Help Designing Infinite Seltzer Setup

[skuzie]

Hello all! I am hoping to design an infinite seltzer setup that is half this oldie and half this one. My city water is very hard and fairly unpleasant to drink, so I want to buy 5-gallon jugs of distilled water, remineralize them, pump them to pressure and use that to fill the keg instead of line pressure from the water main. This is my first foray into homebrew with fittings, etc, so I'm hoping that someone can help me make sure that I am choosing the correct components. I am worried not only about interoperability between the components but also about safety, the McCann carbonator builds have a lot of warnings about high pressure, and I know that this build won't require that much pressure but it seems like it's going to be more than just beer, so I want to make sure that, for instance, the lines I'm choosing won't balloon.

My current design goes something like this:

CO2 Delivery:

• start off with a 10lb CO2 tank
• attach a regulator
• connect 8mm OD tubing to the barb
• run to an 8mm ball lock connector
• on the inside, use a 1/4" tubing
• to connect to a carbonation stone

Water Delivery:

• start off with a food-grade 5 gallon water tank
• into some 1/2" tubing [QUESTION: what's the best thing to use here? braided?]
• into an inline pump
• into some 1/2" tubing, into a 1/2" to 3/4" reducer [QUESTION: what should I be looking for here?]
• into a tank tee
• which has a drain (with a 1/2" to 3/4" reducer) and an OPV on the 1/2" connections and a gague and a plug on the 1/4" connections
• into a 3/4" tubing [QUESTION: what's the best thing to use here? braided?]
• into a 3/4" to 3/8" adapter [QUESTION: what should I be looking for here?]
• to a 3/8" to 1/4" adapter, capped with a 3/8" cap
• into a 1/4" to 8mm reducer
• connect to a 2 gallon pressure tank
• connect 8mm OD tubing to the barb
• run to an 8mm ball lock connector [QUESTION: this is "beverage out", but is it unidirectional? here I'd be using it to put water IN]
• into the keg carbonator lid

Keg:

• just a simple corny keg

Seltzer Out:

• an 8mm ball lock connector
• to 8mm OD tubing
• (for now) to a handheld faucet

I will put the pressure tank and keg into a mini-fridge. Any and all feedback greatly appreciated!

 

[skuzie]

Looks like I should be able to use PEX to bridge the gap between the 1/2" NPT threads on the pump, the 3/4" NPT threads on the tank tee, etc. I was also able to get the 3/4" NPT reduced all the way down to 3/8" compression for the 3/8" to 1/4" adapter, so that part is all done:

 

[Bobby_M]

It's not really an infinite seltzer setup if you're starting with 5 gallon jugs of water but that's fine. One thing I'm absolutely certain about is that you're way over thinking this. There is no need for a pump.

1. Dump the 5 gallons of water into the 5 gallon keg.
2. Chill water to mid 30°F in the fridge.
3.Connect CO2 regulator to some hose and terminate it with the grey ball lock QD. Set the pressure to 40psi.
4. Lay the keg on its side and roll it back and forth with your foot for about 5 minutes.
5. Reduce pressure to 25psi and it's ready to serve.

Repeat when the keg is empty.

Option #2, which removes the physical rolling of the keg, would just be as simple as adding a piece of hose to the inside of the keg connected to the underside of the gas in fitting and terminating on a diffusion stone as you've linked to. That just makes the incoming CO2 go to the bottom of the keg so that the fine bubbles carbonate without any kind of agitation required.

Option #3 which is a true infinite feed system is to install an RO filter system for about $100 that takes your tap water down to almost no mineral content. From there you feed the water into this replacement keg lid: Corny Keg Continuous Seltzer Lid
The lid just has a float built into it so that as you drink the seltzer, it keeps getting topped off with new filtered water. This is the setup I have at home and it works great.

Note that if you use option #3, you can roll the keg around to get the initial carbonation level set and then you never have to do it again. Every time you pull a full glass of seltzer, only that volume of new flat water goes into the keg and the carbonation level of the whole keg is never affected enough to notice. In other words, no need for diffusion stones in this setup.

