DIY CARBONATOR CAPS
Many of you saw these caps I built, and many asked how to make them and what they were. So here you go, build your own!
Here’s what I did
1.) Gather materials. Here’s what you’ll need.
a. Soda bottle caps
b. An awl or a punch
c. Drill & 19/64” drill bit (whatever size your valve stems are)
d. Tire valve stems
e. Sealing washer (optional)
2.) Punch a centering hole in the bottle cap.
3.) Drill hole in cap same diameter as shank on valve stem. Clean up plastic burs with a knife.
4.) Insert valve stem and secure with sealing washer and nut. I only used a sealing washer because the nut supplied with these valve stems had a small diameter and it allowed the top of the cap to flex a little, so I put a washer to stiffen it and seal the top, probably it’s not needed but eh I’m building them not you! :-P.
5.) Enjoy your own carbonator caps!
6.) My cost and where purchased.
a. Soda bottle caps – Who doesn’t have any of these lying around? If not ask a friend!
b. Stainless steel valve stems – these I purchased on eBay 5 for $25 shipped, so $5.00 each. You could use aluminum or probably even the rubber pull through style to save money, I just like stainless and everything else in my brewery is stainless why skimp here?
c. 5/16” Sealing washers – home depot, 4 for $.88 cents yeah sucks to buy 2 bags to get 5 but what are you going to do?
d. Time – 1 hour
GRAND TOTAL
5 caps
$26.76 - total
$5.22 - each
Many of you saw these caps I built, and many asked how to make them and what they were. So here you go, build your own!
Here’s what I did
1.) Gather materials. Here’s what you’ll need.
a. Soda bottle caps
b. An awl or a punch
c. Drill & 19/64” drill bit (whatever size your valve stems are)
d. Tire valve stems
e. Sealing washer (optional)
2.) Punch a centering hole in the bottle cap.
3.) Drill hole in cap same diameter as shank on valve stem. Clean up plastic burs with a knife.
4.) Insert valve stem and secure with sealing washer and nut. I only used a sealing washer because the nut supplied with these valve stems had a small diameter and it allowed the top of the cap to flex a little, so I put a washer to stiffen it and seal the top, probably it’s not needed but eh I’m building them not you! :-P.
5.) Enjoy your own carbonator caps!
6.) My cost and where purchased.
a. Soda bottle caps – Who doesn’t have any of these lying around? If not ask a friend!
b. Stainless steel valve stems – these I purchased on eBay 5 for $25 shipped, so $5.00 each. You could use aluminum or probably even the rubber pull through style to save money, I just like stainless and everything else in my brewery is stainless why skimp here?
c. 5/16” Sealing washers – home depot, 4 for $.88 cents yeah sucks to buy 2 bags to get 5 but what are you going to do?
d. Time – 1 hour
GRAND TOTAL
5 caps
$26.76 - total
$5.22 - each
You can get the commercial carbonator caps online for $15 + shipping or for $20 + tax at the homebrew shop. They are all plastic and they only fit 1 type of bottle. With these DIY carbonator caps you can modify them to fit any cap whether it be a Costco sized 3 liter bottle or the 1 liter Aquafina bottle, or to pressurize a growler for longer shelf life in the fridge, or if you’re like me you can start pressurizing everything! OJ, juicy juices, milk, anything with a cap big enough for the valve stem! Warning carbonated milk is a BAD idea…..trust me.
PART 2
Then many of you asked me if I had a special tank of CO2 to pressurize these caps with? Nope, all you have to do is splice one of your CO2 lines coming off your tank. I added a distributor valve so I can shut off lines when not in use but it could be as simple as splicing it with a “T”. My initial setup has dual regulators, with one side having only 1 line so I modified that one with the distributor valve and a standard air chuck. See pictures.
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