade. You know the drill with carbonater caps... pressurize, shake, repeat. Attached some hose and a picnic tap and we had lemonade.
The real test though was bottling my last batch of cider. With about 10 ft of 1/4 inch hose and a bottling wand I was able to use 13 psi and get hardly any foam. There's only an ounce or so that stays behind.
The hardware was purchased from McMaster-Carr, my favorite vendor -
2684K19 1/8 Pipe X 10-32 Thread Size, Reducing Adapter
4912K71 Miniature Chrome-plated Brass Ball Valve
53505K63 Stainless Steel Barbed Hose Fitting
4464K35 Stainless 1/8 NPT street elbow
I can't really justify a keg and chiller for the small amount of cider that I make. 2 of these bottles will fit in my fridge on their sides, and I can chill to 40°F and carbonate them. I hope this will help someone else in the same boat.
So I decided to take it to the next level, and attach some plumbing to the bottom of the PET bottles.
The fitting to the bottle is a 10-32 to 1/8 NPT stainless adapter, inserted through a 3/16" hole in the bottom of the bottle. Then there's a stainless elbow, a chrome plated brass ball valve and a 1/4" stainless barb. The only tricky part was attaching a 10-32 stainless nut to the adapter, on the inside of the bottle. Had to use a dowel with double sided tape to get the nut started, then snug it up with a 3/8 socket on a long extension.
I needed stands to hold the bottles upright, so I fabricated a couple from wood scraps in my workshop - I painted them black for moisture resistance (they WILL get wet) -
The first test was Thanksgiving Day, I "kegged" some home made hard pink lemonade. You know the drill with carbonater caps... pressurize, shake, repeat. Attached some hose and a picnic tap and we had lemonade.
The real test though was bottling my last batch of cider. With about 10 ft of 1/4 inch hose and a bottling wand I was able to use 13 psi and get hardly any foam. There's only an ounce or so that stays behind.
The hardware was purchased from McMaster-Carr, my favorite vendor -
2684K19 1/8 Pipe X 10-32 Thread Size, Reducing Adapter
4912K71 Miniature Chrome-plated Brass Ball Valve
53505K63 Stainless Steel Barbed Hose Fitting
4464K35 Stainless 1/8 NPT street elbow
I can't really justify a keg and chiller for the small amount of cider that I make. 2 of these bottles will fit in my fridge on their sides, and I can chill to 40°F and carbonate them. I hope this will help someone else in the same boat.
