The Danger of Carbonating in bottles the wrong way

Force carbonation is a process that works with pressure. The more gas you put inside the tank or container, the more pressure there is which is why it is very important that you know what you are doing because if you don’t know when to stop adding the carbon dioxide, chances are you would end up with an explosion.

Carbonating using force carbonation can be done in bottles but this is much more difficult than carbonation in kegs or other bigger containers. If you have the right equipment for this, which is usually quite expensive, then you can force carbonate small bottles individually. For home carbonation, this is going to take quite a lot of time and can be quite dangerous as well. In order to avoid the danger of carbonating in bottles the wrong way, the best approach is to batch carbonate the drink first then use counter pressure to bottle them individually.



In order to counter pressure the beverage that has already been carbonated in a batch, you would need to have counter pressure filler that will be squirting your carbonated beverage from your batch container to your bottle.

Another way to carbonate your beverage in bottles is by doing the yeast process. If it’s beer you are carbonating then you can just add the priming sugar to your bottles and the remaining yeast from the fermentation process will then eat up the sugar and turn it into a small trace of alcohol and a lot of carbon dioxide that will carbonate the beer while inside the bottle. There is still danger in this process though especially if you added too much sugar than what is required. Because the yeast will continue to eat up the sugar and turn your beer into a stale over carbonated beer. The danger is that it can still blow up due to over carbonation. If it won’t blow up, if the carbonation process took longer than what is advised then you would have a tasteless beer.

The best thing to do when you do a natural carbonation with the yeast process is to take note how long it takes to get the right carbonation. Try 1 bottle of the beer and if the carbonation is already up to your standards, put your beer in the refrigerator to stop the carbonation process by hibernating the yeast.

If you are using other beverage though, using the yeast process could add a different taste to your beverage and some may not like it. For sodas and other drinks, the best method for carbonation is still force carbonation.

Give it a try and use carbonation charts and calculators to help you out. Study the process beforehand and learn about the relationship of pressure and volume of CO2 absorbed by the liquid and you will surely get the hang of it. The process may seem difficult at first but when mastered, you can carbonate whatever beverage you wish. Your imagination is your limit.