Is there something I can use at home to add carbonation to a beverage?
Google “home carbonation systems” and you’ll get a ton of ads selling such products.
Have you seriously not tried typing “home carbonation” into an Internet search engine? That would have actually taken less effort than writing your post, and would have offered you an immediate answer to your question.
Stranger
You don’t even need a system. Get some brewers yeast and some bottling sugar from the brewer store. Use about 1/8 cup per case of soda, then bottle it. It will take a few weeks.
Get one of these. Some hose, and a 5 lb. or 20 lb. CO2 tank, with a CO2 regulator. You can find use, certified tanks on Craigslist or eBay, or maybe at your welding or gas supplier. A full 20 lb. of CO2 will cost about $20, and will last virtually forever.
Once you have all that setup, you’re not too far away from a home beer dispensing system, if you have an extra fridge handy.
Or “seltzer dispenser”.
The old-fashioned method - from the days of homemade root beer, etc. was to pour the beverage into a large bowl or kettle and drop in a big chunk of dry ice. Dry ice, of course is just frozen carbon dioxide. As it melts into gaseous CO2 it bubbles up through the beverage and adds the carbonation effect. Also serves the added benefit of chilling the beverage.
SS
The problem with that method is (besides the alcohol produced) you’ll get exploding bottles unless you refrigerate after you get to the level of carbonation you want. And even then, refrigeration might not be a complete guarantee.
Roses or chocolates, followed by wine, is usually a good way to start.
Maybe the o.p. meant carbonite.
Stranger
I carbonate my beer at home this way all the time. We have also made Ginger beer this way. What you are saying here is entirely false unless you add way too much sugar. Also, the alcohol produced will be minute. The resulting beverage is essentially non-alcoholic.
Then there’s the old tried and true methinzation method rather than carbonization – all it requires is a beverage bottle, a tube, and participants. Great way to keep the fizzy beverages flowing at parties.
Well, it really depends on what you’re carbonating. Most beverages I would think of carbonating (juices, lemonade, etc.) are sweet and such a method would, indeed, result in exploding bottles if you’re not careful.
I certainly think there is a danger from exploding bottles with yeast carbonation. Beer is one thing - the fermentable sugars are all used up, you only add enough sugar for carbonation when you bottle.
Ginger beer is meant to drank before all the sugar is consumed by yeast, and there are plenty of tales of exploding ginger beer. I know some ginger beer is made very dry and there might not be much sugar left in it. However if you use yeast to carbonate something with as much sugar in it as a typical soft drink you better consume it quickly because after a few days those bottles will be up to a lot of pressure.
I see what you mean. I was taught that the carbonic acid would build up enough to shut down fermentation. It may depend on the strain of yeast. Also, I can see that if the bottle cap isn’t perfect or the temperature is too high, this is a problem with soda that I hadn’t considered.
You can use N[sub]2[/sub]O as well (if you want a milk-based fizzy drink). A case of going from the sublime to the ridiculous.
beer is made to consume the sugar.
root beer is intended to remain sweet so if the fermentation continues it will break the bottle. putting the bottles in a cool place slows the fermentation to give some time to consume your batch.
There are several types of beer that are N2 dispensed, but I’ve never heard of anything – even milk based – that’s N[sub]2[/sub]O based. Do tell us more!
When I was a kid my dad made seltzer water at home all the time. The system we used involved cartridges of carbon dioxide that would be injected into the water.
That’s the method that seems to be used in punch bowls, and the first one I thought of.
The second I thought of was adding baking soda to orange juice, which was touted in an old science experiment book. I wonder if it’s actually safe.