Does anybody have recommendations for a drink carbonator? (like a sodastream)
My partner likes fizzy drinks. I want to get something that will last, and won’t lock us into a single vendor for refills or replacement parts.
I looked at making our own custom one - like this. We might still do something like this, but I’m also pretty clueless with this stuff and don’t want anything to explode or poison us :)
Our priorities, ordered by importance, are:
- No lock-in (adversarial interop is fine)
- Well built/long-lasting
- Convenient, safe, easy to use
Any suggestions?
Just grab an old SodaStream from a garage sale or something so you’re not giving that shitty company any money. Then spend 12 to 20 bucks for an adapter and get your CO2 from a welding supply shop or a bar supply shop. CO2 is CO2.
With that adapter and a large tank of bar gas I get all my bubbly water at a literal fraction of the cost and don’t give any money to that shitty company.
Here is my set up. This one is pricey initially, but checks all your requirements: Breville InFizz Fusion - mechanical (no need for batteries and has no wires), sturdy and designed to carbonate any liquid, not just water (the taste in this case is significantly better than just adding carbonated water into the drink). The CO2 tanks are compatible with old sodastream, which has multiple generic alternatives.
I also got myself a 10lbs CO2 cylinder and refill adapter woth hose on amazon, so I am refilling smaller tanks myself from it and refill the large tank once every 1-2 years in local welding supply store for $40.
I do recommend to have around 4-5 small tanks and 2 extra bottles for different sodas.
Soda Stream is an Israeli company that’s based in the occupied West Bank.
Just thought I’d put that out there in case anyone wasn’t aware.
Honestly surprised its not american. Even more glad I don’t have one now
Corporate needs you to find the difference between these pictures.
The US only supports genocidal states, they haven’t directly contributed in one for years now.
Haven’t they? How much support is required before it’s deemed “direct”?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_support_for_Israel_in_the_Gaza_war
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel–United_States_relations
But still occupying the westbank of the Mississippi
I was going to mention that as well but you beat me to it.
The only way I would have a Sodastream would be if I pull one out of a dumpster and fix it, or if it were shoplifted. But then there’s the next problem: I boycott Coca-Cola and Pepsi both, and I have never seen consumables by other brands (at least not locally).
shoplifted goods are paid for, it’s literally factored into the price and claimed against insurance. they get paid for the product regardless. on your other point, I don’t believe you need to use the branded drink mixes, I think you can carbonate anything (within reason). others have posted Big Clive’s videos, he’s carbonated all sorts on his channel, previously using a sodastream but now using an alternative
shoplifted goods are paid for
It’s not just the maker that is a problem. I boycott the whole supply chain. Indeed I know the shop in the end of the chain loses, which is good enough. Everyone in the supply chain is part of the problem. I’m not going to fly to Israel to sabotage their factory.
it’s literally factored into the price and claimed against insurance.
That factor counts. Of course only in situations where the insurer does not exclude “mysterious unexplained disappearance”. Either way, the effect is favorable:
- uncovered: the merchant loses. The loss on the sodastream offsets profit. The less profitable, the less interesting to continue selling that item.
- covered w/out exclusion: The insurance increases on the demographic of vendors selling sodastream. Insurance premiums cut into profits. There is pressure on insurers to exclude Sodastream from coverage. Store managers time is wasted filing insurance claims, reviewing video footage, researching security mechanisms, etc. That’s not free and also not covered by the insurance claim.
on your other point, I don’t believe you need to use the branded drink mixes
Sure, but for me the trouble and space of having a single-purpose appliance calls for local generic ready-made concentrates of cola and immitation dr.pepper-like stuff. If limited to experimenting with molassas and limes or whatever, it becomes a hard sell.
I believe that Pepsi bought Sodastream several years ago
PepsiCo bought Sodastream in 2018. Sodastream is still headquartered in Israel, however.
I had a drinkmate, it was pretty good it can tolerate flavours before carbonating unlike sodastream, and its not zionist as far as i know. but when you factor in the cost of the bottles (which expire) its not much of a saver vs cans but it is a lot less waste. Another expense is having a connector that is sodastream compatible, those are much more expensive than the ones you can get with standard connectors. I have heard you can 3d print or buy an adapter (just make sure to use food safe materials).
I eventually paid a lot for a grohe under the sink carbinator, I like it its great, much higher carbonation and also refrigerates the water, but it is extremely overpriced ( it has expensive proprietary filters, but they last a really long time) but if i were to do it again I would diy it, since you are considering it i highly recommend it.
My all plastic soda stream broke after 10 years of daily use. I switched to the all metal Aarke and I’ve been really happy with it. Uses the same bottle and carbonator size as soda stream.
That looks well made. Thanks for the link.
Thank you for the recommendation! After deliberating back and forth over whether to go with this or a DIY solution, I ended up buying this one.
I saw a tildes comment talking about this adapter. I’m thinking that, once we finish the first couple of refills, we can decide whether we want to get a bigger donor cylinder to refill them through this.
