I bought myself a cheap sodastream for fathers day recently. I did some research and lots of DIYers recommended getting your own CO2 tank and adapter hose to hook up to the sodastream directly instead of refilling the small canisters that sit inside.
I waited to make sure the sodastream was going to be something I liked before committing to the big tank. I’m a big dr pepper fan and the dr pete syrup wan’t very good. It was metalic and tasted like a cross between dr pepper and pepsi. I’m not a huge cola flavor fan. But I love carbonated waters and got the bubly natural flavors and those have been good.
Nobody in the family really liked their first drinks. A lot got poured out. But, I decided to pull the trigger and got a big 20lbs tank for no other reason than to save money on all the carbonated water I buy. I go through 1-2 cans per day. That shit’s only getting more and more expensive too. I took it to the local gas store and filled it with beverage grade CO2, ($40) hooked it up, and was pleasantly surprised.
Not just that it worked, but by how GOOD it tasted. Even plain with no flavors. Had others in the family taste to confirm and they all agree the new CO2 tank tastes WAY better. I wonder if the small canister that came with the sodastream was just sitting in a warehouse for so long it started to pick up a lot of taste from the metal or something.
Very happy, gonna need to retry the dr pete syrup, and see if that was the problem.
I was always intrigued by Sodastream as I love sparkling water and bottled water is getting expensive. They are heavily marketed here in Germany, too, but it wouldn’t work for me because our tap water sucks.
Just lemon, lime or ginger juice. Mix apertif’s with any for a nice lite bevy. Agave syrup if you need it.
Check out BigClivedotcom’s YT channel, besides being an electronics geek he tries to carbonate every liquor known to man.
I just spent a little time this morning refilling canisters we use in our machine. I just have the tank with an adapter and I got a diptube put into one of my CO2 tanks to do that with, so it fills with liquid off the bottom of the tank. I put empty cyclnders in the freezer so they hold more when filling.
In your scenario, you just want the gas at the top for directly running the machine, but I don’t have room to put a full tank by the machine in the kitchen, besides being ugly.
Just throwing this out there on the flavored syrups side; most companies that I’d only previously known for latte syrups also make some good mixers. For instance Monin’s lavender is awesome in carbonated water
You’re doing the Lord’s work my friend
Heavily carbonated water fresh out of the pressurized tank is delicious. Try mixing with some dry, white wine like a sauvignon blanc for even more fun!
I’ll pass on a company doing business in illegally occupied Palestine and just drink water.
If you’ve already bought the machrne and are filling your own cannisters, you are doing nothing to support them.
That’s where I am: drinking tap water with lemon til I can get my own tank.
I bought mine at a garage sale for $5 with 4 bottles and 2 empty co2 cans.
Pepsi?
SodaStream too.
I just drink water, coffee, tea but usually just water
Ah, I just heard sodastream was owned by pepsi. Didn’t know if the palestine connection was direct or a parent company connection.
While it is a subsidiary of Pepsi, SodaStream is an Israeli company that has at times based its operations in territories under military occupation.
SodaStream is one of the priority boycott targets of the Palestinian-led BDS movement.
https://bdsmovement.net/Guide-to-BDS-Boycott
Pepsi itself is not one of the BDS boycott targets, but Coca-Cola is.
Oh, I did not know, thanks!
When this one bites the dust, I’ll get a different brand. Saw a bunch on aliexpress.
TBF I bought a sodastream over a decade ago and it’s still running, despite the company’s attempts to get me to upgrade xD. Every day that thing lasts and I’m using my own 20 lb tank I still feel like I’m sticking it to the man. After all, they’re making bank selling you a tiny tank of air for 50 bucks.
Yea, looking at the prices, I wonder if they sell the units for cost or very little profit and plan on making most of the profits from CO2 refills and syrup. Inkjet business model.
❤️
Yumbrands does business in illegally occupied Palestine.
Any degrees of removal are just obsfucation, no?
