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Have you ever wanted to make your own carbonated beverages such as soda and carbonated water? Well, I have. However, after doing a lot of research I realized that the carbonation machines you can buy cost hundreds of dollars. But then I found this way of doing it. It costs very little and can be made with stuff found around the house. It's great for making homemade sodas, seltzer water, and even re-carbonating flat beverages. I even tried carbonating chocolate milk... it was pretty interesting but not bad. :D
WARNING: BE CAREFUL! If you use too much vinegar and baking soda, it could blow up and make a huge mess in your kitchen, or worse... injure you. It happened to me (not the injury, but the explosion). I can assure you, it is not fun to clean up. This is high pressure stuff you are working with. So, please consider safety glasses and doing this outside on your first couple tries. Please don't hold me responsible for the mess in your kitchen if it does explode.
Sorry about the crappy video.
See The Video Here
WARNING: BE CAREFUL! If you use too much vinegar and baking soda, it could blow up and make a huge mess in your kitchen, or worse... injure you. It happened to me (not the injury, but the explosion). I can assure you, it is not fun to clean up. This is high pressure stuff you are working with. So, please consider safety glasses and doing this outside on your first couple tries. Please don't hold me responsible for the mess in your kitchen if it does explode.
Sorry about the crappy video.
See The Video Here
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Signing UpStep 1Collect Your Materials
You Will Need:
2 PLASTIC Bottles (preferably 20oz) With Caps
3 ft. (aprox.) of tubing, fish aquarium size
Drill
Drill Bit a little bit smaller than the tubing
Scissors
Funnel (forgot to put it in the pic)
Toilet Paper... Yes Toilet Paper
Vinegar
Baking Soda
Liquid You Want Carbonated
Note: Don't Use Glass Bottles, They Could Explode.
2 PLASTIC Bottles (preferably 20oz) With Caps
3 ft. (aprox.) of tubing, fish aquarium size
Drill
Drill Bit a little bit smaller than the tubing
Scissors
Funnel (forgot to put it in the pic)
Toilet Paper... Yes Toilet Paper
Vinegar
Baking Soda
Liquid You Want Carbonated
Note: Don't Use Glass Bottles, They Could Explode.
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I'm thinking that a diffuser at the end of the tube would help the CO2 into the water a bit more effectively. I accomplished this without any extra cash spent on fancy ceramic diffusers by just plugging the end of the tube and poking several holes along its length (near the end) with a small needle. Smaller bubbles should let the CO2 be absorbed more easily.
...if it's anything like ozone, I haven't tried this project yet, but the diffuser (holes poked into the tube) works very well on my water ozonater (purifier).
Second idea, is to use citric acid instead of vinegar; in powder form. Put small amounts of citric acid and sodium bicarbonate into one bottle with the short tube protrusion, water into the other bottle with the length of tube. Squeeze the bottle of water, forcing the water through the tube into the powdered mix, creating CO2 (see Alka-Seltzer). This way there's no toilet paper and no rush to screw caps on. Just off the top of my head, may be a terrible idea. :)
Third one is this: a small "pressure relief" hole cut into the lid of the bottle with the water. My thinking is that this eliminates risk of explosion (you are creating a pressure vessel after all, see pipe-bomb) as well as allowing more CO2 to be bubbled through the beverage as its flow is no longer restricted by equal pressure on the side with the water. Realize that in two closed vessels, once pressure is equal, there's no more flow between them.
Hope I could help. Third suggestion is a very strong recommendation on my part, I don't want to read an Instructable on how to remove plastic shrapnel. :)
P.S. - I did not read every comment, if any of this has been previously suggested, please disregard. Except for the good parts.
Citric acid is good, and diffuser is brilliant!
It may be safe, though. I haven't really put much effort into looking up the effects of drinking alkaline metals. :)
No. Tubing costs $0.70 a meter if that in Australia, jsut buy it.
thx very much for this instructable.
i tested it, it works, and it's quite handy. i've assembled the tools in a box and labeled it "Carbonator."
there's only one thing i would change:
PROBLEM
toilet paper doesn't work for me. it disintegrates easily in the water and when shaken it can clog the tube.
SOLUTIONS
since the goal is to add the baking soda all at once, you may wanna use
1. either stronger paper (wax, parchment, plastic) leaving one end open. however, this still is a single-use method, or
2. place the b/soda in a small, open-ended container* (smaller than the bottle neck) and add it to the vinegar all at once. this multi-use method eliminates the need for paper altogether.
*an "open-ended container" can be a marker top, a short cigar tube, an empty BIC pen (remove ink cartridge, leave top on), a piece of hose with a cork on one end, or any similar object.
Swirl it then. You don't want vinegar anywhere near the tubing otherwise it might squirt into your drink.
Lets say $0.33 of tube, $1 for a cheap, no-named soda (not hard to get for free, empty.. C'mon.), the bi-carb - $4.00 for a 250gram box (can get for much cheaper) and $1 for 2 litre bottle of vinegar.
+ flavouring.
"why in toilet paper?"
because carbonation begins the moment the baking soda is added to the vinegar. if the baking soda is added gradually, your vinegar bottle will overflow before you have a chance to add all the baking soda and replace the lid.
since toilet paper disintegrates quickly but not instantly, the entire quantity of baking soda can be added at once. this gives you just enough time to replace the lid.
however, the "toilet paper method" presents other problems. see my comment below for alternative paper types and methods.
good luck!
Mike
I didn't have baking soda, that's Y solving for X could be considered flawed logic as well. But, your comment does bring to the surface an important question that I'm most certain could prove more difficult to solve than Fermat's last theorem or any of Einstein's theories (relatively); Indeed, who would run out of toilet paper?