I go through a lot of sparkling water, to the extent that it kind of feels a little wasteful. I'm thinking about putting a soda maker on my Christmas wish list this year, so I'm curious about people's experiences.

Is the result as good or better than most retail sparkling waters? Is the fizzy level on par with a Topo for those who like heavy carbonation, or not as much?

You really control the level to your liking. I love my soda stream and I pretty much only use it for sparkling water.

EDIT: I've got a Drinkmate, not Soda Stream. I use Soda Stream gas though.

We just got rid of our old soda stream. It did a great job and would heavily carbonate water, but we just did not use it too much. Now, of course the wife has switched from gin and tonic to ranch water, and we would likely use it more.

I did the mod where we could use a paintball tank and it was much more economical to fill and lasted much longer. The "flavors" were fun for the kids until the new wore off and then it was basically used for sparkling water.

Depending on how much you go through and if you do the math, you can buy a homebrew making kegging setup and do it in 5 gallon batches. Initial setup costs might be higher, but the large volume makes it cheaper over the long run. Esp on CO2 refills if you get a 10 or 15lbs tank.

You could have several favors on tap with a chest freezer that big, have nitro? Then a tap for cold pressed coffee.

Been debating about doing this for the wife. You can buy small 1 gallon kegs as well (coffee, or cocktails).

Lots of options!

I seldom drink flat water anymore. My go to lately is 1/3 strength carbonated propel.

Cromagnum said:

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MichaelJ said:

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Tx-Ag2010 said:

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I built my own carbonated water set up a few years ago and even at $600 for all the parts it paid for itself in about 6-8 months. (I drink about 1-1.5 gallons per day).

Personally I like a lot of bubbles so I run mine at 65psi and 34-36F.

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1-1.5 gallons of CARBONATED water

A DAY!???!

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This guy is probably farting loudly all damned day.

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Yea and who needs tooth enamel anyway?

Curious what your line length is to keep all of the bubbles in suspension?

fav13andac1)c said:

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Curious what your line length is to keep all of the bubbles in suspension?

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Not sure I understand the question, unless you are talking about inline carbonators? Mine is a batch system with a spargers in each keg.

The liquid line is ~4ft and all but the last 1ft is refrigerated. The line is pressurized so the CO2 remains in solution until it leaves the tap and the pressure drops. The first ounce or so isn't that well carbonated as it is room temp and not able to hold as much CO2.

With beer you have to have a fairly long line length to keep the head down. However, this shouldn't be an issue with water as it's not going to create a head as there isn't any protien/malt which will cause foaming.

My kegerator is at 40F (should be colder, but it's a cold room and I'm trying to keep the AC unit from burning out) and I have 9' lines at 3/16".

I carb the same beer and my dad serves on his kegerator at 38F, and it's a huge difference in pour quality.

When you say sparger, are you talking about a porous stone that spits out bubbles in the liquid? Great way to carb quickly and I'm assuming, but don't actually know that it helps get the bubbles dissolved better.

I've had issues with seltzer. Whenever I pour, all of the co2 comes out at once, leaving me with a semi-flat pour.

fav13andac1)c said:

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When you say sparger, are you talking about a porous stone that spits out bubbles in the liquid? Great way to carb quickly and I'm assuming, but don't actually know that it helps get the bubbles dissolved better.

I've had issues with seltzer. Whenever I pour, all of the co2 comes out at once, leaving me with a semi-flat pour.

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Yes, mine is 316SS but the principal is the same. It doesn't affect the ultimate carbonation level as that is a factor of the temperature and pressure but it drastically increases the surface area and speeds up the process. It cut my carbonation times from a couple days to 4-6hours.

I have a couple of 20 pound co2 tanks that I use to refill my sodastream cylinders, ends up being less than a dollar a fill.

I have kegs, but it feels like such a pain in the ass to carb water. The pressures required would mean I have to change to much longer hoses than I use with beer.

Scotts Tot said:

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...I'm thinking about putting a soda maker on my Christmas wish list this year, so I'm curious about people's experiences...

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I'm in on this

Was just looking at these at target yesterday, for the kids

How does all the Flavoring compare? The fruit ones (cherry, etc) are tasty? The cola tastes like coke or the HEB cola? The diet cola tastes like coke zero or diet coke?

Our girls were younger then and liked the flavors, but most were closer to a store brand knock off. There were a limited number of diet options if sugar is a concern. We used it about 12-18 months for flavors, and then just for sparkling water.

Esteban du Plantier said:

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I have a couple of 20 pound co2 tanks that I use to refill my sodastream cylinders, ends up being less than a dollar a fill.

I have kegs, but it feels like such a pain in the ass to carb water. The pressures required would mean I have to change to much longer hoses than I use with beer.

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How do you fill the small canisters from the big ones? I have a 20lb CO2 at work I can pull off of. Do you need an attachment?

ol'Porkbelly said:

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Esteban du Plantier said:

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I have a couple of 20 pound co2 tanks that I use to refill my sodastream cylinders, ends up being less than a dollar a fill.

I have kegs, but it feels like such a pain in the ass to carb water. The pressures required would mean I have to change to much longer hoses than I use with beer.

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How do you fill the small canisters from the big ones? I have a 20lb CO2 at work I can pull off of. Do you need an attachment?

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You can buy the hose on Amazon, lots of options.

Unless your donor tank is a siphon tank (unlikely), you'll need to turn your donor upside down to push liquid instead of gas.

To get a pressure differential, throw the soda steam cylinder in the freezer for a while.

You have to fill slowly since the soda steam cylinder has an anti fill valve. But it won't trigger if you fill really slow.

I pull the cylinder from the freezer, hook it all up and put it on a scale and transfer up to 410 grams, but this method is likely to equalize pressure at 350 or so.

You could just use it as is mostly full, or if you want it totally full throw it back in the freezer for a while and redo the transfer process, or close your donor tank and vent some gas quickly from the soda stream tank in order to cause a rapid pressure drop, then that will allow a little more to transfer.

I never worry about getting them all the way to 410 grams, since it's so easy/convenient to just fill them 80% full.