Forum: lifehacks.stackexchange.com
Tags: <food><efficiency>
Title: What is the quickest way to de-carbonate a drink
Question: I prefer a lot of fizzy drinks when they have gone flat. What is the most efficient way to decarbonate them?

I've repeatedly shaken and opened bottles, left caps off, stirred, but I wonder if there's a more efficient way.

Answers:
sents: text: Whilst searching for some alternatives to support an idea of mine regarding decarbonating, I found a somewhat amusing thread:
text: How can I de-carbonate soft drinks?
text: (from the boards of "The Straight Dope").
text: Based on ideas mentioned there and another one of my own: Pour the drink into a larger container to increase surface area, i.e. a cake tin.
text: Leave for a little while, before repoured into a drinkable container Put the drink into a blender, and give it a spin.
text: A less amusing option, is to stir with a spoon for a few minutes Sift the drink into another container.
text: That is either use an ordinary sifter/sieve/strainer, or use something like a coffee filter Either of these options should agitate the drink and decarbonate it.
text: In terms of practicality, I would opt for the latter one.
text: Especially if at office or at home.
text: At office you need to a get a little sifter, but they are readily available.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/4490/holroy
score: 9
sents: text: Adding a teaspoon full of sugar will get rid of carbonation quickly; you will of course have a slightly more sugary drink.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/2431/Minnow
score: 5
sents: text: Use a vacuum wine saver.
text: This is a product that has a bottle cap with a valve and a pump.
text: It is intended for pumping the air out of the top of a wine bottle to keep the contents fresher
text: but if you've ever actually made wine you'll probably know that you have to degasify it before bottling and you can use one of these.
text: Put the cap on bottle with the drink in and keep pumping until you see no more bubbles coming out of the liquid
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/5304/Dave
score: 5
sents: text: Put a frying pan on the stove, pour the soda in, and crank the heat.
text: The frying pan will preferably have ridges in it ( it wont be an exactly flat surface ).
text: By the time the soda is boiling, it will be pretty darn flat ( a minute or so? ).
text: You don't really need to boil it, bringing it to 60 degrees Celsius will probably suffice.
text: A carbonated drink is one that has had carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) dissolved into it.
text: This is generally done by forcing CO2 into it via pressure, and this is the reason why air ( CO2, in fact ), is pushed out of the bottle when you open it.
text: The word "dissolved" is key, as it speaks about the solubility of the CO2 in the liquid.
text: Temperature greatly effects this solubility, as the temperature increases, CO2 solubility decreases.
text: If you think about why boiling water creates bubbles, this makes sense.
text: Oxygen is not as soluble in hot water as well.
text: Water near its freezing point can contain the most CO2.
text: As the temperature increases, this amount drops significantly.
text: However, it is not a linear drop, and by about 50-60 degrees Celsius, the curve is leveling off.
text: As KalleMP states, you don't really have to bring it to a boil.
text: However, what kind of life hack is it if you're holding a thermometer in your hand?
text: :)
text: There is also the fact that a freshly opened bottle of soda contains more CO2 than the atmosphere, so the CO2 will escape even from ice cold soda.
text: Increasing the exposed surface area of the soda will increase the rate of this escape.
text: The bubbles that form inside your glass are doing so at places that actually contain microscopic air bubbles ( think porous ).
text: The CO2 will rapidly collect in these points, and larger bubbles will form.
text: These are the bubbles that you see coming off the side of your glass.
text: So, high temperature, surface area, pores...
text: I'm going to go with boiling it on a frying pan.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/4700/Carl
score: 2
sents: text: Being a big tea-drinker, I have 1,5l glass containers with wide openings.
text: Simply pour your drink into a large container from a decent height.
text: A bottle of half a liter will bubble up to the top, but once settled down again will be devoid of carbon dioxide.
text: Depending on the drink, container there might still be a tiny bit of fizz.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/8185/zaruvi
score: 2
sents: text: My girlfriend stirs her drink with a raw wooden spoon.
text: This can also work with a bamboo stick but since it has less surface area, it takes a little longer.
text: It's still quick enough, after about 3-4 stirs it will be completely decarbonated.
text: A warning, however, don't fill your glass to the top, because when decarbonating, it creates bubbles and there's a chance the glass will overflow.
text: I couldn't believe how well it worked the first time I tried it.
text: I don't know exactly why it works so well, so if someone can explain it, please do.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/19327/Elof W
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
There are many different ways to decarbonate a drink. You could first consider boiling it or raising it to around 60 degrees Celsuis on the stove. Alternatively, you could give it a stir for a few minutes with a teaspoon or even a wooden stirrer. You could also consider using a sifter/sieve/strainer, putting it into a blender or pouring it into a larger container to increase the surface area. Other options include adding more sugar or using a vacuum wine saver.
The options are to leave the drink to stand in a large container, put it through a blender, stir with a spoon, add a spoonful of sugar, use a vacuum wine saver to pump out the gas, warm it in a pan or pour it into a large container from a decent height or stir with a wooden spoon or bamboo stick.