Nice instructional! We have similar set up as well as similar filtered water faucet. To save some unnecessary effort - I purchased a length of food-safe line that slips easily over the filter neck and reaches down to the keg on the floor. No filling extra vessels! and it takes up very little space. The line is slightly oversized and I slip the line up the neck just past the bend in the neck - where the extra friction holds it fast enough not to fall off... then I have free hands to aim the draining end of the water line and keep my other hand on the filter system valve. The oversized line is big enough for water to flow freely and doesn't squirt out the back :)
Great video. Exactly what I needed. I got a converted fridge from a friend with regulator and tap. I dont drink much beer these days and was going to do a root beer keg for our son. I got a CO2 bottle, found corny kegs on craigslist for next to nothing and will be setting this up shortly. For what i paid to get rolling it is only a little more than the soda stream i bought for my wife and we should get a ton more water between refills and save $$. Thank you!
I carbonate water to 105psi. I feel like that’s more common than 25. Have you tried playing with higher pressures? Obviously may require swapping out some of the beer components with components with higher working pressure ratings. I haven’t tried reducing the pressure to anything that low. Might give it a try to see how it’s different.
Same issue. I currently make mine at 60 psi. I'd do 105psi if I could find an appropriate regulator. But I doubt these components could take even 60psi. Also curious about how one could make the water keg auto-refill.
@@madfermentationist4470 It pours very well, no burst of uncontrolled pressure at all. However, I use an a tap faucet with a flow adjustment, so that could be why. Since adding my comment, I have even increased my pressure to close to 120psi. I love how lively the drink is. It’s fun to just look at it in the glass. The entire inside of the glass gets coated with co2 beads and the surface is boiling with large bubbles of escaping gas. And there’s an active spray of water droplets shooting up a few inches above the glass. It makes drinking water an enjoyable experience.
I do it on a bottle by bottle basis with a tyre inflator and Schrader valve on a pop bottle. I think a lot of people do it that way. You get them super cold in the freezer first... then of course if you get a slug of ice in the neck it's pretty weird when you first open one.
Get a 5lb CO2 bottle, a regulator, some hose and the same bottle adapter you saw this guy use for the keg. There's a bottle adapter that has the same threads as a regular 20 oz. soda or water bottle. Fill the bottle most way, squeeze all the air out, screw on the adapter, connect the CO2 and shake for 30 (ish) seconds. Why all that? I refill my bottle for about $10 every 4-6 months and make almost a gallon of water per day.
Yep, just open it up and pour water and salts in. No real option other than venting out the CO2 in the empty keg (it would be displaced by the liquid anyway).
Excellent tutorial michael! Heres a burning question: we have a kegerator with TWO TAPS and would love to have BEER ON ONE TAP and MINERAL WATER ON THE OTHER TAP. Any way this is possible with the different PSI required between beer and moneral water? Even of we bottled the mineral water and stored in fridge?
The best option would be to get a dual regulator that allows you to set a higher pressure for the water and a lower pressure for the beer! Otherwise, you'd just have to strike a balance maybe slightly over-carbonated for the beer and under-carbonated for the water?
Thank you michael! We pay average about .10 cents an ounce for Essenza water and drink way too much. Making 5 gallon batches with high quality reverse osmosis water and better flavorings will be great once dialed in. Thanks for the tip on dual regulator for two tap system.
I've been using carbonation bottle attachments and just shaking 1 liter bottles that have been prechilling in the fridge for awhile now. It works great, but can be a bit of a hassle. I really want to switch over to a keg so that I can have larger batches prepared and bubbly water on tap. Is it necessary to shake the keg or can you just let it chill in cold temperatures to allow the C02 to get absorbed? Do you also put the C02 tank in the freezer/fridge with the keg? You mentioned that after a few days it will be more carbonated. For about how long into the process do you leave the C02 tank connected to the keg. Do you unhook it at some point? I would imagine that eventually it will just be filling in the empty space with C02 and wasting it? Or would the water eventually get flat?
You can certainly just set and wait, but it can take a couple weeks for the pressure to equalize and full dissolve. Leave it connected through the entire serving process (if you disconnect the water will slowly go flat as you serve it with the head pressure in the keg). I store the CO2 tank in the fridge, but more for convenience than any tangible benefit. Best of luck!
