Short term bottling of soda

[86turbodsl]

Anyone got suggestions on this?

I currently have a keg of water in the keezer i keep carbed up to use for soda with extracts. I'd like to take some to work for lunch, but don't know what i'd use to keep the co2 in the soda. Can I just make my mix, dump it in a plastic bottle with cap and take to work? will i lose my carbonation?

Suggestions?

 

[MrFoodScientist]

Yes, that's doable.
I've put carbonated water into a water bottle with those single serve kool-aid packets without a problem.

 

[Raenon]

Might seem obvious, but perhaps it isn't... use a bottle designed for pressure.
A lot of wide-mouthed water bottles, for example, aren't made for carbonation (often not even completely water-tight), so a lot of the CO2 would leak out the lid.

A plain old plastic soda bottle will work perfectly.

 

[Yooper]

I have a "carbonator cap". They are expensive (about $15) but they are awesome for more than one reason. The first, you can put your soda/beer whatever in it, put the carbonator cap on it and give it big shot of co2. The stuff will stay carbed indefinitely.

Even better, you can take a non-carbed beverage (lemonade, ice tea, whatever) and stick that carbonator cap on it and turn up the psi on your regulator to 30 psi. Shake the liquid (works best if it's cold) for about a minute. That's it!

You can use that cap with any soda bottle, from the small ones to the 2 liter ones. You can carb up anything you can think of. (One tip. Carbed chocolate milk is not nearly as good as it sounds according to my son. )

 

[KevinM]

Agreed with Raenon, and even better Yooper. With Raenon's advice of using a bottle that normally tries to hold co2, you should be fine.

Your carbonation will be less than if you carbed (like Yooper's example), since there will be co2 released from the carbonated water until the internal pressure of the bottle raises to the point that there's equilibrium with the water, but I would still expect some carbonation left.

Just like if you open a bottle of soda, take a sip, close it and save it for later. It wont' be as carbed as when it was new, but it'll still be carbed.

 

[Yooper]

Agreed with Raenon, and even better Yooper. With Raenon's advice of using a bottle that normally tries to hold co2, you should be fine.

Your carbonation will be less than if you carbed (like Yooper's example), since there will be co2 released from the carbonated water until the internal pressure of the bottle raises to the point that there's equilibrium with the water, but I would still expect some carbonation left.

Just like if you open a bottle of soda, take a sip, close it and save it for later. It wont' be as carbed as when it was new, but it'll still be carbed.

I don't think it'll stay very carbed without using a long tube out of the faucet, or something, though. Just pouring it through a faucet knocks out a ton of co2, leaving you with flat-ish water/beer/soda if you just pour it. That's why when brewpubs fill growlers, they use a piece of tubing and try to not have too much foaming. And the beer is often flat by the next day.

 

[KevinM]

Good point. I did have to give away cider and a beer before without using a tube, until I find one that fits, but it was still carbed. It also has a lower initial carb level, and didn't have a lot of turbulence or speed coming out and also had no foaming. The beer was consumed within an hour of bringing it to the brewing store for analyzing and still had adequate carbonation, though I'm sure an official tasting would say not. (It's sorghum, I need all the help I can get.)

I don't believe that you can get away with this with soda quite as well since it's stored at a higher pressure. Though, without either tube or carbonation cap option for today/tomorrow or immediately, it's still should be barely passable with light carbonation. (Definately a reduction in my initial estimate of adequately passable.)

 

[jyaky123]

Good point. I did have to give away cider and a beer before without using a tube, until I find one that fits, but it was still carbed. It also has a lower initial carb level, and didn't have a lot of turbulence or speed coming out and also had no foaming. The beer was consumed within an hour of bringing it to the brewing store for analyzing and still had adequate carbonation, though I'm sure an official tasting would say not. (It's sorghum, I need all the help I can get.)

 

[86turbodsl]

Sounds like the carb cap may be the way to go. prepare the night before, and carb it up by shaking, then just use the carb cap until consumption.

 

[MrFoodScientist]

Assuming your bottle cap gets an adequate seal and it's a material that has good CO2 barrier properties, the carbonation you will lose is going to be only that which will pressurize the headspace to equilibrium and from the agitation/foaming from pouring it into the bottle. If you mix it in the morning and seal it up, it won't lose much before lunch.

You'll get better results with the carbonator cap, but it's not necessary.