27 replies to this topic

[Big Nake]

Okay so my kids have asked me (many, many times) to fill a keg with lemonade, carbonate it and put it on tap in my bar. I kept kicking that can down the road and tonight my wife heard of this and said to me, "What? Why don't you do it? We need carbonated lemonade!". Ugh. So my guess is that I will now need to attempt this. First off, I have 2 kegs that I don't use for various reasons and I could enlist one of those kegs for the lemonade and I think my beer lines and faucet could be cleaned out afterwards so all of that is probably okay. But I have heard of people attempting to carb homemade root beer and after 3 weeks or something... no carb. I have never tried it but I have heard many times that people have trouble carbing non-beer drinks. So does anyone have any tips? I would probably find a way to make 3 gallons of lemonade (not sure if it would be a mix or what), get it cold and then attempt to force carb it. Could I expect to go 25psi for 48 hours like I do with beer or is that crazy talk?

[MyaCullen]

Okay so my kids have asked me (many, many times) to fill a keg with lemonade, carbonate it and put it on tap in my bar. I kept kicking that can down the road and tonight my wife heard of this and said to me, "What? Why don't you do it? We need carbonated lemonade!". Ugh. So my guess is that I will now need to attempt this. First off, I have 2 kegs that I don't use for various reasons and I could enlist one of those kegs for the lemonade and I think my beer lines and faucet could be cleaned out afterwards so all of that is probably okay. But I have heard of people attempting to carb homemade root beer and after 3 weeks or something... no carb. I have never tried it but I have heard many times that people have trouble carbing non-beer drinks. So does anyone have any tips? I would probably find a way to make 3 gallons of lemonade (not sure if it would be a mix or what), get it cold and then attempt to force carb it. Could I expect to go 25psi for 48 hours like I do with beer or is that crazy talk?

I've carbed homemade Soda, Cider, Cyser, Wine, shouldn't be a problem, biggest issue is to get the carb level that soda is normally at requires more pressure

 

just start out like you'd do beer and go from there, it's not rocket science

[denny]

Yeap, absoultely. Think more like 40 psi at least.

[positiveContact]

agreed.  i've carbed my own homemade ginger beer in 2L soda bottles and a carb cap.  I'm not sure what kind of cleaning will be required after.  For rootbeer it would be a complete replacement of all soft parts.  For lemonade maybe it will be fine.

[Brauer]

Yeap, absoultely. Think more like 40 psi at least.

And long lines, I'd assume.

 

agreed.  i've carbed my own homemade ginger beer in 2L soda bottles and a carb cap.  I'm not sure what kind of cleaning will be required after.  For rootbeer it would be a complete replacement of all soft parts.  For lemonade maybe it will be fine.

2 L seems a lot more sensible than a keg. I can only imagine how much carbonated lemonade you'd end up dumping if you filled a 5 gallon keg. I suppose a big part of it could be that they want lemonade from a tap, more than carbonated lemonade.

[positiveContact]

And long lines, I'd assume.

 

2 L seems a lot more sensible than a keg. I can only imagine how much carbonated lemonade you'd end up dumping if you filled a 5 gallon keg. I suppose a big part of it could be that they want lemonade from a tap, more than carbonated lemonade.

 

the first 5 gallons might go quick if it's novel and friends are also drinking it.  I predict keg #2 would take a LONG time.

[MakeMeHoppy]

I make my own flavored seltzers all of the time. I use 2 liter bottles. I get the mix cold and use a carb cap and set the co2 at 30 psi and shake for 30-60 seconds. I let it sit and the next day repeat another 30-60 seconds at 30 PSI. Before committing a keg try some 2 liter batches to see if they actually like it.

[Brauer]

agreed.  i've carbed my own homemade ginger beer 

How was the Ginger Beer? Did you make it from scratch or a mix?

[darkmagneto]

Ken-

 

I do carbonated Margarita's and have done carbonated Vodka/Lemonade.  I'm sure there is some scientific reason that some guy here will quote, but yes it takes a lot longer than beer to carbonate.  I've done 40 PSI for 4-5 days and then checked it from there.

 

Good luck!

[Big Nake]

Guys: Thanks for that. I do have these extra kegs and also extra rings so if there is a problem, I can dump those parts. I agree that the novelty of tapping "something" for the kids is what is driving this but my kids *DO* make and drink a boatload of lemonade especially when the weather warms up. I also agree that 5 gallons could be overkill which is why I'm thinking 3 gallons to start. Cheers peeps.

[MyaCullen]

How was the Ginger Beer? Did you make it from scratch or a mix?

a bunch of us did Guests Reed's ginger beer recipe or variations thereof, it was tasty , it's in the wine mead and cider recipe forum

[DieselGopher]

I make Sprecher root beer for our fall party every year. I have one key dedicated for it. I can't fathom trying to clean out the sugary sweetness to ever use that keg for anything other than soda ever again.

[matt6150]

a bunch of us did Guests Reed's ginger beer recipe or variations thereof, it was tasty , it's in the wine mead and cider recipe forum

Yep that is what I did and yes it takes much longer to carb.

[Brauer]

a bunch of us did Guests Reed's ginger beer recipe or variations thereof, it was tasty , it's in the wine mead and cider recipe forum

Cool. I'll look it up. Thanks.

[positiveContact]

Cool. I'll look it up. Thanks.

 

it's a good recipe.  be warned it def has some pineapple flavor going on so if you'd prefer something more "traditional" this might not be it.

[Genesee Ted]

Definitely needs a lot more pressure. It's tough without a carbstone to do it quick. Shake it a lot if you want it faster

[MyaCullen]

Definitely needs a lot more pressure. It's tough without a carbstone to do it quick. Shake it a lot if you want it faster

get it real cold too

[gnef]

When I want to carb quickly, I just put the keg on its side, set the pressure for the correct volume of CO2 for the temperature, stand on top of it, and start rocking back and forth with the gas still connected. After doing this a while, you can hear when the bubbling of the co2 dwindles, and then it goes into the walk-in.

 

For higher pressure serving, you can go with longer lines, but what I am convinced of now, is getting more flow control faucets. I have one, with two on the way, and another 13 to replace gradually. This way I shouldn't ever have to worry about the length of the lines, I just adjust the flow at the faucet. I have been really impressed with the Perlick 650ss since I've had it.

Edited by gnef, 06 May 2015 - 04:48 PM.

[43hertz]

I've done root beer pretty frequently.Probably will want to set aside one keg for it (I've got one with red tape on the handle) as it is pretty hard to get residual flavor out of all therubber parts.We've done margarita's in the past. We used a five gallon corny but didn't make a full five gallons. Carbonates faster if you've got less liquid volume.

[Brauer]

There are bars around here that serve wine on tap. They must use low pressure, because it doesn't get noticeably carbonated.