There are a number of possibilities when it comes to Sodastream and honestly you might think of more down the line. One particular question that gets asked frequently is “can a Sodastream carbonate wine?”.
While it’s entirely possible to carbonate wine with a SodaStream, there are a number of things to avoid and/or bear in mind before you get into things. White wine is easier to carbonate as it has less sugar and also thinner liquid which makes it easier to carbonate with red wine being the hardest.
So, let’s talk about how to carbonate wine with a SodaStream, exactly what you should do, and whether you should really even do it at all.
Can A Sodastream Carbonate Wine?
The answer to this question is: technically yes. Although a more sensible answer would be: technically yes, but you really shouldn’t make it.
Before we dive further into that, let’s quickly run through the science of carbonating with a Sodastream.
Sodastream machines have only been designed to carbonate water, and the reason that this matters is that carbonating different liquids occurs at different pressures. This is why you carbonate the water in your Sodastream first, and then add the syrup to include flavor.
This is also how those soda guns in restaurants work, though on a smaller scale. The density of what you’re attempting to carbonate is really important, and results can vary massively depending upon what you’re trying with your SodaStream.
Generally speaking, there are two things that you need to bear in mind when you’re trying to force carbonation into something that isn’t water: the density of the liquid, and the sugar content of the same liquid.
The more than there is of either, the more volatile the high-pressure environment within the SodaStream bottle will be, and the more likely an explosion is. Of course, we want to avoid an explosion.
You will need to bear in mind sugar and density when it comes to wine, though many people have experienced success in the SodaStream. When it comes down to carbonating wine with your Sodastream, there are a few tips that you’ll need to bear in mind. We’ll cover those in the next section!
How To Carbonate Wine With A Sodastream
Actually carbonating wine in a SodaStream is exactly the same as carbonating any other liquid – simply fill the bottle most of the way with the wine that you want to carbonate, and then activate the appliance. Once you’ve reached your desired level of carbonation, you can stop – easy!
Well, sort of easy. There are a number of tips to bear in mind which will make things much easier for you. Or, at the very least, they’ll make things safer.
First of all, let’s get one thing out of the way: white wine works better than red wine does. While brave wine carbonators have successfully carbonated both, white wine typically works a bit better. Especially dry white wine, as that is nowhere as thick as other wines, and it has a low sugar content too.
Really, this is perfect: champagne is white, after all.
You also need to make sure that you use a Sodastream which will get the job done. Some machines, oddly, have much better success rates than others. There is a risk of explosion, of course, so you’re better off using a model with a plastic bottle instead of a glass one.
For the same reason, it’s a great idea to use a model which allows you to customize the carbonation level. That way, you can stop as and when you need to without worrying about damaging your machine.
A number of pioneers recommend the SodaStream dynamo, though if your model has the previous features (plastic model and varying levels of carbonation) you should be good.
While you’re attempting to carbonate wine, you need to make sure that you take it slow.
Make sure that you don’t fill the bottle all the way up to the top like you normally would – the liquid will need room to foam and expand while conventional water doesn’t, necessarily. Start off with one or two small pushes of carbonation, and then very slowly unscrew and release the bottle.
Do bear in mind that you’re moving the bottle from a pressurized environment to an unpressurized one – you’ll need to provide time for the reaction to take place so that you can ensure it doesn’t happen explosively.
Once the bottle’s free of your SodaStream, give it a taste to see if it needs more carbonation or not. You might need to do a few rounds on your first try, but after a while, you’ll know how much is perfect.
When you’re running wine through your SodaStream, make sure that you find a safe place to do it.
This is a fairly obvious tip, but it’s worth saying as it’s wise, too. Since you’re going to be dealing with the potential for a lot of liquid to splash around where you’re working, you want to do this away from any electric sockets. Because SodaStreams do not require power to function, we’d recommend doing this in a bathtub – cleanup will be very easy indeed.
While you might think that the worst thing to happen in this scenario is damaging your SodaStream, you’d be wrong. The worst thing, in truth, is having to clean wine off your walls. Avoid this by following the safety tips above, and working in an easy-to-clean room like your bathroom.
Finally, make sure to clean your machine right away. Remember, the machine is built for water, which will evaporate without a trace after a short while. However, if you use wine, the evaporation process will leave some traces behind.
To ensure that your machine doesn’t break very quickly after you try to carbonate wine with it, make sure to clean it right away. The longer you wait to clean it, the more difficult it will be to clean it completely. Therefore, make sure that you clean it quickly and completely.
Hi all! I’m Cora Benson, and I’ve been blogging about food, recipes and things that happen in my kitchen since 2019.