Home Carbonation System
I drink a lot of seltzer. So much that my fiancee says I couldn't survive without bubbles in my water. After trying a SodaClub home soda maker (picture above right) and realizing it would cost $70 to buy a special part for it, I found a really detailed resource for building my own, simple home carbonation system for under a $100 using a CO2 tank, regulator, hose and a carbonator cap (details below). It took ten minutes to build. I love having very good homemade soda on the cheap and not having to lug around seltzer bottles or worry about it going flat. With a scuba-like tank in the kitchen, guests always ask "What is that?!" and I really love demonstrating. When one friend of mine said he didn't like soda, I whipped him up a mango soda from this special puree of mango I had. He absolutely loved it! And a by-product of the cost of producing low cost seltzer water is that I can experiment with different flavored sodas. I mean some really wacky stuff, like lychee-tangerine or coconut-lucima. If I don't like it, or it tastes weird, I don't feel guilty about draining the entire liter or two-liter bottle.
My 20lb system makes over 1133 liters of carbonated water. In practice, efficiency is not perfect, with unavoidable losses in the hose and headspace. But at current prices of $20 per 20lb tank-fill, the cost to convert tap water to seltzer is under $0.02 cents per liter. A single fill of a 20lb tank charges over 500 bottles, which will keep you supplied for 1.5 years if you consume an average of one bottle daily. In terms of break even, assuming that you can find liter bottles of seltzer water for $0.99 per bottle, then it'll take roughly 100 bottles for the system to break even. I definitely drink a liter a day, so it only took about 3 months for me to break even -- not to mention all of the labor and space that it saves to lug in and store 8.3 dozen liter bottles of seltzer water.
I found a CO2 tank on eBay for about $30 bucks, including shipping. I use a dual gauge CO2 regulator; a single gauge one for CO2 output would work also, but I prefer the dual as it also tells you the amount of gas in the CO2 canister ($20 on eBay). You also need a hose (or "gas fitting tube"). To avoid the site's detailed instructions on how to fit the CO2 hose onto a 1-liter bottle of soda, I bought a special carbonator cap that lets you easily insert the hose ($11 from Northern Brewer). You can't refill a CO2 tank in NYC, as it violates several ordinances. However, you can exchange your empty tank for a full one for $20 at a local welding supply place; other spots include keg brewers and anywhere that refills fire extinguishers. (I got mine refilled at McKinney's Welding Supply Co. at 535 W 52nd Street, New York, NY 10019.)
The operating instructions are fairly straightforward. On a dual gauge tank there are two gauges and two valves, one for the main tank and one for the output. The valve between the CO2 tank and the regulator, I'll call the CO2 valve and the valve between the regulator and the carbonator cap, I'll call the output valve:
1) Fill up a one- or two-liter bottle.
2) Screw on the carbonator cap fairly tight (it's a ball release
cap, so you simply push the entire cap to release it from the hose afterwards)
3) Make sure the Output valve is completely shut off
4) Turn on the CO2 valve and watch the CO2 tank gauge shoot up (this will be
the remaining pressure in your tank)
5) Slowly turn the Output valve open until the pressure reaches about 50 PSI
(I've been experimenting with various PSI's -- 50 PSI works best for me)
6) As you feel the bottle get full (don't worry, I read recently
that two-liter soda bottles are rated to handle 200 PSI), pick it up and start
shaking vigorously as you would a bar drink (this helps carbonate the water).
7) Turn off the CO2 valve and then the Output valve
8) Remove the carbonator cap
Incidentally, it was a SodaClub home soda maker I bought on eBay that inspired me ultimately to build my own home carbonation unit. The SodaClub unit has a proprietary design whereby it is nearly impossible to refill without a special adapter and the adapters I found online cost $70 bucks (more than I paid for the SodaClub). So rather than spend $70 to fix an inherent problem with the SodaClub (and I would still need a 20lb canister sitting somewhere in my house), I did some research and found this site. For about $95 bucks -- less than the cost of a new SodaClub (they retail new for about $100) -- I have more than 10 times the soda making capacity (SodaClub claims you can get 110 liters of soda). I should add that I've seen plans on eBay for $5 or $10 bucks for how to construct your own soda fountain gun that spurts out bubbly water on demand. With mine, the end result is the same, but the carbonator unit I built is so much simpler and cheaper and it doesn't require a heat sink or a refrigeration unit.
