Sodastream cider

[ScottM]

I was talking to a friend in work tonight, one that I got into homebrewing on a small scale. He is REALLY against bottle carbonating and keeps at me for ideas etc. Tonight I spotted a little thing called "Twist n sparkle" and it ignited the imagination again.

What do you think of this for a plan when someone has no means of carbonating their brew and won't bottle condition.....


Primary & secondary 23L fermenting bins with taps.
Keg with tap & co2 injector on top

Make the cider as per the norm, primary for 10 days, secondary for 10 days then drop into the keg for a month or 2. Use a little CO2 bulb to flush out the air etc.

When ready to drink simply pour 1L of the still cider into a sodastream bottle, backsweeten to taste and carbonate it. Enjoy over ice.

When the pour starts to slow on the keg simply inject another CO2 bulb into the top to equalise/pressurise.

He's really excited by this idea, truth be told I'm a little curious about it myself, is there any negatives to this process at all?

The best part of it is if he fancies a lightly sparking cider, a ridiculously fizzy cider or a flat cider he can make his mind up as he goes.

The twist n sparkle idea was dismissed straight away as it would work out 50p per litre just to carbonate.


Just realised, another positive we were discussing was the fact that the bottles could be stored in the fridge horizontally. This has always been an issue for me as I need to store my beer in the garage and can literally only bring in 2 or 3 at a time. He could have a full nights/weekends drinking chilling in the fridge at any given time.

 

[ScottM]

Went for it anyway. We've both ordered kegs, so will see how it turns out :)

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

At a guess I'd say you'll get cider squirting from the soda stream machine when you release it. :?

BB

 

[ScottM]

At a guess I'd say you'll get cider squirting from the soda stream machine when you release it. :?

BB

Na it actually works out OK. I did it with my alcoholic Irn Bru. It fizzes up like mad but you just give it a minute to settle and it's fine. Cider wont need as much fizz as what I was putting in the Irn Bru :)

 

[oldbloke]

How do you clean the Sodastream spout afterwards? In normal use it only touches water.

 

[ScottM]

How do you clean the Sodastream spout afterwards? In normal use it only touches water.

Quick squirt to blast out the inside and a wee wipe to clean the outside :)

 

[tonyhibbett]

I used a Sodastream to make sparkling wine, which was most acceptable and much better than the still wine, even if it did add 50 p to the cost per bottle. The whole Sparklets thing was an industry based on selling a waste product: co2. Oddly enough, Dom Perignon made great efforts to get rid of this gas from his wine and failed and ended up inventing Champagne, which people liked. The entire fizzy drinks industry was born and cashed in on this, most notably a company which made a sparkling cocaine drink, flavoured with kola nuts and sugar, eventually replacing the stimulant with caffeine, and even offering a sugar reduced alternative. They were key sponsors of the London olympics.
The production and release into the atmosphere of considerable amounts of carbon dioxide is widely considered to be the main factor of the global warming which threatens mankind's very survival and is not to be encouraged. The production of alcohol does not help. About 5% of every alcoholic drink produced is carbon dioxide, released into the atmosphere already. Need I say more.

 

[oldbloke]

But, um, Joseph Priestley invented carbonated water in 1772 by suspending a bowl of water over a beer vat, then discovered a process for making it using sulphuric acid and chalk which was taken up by a certain Mr Schweppe