Three Ways to Make Carbonated Water at Home

Carbonated water is a delicious way to wash down a great meal, especially once the warmer weather starts arriving in the coming months. But who wants to buy all that carbonated water in the store when you can easily make it at home?

Here are three ways to do it:

Using a seltzer bottle

Seltzer bottles have a tube, a main chamber, and a head with a dispensing leaver, along with a carbon dioxide charger to carbonate water (an alternative to a seltzer bottle that uses similar technology contains the carbon charger within a separate stand; SodaStream is one well-known brand of this type of carbonator).

To make seltzer with a seltzer bottle,

• Fill the bottle with tap water, leaving a bit of space for gas expansion.
• Insert the tube into the base, then screw the head onto the bottle.
• Insert a carbon dioxide cartridge in its holder and place it in the slot on the side of the head; the holder pierces the cartridge, allowing carbon dioxide to flow into the base through the tube.
• Shake the seltzer bottle for 10 to 15 seconds to disperse the carbon dioxide throughout the water.
• Remove the cartridge holder from the head, then squeeze the leaver to dispense your drink.

Using yeast

You can also make carbonated water using yeast; yeast works because it eats sugar, leaving carbon dioxide as a by-product.  You’ll need about 1/8 tsp. of yeast to make a gallon of carbonated water, following these steps.

• Fill a gallon-sized bottle with a warm beverage you want to carbonate; the yeast will not work in cold water.
• Add yeast. You can use different kinds of yeast; if you can find it, champagne yeast is usually the best choice because it does not change the taste and stays at the bottom.
• Cap the bottle and shake it well. 
• Place the bottle in a dark, warm place for a few days to ferment.
• Once it’s ready, refrigerate the bottle to halt the fermentation process. While you drink the beverage, pour it in a way that keeps yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottle.

Use dry ice

Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide – the gas used to make carbonated beverages – so you can also use it to make carbonated water. ALWAYS FOLLOW PROPER DRY ICE SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS WHEN HANDLING YOUR DRY ICE BLOCK.

To carbonate beverages, simple cut your dry ice block into ice-cube sized chunks, add them to a glass of your favorite beverage, and wait for it to dissolve (it will smoke as it does this, adding an extra element of “cool” to the proceedings).

Two or three ice-cubes worth of dry ice takes about four or five minutes to dissolve; make sure the cubes have completely disappeared before drinking.

Check out this video to see more dry ice drink carbonation in action!

Need dry ice for your business, or just for fun? Irish Carbonic has it. Contact us today to learn about our dry ice products, bulk CO2 deliveries, beverage grade CO2, and more for your bar, restaurant, or industrial business!