@@madfermentationist4470 Nice! Thanks for getting back to me. I tried to go with an average of your recommended 1.5-3g of CC. For my 5 gallon keg, I ultimately went with: 10g of Calcium Carbonate 2 teaspoons of Himalayan Sea Salt 2 Teaspoons of Baking Soda I know it's personal preference, but curious if you think this was a good starter formula? Seems kind of light in the salt and baking soda. But I'm sort of new to this.
We're a little short on taps to start but it's in the plans. We wouldn't be the first, my friend Nathan has a serve-yourself "free beer" tap at Right Proper that's carbonated water. Scott and I have even joked about doing hop-infused carbonated water...
@@madfermentationist4470 Any update on this? I've seen a couple local breweries start selling hop water here in CA for $5 / 12oz bottle. I think it's a great alcohol alternative and probably has great profit margins.
Yo Michael. So my wife (who is missing out on a ton of amazing small batch artesian hand crafted homebrew) is a calorie counter and drinks alcoholic carb water (lame) ...but they are crazy expensive. I assume same process but add appropriate amount of cane/corn sugar and like a champagne or wine yeast to ferment out...and later add favorite flavoring (how do I get a giant box of samples from Amoretti :) love to hear your thoughts...
I'd think the easier, less-flavorful idea would be to dose vodka to spec along with the flavors. Your idea certainly could work, but might create some more noticeable fermentation byproducts (you'd also want to consider adding yeast nutrient for FAN and trace minerals). Just start a brewery, and a box magically shows up!
Look forward to trying this! I plan on trying different water profiles via Bru'n Water just for kicks. Also, is removing O2 necessary for soda water? I know it affects beer flavoring but wasn't sure if it did or not for just plain ole water? Thanks for the vid!
Yep. Not a big deal as partial-pressures of different gasses are additive (Dalton's Law), but oxygen and water isn't a great combination when it comes to mold growth etc.
Is 25 psi the carbonating pressure or the serving pressure, or is it the same? I thought I saw a corny keg carbonator set up (with a stone) that said to use like 60-80 psi...does that sound right?
I carb and serve at the same pressure. I wouldn't go over 30 PSI just for the safety of the keg. They are supposed to go to 60 PSI... but I wouldn't push it!
Soda Transfer Tanks are rated to 130psi. Pepsi & Coke run their carbonators at 80-100psi. If you need tanks, fittings, parts, just ask. www.chicompany.net
You need to keep it connected. As you dispense the head pressure drops, which in turn would cause carbonation to leave the liquid to balance the pressure.
Nitrogen is a good option if you are pushing wine or cold brew. Can also assist in a blend with CO2 for long draw systems like we have at the brewery. Generally not something helpful for carbonated water though.
Would the water still stay carbonated and work ok at room temp. Maybe chill to carb then pull it out. I just don’t want to give up precious beer space permanently. Good idea with the minerals. I wanna do a Perrier clone asap. Thanks! Can’t wait for the opening of sapwood 20 mins from me!
You could certainly take the water out of the kegerator, you'd just need to put it back in 24 hours before you wanted to drink it again. If you poured it at room temperature the water would fly out of the tap because of the warmer temperature would raise the pressure. Cheers!
@@madfermentationist4470 this is all new to me so hopefully this isn't crazy... could the cold water just be pressurized to a lower psi initially to later pour at room temp and add ice after pouring? If so, any idea what psi we would shoot for? Thanks!!
@@madfermentationist4470 originally Lily ashen posted "this is all new to me so hopefully this isn't crazy.. could the cold water just be pressurized to a lower psi initially to later pour at room temp and add ice after pouring? If so, any idea what psi we would shoot for? Thanks!" I too am also interested in finding out if this is possible. I own kegging equipment but no way to keep the keg cold.
hello. what was the stuff you put in it? was it calcium carbonate? what else can sub this? is it possible not to put anything, just water and the co2? thank u
Yes, I leave it at 25 PSI. If you lower it, the carbonation dissolved in the water will slowly equalize to the lower pressure and the beer will be less bubbly.
