How Whipping Siphons Work

Ever wonder how a whipping siphon actually works?  After you twist on the charger cap how does the gas whip up the cream?

Here’s a quick 5 min that will help you understand how a whipped cream dispenser actually works.  

The canister is airtight so after you screw on the charger cap, the needle punctures the gas capsule which injects the gas into the canister.  Then the gas is pushed into the cream because the pressure rises in the canister.

When you shake it, this helps distribute the gas evenly into the liquid.  Then the contents are held under pressure.

Next when you want to release the liquid, you turn it upside down to help push out the liquid.  When the liquid comes out of the canister, the gas molecules in it are rapidly pushed out of the liquid which causes the liquid to “foam” up.  This gives us whipped cream.

There are a couple of different variables involved when charging and dispensing your whipped cream

• Size of the canister - normally 0.5L or 1 pint
• Number of charges - We recommend one charge per canister of liquid.  In other words one 8g charge of gas for every 400-500mL of liquid
• Amount of liquid - Make sure to pay attention to the fill line on the outside of the canister.  Do not fill it above this line or else your liquid will not foam properly. This is because you need empty space in the canister for the gas to go in.  If you fill it too full with liquid, there will not be enough space for the gas inside and it will not foam properly.
  
• Fat content of the liquid - the higher the fat content normally the better it will foam or whip up.  We recommend using at least 35% fat heavy cream for best results.
  
• Temperature of the liquid - we’ve found that chilling the liquid AND the canister will give us better whipped cream.  

There you have it!