Howdy, fellers and ladies!
I am at a loss on the explosive reaction I have been creating and am seeking prof help.
I have been creating sparkling water for the fam for many years and have, in the last 2 years, starting to add minerals back in for flavor and health. I use reverse osmosis as my starting point and run a custom kegerator set up.
Anyway, my question is regarding the minerals I use appear to 'explode' when mixed together and vacuum packed for later use.
I source high quality lab / food grade USA sourced (when possible). Here is my list:
Real Salt (Redmond Life)
Potassium Bicarbonate
Epsom salt (aka magnesium sulfate)
Gypsum (aka calcium sulfate)
magnesium carbonate
Calcium Carbonate
Baking Soda (Sodium bicarbonate)
Ascorbic Acid
After the first large batch of this (enough for 20 kegs bc I dont want to mix every single keg we do) I noticed the vacuum packs I did of dry powder expanding big time.
I used what I could and removed the Vitamin C on the next batch as it clearly had a reaction. Then I removed the baking soda on the next batch. I add these two in manually each time to each keg.
Still with those two removed, I made a batch last night, an explosion of powder was what I found.
I would think this is probably some basic high school chemistry that I am just not walking around with.... please let me know/explain what is happening here.