| Carbonated beverages and ice cream products often | | | | the same company that supplies the syrup. There are |
| require their own storage in a busy restaurant. | | | | advantages and disadvantages to each type of |
| Because both must be refrigerated, we include them | | | | beverage system. The concentrated postmix syrup is |
| in this chapter. Carbonated beverages are created | | | | less expensive than the premixed product, but |
| on-site at most restaurants by mixing together syrup | | | | postmix requires more lines and is more complicated |
| and carbonated water and propelling it through a | | | | to maintain and hook up. |
| system of chilled tubes (called lines) to the dispenser. | | | | In large operations where more than one dispensing |
| There are two types of carbonated beverage | | | | site is needed (say, in a cafeteria), you can set up |
| machines, postmix and premix; and two types of | | | | one central propulsion and cooling system and |
| dispensers, fountain and cobra gun. | | | | connect it to more than one row of dispensing |
| The postmix system begins with the syrup | | | | valves. In a bar, the dispensing unit is likely to be |
| concentrate moving through the chilled line and the | | | | used only by the bartenders. It is called a gun (bar |
| carbonated water moving through another line to join | | | | gun, cobra gun, handgun, and/or speedgun), and it's |
| at the dispensing head, where the newly mixed soft | | | | attached to a multiline hose called a cobra. The top |
| drink is poured into a cup or glass. A valve for each | | | | of the dispensing head features up to eight buttons |
| drink may be electric or manual. The syrup is | | | | you can push, each one linked to a different line. |
| purchased in three- or five-gallon tanks or boxes that | | | | The cobra gun can dispense as many as seven soft |
| sit under the dispenser. Valves on the syrup | | | | drinks and water from a single head. Soft-drink |
| containers enable easy hookup to the system. Most | | | | dispensers cool beverages one of two ways. One is |
| systems use carbon dioxide as the gas that propels | | | | a small electric refrigeration system that runs on a 1 |
| the liquids through the lines. | | | | 4- or 1/2-horsepower compressor and can chill up to |
| The premix system works much like the postmix, | | | | 700 12-ounce drinks per hour. The other option is a |
| except the syrup and carbonated water are | | | | cold plate, which is a metal sheet chilled by direct |
| purchased already mixed and propelled up a single line | | | | contact with ice in a bin. The beverage lines all run |
| into the dispensing head. Both premix and postmix | | | | through the metal plate, cooling the syrup and water. |
| dispensers usually contain room for ice storage and | | | | The larger the plate and the more of its surface is |
| chutes to dispense ice into cups. Self-contained | | | | ice covered, the colder the final product. The |
| fountain units come in large stand-alone sizes with a | | | | temperature of your beverage dispenser is critical, |
| dozen valves or more, and countertop sizes as small | | | | because carbonation tends to fizzle above 40 |
| as three feet in width. They can be purchased from | | | | degrees Fahrenheit, resulting in flat beverages. |