How to bottle carbonated water or soda from a keg?

Hi guys,
I am trying to make my own sparkling water but am running into difficulties with the bottling from the keg part. I have tried using a homemade counterpressure filler, however the water in the bottle ends up to be way less carbonated compared to the carbonation level of the water in the keg. Any ideas on how I could bottle the water from the keg?
Just as a background; I carbonate the water in a keg and let it stay in the fridge for a week at a low temperature. Then i attach a hose of about 5 feet to the keg (with a ballock connection) and let the water come out after i first purge the keg and set my regulator to about 5psi just to create some pressure to get the carbonated water to flow.

Thanks alot for your help, am really struggling with this somehow and hope u can tell me what i am doing wrong.

What temperature and pressure are you carbonating at? Can you provide more detail about your home made counter pressure filler, and filling process?

First, I’m not sure 1 week on the gas is long enough.
Second, chill your bottles to prevent foaming.

The temperature is pretty much set at regular fridge-temperature (42 degrees). The keg is carbonated at 45psi. Concerning the home made counter pressure filler, I used the following thread to make my own: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=24678

Other than what I described earlier, the production process is rather simple. I attach my keg to the hose by means of a ballock connector which ahs a picnic tap on the end. The home made counter pressure filler goes in the bottle and then i just push on th picnic tap to get the carbonated water to come out. However, the water comes out too fast i feel and i see a lot of bubbles in my line; this all seems to make the water lose its carbonation really fast. I feel i am doing something wrong …

Good idea on chilling the bottles; thats actually also what I did. You think even longer than a week would be needed?

Bleed off the pressure in the keg and only add enough pressure to push liquid out. As I mentioned chill the bottles as the colder the solution the more CO2 will remain in solution. Also tilt the bottle while filling.

You’re also carbonating at an intense level. 45° at 45psi is over 4 volumes of CO2.

I also purged the keg and just added 5psi to push liquid out; so i tried that too. And the bottles also were chilled at around 45 degrees. Could tilt the bottle on the next run, but kind of would be suprised if that would help enough.

Yes, the carbonation is rather high, but that comes with soda making i feel.

5ft. of tubing might be a little short as well, but I’m not sure how much that matters with water.

I’m just guessing but I would leave it on gas a little longer. That’s alot of co2 to get in solution.

By the way what kind of bottles are you using. Can they take that much pressure?

1 Like

At that temp and psi, you are essentially at 5.1 volumes. Here’s the kicker…
If your temps are cooler than 45 and you keep that pressure the volumes of CO2 increases. That kind of carbonation may require special equipment.

As mentioned, lengthen your line, which at those levels of CO2 would require a very long line.

Also, try to get your temps cooler. The cooler the solution the more CO2 will stay dissolved.

Lenghthening the line is certainly something to consider. Am just not sure how long I should make it.

Havent actually thought about that to be honest, is there a general rule of thumb on how long you should keep a keg cooled for CO2 to dissolve (assuming fridge temperature)?

I am using a rather thick glass bottle just; have tried to contact the manufacturer to ask what pressure those can hold. Until they reply I think my best bet would be to keep experimenting with plastic ones to prevent someone from getting hurt:)

Thank Loopie, it makes sense what you are saying. From a practical point of view, how long would u say the line should be?

I’m just guessing here but rule of thumb for beer is 2 weeks but that’s less Vols. Did you do an internet search

If you are serious… Check into a carbonator… it happens at a very high concentration… You have kegs and CO2 and a regulator to crank up the pressure… you can have it done in a very short time… I know… I tried one, it works. Sneezles61
PS, look at McCann, carbonator on this topic

I have come across information which made me conclude that about a week of kegging time for 30-45 psi would work well. Didnt specifically look for it though, but could be interesting.

This is a truly difficult question. There are online calcs that help with this. Here is one.. The problem is your not really trying to serve liquid with 5.1 volumes at regular pour. If that was the case you would need tons of tubing.

3/16 tubing has the most resistance to prevent foaming. I believe it’s 2-3 psi/ft. If your beer is carbed to 5.1 volumes (45psi at 45°) I think I would start with 20-25 ft.

Once again, chill the bottles, line, and filler. In fact, place them in the freezer the night before filling.

Also, are you sure your bottles aren’t allowing CO2 to escape?

I will chime in… You are trying to add an acidic amount to an unknown water that possibly has alot of buffer potential… Would you try using distilled water, then a possibility of adding up some calcium and magnesium… I’m thinking very pure water, devoid of ions, minerals, then your water could absorb the CO2 charge… Sneezles61
PS, all the names have been changed to protect the innocent and guilty…