It’s a problem that has plagued mankind since the introduction of artificial carbonation some 250 years ago: how do you keep fizzy soda fizzy for longer? Whether the issue is keeping unopened cans of natural soda flavors fresh for longer, preventing opened cans and bottles of soda from going flat too quickly, or how to prevent a glass of soda from becoming flat and tasteless while you're having a conversation at a cookout it's an issue the resonates with anyone who's a fan of carbonated beverages. Keep reading to discover the best ways to keep the fizz in your sodas, sparkling waters and other fizzy drinks.
The Problem - Scenario 1:
You're at a friend's 4th of July cookout and you take a seat on the deck to enjoy your burger and a glass of icy cold soda. A minute later someone you haven't seen in a while sits down next to you and you spend some time catching up. After a while, you reach for your soda and it's now flat and lifeless.
Keeping Soda Fizzy in Your Glass
There are a couple of obvious ways to help ensure your glass of soda retains its fizz a bit longer while you’re talking to your long-lost buddy. The first is to make sure you keep it away from direct sunlight. But maybe the best way to keep drinks from losing their fizz too fast is to use clear ice.
Ice made using tap water, especially if the tap has an aerator on it, has lots of air in it. When the soda hits these cubes there’s a riot of fizziness as the carbonation in the soda reacts with the imperfections created by the trapped air and is released. Before long all the carbonation is gone and your soda is flat. However, if you use clear ice you won’t have this problem. Or more precisely, the soda will go flat eventually but not nearly as fast.
How does clear ice work this fizz-saving miracle? By being virtually free of air pockets. This produces a smoother cube surface without all the crevices and tiny cracks that prompt air bubbles to form that, in turn, allow carbonation to escape. But how does one obtain clear ice?
Ways to Make Clear Ice at Home
There are a couple of ways to make clear ice at home. One involves a fairly minor purchase and the other can be done without having to buy anything.
Use a clear ice cube tray
Clear ice cube molds are typically two-piece affairs with a bottom tray and a separate ice cube mold. Fill the bottom of the tray with 1-2 inches of water. Then fit the ice cube molds on top of the tray and fill them with water as well. Place the lid on top of the molds and place the whole contraption in the freezer.
Now comes the trick: Remove the ice cube mold from the tray before all the water in the tray has frozen. This should normally happen around the 16 - 17 hour mark. Why is this important? Because the water will have frozen from the top down. As the water in the molds froze it forced air and impurities down into the water in the bottom tray. By removing the tray you’re removing all that bothersome air and creating clear ice cubes.
Now remove the cubes from the mold and store them in the freezer in an airtight container until you need them.
Boil your water
We recommend you do not try this using tap water as it will reduce the odds of creating true clear ice. Instead, use distilled water, or at the very least high-quality bottled water. Pour the water into a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Boiling the water will remove various problematic gases, including dissolved oxygen. Once the water has cooled just a bit pour it into your ice cube tray.
When the cubes are ready store them in an airtight container. The resulting cubes will not be as clear as if you used a clear ice cube mold, but they’ll be clearer than regular ice cubes and should help keep your soda fizzy longer.
The Problem - Scenario 2:
You’re about to go out but you want to wet your whistle before you do. So you reach into the fridge, crack open a can of soda, take a few sips, and put it on the door to finish later. A few days later you remember you left the soda there and take it out to enjoy with your dinner but when you take a sip it’s flat and tasteless. How can you keep an opened can of soda fizzy longer?
If you do not take any other steps and just place the opened can of soda in the fridge it will likely retain much of its fizz for two to three days. That's it. Recently, however, a new product emerged that is just a simple plastic cap that you pull down over the top of a soda can. This slows exposure to the air dramatically and as a result, can extend the fizzy life of a can from two or three days to five or six days.
Another way to keep the canned soda fresh longer is to transfer what you do not want to drink right away from your can into a resealable bottle. This will extend its life to five or six days or even longer.
Can You Drink Flat Soda?
If the soda in your glass, can, or bottle has gone flat there’s nothing stopping you from drinking it. Just don’t expect it to provide the same level of tasty refreshment it would if it were still bubbly. Just as an aside: it’s actually better for your teeth to drink flat soda. Why? Because carbonation has been known to strip the enamel from teeth.
Don’t Forget to Try Our Rocky Mountain All Natural Soda
If you are looking for a surefire way to enhance your next get-together stock up on vegan, kosher, and gluten-free Rocky Mountain Soda. It’s crafted with care and with no GMOs.
