4 Easy Methods How to Carbonate Water Without a Machine

These are Four simple ways to make Carbonated Water Without a Machine;

1. The Baking Soda and Vinegar Method
2. Using Dry Ice
3. Making Your Own DIY Carbonation Machine
4. Soda Siphons

1- Baking Soda & Vinegar Method

What you will need;

• 2 plastic Soda Bottles with the caps
• Tubing: the same used in aquariums
• A Drill with a Drill Bit that is slightly smaller than the tube
• A Scissors to cut the tube
• Baking Soda
• Vinegar
• Toilet Paper
• A Funnel

How to Make Soda Water with Baking Soda

• The first thing you will need to do is to drill a hole into each of the caps of the bottle
• Secondly, you will need to cut both ends of the tubes at an angle, this will make it easier to insert the tubes into the caps
• Now insert the tubes into the holes that you drilled into both of the caps
• Then fill one of the soda bottles with vinegar and the other with water.
• Next wrap the baking soda in a double sheet of toilet paper
• And then put the baking soda wrapped in toilet paper into the bottle with vinegar
• Then put the caps with the tubes and screw it on the bottles again.
• And finally, shake up the bottle with vinegar and baking soda mixture and set and wait.

How this Method Works

The basic idea is that mixing vinegar with baking soda produces CO2 which is then transferred to the bottle holding the water thus carbonating it. Citation.

The chemical formula is;

Acid+Base=CO2, Water, and a Salt

The Acid (which is the vinegar) plus the Base (which is the Baking Soda) = CO2, Water, and a Salt (the salt and water produced stays in the bottle with vinegar and baking soda mixture. Citation.

Important Notes on the Baking Soda Method

• Even though it seems kinda like a kids science project you are still dealing with dangerous gases so precaution is still needed.
• Only try this method in an airy room or outside, not in enclosed spaces, a build-up of CO2 gas can affect your breathing
• Only use Soda bottles since they can handle the pressure, never use glass bottles they can shatter under the pressure
• Carbonated water produced from this method might not be the purest since sediments from the Vinegar and Baking Soda Mixture can be transferred to the water.

For more details, you can check out this article here.

2- Use Dry Ice

One of the easiest ways to carbonate water is by adding dry ice to it.

The very same Dry Ice used at Halloween to make that smokey effect. Citation.

My wife and I usually add dry ice to carbonate Kool-aid for my son’s parties.

How it Works

Dry Ice is basically frozen CO2 gas now when its added to water it dissolves and carbonates the water. Citation

Dry Ice is a food grade material it’s even used to make Ice cream and also used to preserve food by acting as a coolant.

Recipe for Carbonated Water Using Dry Ice

• Add 1 pound of dry ice to 1 gallon of water and stir.
• Then wait until complete vaporization, meaning no more smoke or fog is coming out of the mixture before drinking.

You can add sugar and your favorite flavoring or kool-aid to the water before adding dry ice.

Or you can add dry ice to any beverage using the same recipe.

Important Notes on Dry Ice

• Never touch Dry Ice with your bare hands, dry ice can cause freezer burns, instead use tongs or a big spoon. Citation.
• After placing dry ice in the beverage, don’t cover or cork the container.
• This causes the pressure to build up and would cause an explosive foamy mess and could even hurt someone
• What my wife and I do is we would make a big batch of Kool-Aid in a big punch bowl and then add the Dry Ice
• and only after all the Dry Ice has dissolved then we would cover it.
• Always ensure that all the Dry Ice is dissolved and none are left in the kool-aid before consuming
• Dry Ice is not meant to drink in its solid-state it is not like normal ice since it can cause bad freezer burns.
• Now to tell if all the dry ice has dissolved, no more smoke or fog should be coming out,
• What I would do is once I see the fog has stopped I would stir it up just to be sure
• Don’t use dry ice in enclosed rooms instead only use it in airy or well-ventilated rooms.
• This is because a build-up of CO2 from the dry ice can cause severe breathing problems.

Who Should Use Dry Ice

Dry Ice is perfect for carbonating large amounts of beverages for events such as birthday parties and Halloween parties.

It is not a good method to carbonate water on a day to day basis this is because dry ice is very hard to store and you would lose pounds of it every day to evaporation.

Where You Can Get Dry Ice

I usually buy my Dry Ice at Walmart, though I think it is available at Costco and at other retailers.

I usually pay $3 dollars for a pound of dry ice at Walmart but the price will vary depending on location.

If none of the big retailers don’t have any in stock you can click on this link and type your phone area code and find the nearest retailer of dry ice.  

All credits for giving me this method goes to the guy in the video below.

3-DIY Carbonation Machine

This method involves making your own carbonation set up.

What You Are Gonne Need

• CO2 tank A CO2 Paintball Tanks would work just fine.
• Gas line this is a gas line that will connect the CO2 tank with the Soda bottle and allow the flow of CO2.
• One Soda Bottle the bottle is to hold the water to be carbonated.
• Gas Regulator to regulate the pressure and amount of CO2 moving from the CO2 tank to the Soda Bottle.
• Carbonator Cap Which is used to connect the gas line with the bottle.

How to Set Up a DIY Carbonation Kit

I found a really good video that will walk you step by step how to set up the DIY Carbonation kit.

Important Notes on the DIY Carbonation Kit

• Take extra caution if attempting to set up the DIY Carbonation kit.
• Only do this is in well-ventilated rooms never in enclosed spaces.
• A high concentration of CO2 can cause severe breathing problems.
• Only Use Soda Bottles that can handle the high pressure.
• This setup needs time, tools and some level of expertise or at least a DIY mindset.
• It uses paintball tanks that were not meant to be used to make food.
• The Cost for the DIY set up is pretty high paintball ball tanks and the other parts can be pricey.
• You will need to find somewhere to fill up your CO2 tanks such as a Paintball field or a Sporting good store.

4- Soda Siphons

Is my fourth and final method you can use, they are very simple to use carbonation appliance, so much so that I wouldn’t even consider them as a machine.

They work using CO2 cartridges instead of CO2 tanks.

If you are interested more about Soda Siphons you can check out my article on How to Make Carbonated water without a CO2 tank.