-- Alastair Ong
Home Carbonation System
Info available from Richard J. Kinch
Soda Supplies & Parts
$5+ (extracts)
$11 (carbonator cap)
Available from Northern Brewer
--
Related items previously reviewed in Cool Tools:
Favorite (15)
Turkey Buzzard
Thanks for the great article. I've built this rig and am disappointed in the level of carbonation in the water. Does the water hardness or softness matter? Or am I just not shaking it enough? Any thoughts on how to increase the level of carbonation?
Nate
The level of carbonation depends on a few things: The pressure you pump CO2 into the vessel (use at least 40psi on a 2L bottle that is in good shape), how well you allows the CO2 to dissolve in the liquid (the more you shake/refill, the more dissolves, or the longer you leave it attached under pressure, the more you get), and the temperature of the liquid (warm water holds little CO2). I have found that after shaking the bottle (I remove it from the carbonator to shake) and refilling with CO2 several times, repressurize and leave it overnight in the fridge to 'set'. Though now I carbonate in a 5gallon corny keg. That doesn't shake too well, so I leave it under pressure for 3 days to get well carbonated.
J
What is the specific link or model number of the cap you purchased from northern brewer? Did you also order the hose from there?
urayai
I like this. THank you . I will come back you after assembling my apparatus too.
Orlando
Hello. I read on other web sites that the CO2 used by places like welding shops and paintball places are not really "beverage grade" and could contain harmful chemicals. Have you heard of this when you were doing your research.
OM
Anastasia
Make sure that you chill the bottle of water BEFORE you carbonate it. Chilling makes a huge difference in the amount of CO2 that the water will hold.
Brett
I used to sell CO2 wholesale to retailers like bigger welding shops. There is ONLY one grade of CO2: food grade. There is not industrial grade. 90% of all CO2 is used in food or water. No worries there.
musyka
Terrific article, thank you. I haven't received the parts yet, but I have a couple of questions on the procedure.
1. When starting out, you mentioned to fill up the liter bottle, then, once hooked up to the CO2, you said "as you feel the bottle get full". Don't understand. Is the CO2 take up space in the bottle? If so, when filling up the bottle with water, how much space do I need to leave for the CO2?
2. If I'm using cold water, about how long do you leave the CO2 on? are we looking at a few minutes, or a few hours?
3. I get the shaking of the bottle, but do you remove the carbonating cap when you're done? Doesn't the liquid spray all over? Is the liquid now carbonated, or does it take a while after adding the CO2 before it become carbonated?
4. Out of curiosity: you mention making a carbonated drink out of mango puree. When you make something like that, does it settle so that you have to shake the bottle before drinking it?
Thanks a lot, I should be getting my parts by next week, and I'm looking forward to trying this out!
Sandi
Hi
Can you tell me about the "$70 to buy a special part for it," I need to buy one of these special parts.
Would you please tell me the name of it and also where I can buy it?
Your help would be greatly appreciated as Soda Stream (Club) will not be transporting any carbonation cylinders to Canada until the beginning of October, 2009.
My Doctor says it is a must with the medication I am taking that I drink 3 litres/quarts per day
I am desperate to find this part as fizzy and flavored is the only way I can get water into me without gagging.
Thank you
Kim
For the person looking for the soda-club refill adaptor, try sodaco2.com. They have adaptors for a bulk tank as well as for a paintball refill setup. If they won't ship to canada, search for soda-club refill or sodastream refill on ebay.
For the person having trouble getting the carbonation to stay in the soda, dissolve a little salt in the water (pinch or two), put your water in the freezer until a thin film of ice forms, overcarbonate a bit, and then place the soda in the fridge to set overnight before flavoring. The carbonation should last longer.
For anyone who isn't all that handy, kegconnection.com is offering complete carbonation kits starting at $98 for a paintball air setup or $129 for a 5# tank setup.
Michael Zick Doherty
What the heck is lucima
Mike
I do this at home when I have an open tap on my homebrew serving fridge. I use a 5 gallon keg and can carb it up in about 3 days. Carbonator caps are nice, but they have leaky seals so don't leave the gas on them too long or you'll find you CO2 tank empty. The second gauge on your CO2 tank won't be very accurate either. With CO2 they tend to show full until a day or two before they're empty.
Jackie
Yeah, this is def one of my best pruchases this year. also got a $10 discount code from http://makeyoursoda.com
Mike H
Hey, would you mind shooting me a JPEG image of the bottle cap you use on 2 liter bottles that allows you to pressurize the contents?