SAFETY DISCLAIMER: USE THIS HIGH PRESSURE PNEUMATICS PRODUCT AT YOUR OWN RISK. WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY INJURY INCURRED BY THE USE OF OUR PRODUCT. ALWAYS WEAR SAFETY GOGGLES WHEN USING THE MANIFOLD. USE ONLY BOTTLES RATED FOR THE PRESSURE YOUR REGULATOR IS SET AT. DO NOT SET YOUR REGULATOR HIGHER THAN 60 PSI OR RISK WILL ESCALATE. BEWARE OF OUR SEDUCTIVE DESIGN AND MARKETING, THIS PRODUCT IS DANGEROUS AND SHOULD ONLY BE USED BY THOSE THAT FULLY UNDERSTAND THE RISKS. DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE BEFORE YOU OPERATE THIS PRODUCT.

please re-read the above disclaimer if you missed it.

we at the bostonapothecary are proud to introduce a new commercial product. after painstaking research we have finally developed a champagne bottle manifold which is essentially the holy grail of carbonation. it can be yours for only $75!

the manifold is a conduit for connecting a gas supply to a champagne bottle. but why would you want to do that?

the redundant one way valves of the manifold allow wine lovers to add counter pressure to their sparkling wines which helps to preserve the bubbles when stored over extended periods.

beer brewers can add precise weights of dissolved CO2 to beers which is useful when bottling for competitions or exploring different carbonation levels to have every beer show at its best.

soda makers can carbonate their products in aesthetically pleasing champagne bottles to dissolved CO2 levels as high as 7g/l.

sensory scientists or those involved in new product development will find the manifold indispensable for economically achieving precision levels of dissolved gas.

the manifold features a durable plastic collar that securely clips onto the neck of a champagne bottle (375ml, 750ml, and most 1500ml). a food safe seal which contains the first one way valve interacts with the mouth of the bottle. a threaded plug engages the collar and maintains a seal under pressures as high as 65 PSI. the manifold features industry standard stainless steel cornelius quick disconnects with a second one way valve which are common to most home brewers and beverage programs that have adopted cocktail-on-tap equipment. all parts on the manifold are durable but also replaceable to ensure a long life span for your investment.

but how do we precisely carbonate?

many people think of carbonation in terms of pressure and temperature but carbonation can also be thought of in simpler terms of grams per liter (g/l) of dissolved gas. when we consider the weight of the dissolved CO2, we can measure carbonation with equipment as simple as a commercial kitchen scale.

cold bottles are simply filled with cold liquid, the manifold is attached and initially connected to the gas supply to fill the head space then disconnected (the head space can often hold a few grams of compressed gas), we place the bottle on the kitchen scale and zero.  after zeroing any weight that is added will reflect what is dissolved in the liquid. the gas supply can then be re-attached and CO2 will be absorbed by the liquid as the bottle is agitated. the bottle can be periodically detached then re-weighted to see how much CO2 has been dissolved in the liquid.

agitating the bottle facilitates the dissolving of the gas; basically you shake the bottle while it is under pressure and connected to the gas supply. industry standard cornelius quick disconnects make the job of attaching and re-attaching the bottle to the gas supply almost effortless (yes, you have to push against the pressure in the bottle. be aware of this pressure, it is what the champagne bottle must resist).

when the gas in the head space (which has a significant weight that can also be isolated by zeroing) is finally released by unscrewing the manifold, oxygen which was dissolved in the liquid is also purged via a phenomenon called reflux de-aeration.

to store the product, head space has to be accounted for.  bottles either have to be over carbonated to account for the gas needed to fill the head space if a bottle cap is to be affixed or the bottles will need to be topped up.

counter pressure of up to 60 PSI, which is more than enough for 5°C chilled champagne, can be applied near instantaneously. According to researcher Dr. Steve Smith, a lecturer on wine studies at Coventry University, the pressure within a champagne bottle (filled with 12g/l of dissolved CO2) can be calculated with the formula: P = T/4.5 + 1 where P is the pressure in atmospheres and T is the temperature in Celcius. At 5°C, the pressure in the bottle is 2.111 atmospheres which converts to approx. 31 PSI.