Hello, I recently purchased a kegerator to do this exact thing. We are spending so much money on sparkling water! But I NEED HELP! It came with an empty commercial keg. I was hoping I could simply fill the commercial keg with filtered water after rinsing it out well with high pressure hose and soap and water. Any recommendations? I am unsure if it will still work and haven’t tried to open it yet. Thank you.
A sanke-style keg is annoying to deal with compared to a Corny keg, but it could work since you don't really need to clean it between batches. Just make sure all of the soap is really out, and then fill it with water!
I've been making carbonated water for a while, but I've been struggling with the serving aspect. If have to lower the keg pressure to like 10 PSI to serve, but still get lots of foam and lose carbonation. How do you serve it with the keg @ 30PSI and get a pour like that? Do you have a long water line to reduce pressure at the tap? Flow control tap? Thanks.
With water it really isn't a big deal. Perlicks are great (I have them), but the "forward seal" design is most valuable when you are serving something that could dry and become sticky.
Correct, although the exact amount and type of water treatment will depend on your water and personal tastes. If you like the flavor of your tap water I'd suggest not adding minerals to your first batch.
Hi, one question. Is it important to purge the headspace from Oxygen to carbonate water? If so, what are the benefits of doing it and what are the downsides of not doing it? Thank you in advanced
Never had that happen before. What was in the liquid line before? Could be picking up flavors from the o-rings too. Try dumping the line, then taste again.
it was in a mini 5L keg in fact. so i opened the top and poured it directly out, still had the same fruity flavour unfortunately, perhaps the dip tube (which had beer running through it previously) has tainted it
There are lots of great sources out there for building a kegerator, it was outside the scope of what I wanted to cover here as there are so many options.
I have read about calcium carbonate correlation with coronary artery calcification (CAC) in google schoolars and there is no direct connection between two.
Nice instructional!
We have similar set up as well as similar filtered water faucet. To save some unnecessary effort - I purchased a length of food-safe line that slips easily over the filter neck and reaches down to the keg on the floor. No filling extra vessels! and it takes up very little space. The line is slightly oversized and I slip the line up the neck just past the bend in the neck - where the extra friction holds it fast enough not to fall off... then I have free hands to aim the draining end of the water line and keep my other hand on the filter system valve. The oversized line is big enough for water to flow freely and doesn't squirt out the back :)
I thought it would be that easy. Great way to promote drinking more water. Thanks.
Thank you for sharing this!!!
I have been doing that for a while with a 9 liter keg. I use filtered taped water also. It is really nice and easy. Lovely water review;)Cheers
Great video. Exactly what I needed. I got a converted fridge from a friend with regulator and tap. I dont drink much beer these days and was going to do a root beer keg for our son. I got a CO2 bottle, found corny kegs on craigslist for next to nothing and will be setting this up shortly. For what i paid to get rolling it is only a little more than the soda stream i bought for my wife and we should get a ton more water between refills and save $$. Thank you!
I can't believe nobody has commented on the joke, "alcohol isn't apparent"...10/10 on the funny scale my man
very helpful, thank you!
Love the video! You're quite hilarious, dude!
I carbonate water to 105psi. I feel like that’s more common than 25. Have you tried playing with higher pressures? Obviously may require swapping out some of the beer components with components with higher working pressure ratings. I haven’t tried reducing the pressure to anything that low. Might give it a try to see how it’s different.
Same issue. I currently make mine at 60 psi. I'd do 105psi if I could find an appropriate regulator. But I doubt these components could take even 60psi.
Also curious about how one could make the water keg auto-refill.
I haven't tried higher carbonation. How does it pour? It seems like it would come flying out without really long lines.
@@madfermentationist4470 It pours very well, no burst of uncontrolled pressure at all. However, I use an a tap faucet with a flow adjustment, so that could be why. Since adding my comment, I have even increased my pressure to close to 120psi. I love how lively the drink is. It’s fun to just look at it in the glass. The entire inside of the glass gets coated with co2 beads and the surface is boiling with large bubbles of escaping gas. And there’s an active spray of water droplets shooting up a few inches above the glass. It makes drinking water an enjoyable experience.
great instructional video! Thanks....
