Beverage carbonation arrangement

Claim 1

An arrangment for carbonating a beverage at a substantially constant carbonation rate, comprising: (a) a pressure chamber immersible in the liquid base of the beverage for generating carbon dioxide; (b) a carbonating mixture including a carbonate and an acid located in said pressure chamber; (c) means for generating carbon dioxide at a substantially constant carbonation rate by establishing an equilibrium between the pressure of carbon dioxide within the chamber and the quantity of liquid entering the chamber to produce the generation of additional carbon dioxide, including the top surface of said pressure chamber being formed of a permeable membrane facilitating passage therethrough of liquid entering the chamber in inverse relation to the pressure of gaseous carbon dioxide therein and further inhibiting passage therethrough into the carbonated beverage of resultant carbonation reaction products including undesirable salts tending to adversely affect the flavor of said beverage, said permeable membrane having a pore size in the range of from 10 to 100 microns; and (d) a flavoring chamber, containing a quantity of flavoring for the beverage, superimposed on said pressure chamber over said top permeable membrane surface and in liquid and gaseous contact with the pressure chamber such that gaseous carbon dioxide bubbles passing upwardly through said permeable surface into and through said flavoring chamber assist in mixing the flavoring into the beverage.