beer brewers work with dissolved CO2 levels in and around 4-5.5 g/l which is easy to achieve.

soda makers can achieve highly carbonated beverages with dissolved CO2 levels as high as 7 g/l in just a few minutes of work per bottle.

new product developers can easily create a range of dissolve gas levels for usage in tasting panels and bench trials.

once a bottle has taken on a desired measure of CO2 it will have to rest for a while and “bond” with the bottle before the manifold can be removed and a 29mm crown cap affixed or spring based champagne stopper attached. releasing the manifold too quickly can cause foaming and loss of carbonation. the more the dissolved CO2, the longer the time needed to bond. for soda makers or those requiring very high levels of carbonation, we recommend using numerous manifolds in a series so that active time spent carbonating can be as continuous as possible.

what are the advantage over other systems? the bostonapothecary champagne bottle manifold has the two fold advantage over competitors in that it is both more effective and more economical than any other product on the market.

competing direct bottle manifolds exist for plastic soda bottles but none in our research held a seal as well. soda bottles also cannot compete with the aesthetics of a glass champagne bottle. fitting a champagne bottle gives our manifold versatility because it can both carbonate or simply apply counter pressure. others systems rely on going from keg to bottle and besides the cost and large footprint of the equipment, they lack the precision, the upward range of CO2 levels, and some require a significant amount of down time under high pressure operation for the bottle to bond with the gas. many large volume, high pressure users of the legendary Melvico counter pressure bottler needed an array of the machines to minimize down time and keep active bottling as continuous as possible which greatly magnified the expense. in our research we found that a keg to bottle system was never viable for a restaurant or bar scenario. no producer currently even makes a keg to bottle system that can scale to 7g/l of dissolved gas for less than $6000.  the bostonapothecary manifold requires active time agitating the bottle to absorb gas but saves significant time by a lack of intensive setup, break down, and cleaning that keg to bottle systems require.

SAFETY DISCLAIMER: USE THIS HIGH PRESSURE PNEUMATICS PRODUCT AT YOUR OWN RISK. WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY INJURY INCURRED BY THE USE OF OUR PRODUCT. ALWAYS WEAR SAFETY GOGGLES WHEN USING THE MANIFOLD. USE ONLY BOTTLES RATED FOR THE PRESSURE YOUR REGULATOR IS SET AT. DO NOT SET YOUR REGULATOR HIGHER THAN 60 PSI OR RISK WILL ESCALATE. BEWARE OF OUR SEDUCTIVE DESIGN AND MARKETING, THIS PRODUCT IS DANGEROUS AND SHOULD ONLY BE USED BY THOSE THAT FULLY UNDERSTAND THE RISKS. DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE BEFORE YOU OPERATE THIS PRODUCT.

additional information on safety: i have repeatedly tested this product and never had a bottle failure. champagne bottles are designed to withstand huge amounts of pressure. the best champagnes have 12g/l of dissolved gas and can be under 80PSI of pressure at 20°C (68°F). we imagine many bottles are even shipped on hot days where the pressure must get well over 100PSI, therefore operating at 60PSI is less half the maximum pressure (using Dr. Smith’s formula if a champagne is stored outside or in a delivery truck on a 100°F day the pressure in the bottle is 139 PSI). champagne bottles are heavier than prosecco or cava bottles because champagne contains more dissolved gas. in our research we could not find statistics on maximum pressure before bottle failure. all information on liability only mentioned getting hit in the eye with a cork which is also a risk with the manifold. room temperature champagne bottles have been known to fall to the floor at the hands of outdoor caterers on summer days in Phoenix Arizona (139 PSI!). sometimes the bottles survive and to my knowledge the caterer always survives. it has even be explained to me by no official source that bottles are designed to fail at the punt. we encourage all opinions of our product safety to be expressed in the comments.