Carbonating

While you can add bubbles to a drink simply by including seltzer, soda, or sparkling wine, actually carbonating mixed drinks takes it to a different level. It's like with kids. You can give them a bubble wand, or you can plug in an automatic bubble blowing machine. Only one will cause them to hell "BUBBLES!!!" until their heads explode.

Here, we're really only interested in force carbonation. You can create carbonated beverages by fermenting them, and there are other sources for that info. Also, while carbonation with CO2 is similar to using nitrogen, and we're not covering that here either.

Why carbonate

Carbonating a mixed drink adds texture, by way of the effervescent bubbles that come out of solution. Each time these bubbles come to the surface and pop, they release aromatic compounds for your nose to detect and enjoy. Additionally, carbonation adds a slight favor component. Combining carbon dioxide and water creates carbonic acid, which can be described as having a sour taste, as being biting and sharp, and is mildly acidic. Carbonic acid is not created instantly, but does so when the CO2 is dissolved in water.

What you’ll need

There are three common ways that mixed drinks can be carbonated, and each requires a different setup. All three produce similar enough results.

  1. Countertop soda maker
  2. Chargers
  3. Carbonation rig

My preferred setup is a carbonation rig, primarily because I use it to make my own tonic water and sodas in small quantities. It also serves as a component to my keg setup, An article on carbonation rigs is forthcoming. I’ve never used a charger, such as an ISI Profi Whip, but I’ve heard good things. These are smaller and may be more practical for you. I have also not personally used Soda Stream like countertop devices, since I am limited on space and prefer a tool that will serve many purposes.

How to carbonate

It would be appropriate to have a separate post on each of then three carbonation techniques, so I'll keep it short here with some tips:

  • Treat C02 like an ingredient. It has flavor, it changes the pH. Too many bubbles can affect other flavors. Too little carbonation and the pathetic bubbles make your drink seem weak and spineless.
  • Get your ingredients really cold! CO2 absorbs best into cold solutions.
  • Agitate your container to help dissolve more CO2 . CO2 dissolves into your liquid by pressure and surface area. Shake, roll, rock... You got to get things sloshy and moving! You may need to do this multiple times.
  • Don't carbonate lime or lemon, unless you intend to serve the drink within 6 hours. These ingredients oxidize quickly and will develop off tastes. If you're going to store the beverage for a longer time, you are better off adding the lime or lemon when serving.
  • Make sure whatever container you're using (I.e., your bottles) can withstand the pressure of carbonation. From personal experience, having a bottle blow up by you isn't fun.
  • Adding more CO2 can increase the bubble size and activity, as can serving temperature and serving vessel shape.
  • Strain your pre-carbonated ingredients extremely well. Any solids will become nucleation sites and will release the CO2 from the solution. This can include clarifying ingredients like juices, or using syrup instead of sugar. Similarly, when serving, an attentively cleaned glass will keep more bubbles in solution.
  • Use ingredients that have a high degree of clarity. This should be misinterpreted as not to use ingredients that have color or are dark. Just don't use ingredients that are cloudy or opaque. This too minimizes your nucleation sites.
  • Sweetness in your recipe presents an interesting challenge. Dissolved sugar in your solution prevents more CO2 from dissolving, because your solution can only absorb so much stuff. However, if you're carbonating drinks to serve at a later date, you'll want to add sweetness to balance the carbonic acid.
  • Recipes that are 15 alcohol by volume (ABV) or less work well. It's important to know that carbonating can increase the absorbance of alcohol into the bloodstream. This effect does not seem to be long lasting, but it can get you messed up pretty quickly. Don't forget to be responsible.
  • The higher ABV your mixed drink is, the more CO2 you'll need to dissolve. Alcohol dissolves CO2 easier than water, but it also releases the CO2 bubbles more easily
  • Carbonate three times, opening the container and letting it foam between each charge. This removes nucleation sites from within your solution, so that when you finally serve the carbonated beverage, your CO2 is more likely to remain dissolved.
  • Leave some headspace in your carbonation vessel to minimize foaming when opening.

Wow, that's a lot to remember and we didn't even get into how to actually carbonate. Don't worry, there are posts in the backlog for carbonation rigs, ISI whippers, and SodaStreams.