Who has one, who's hacked one, and what's the deal?
Wife and I drink a lot of soda water, and it's not cheap to buy in cans. Sodastream looks significantly cheaper, but I've also heard of hacks to either fill your own bottle, or use CO2 bottles from paint guns to save serious coin. Anybody here figured it out?
Yep! We love our sodastream but the refills make it cost almost as much as the cheapest 2 liter bottles of soda water down at Meijer.
Get this dohickey and it'll plug straight into any commercial CO2 tank. I used to spend about $40 per month on refills from sodastream (I drink nothing but bubbly water, coffee and beer) and now I spend about $15-$20 every six months to refill a 20lb cylinder down at the local welding supply place. Pays for the $100 dongle VERY fast. Just be sure to get one that's long enough that you can have the sodastream on the counter and the tank hiding somewhere out of sight.
And since you've got a 20lb CO2 tank now, you might as well get a kegerator as well. ;)
I gave one to my wife. She won't drink the soda and I pretty much quit drinking soda. My daughter uses it some for soda water, but mostly it collects dust on the kitchen counter. I'm pretty sure we haven't even finished the first bottle of CO2.
My wife got one as a christmas gift from her parents, we use it heavily. Her and her friends love soda water in their red wine and I like straight up, fizzy water. I've started to drink more water because of this doohickey and the refills, well, we usually pick up an extra bottle whenever we are around Walmart.
I bought one a couple of months ago. I really like it. I use it for soda water.
The only downside is that the refills did not last the 60 liters they claim the way I use it, so it gets expensive. I am going to buy the adaptor and solve that problem.
The best part for me is that I don't have to carry a bunch of heavy water bottles from the supermarket.
I make a couple of bottles and take them to work, they will not lose the fizziness in 8 hrs.
So... I drink lots and lots and lots of seltzer. It is poor planet stewardship to toss away all those plastic one liter bottles so last year I took my beermeister apart (also because having huge supplies of beer on tap is counterproductive).
A little cobbling of fittings and an old soda keg to hold water and viola... cold seltzer fountain. 10-15 psi is just about right. An eyedropper of orange, cranberry, grape, lime or whatever juice is so easy it's not worth the effort to automate. I mostly keep one of those plastic limes in the fridge to squeeze in a drop per glass.
I've got a soda stream at work and one at home. I use it all the time, and need to replace the canister about once every 2-4 weeks. Haven't screwed with the DIY refill setups yet, though.
Buncha damn yuppies. Gimmie mine the old fashioned way. If it's good enough for these guys:
it's good enough for me. 
My local Target was clearing out the Fizzini, a Sodastream knock-off for something like $15. You might check yours.
You approach this the GRM way: http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2012-06/how-make-your-own-home-carbonation-system
In reply to Mike:
Fizzini? INCONCEIVABLE!
I got one as a gift and made the mistake of dragging it to live in a dorm with me. It sounds like some sort of rocket launch when you carbonate water, and so every time I used it my suite-mate started freaking out in the room next door. She was a bitch, so I didn't end up using the thing too much. If you drink bubbly water a lot, get it. If you want it for soda, chances are you're not going to want to bother with it.
I got the budget one for my wife about a year ago for her birthday. Best. Present. Ever. We didn't buy any commercial soda for 6 months. I have not yet hacked ours to use cheaper CO2 cylinders and have gotten dud refills from Target. The "Natural" line is fantastic but sometimes hard to find. There are recipes to make your own syrup and my wife made her own ginger ale that was pretty stout. We like the variety of non-cola options.
I 'd never use any of those inkjets-for-food without hacking them to run generic supplies, that's what I know.
I don't have extra money to piss away in such a silly manner. And that means a lot coming from me.
Here's how to do the mod:
http://gizmodo.com/5893653/sodamod-save-money-on-sodastream-refills-with-a-hacked-paintball-canister
Adapter for removable mod...costs a lot, but only as much as 1 gas bottle:
http://www.criticalpaintball.com/SodaMod-SodaStream-Soda-Club-CO2-Adapter-Save-Mo-p/sodastream-sodamod.htm
BTW for anyone who cares about where their products come from and is considering buying a SodaStream machine, this is relevant:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SodaStream#Controversy
In reply to KatieSuddard:
That's why I would be a bad room mate. I would be filling bathtubs with seltzer just to annoy people.
ppddppdd wrote: Yep! We love our sodastream but the refills make it cost almost as much as the cheapest 2 liter bottles of soda water down at Meijer. Get this dohickey and it'll plug straight into any commercial CO2 tank.
Yup. That's exactly what I'm looking for, but for some reason, I never saw that one when I did a search. I did see a lot of other options but wanted to hear from people who've actually done it. We already do our own beer and have a keg in the basement fridge, so having an other CO2 bottle around will be handy for when one of them runs out. We just want it for soda water, and even with the pricey CO2 refills, it's still cheaper, but using a 10 lb CO2 tank will make it almost free
Just an update:
I was looking for a used one online when Walmart had a sale on the lowest end model. I bought that one, then found another for sale locally for $30, so I bought that one too, to have the extra cylinder, and pretty much got two for the price of one. Once both cylinders were empty, I filled them this way, and it cost me nothing.
The video ends too early. Why are they setting the cylinder outside!?
Until I get answer, guess I'm stuck buying bottles at Publix.
Also, a question for the group: club soda or seltzer? Personally, I roll both ways.
David S. Wallens wrote: The video ends too early. Why are they setting the cylinder outside!?
Dry ice is solid co2. As it 'melts' it turns to co2 gas. You don't have to leave it outside, but they probably did it to hasten the transformation in the summer heat. There are other vids that probably have more detailed info, but as you'll see when you do it, it's pretty straightforward and easy.
Just curious, what do you pay for an exchange cylinder?
I pay nothing because I just buy bottles of seltzer or club soda at Publix. I know, I'm a horrible person.
We had a seltzer maker while growing up. My grandma had the glass bottles delivered--you know, the ones like the Three Stooges had.
In reply to Zomby Woof:
They most likely did it outside because cooling a metal bottle that much (dry ice is negative 109F) and then pressurizing it is extremely dangerous. When you cool metal that much it becomes very brittle and can shatter easily.
I got one for Xmas about 2 years ago. If I wasn't cutting back on sugar/badstuff I'd still be using it. Some flavors were better than others.
I just picked up a refill at Target for $15. This last canister lasted several months until I found lime mix, not lemon-lime, just lime. It's terrific and looks like green Mad Dog 20/20.
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