Anyone have a home sparkling / soda maker?

I drink sparkling water like it is going out of style and I have been thinking about making my own. It would eliminate the tons of bottles that I recycle every week.

Does anyone have any experience with any of the home units?

That’s quite interesting - I didn’t know such a contraption existed.

Is it just a matter of getting some CO2 tanks and injecting the gas into the water?

Here is a link to one of the manufacturers

http://www.sodastreamusa.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hey Steve,

I was just at William and Sonoma and they were doing a presentation on a carbonation dispenser they were selling. Decent carbonation.

My girlfriend asked for one from her parents for her birthday. I hope she gets is and I hope it rules. It will save us some money!

When I was a kid, my grandparents belonged to some sort of service that dropped off glass seltzer bottles and then picked them up when the CO2 cartridges were spent. It was very common in NYC in the 70s. I’d totally forgotten about that until we were in Argentina last year-- pretty much everyone uses those bottles for “agua con gas” there, and you can’t walk through an outdoor market without seeing thousands of them for sale… for pennies. I’ve seen soda siphons at Sur la Table, but they seem ludicrously expensive ($50+) for what they are.

I ended up ordering the sodastream penguin. I will post the results when it arrives later this week

I have the classic ISI. I felt that shipping bottles of Pelligrino across the Atlantic was not the most responsible way to go. I use the water from our RO. The seltzer is great.

It doesn’t save me a dime in cost and the cartridges are manufactured overseas and must be shipped too. So I’m still searching for a better system. I’m going to ask our plumber about installing a bar sized CO2 tank outside and add a soda gun to the kitchen sink. The initial investment will be great, but then I can bathe in the stuff.

…when the cylinder is fresh.

We had one as a kid. Like most kitchen gadgets you’ll use it for a while then it’ll end up in the garage next to the breadmaker and the George Forman grill.

If you do get one, NEVER put the syrup in the water BEFORE you carbonate it.

I’ve been using the Soda Club (now Soda Stream) fountain for well over a year now. There was a great article in the NYT a while back (search for sparkling water, etc.) that reviewed home carbonators ranging from very cheap to very expensive ($10,000 under-sink units). I took the chance on the Soda Club because the starter kit promised to make more than 300 bottles of bubbles for only about $100. If I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t be out that much. But I love it. I love that you can control how carbonated the water is.

I have never counted my bottles but I think the estimate of 110 en-bubble-ated bottles per cylinder is probably close to right. I have 3 cylinders, so when 2 are empty I order more (you have to send back the two empties). Apparently there are outlets where one can pick-up and drop off cylinders, but none are near me. So far I have had no issues with the shipping.

Very cheap per bottle, great flavor, much less environmental impact. What’s not to like?

Way long ago, I tried a soda siphon with GREAT disappointment. The water tasted tinny, the little cylinders were not recyclable nor reusable, and at about $1/each, they cost more than the store-bought bubbles I was replacing (Crystal Geyser from Trader Joe’s, at 85 cents per 1.25 L).

Can’t recommend the Soda Club enough.

Just jumped in based on this thread and the one on the other site. We go through 25 liters a week in our house, so I hope to cut off a significant waste stream eminating from our house

Reminds me that I have been wanting to try this:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/ginger-ale-recipe/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I received my Penguin a couple days ago and have made about 6 bottles of bubbly water so far. I could not be happier. I use filtered water and just put the bottles in the machine, pull down the lever and…bubbly water

I actually think I prefer it to San Pellegrino or Perrier. I can control the amount of carbonation so i don’t have too many bubbles…big thumbs up here

Just opened my box this morning. Set up in five minutes and looks good from the first bottle

I just can’t get over how great this thing works…very happy with it

Any Sodastream updates folks? I’m looking on Ebay for one and I guess there are some different line names so I’m unsure of which way to go. I will be making a purchase imminently.

I still love ours. The SodaStream flavors are crap, so we use Monin syrups. The cantaloupe is by far our favorite, with Granny Smith apple, Tangerine and Lime rounding out our regulars.

We bought the Crystal model as I liked the idea of using glass containers over plastic.

We have a Soda Stream and like it a lot so far. Their website has very good, very detailed information about all the different models and exactly what’s available at each of your local retailers.

We got a 12-bottle sample pack of Fee Brothers bitters: http://www.feebrothers.com/products/

Shake a few drops of bitters in your glass, add the sparkling water, and you’ve got a delicious slightly-flavored water better than anything available in a store.

My sense is that this is not the most economical solution, but it certainly works well. I love that we can control the amount of carbonation and we never run out. We’ve gone from 30-40 cans of sparkling water in the recycling bin each week to zero.

I found the website a bit confusing at first but finally figured it out. Picked up a Fizz on Ebay on the quick it might take a week to arrive but very excited.

Finally got around to getting a SodaStream. Our family would typically go through 2 bottles of sparkling water a day and our recycling bin was getting a bit embarrassing. I must say, the machine is awesome. We haven’t tried any flavorings because that’s not why we bought it, but it is completely worth it for the sparking water. Great product.