And then, if this ever does break, we can switch to a full DIY solution at that point, since we’ll then have more hands-on experience with the larger cylinders. So, we can gradually ease into a more DIY approach once we’ve shown we’ll stick with it, and have a bit more confidence.
You can buy all of the parts needed to hook up a plastic bottle safely to a 3k psi CO2 tank. All you need is a few brass NPT fittings, as well as a pressure regulator. The whole setup will cost like 60 bucks to get started and even a small co2 tank will last probably years.
This, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, ask someone to make it for you.
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I used to use a setup like the one pictured. I found it a bit of a hassle. I picked up a used sodastream for about five bucks in a thrift store and got a few third party bottles. I then connected my co2 tank to the sodastream with a hose adapter like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FXK86421
It gives me the convenience of a sodastream without vendor lock-in and without supporting sodastream.
There’s not going to be a buy it for life option because your CO2 canisters are eventually going to need recertification. But this is close
I have a 10 lb CO2 tank that you can get from any home brew supply store. Get yourself some hosing and fittings from that same source. Then get yourself a carb cap that fits on the fittings and on a standard plastic drink bottle.
Total cost will be about $180. But you will be able to get you CO2 tank refilled until it fails a certification.
I bought all this stuff when I was making beer but now I have unlimited soda water without device or brand lockin.
Cost on co2 tank is going to depend on where they get co2. Some places you just give a deposit, and they swap tanks instead of refilling the same one over and over again.
OP, kits to do this are available (e.g., https://www.kegconnection.com/fizz-kits-carbonating-kits.html). The kits seem to leave out a carbonation stone, which i think is a really useful thing to have. Just shoving a bunch of co2 into the headspace will eventually carbonate something, but not that quickly. A carbonation stone makes the co2 diffuse faster (similar to the way that soda stream sprays bubbles).
Honestly, it’s not that complicated, and if you go to a homebrew store, they’ll probably get you up and running for cheaper, and they’ll be happy to help. Regulators and other parts have really come down in price over the last 10-15 years.
You could go drink by drink or do a whole keg (they make really small ones now).
No lock-in (adversarial interop is fine)
I didn’t realise Sodastream had a lock-in mechanism, which means buyers not only support Israel w/the purchase but they are in fact forced to continue supporting Israel. The DiY page you linked says this:
It uses no electricity (no microchips, like some Soda Stream systems).
Oof… so IIUC, Sodastream needs electricity for the purpose of powering a vendor lock-in mechanism. yikes.
In my area, the streets are littered with N₂O tanks because making whipped cream is /very/ popular (particularly around university campuses). I wonder if those tanks can be repurposed for fizzy drinks. I heard they are spec’d to handle around 100 bar, which is far beyond what would be needed.
For those that are intrigued/confused, there is no actual whipped cream being made, inhaling compressed NO2 is just an easy way to get a quick, very temporary high (generally called ‘whippets’.
This does fuck you up long term, especially higher doses, just like every other drug on the market.
just like every other drug on the market.
I agreed with you up till this point. Not sure which market you mean here. The nitrous oxide I referred to is the food market. There is also N₂O in the car market and dental markets. Only dentistry has other drugs but I doubt that is what you are referring to. Assuming you meant the black market of recreational drugs, no they are not all equal. N₂O can permanently damage the nervous system after copious use, but not really mj, lsd, or shrooms.
LSD, shrooms, weed can DEFINITELY permanently fuck you up in large doses. I wasn’t referencing sane recreational amounts, I meant amounts only an idiot would consume.
LSD, shrooms, weed can DEFINITELY permanently fuck you up in large doses.
Citation needed.
get one of the old 1970s ones that were made in Czechoslovakia.
I don’t know about it, but Big Clive switched from soda stream to drinkmate earlier this year.
I’ve had drinkmate for a few years now, its great
The homebrewing community (at large) does a lot of carbonating, so that’s a good place to research and get equipment.
That DIY option looks like a good option. Avoid glass, and/or keep it in a solid box while charging and you should be fine as far as safety. Poisoning is hard to accomplish.
You could also get a small keg and refrigerator.
I have a kitchen-aid one that I’ve had for 10+ years and it’s still going strong with more-than daily use. The bottles I use are whatever brand my refill company has, but not soda stream. I’m not sure if that’s what you’re looking for, but it has been a workhorse and I’m still quite happy with it.
you can get an adapter for a soda stream to connect it to a stadard co2 tank on amazon. It likely the easiest thing to do. You may want to check if there is anyplace around you that you can get a standard co2 tank though. If your in the chicago metro area I can point you to one.
This is great advice but doesn’t get around that fact that sodatreams themselves are cheap plastic, have weak valves and don’t last super long. I have seen all-metal carbonators for sale online but they’re $$$ and I’m also not sure how easy they are to convert to a larger tank.
This is definitely not “BIFL” advice but sodastreams are cheap and usually there’s one or two at thrift stores so it’s not the end of the world if one breaks.
basically its what I did. I have it on a counter and have a cable that connects it to a tank on the floor. That I have yet to empty. I did empty a smaller tank previously but the price for way more is so cheap and standard tanks you can trade in and just pay the difference.