I wonder if you can install a second carbon filter in parallel to double the flow of the water...
Light beer. Lol. I'm wondering if I'll have to replace my hose or just pbw and starsan.
Your old lines should be fine with a good cleaning!
I do it on a bottle by bottle basis with a tyre inflator and Schrader valve on a pop bottle. I think a lot of people do it that way. You get them super cold in the freezer first... then of course if you get a slug of ice in the neck it's pretty weird when you first open one.
Get a 5lb CO2 bottle, a regulator, some hose and the same bottle adapter you saw this guy use for the keg. There's a bottle adapter that has the same threads as a regular 20 oz. soda or water bottle. Fill the bottle most way, squeeze all the air out, screw on the adapter, connect the CO2 and shake for 30 (ish) seconds. Why all that? I refill my bottle for about $10 every 4-6 months and make almost a gallon of water per day.
How do you refill the water on the keg?
Does all the CO2 left on the keg go to waste doing the refill? (CO2 on the keg, not on the tank)
Yep, just open it up and pour water and salts in. No real option other than venting out the CO2 in the empty keg (it would be displaced by the liquid anyway).
Now we know what a kegerator is!
You don’t need any special keg ? Any corney keg will work ??😮
Yep, standard Corny Is totally fine! Still using the same ones five years later without issue!
Excellent tutorial michael! Heres a burning question: we have a kegerator with TWO TAPS and would love to have BEER ON ONE TAP and MINERAL WATER ON THE OTHER TAP. Any way this is possible with the different PSI required between beer and moneral water? Even of we bottled the mineral water and stored in fridge?
The best option would be to get a dual regulator that allows you to set a higher pressure for the water and a lower pressure for the beer! Otherwise, you'd just have to strike a balance maybe slightly over-carbonated for the beer and under-carbonated for the water?
Thank you michael! We pay average about .10 cents an ounce for Essenza water and drink way too much. Making 5 gallon batches with high quality reverse osmosis water and better flavorings will be great once dialed in. Thanks for the tip on dual regulator for two tap system.
I've been using carbonation bottle attachments and just shaking 1 liter bottles that have been prechilling in the fridge for awhile now. It works great, but can be a bit of a hassle. I really want to switch over to a keg so that I can have larger batches prepared and bubbly water on tap. Is it necessary to shake the keg or can you just let it chill in cold temperatures to allow the C02 to get absorbed? Do you also put the C02 tank in the freezer/fridge with the keg? You mentioned that after a few days it will be more carbonated. For about how long into the process do you leave the C02 tank connected to the keg. Do you unhook it at some point? I would imagine that eventually it will just be filling in the empty space with C02 and wasting it? Or would the water eventually get flat?
You can certainly just set and wait, but it can take a couple weeks for the pressure to equalize and full dissolve. Leave it connected through the entire serving process (if you disconnect the water will slowly go flat as you serve it with the head pressure in the keg). I store the CO2 tank in the fridge, but more for convenience than any tangible benefit. Best of luck!
When you say Carbonic Acid, do you just mean CO2?
Yep, often how it is referred to when carbon dioxide is dissolved in water.
@@madfermentationist4470 Nice! Thanks for getting back to me. I tried to go with an average of your recommended 1.5-3g of CC. For my 5 gallon keg, I ultimately went with:
10g of Calcium Carbonate
2 teaspoons of Himalayan Sea Salt
2 Teaspoons of Baking Soda
I know it's personal preference, but curious if you think this was a good starter formula? Seems kind of light in the salt and baking soda. But I'm sort of new to this.
Maybe a silly question but something I’ve thought about before: thoughts on having mineral water on a tap at a (or your) brewery?
We're a little short on taps to start but it's in the plans. We wouldn't be the first, my friend Nathan has a serve-yourself "free beer" tap at Right Proper that's carbonated water. Scott and I have even joked about doing hop-infused carbonated water...
@@madfermentationist4470 Any update on this? I've seen a couple local breweries start selling hop water here in CA for $5 / 12oz bottle. I think it's a great alcohol alternative and probably has great profit margins.
