My family loves various types of fizzy water, including those we mix with various types of syrup. But I really hate buying those plastic bottles, as they empty quickly and are incredibly wasteful, regardless of how recyclable they are.
So, I’ve been looking at the Soda Stream, but I see there are also a lot of other devices like it, all with unfamiliar names (to me). So, my questions are, what do you have, and do you like your device, and is it expensive to run (I can’t get out of my head that it’s like a printer business model where the device is pretty cheap, but oh those refills).
I absolutely love my Soda Stream. I got the E-TERRA model which is the plug in model. I used to buy cases of Pellegrino and lugging them around was a major PITA. I make my own bubbles several times a week.
My drink is carbonated water with a splash of pomegranate juice. I can’t speak to the syrup to make your own Coke or root beer but people seem to like them a lot.
The little returnable gas tanks aren’t expensive and you will without a doubt save money over buying regular soda.
Make the fizzy water right before you want to drink it. I only use the 1-liter bottles. I don’t try to keep it overnight, as it will lose some fizz. I have bought the Coke syrup and it’s okay, but my favorite thing to flavor with is the juice of one key lime.
I’ve had a Drinkmate for three years now, and modded it to go with a refillable 10lb CO2 cylinder, and we’re still only on our second tank of gas since we’ve gotten it. (And it costs like $25 or $30 for a refill? I can’t remember – it’s been over a year.)
I’ve said this in other threads on the subject, but it’s almost any option is cheaper than buying fizz water in a bottle, but I strongly endorse @pulykamell’s suggestion of an aftermarket modifier for the CO2.
My wife is the fizz drinker, and is doing 2-3 bottles a day now that it’s warmer. But the refills are more pricy than the look using the ones from the manufacturer (in our case Sodastream). They claim it’s a 60L bottle (in terms of final product), but if carbonated to a level found in normal beverages, we’ve never made more than 30-40 on a single bottle. Maybe if your definition of fizz was a tiny tingle, you could reach the aspirational goal, but I find it very misleading.
So I’ve been pushing my wife for years to mod it, and she’s finally shopping around, just hasn’t found a source she can order from that she trusts, with good reviews.
Well, I’m learning some things here. First, that some are electric and some are not, and second that modding these is a way to go. Do you just have the CO2 cylinder sitting on the counter beside the soda maker, or do you attach it for each usage? (or is it not even in the kitchen) And when you do eventually run out, do you ship it off for refill or bring it somewhere local?
Mine isn’t modded but people have come up with all sorts of rigs that may or may not work for you. The bigger tanks are probably too large and/or unsightly for the kitchen counter. The ones I have seen are mostly fed from under the counter. Plenty of places will re-fill the tanks, like places that sell beer kegs.
I have it sitting beside the soda dispenser, constantly connected. That said, I do shut off at the valve at each use, just in case, I dunno, there’s a small leak or something (the first time I refilled it, I somehow screwed something up so all my CO2 was gone within two weeks.) When it runs out, I go to a welding supply place that does CO2 refills. Two years ago it was about $25-$30 and for me it lasted about eight months when I was using it daily, to now I’m still on CO2 from a couple years back as my weekly usage has sharply declined. In theory, a 10lb tank should carbonate 170L of water. To me, it feels like it’s a bit more than that, but those are the “official” numbers I could find from CO2 suppliers.
By contrast, a standard tank (that you exchange for a full one when empty) is $17 and lasts about six weeks doing a liter a day or so. Much less initial cost because of the big tank but it’ll pay for itself quickly. Either way is significantly cheaper than my old Pellegrino habit or even generic soda.
I have a SodaStream modded to use paintball canisters. I get mine refilled at a gas place for $3 a refill. I have considered getting a big tank (used they are pretty cheap) so I could get a refill yearly instead of monthly.
I’ve gone through a few systems. Probably the most cost effective one involved spending about $100 in parts at a brewing supply store and then picking up a commercial 5lb CO2 tank. You need a regulator and the fittings to add a line to a valve and a ball lock fitting. Then you just use empty 2 liter bottles with the ball lock cap and pressurize them as needed.
I eventually replaced that with an under-sink unit that is an all-in-one filter, chiller and carbonator. The sink faucet in the kitchen now has an additional button that causes it to dispense cold, filtered still or sparkling water. It wasn’t cheap, it it’s probably the appliance in my home that I interact with the most. And as @hajario will attest, the tap water here is like gargling with a mouthful of dirty rocks so the filter is necessary anyway.
Fosho. I use a Brita filter pitcher to fill the bottles with water, chill them in the fridge and then carbonate those later as needed. Your setup sounds amazing.
I’ve had both the sodastream and drinkmate systems and I like drinkmate for being able to carbonate any liquid. Carbonating Apple Juice and Pocari are both favorites when I want something different from water. I’ve contemplated DIY for years but ultimately, stuck with the overpriced refills due to laziness.
Two tips that I found helped:
If you love water with the maximum amount of bite, carbonate until it burps, shake the bottle end to end a few times and then vent off any gas, carbonate again, shake again and let sit for 5 minutes. I love the bracing taste of water carbonated to the max and I’ve found the standard procedure to be too wimpy.
Have at least 2 bottles and 2 CO2 canisters at the start if you’re a regular user. It’s great when you’re done with one bottle that there’s another cold bottle in the fridge you can carbonate right away if you’re still thirsty. And a backup CO2 canister means that when you’re run out, you can immediately switch over.
All the systems use the same threading system as far as I’m aware so you can use sodastream canisters in a drinkmate machine and vice versa. Figure out the most convenient place to get refills and the machine doesn’t have to be the same brand.
Good advice. The Soda Stream E-Terra has three settings. The first one is light bubbles similar to Pellegrino, the second is Perrier and the third will blow out your ears. You can keep adding more until some limit.
I also always have a reserve bottle in the fridge. The unit came with one so I bought a couple extras. I always have three refill tanks. When two are empty, I order two more and then send back the empties with the shipping sticker and then stick in the mailbox. You can also exchange them at Target and a few other places and save a few dollars on shipping.
I had a fairly high-end SodaStream about 8 years ago, but started to have trouble finding the tanks when we moved from the US to Canada. That model could use the larger bottles, but SodaStream discontinued them… so running to Bed Bath and Beyond to get refills twice as often got to be annoying, so we got rid of the machine.
Then about two years ago, a service started up here which delivers the tanks, and so I bought a not-quite-so-fancy SodaStream. I use it daily- I drink about two liters of carbonated water a day, now. The service has free delivery if you get three tanks delivered at once, so I got four tanks. As soon as I connect up the 4th tank, I order three refills. It works really well, and keeps me from drinking Diet Coke all the damn time.
Thanks everyone, I just ordered a Drinkmate Omnifizz, and it’s on its way. I’m getting the accompanying CO2 because I want to play with it immediately out of the box, but I’ll mod it as suggested.
As a side question, apparently lots of liquids are CO2-able via the Drinkmate, anyone do anything besides water?
As mentioned above, if you like Martinellis, you can make a faux version with normal apple juice. People also do white wine in them for faux champagne.