Mineral Water
Chris Shenton
2010-07-23

We buy a lot of bottled fizzy water -- San Pelligrino, Apollinaris,
etc; it's more refreshing than still tap water.  But it seems
environmentally stupid to ship bottles of water half way around the
world then recycle the glass here.

Can we make a good mineral water? We've got 5-gallon soda kegs, a
cylinder of CO2, and decent tap water.  We should be able to add
minerals to taste, chill, force carbonate, then at serving time,
dispense into flip-top bottles suitable for the table.

Alternately, we could use soda siphons: 

http://www.creamright.com/  
CO2, NO2 soda siphon $40-90, whipped cream makers
Amazon 1/2 people don't like the glass one, say it's bulky.
Isi is $49
Cartridges $4/box of 10
Free shipping > $100 saves $18

or the proprietary, and purportedly expensive to refill Soda Stream
for about $100, or $170 with a couple bottles.

Found an excellent post with a spreadsheet calculator:

http://blog.khymos.org/2011/01/30/diy-mineral-water/

This site has a great table of mineral content of various commercial
bottled waters, and the base mineral content of water in DC:

http://www.scientificpsychic.com/health/mineral-water.html

From his tables:

For Alkaline Magnesium Water (similar to what?):

Water, filtered				1 L
Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda)	1/8 tsp
Potassium Bicarbonate (KHCO3)		1/8 tsp
Magnesium Sulfate (epsom salts)		1/8 tsp

For Calcium Manesium Water which he says is similar to San Pellegrino:

Water, filtered				1 L	5 Gal
Magnesium Sulfate (epsom salts)		1/8 tsp	2 3/8 tsp (12g)
Calcium Chloride (CaCl2)		1/8 tsp	2 3/8 tsp (12g)

For our 5 gallon kegs (18.9 Liters): 1/8 tsp * 18.9 = 2.365, about 2 3/8 tsp
A little under 2 3/8 tsp; this weighs about 12g.

Fill a keg with tap water and water with minerals dissolved in it,
and let it sit open over night to outgas the chlorine in the water. 
Then close, chill, and finally force carbonate.

This was about as minerally as San Pelligrino, but but was a bit more
soapy, especially when warm or flat. 

2010-09-27 Try 12g Calcium Chloride and 18g Epsom Salts to see if it's
more minerally or if it takes it into a more soapy direction.