Anyway, I am sorry to tell you, and also just thought maybe I should. At any rate, it’s done now. Forgive me.
Eh, too late now. But going forward I’ll actually be giving less to both companies. CO2 refills will be done with a local company not sodastream, and I’m pretty sure the carbonated waters I was buying were likely also pepsi owned companies. So less there too. I did find a snowcone supply store that sells dr pepper syrup concentrate. It should be pretty easy to avoid giving them money going forward.
Yeah what’s done is done. Don’t beat yourself up. I weighed telling you but did so others would know. Going forward, enjoy your soda!
Hindsight is 20/20. But I can now justify not buying sodastream dr pete syrup in the future despite it being cheaper than dr pepper.
Let us know how the doctor pepper tastes.
Luckily there are alternatives to SodaStream. AGA, Aarke, etc. Also make sure not to buy SodaStream brand canisters
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Begone with this hasbara noise.
This is not dull, steps toward self sufficiency are exciting!
I do not like Sodastream’s or many other Sodastream-like specific syrups because they aren’t sweet enough to cut through the carbonic acid created by carbonating the water. When I had one, I would get real syrup boxes, like for a real soda fountain. Super economical even for the smallest box. It also helps to let the finished water off-gas a bit, because if your model doesn’t have a control for how much carbonation you want, it tends to be a little on the higher side.
I’m glad they work for you. I could never get mine to carbonate the drinks, no matter what I did. The CO² and liquid refused to combine in the bottle.
I wish someone would just make a mini soda fountain for the home that can fit on a kitchen counter. That would work a million times better than a SodaStream.
Strange, mine’s working great. This did happen to my wife once though. It was because she didn’t tighten the bottle all the way on. It sort of clicks when it’s all the way on, so the CO2 just sorta came out the top instead of being forced into the water. Might also happen if you don’t fill the bottle up to the wavy water line?
Unfortunately I still had no luck trying your suggestions. The CO² just sits in the upper half of the bottle, away from the liquid, and just immediately releases the moment I open it. I also tried experimenting with different water temperatures. Shaking the bottle and then coming back after a few hours, not shaking the bottle, and a bunch of other different things I can’t remember because it’s been* a few years.
At the end of the day I still just want a regular soda fountain that is shrunk down enough to be practical for home use. After all, why fix what isn’t broken? SodaStream did not need to reinvent the carbonation process, yet they chose to anyway.
Interesting. Someone else in the comments mentioned brewing at home. They filled a keg with water, hooked up CO2 and used a kegerator to make their carbonated water. Not sure about the specifics, but that might work.
I’ve looked into buying commercial soda fountains used from resteraunts. But even the smaller ones with only like 4 spigots are espensive, and remembering from my fast food days, you’re supposed to clean them daily.
But I can absolutely see the appeal of a Kurrig like experience but with soda.
Check out One On One Flavors. They sell water soluble and oil soluble flavors.
A few years ago I bought a variety of the water soluble flavors for making flavored sparkling water at home. I’ve enjoyed most of my choices and the few I don’t care for are still interesting (and useful for cocktail experiments).
Some of the cola flavorings are fine as-is. Some of them rely on a bit of sweetness to taste like they should.
I haven’t tried that site yet, but I have it bookmarked now. I made a small order from simplyflavor they have PG based flavors. Got dragonfruit + pomegranate, pear, and kiwi.
Have you tried any of the alcohol based flavors? Essences and estracts. They’re supposedly water soluble too. If those are good, that could expand the options. It’s not easy finding water soluble flavors.
I’ve tried a few extracts. Blending with other flavors they’re pretty good. Solo is hit or miss. Real vanilla bean extract is excellent (if one likes vanilla) but ones found on the same store shelf which use vanillin are… Unpleasant.
I’ve had some success using bitters as well. Angostura makes an orange bitters that mixes well with the oooflavors cream soda flavoring. It’s like a creamsicle’s older brother turned into a fizzy water. That one gets a nice lift from a bit of honey or agave but doesn’t require it.
the local gas store? specifically for different types of gases? I’m unfamiliar.
