Carbonation Take #4

When I make a video, I have a specific goal regarding the outcome that I want to present to you. In the case of carbonated beverages, an important topic on our journey through the world of soda, I wanted to explain to you how soda fountains in the late 1800s and early 1900s carbonated their soda because it was often stated that good carbonated water had to be pungent, as in highly carbonated. However, instead of one video, it has probably turned into three or four. The first three takes have made a single comprehensive video elusive and have failed to produce the level of carbonation expected. Let me explain.

There are many books on soda fountains from the early 1900s, and almost all of them mention carbonation levels at 150 psi and even up to 180 psi. That's about 4 to 6 times what we find in a typical bottle of soda these days, and SodaStream is around 15 psi, similar to beer. Soda guns found at bars have water in the 15 psi to 20 psi range, even though the carbonating tank pressure is 100 psi. More on that later.

I can account for most of the difference (temperature, air entrainment, head pressure and flow rates—I did take engineering courses when I studied chemistry). Still, the real issue is "concussion," which is when a high-speed stream of soda water coming from a fountain tap or syphon head hits the inside of the glass. Because it is so violent and turbulent, it releases all the CO2 gas, leaving behind a limp glass of soda water.

There are lots of YouTube videos on carbonating water that claim to make it highly carbonated. Almost all of those are false. I don't believe it is an intentional lie by those creators, I suspect they just made a video with a goal and published it without considering the end result. And that is where I am so different. If you look at the glasses of soda in these videos, you will not see a steady stream of bubbles evolving from the water, just flat water with bubbles clinging to the side of the glass. This is flat soda water.

Having worked in research labs for 15 years, I make my videos like an experiment with an objective. The objective is not to get a video published so I get more views. I want to answer a question properly and reproducibly. If you follow all the steps in a video I make, you should get the exact same result. And if I make a video and it doesn't work out, I will do a second, third or fourth take to reach that objective. That is just plain old science. And really, when you formulate soda flavours, that is what you do. You keep formulating until you get a flavour you like, it may take dozens of tries, but eventually, you get there. 

Unfortunately, in the world of YouTube, frequent publishing will always win over well-thought-out and accurate information. I usually only have one day a week to make a video, and if it doesn't work properly, there won't be a video that week. As I'm on take #4 for this video, that is why you haven't seen much lately. And the photo above is all the little details I'm working on to get the best-carbonated water because it absolutely matters. And I'm pretty sure I have a solution, which requires me to order parts and equipment and wait for them to arrive.

So, thanks for your patience. Without your support, this project would have died months ago. All of the money goes into buying equipment to demonstrate whatever thing I want to show you, and ad revenues from YouTube run so low they are effectively worthless ($3.00 per day) at this point. So yes, for the past two years, this has been a money-losing operation, but hopefully, it will change. But again, even contributing $5 per month makes it easier to justify the expense and time of making these videos, so thanks.

Here are some reference books if you want to read more on the subject before I get the video(s) out.

Aërated Waters and How to Make Them by Joseph Goold (1880)

The Art of Making, Dispensing, & Bottling Soda-water. Thomas Chester · (1882)