Measuring Carbonation
Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 11:54 am
by dropkickpat
Was curious about measuring the amount of CO2 in my bottled beer. Has anyone tried this or have any ideas on how to measure the amount of CO2 in my product?
Thanks,
Patrick
Re: Measuring Carbonation
Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 1:01 pm
by ajdelange
This is usually done by bringing the bottle to 25 °C, shaking it vigorously and then piercing the cap with a needle connected to a pressure gauge. The pressure is noted and the gas is then allowed to bleed into a sodium hydroxide solution contained in a special buret. Any gas which doesn't dissolve is air and the volume of this air us used to correct the pressure reading which is then entered into the ASBC table (the one we all use to find how many volumes of dissolved CO2 correspond to CO2 gauge pressure). The apparatus is made by Zahm and Nagel and is, I assume, reasonably expensive. There is another ASBC method involving a syringe but it is supposedly limited to 1.6 vols and I see problems with it. Then there are high dollar solutions (Anton Paar has an instrument).
Re: Measuring Carbonation
Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 1:58 pm
by Stinkfist
so Like Aj said....for a homebrewer no there is not...lol at least not accurately...
Re: Measuring Carbonation
Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 2:54 pm
by Fugglupagus
I wonder if there's any chance a local craft brewer would be willing to run a couple tests. If performing the test is expensive, I'd guess not. But if the test costs less than the amount of money he'll make off of the time you spend in his tasting room while you're there, he just might.