Yo Michael. So my wife (who is missing out on a ton of amazing small batch artesian hand crafted homebrew) is a calorie counter and drinks alcoholic carb water (lame) ...but they are crazy expensive. I assume same process but add appropriate amount of cane/corn sugar and like a champagne or wine yeast to ferment out...and later add favorite flavoring (how do I get a giant box of samples from Amoretti :) love to hear your thoughts...
I'd think the easier, less-flavorful idea would be to dose vodka to spec along with the flavors. Your idea certainly could work, but might create some more noticeable fermentation byproducts (you'd also want to consider adding yeast nutrient for FAN and trace minerals).
Just start a brewery, and a box magically shows up!
Look forward to trying this! I plan on trying different water profiles via Bru'n Water just for kicks. Also, is removing O2 necessary for soda water? I know it affects beer flavoring but wasn't sure if it did or not for just plain ole water? Thanks for the vid!
If you have excess O2 in you tank your water won’t become as carbonated. So pretty important to remove it from my limited experience.
Yep. Not a big deal as partial-pressures of different gasses are additive (Dalton's Law), but oxygen and water isn't a great combination when it comes to mold growth etc.
What about your electric bill?
Chest freezers are super-efficient, especially when run at above freezing temperatures and opened infrequently. Maybe $4/month?
Great video! :-)
Do you fill the tank with c02 then turn it off and put it in the fridge or keep it on for the 24hrs
Keep the keg attached to CO2 so the gas pressure is replenished as it dissolves into the liquid.
Is 25 psi the carbonating pressure or the serving pressure, or is it the same? I thought I saw a corny keg carbonator set up (with a stone) that said to use like 60-80 psi...does that sound right?
I carb and serve at the same pressure. I wouldn't go over 30 PSI just for the safety of the keg. They are supposed to go to 60 PSI... but I wouldn't push it!
Soda Transfer Tanks are rated to 130psi. Pepsi & Coke run their carbonators at 80-100psi.
If you need tanks, fittings, parts, just ask. www.chicompany.net
what kind of refrigeration unit is that?
It's a chest freezer. Here's the build for turning it into a "keezer" www.themadfermentationist.com/2015/02/how-to-build-keezer-collar.html
Do I have to keep the CO2 line open while pouring? Or do I have to force carb the water then it ok to disconnect the CO2 line to dispense? Thanks
You need to keep it connected. As you dispense the head pressure drops, which in turn would cause carbonation to leave the liquid to balance the pressure.
Mad Fermentationist Thanks a lot!
Nitrogen is used as well.
Nitrogen is a good option if you are pushing wine or cold brew. Can also assist in a blend with CO2 for long draw systems like we have at the brewery. Generally not something helpful for carbonated water though.
How long would you say a carbonated water keg will last kept under pressure? Do you need to shake it again after a certain length of time?
It lasts pretty much indefinitely, no need to shake once it is carbonated!
Would the water still stay carbonated and work ok at room temp. Maybe chill to carb then pull it out. I just don’t want to give up precious beer space permanently. Good idea with the minerals. I wanna do a Perrier clone asap. Thanks! Can’t wait for the opening of sapwood 20 mins from me!
You could certainly take the water out of the kegerator, you'd just need to put it back in 24 hours before you wanted to drink it again. If you poured it at room temperature the water would fly out of the tap because of the warmer temperature would raise the pressure. Cheers!
@@madfermentationist4470 this is all new to me so hopefully this isn't crazy... could the cold water just be pressurized to a lower psi initially to later pour at room temp and add ice after pouring? If so, any idea what psi we would shoot for? Thanks!!
@@madfermentationist4470 originally Lily ashen posted "this is all new to me so hopefully this isn't crazy.. could the cold water just be pressurized to a lower psi initially to later pour at room temp and add ice after pouring? If so, any idea what psi we would shoot for? Thanks!"
I too am also interested in finding out if this is possible. I own kegging equipment but no way to keep the keg cold.
Mineral water is water with high content on minerals...
How long did you let it stand before serving, after charging the keg?
I usually leave it in the keezer overnight to chill before shaking carbonation in. At that point it is ready to drink.
