Gregory — I’ll admit it: I am addicted to sparkling water. Thankfully, water is everywhere in Michigan, waiting for the fizz. I am not alone in obsession, but I may have taken it too far.
The meteoric proliferation of sparkling water brands prove I am not alone. There are at least a couple dozen of us buying cart-fulls of flavored or plain Bubly, LaCroix, and Polar Seltzer.
For me, I love the experience of being stung with hundreds of little carbonation bubbles every time I take a drink, the way the needles of leaping water get on my glasses and the CO2 hits my nose.
So I found a way to make it at home. I have a 5-lb. CO2 tank, a regulator, and a hose with a special cap that can clip on a keg or a special lid for a plastic bottle.
(Fun fact, the soda bottles in the store can handle somewhere between 100 and 150 PSI, more than enough for your soda.) Buy one or two, get the special carbonation cap, and you’re good for a year.
Then, all you need is water. I generally use the filtered stuff from my fridge. But you can use any kind of water you want. The best I have ever had was from a cabin with well water in the U.P.
Recently, I used some from a local lake in Southeast Michigan after running it through a filter. The principles are the same: Chill the water until it is very cold in a cooler (to aid in force carbonation), hook it up to the CO2 tank, turn on the gas, and shake it for about a minute or a minute and a half.
Then take the cap off slowly, pour into a glass, and enjoy! There’s a lot of water out there just waiting for you to carbonate it.
Brendan Clarey is deputy editor of Michigan Enjoyer.
