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.
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.