Where is the easiest place to purchase co2?
Roberts Oxygen and Airgas are the two big companies in the US that sell/swap CO2 tanks.
hello. what was the stuff you put in it? was it calcium carbonate? what else can sub this? is it possible not to put anything, just water and the co2? thank u
You can put nothing, it's fine. What he put was chalk. You don't have to put anything though
I love ur video I for have a c20 machine and cant get one now how can u make ur water like that with out machine
Hi there. Do you just leave your CO2 at 25PSI for dispensing as well? Thanks so much!
Yes, I leave it at 25 PSI. If you lower it, the carbonation dissolved in the water will slowly equalize to the lower pressure and the beer will be less bubbly.
Hello, I recently purchased a kegerator to do this exact thing. We are spending so much money on sparkling water! But I NEED HELP! It came with an empty commercial keg. I was hoping I could simply fill the commercial keg with filtered water after rinsing it out well with high pressure hose and soap and water. Any recommendations? I am unsure if it will still work and haven’t tried to open it yet. Thank you.
A sanke-style keg is annoying to deal with compared to a Corny keg, but it could work since you don't really need to clean it between batches. Just make sure all of the soap is really out, and then fill it with water!
I've been making carbonated water for a while, but I've been struggling with the serving aspect. If have to lower the keg pressure to like 10 PSI to serve, but still get lots of foam and lose carbonation. How do you serve it with the keg @ 30PSI and get a pour like that? Do you have a long water line to reduce pressure at the tap? Flow control tap? Thanks.
Long (10') and narrow (3/16") lines help to serve it without excessive foaming. There are "line balancing" calculators out there that can help.
this is almost like Henry's Kitchen
where did u cylinder from??
The CO2 cylinder is from a local gas supplier. In the US, the two big ones are Robert's Oxygen and Air Gas.
I'm in the process of doing exactly this with a corny keg. Is there a faucet that you prefer? Perlick, etc?
With water it really isn't a big deal. Perlicks are great (I have them), but the "forward seal" design is most valuable when you are serving something that could dry and become sticky.
@@madfermentationist4470 Thanks for the info!
for clarification -you added 5 grams of Chalk to a 5 gallon corny?
Correct, although the exact amount and type of water treatment will depend on your water and personal tastes. If you like the flavor of your tap water I'd suggest not adding minerals to your first batch.
Hi, one question. Is it important to purge the headspace from Oxygen to carbonate water? If so, what are the benefits of doing it and what are the downsides of not doing it? Thank you in advanced
Purging should make it fizzier. Important step in my opinion.
Acid rain is a disproved myth.
Great video! Question.......I live in Los Angeles.....would I be able to use my straight tap water? If not....what would I do to the tap water??
It just depends if you enjoy drinking the water or not. Carbon filtration would be the easiest option if there is a chlorine aroma.
there are different ways to purify your water like ozone, its worth it to buy one of those systems, in the US should be cheaper like $200 ish
real selzer should be 50-60 psi
The great thing about making seltzer at home is that you can carbonate it to your tastes.
But diluting the flavor will make it taste more! /s
Memories of flavor...
why do you add the calc carb? I didn't understand that.
My wife loves Perrier, our water chemistry is similar to theirs but with less carbonate. It "softens" the carbonic acidity a bit.
To increase the hardness of the solution so it doesn't turn out acidic.
i actually did this the other day - after a few days on co2 mine turns a bit fruity / medicinal? not sure if its the co2 or what?
Never had that happen before. What was in the liquid line before? Could be picking up flavors from the o-rings too. Try dumping the line, then taste again.
it was in a mini 5L keg in fact. so i opened the top and poured it directly out, still had the same fruity flavour unfortunately, perhaps the dip tube (which had beer running through it previously) has tainted it
I would not recommend habenero .
Not very explanatory for those that want to learn from scratch .
There are lots of great sources out there for building a kegerator, it was outside the scope of what I wanted to cover here as there are so many options.
That calcium powder is going to calcify your arteries.
I have read about calcium carbonate correlation with coronary artery calcification (CAC) in google schoolars and there is no direct connection between two.