Beer making supply stores often have food-grade CO2 for refilling tanks also.
Wait wait – we reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere by making a fuck ton of beer.
Fermentation releases an order of magnitude more CO2 than you put back into it when you carbonate it
Keep making more.
okay thanks
Welding supply store i assume. Most places have one.
Yep, non-chain place does mostly welding gases and supplies, but also food grade CO2.
When I was in restaurants, i got my CO2, or beer gas, ( CO +N2) delivered by the same company that filled our LNG / propane from, and heating oil from. Theyre also who you get liquid nitrogen, and people go to for acetyline, and other welding gasses like argon/ co2 mix. All the stores got their helium for balloons too, before our town banned it…
So yeah, a gas store.
unfortunately the American dialect of the English language chose the absolute worst word for petroleum fuel: gasoline or gas. It muddles conversation
There are stores that specialize in providing gasses in various purities. Depending on what you get from them, you probably just think of them as the [whatever gaseous chemical you’re buying] store. I could name a few, which might not be entirely ethical, or you could look up where to buy helium or oxygen or nitrogen.
Name a few! How is that unethical?
Clients used them, I wouldn’t know the information otherwise.
My clients paid for confidentiality.
There are secret gas stores you claim you “could name” but are choosing not to? wtf are you talking about?
Gas stores are on google maps! they are stores selling compressed gases for refill, exchange or purchase.
Ffs, i understand these stores are not common knowledge, it’s why i asked for basic clarification, but i don’t need an ancient aliens hypothesis about helium storage.
You don’t know. It’s fine. Nobody else here did either.
i have given you enough information to find what you need dude. the fact that you can’t is a skill issue. and if you could find it on google, it’s not a secret.
frankly, the fact that you’re starting shit here seems like you’re not a good fit for the dull men’s club.
Again, gas stores are not a secret and it’s weird you’re pretending they are some hidden market that only you have access to.
It’s fine that you’re ignorant about gas stores, i was too, it’s why iask questions. You don’t have to answer questions you don’t know anything about.
frankly, the fact that you’re starting shit here seems like you’re not a good fit for the dull men’s club
i’m just going to need to repeat myself aren’t I, as one of the persons who told y’all about the gas stores. I can’t be reading my clients’ checkbooks and telling you who they paid.
not taking “no” for an answer is rapist behavior
bums me out how much i dislike the taste of carbonation, so I can’t justify to myself getting a soda machine. love a fun kitchen gadget.
Oh God, I’m the opposite. Once I get on the bubble water I need assistance getting off of it.
I’ll allow the occasional bender, but if I had it on tap? I really love my tap water too…
I’d honestly be so out of control.
I brew beer and exclusively keg it, no bottling. Years ago I decided to just fill a keg with water and throw it in the kegerator on my third tap. One of the best ideas I’ve ever had.
I wonder if you’re tasting off gassed plasticizers from the seals used in the soda stream bottles or something? It would depend on how you modified your SodaStream to use the new big bottle, but those tend to be a lot more metal and a lot less plastic or rubber than a cheap consumer bottle.
I didn’t modify the sodastream. The new tank has a standard like hose sized nozzle. The sodastream takes a quickconnect which is what the small canisters have. I just bought a hose that one side fits the big tank and the other side fits the sodastream. Lots of people do it and there’s plenty options on amazon. The one I got even has a little pressure gauge on it so I can see when the tank is getting low.
Yeah I got that much, since the SodaStream needs to work the same way. Both your big bottle and the SodaStream bottle should be filled with the same quality of CO2 so it’s got to be something else. That’s why I figured it had to be seals inside the SodaStream bottle itself. Non PTFE thread tape maybe?
Also the higher surface area to volume ratio of the little canisters might effect the freshness.
Good point, hadn’t thought of that.