 

[Augspies]

It's not really an infinite seltzer setup if you're starting with 5 gallon jugs of water but that's fine. One thing I'm absolutely certain about is that you're way over thinking this. There is no need for a pump.

1. Dump the 5 gallons of water into the 5 gallon keg.
2. Chill water to mid 30°F in the fridge.
3.Connect CO2 regulator to some hose and terminate it with the grey ball lock QD. Set the pressure to 40psi.
4. Lay the keg on its side and roll it back and forth with your foot for about 5 minutes.
5. Reduce pressure to 25psi and it's ready to serve.

Repeat when the keg is empty.

Option #2, which removes the physical rolling of the keg, would just be as simple as adding a piece of hose to the inside of the keg connected to the underside of the gas in fitting and terminating on a diffusion stone as you've linked to. That just makes the incoming CO2 go to the bottom of the keg so that the fine bubbles carbonate without any kind of agitation required.

Option #3 which is a true infinite feed system is to install an RO filter system for about $100 that takes your tap water down to almost no mineral content. From there you feed the water into this replacement keg lid: Corny Keg Continuous Seltzer Lid
The lid just has a float built into it so that as you drink the seltzer, it keeps getting topped off with new filtered water. This is the setup I have at home and it works great.

Note that if you use option #3, you can roll the keg around to get the initial carbonation level set and then you never have to do it again. Every time you pull a full glass of seltzer, only that volume of new flat water goes into the keg and the carbonation level of the whole keg is never affected enough to notice. In other words, no need for diffusion stones in this setup.

Why does #3 require the RO filter?

 

[twd000]

It's not really an infinite seltzer setup if you're starting with 5 gallon jugs of water but that's fine. One thing I'm absolutely certain about is that you're way over thinking this. There is no need for a pump.

1. Dump the 5 gallons of water into the 5 gallon keg.
2. Chill water to mid 30°F in the fridge.
3.Connect CO2 regulator to some hose and terminate it with the grey ball lock QD. Set the pressure to 40psi.
4. Lay the keg on its side and roll it back and forth with your foot for about 5 minutes.
5. Reduce pressure to 25psi and it's ready to serve.

Repeat when the keg is empty.

Option #2, which removes the physical rolling of the keg, would just be as simple as adding a piece of hose to the inside of the keg connected to the underside of the gas in fitting and terminating on a diffusion stone as you've linked to. That just makes the incoming CO2 go to the bottom of the keg so that the fine bubbles carbonate without any kind of agitation required.

Option #3 which is a true infinite feed system is to install an RO filter system for about $100 that takes your tap water down to almost no mineral content. From there you feed the water into this replacement keg lid: Corny Keg Continuous Seltzer Lid
The lid just has a float built into it so that as you drink the seltzer, it keeps getting topped off with new filtered water. This is the setup I have at home and it works great.

Note that if you use option #3, you can roll the keg around to get the initial carbonation level set and then you never have to do it again. Every time you pull a full glass of seltzer, only that volume of new flat water goes into the keg and the carbonation level of the whole keg is never affected enough to notice. In other words, no need for diffusion stones in this setup.

How do you re mineralize the RO water for option #3? Straight RO water doesn’t taste very good

 

[Bobby_M]

How do you re mineralize the RO water for option #3? Straight RO water doesn’t taste very good

My whole family likes the taste of carbonated RO just fine. If you feel strongly about it, you can run the RO through a remineralization canister or just skip the RO system and run your tap water through a couple carbon filters instead.

 

[Bobby_M]

Why does #3 require the RO filter?

It doesn't require it, but I'm a fan of drinking pure water. If you have chlorinated tap water, running it through a pair of carbon filters would be fine.

 

[Augspies]

It doesn't require it, but I'm a fan of drinking pure water. If you have chlorinated tap water, running it through a pair of carbon filters would be fine.

Thanks for the reply, Bobby.