I hated the taste of all the flavorings that came with the machine. Instead, I use a little frozen juice concentrate mixed with the carbonated water in the glass. Frozen grape juice concentrate is great. So is lemonade concentrate and cranberry. Sometimes I add mint or rosemary from the garden to the lemonade. I used to make NY egg creams. Recently at a restaurant I had a Vietnamese egg soda which I plan to replicate as soon as I can track down some pasteurized eggs.
Even the “non-diet” drink syrups have artificial sweeteners in it–UNLESS you can find the ones that state “sweetened with cane sugar.” They DO cost more. But for us poor slobs who cannot tolerate any artificial sweeteners, it’s THAT or “screw it I don’t want the headache.”
~VOW
I got mine last Xmas and remember when I first read online about ‘hacking’ them the issue of whether or not there was any difference between CO[sub]2[/sub] sold for commercial soda machines and gas sold for industrial use was raging on endlessly. There were people on both sides stating emphatically that it did/didn’t matter. I don’t think it does…
Ooh, great ideas! I’m going to be planting all kinds of herbs to put in my soda water next summer.
C02 is just a gas - if you’re using the correct pressure, I don’t see why it should make any difference. I could be wrong, of course - I’m not a gas expert.
The issue was that because Oxygen is strictly sold that way, either for medical or non-medical (i.e. industrial) use, CO2 was too. Even though your body doesn’t metabolize CO2 some claim that industrial tanks could still contain dangerous trace impurities whereas the stuff meant for carbonating soda has to have some kind of ‘human grade’ filtering. However many pointed out that impurities in CO2 meant for industrial applications (welding etc.) would be dangerous too, so I don’t think there’s any difference…
A few years back a similar issue was discussed concerning sourcing O2 for aviation and I asked a relative who worked in the field about it. He said the medical and industrial O2 cylinders were all filled from the same tanks on the same racks. The only difference was that if you filled a rack of 24 cylinders, for example, the medical cylinders would each be tested for impurities while the industrial cylinders would have some smaller percentage spot tested.
I’ve had a Genesis model for a couple years and like it a lot. I don’t use the SodaStream syrups very often; usually just some lemon or lime, or if I don’t have any fresh handy, I use a True Lemon (or lime) packet.
I bought a 5lb CO2 tank for $65, a regulator for $35, and some hose and a little clamp thingy that attaches to the top of a 2 liter bottle for another $20ish, and I can fill my tank for $9 at the local ice/gas supply. It’s a little more trouble to screw the cap on and shake the bottle to diffuse the CO2, but it was only a little more than a Sodastream, and the payoff is very quick. It costs a few cents per liter to carbonate water.
Sounds kind of like the situation with printers, we’ll sell the printer cheap so we can charge you 20 bucks for a couple ounces of ink for the rest of its lifetime.
Is there a home soda fountain dispenser that lets you use standard tanks straight off the rack or do all require modification to do so?
Like many in this thread, I got one last year for Christmas, and I LOVE it! I fizz the water and pour it into a one liter plastic cup with a straw, and add packets of Crystal Lite clone powder, Mio squeezers, lemon juice, TruLemon, or plain. I’d like to get the mod to use off the rack CO2 canisters, but I haven’t bought one yet. A small canister lasts about a month, fizzing one or two liters per day.
** or apple or grape or orange juice concentrate! or cranberry juice! or cucumber slices!