I've found guides online for making carbonated (soda) water at home using a CO2 tank, a regulator and a plastic bottle. The guides suggest using "ice cold" water, filling the bottle 1/2 to 2/3 full, but differ on how much to shake the bottle, how many times to refill the bottle and what pressure to fill the bottle to. I was wondering if someone could provide an explanation for what the effect of temperature, pressure and agitation plays on the carbonation process and what a best practice might be for making soda water at home on demand.
EDIT: A regulator tells you the pressure in the bottle--it doesn't tell you how much CO2 has entered the bottle. So my question is two parts: What's the "optimal" amount of CO2 per 1L H2O for a carbonated beverage and how do you tell when you've hit this amount? Say I have a 1L bottle filled with 0.5L H2O. At what pressure should the bottle be at 10°C for "optimum carbonation"?
Cheers