The tale of two sodas... (split with a T)

[larsenj]

I have two sodas (from Sprecher - very good stuff!), but only one high-pressure line (30 psi). So, I split it with a “T” and had both on pressure all week. Today, I pulled a glass from each, and one was OVER-carbonated, and the other UNDER-carbonated. Both seemed to have the same flow rate coming out of the tap, so what gives?

Any ideas??

Each has a different faucet (the former a cheap-o, the latter a perlick), and the under-carbonated faucet is leaking a LITTLE (over the course of the week, maybe a quarter of an ounce at most – I’ll need to fix that), but it doesn’t seem like that would be enough to kill the carbonation, would it?

Also, what psi do you guys put soda at?

Thanks, and have a great 4th!

[roffenburger]

I have only made soda twice…root beer. I found it difficult to carbonate a very sugary solution. Does one batch have more sugar than the other?
What I ended up doing the second time was carbonate the water first and then add a sugar solution along with the flavoring. It worked better for me that way. I haven’t ever used the sprecher mix though…so I don’t know if this is any help to you.

[itspossible]

I made the Sprecher soda all the time and found that #1 an epoxy swizzle stick is key to pouring/drafting without 50 ft of line. I usually had it set around 25 PSI with this rig. #2 Along with Roff I found out right away that it took a month+ to properly carb up if I mixed it all together in the keg. What worked was to fully charge the plain water to 4 volumes of pressure which took 3-7 days then I would add the gallon of syrup, hit it with gas to lock the lid and roll it gently to mix well and then would put back on 25 PSI and it would be ready to drink after 1 more week on gas as you degas the water some when you open the lid and mix syrup in.

If you are using a simple T it could just be that one is actually at 4 volumes and the other is still getting there and the one “overcarbed” just has a line balance issue and you need more line or a “swizzle stick” to add resistance. If you are using a store bought gas splitter with valves I have found over half used to have a blockage in one or more parts of the port. You can tell by simply listening for good flow out of each shutoff on the block if they are not attached to a disconnect/ keg etc…

[larsenj]

[quote=“ITsPossible”]I made the Sprecher soda all the time and found that #1 an epoxy swizzle stick is key to pouring/drafting without 50 ft of line. I usually had it set around 25 PSI with this rig. #2 Along with Roff I found out right away that it took a month+ to properly carb up if I mixed it all together in the keg. What worked was to fully charge the plain water to 4 volumes of pressure which took 3-7 days then I would add the gallon of syrup, hit it with gas to lock the lid and roll it gently to mix well and then would put back on 25 PSI and it would be ready to drink after 1 more week on gas as you degas the water some when you open the lid and mix syrup in.

If you are using a simple T it could just be that one is actually at 4 volumes and the other is still getting there and the one “overcarbed” just has a line balance issue and you need more line or a “swizzle stick” to add resistance. If you are using a store bought gas splitter with valves I have found over half used to have a blockage in one or more parts of the port. You can tell by simply listening for good flow out of each shutoff on the block if they are not attached to a disconnect/ keg etc…[/quote]

Thanks - I took the overcarbonated one offline and will leave the other on 30-40 psi for another week or two (or more). If that doesn’t do it, then nothing will.