That’s not many. As I said in an earlier post, so far out of the machine we are not currently using, we have got 35 bottles (30 litres) of soda water out of the gas cylinder and judging by the change in cylinder weight we should get at least the 138 bottles (116 litres) we got with the previous one.
If I were you I’d make sure that I followed the tips I gave in the initial post and keep an accurate record of how many bottle of soda water you get from a gas cylinder. I mark it on a piece of paper stuck with a magnet on the fridge door. Also, weigh the refilled full cylinder and then again when empty to check how much CO2 was in the cylinder.
With our modern machine the plastic bottle screws into the gas dispensing set up. Only problem so far with the bottle has been difficulty, due to the smooth plastic, removing the cap when the bottle contains carbonated water.
Ahhh they must have gone back to the original method for connection. The one I bought (I forget the model name) has a bottle that just gets pushed into place rather than screwed and if you dont get it just right, it sprays everywhere and falls out. Expensive to find out it wasnt right. Went back t the old one.
A sodastream refil is $19 for 400g of co2 ($47.50 per Kg of co2)
Filling your own for the first time is $86 for the 2.6kg cylinder and adapter. ($33.08 per Kg).
Then getting the 2.6Kg co2 refilled when it runs out is about $36 ($13.85 per kg)
Not for everyone though as the co2 bottle is very heavy and it’s tricky to learn how to refill the sodastream cylinders. The newer sodastream cylinders have a fancy valve that tries to prevent exactly this sort of thing as I’m sure they’d rather you keep buying their refills.
It’s also potentially fairly dangerous, you need to store the co2 properly (in a well-ventilated area) and you’re dealing with very high pressures (eye protection) and cold temperatures (wear proper gloves).
The 10 year old Crystal model, which has a glass bottle, we were given recently and are using at the moment also gets pushed into place. However, the bottle is held in a separate container and the pushing into place is automatic when you lower the mechanism onto the bottle and lock it in place. It has worked well so far. A photo is attached.
BTW I just noticed that the sign behind the glass bottle shows it being filled from a tap. However, as mentioned in my first post, and others have agreed, you get more soda water per CO2 cylinder if you use chilled water.
Thanks for that information. Very useful. BTW the unit price should be $13.85 per kg.
and as you note is very much cheaper than $47.50 per kg getting a refilled 400g cylinder from Sodastream. Plus, it may be possible to get the 2.6kg cylinder refilled for less than $36. Maybe others that use this refill method can tell us how much they pay?.
I’d also be very interested in whether anyone has weighed a refilled and empty 2.5kg cylinder and worked out how much CO2 they actually got with a refill.
I agree with your observations and cautions about self refilling.
My husband already records the number of bottles, it doesn’t bother me that much because it’s way better than buying bottles of soda water from the supermarket for both the environment and the cost.
We already chill the water and we like fizzy water so it’s usually 4 good shots per bottle. My preference is to have bubbles to the last drop.
Your suggestion to wait between shots and waiting about a minute after finishing before removing the bottle is working well - we immediately noticed that the machine makes a slight “clunk” after a minute, like something is disconnecting. No hiss when we remove the bottle now, so probably no loss of gas there.
Great to hear. So far I have had good experiences when I have had to contact them.
Is a reminder that I have not yet sent them my suggestion to make the water bottle caps/lids on all future products easy to screw on and off. That would be beneficial for everyone but particularly the many people with hand mobility and strength problems. It is surprising that they have not done this already given that the needs and rights of people with disability are better recognised than in the past.
Hopefully, they will also send me a couple of ridged caps/lids!. BTW I see from their website that the edges of the caps on bottles in 2 packs are grooved. So they obviously are aware that the smooth edged caps are not easy to screw on and off.
Further to my initial post above and to all the other interesting and informative posts from numerous people:
I am wondering whether another way to increase the amount of water you can carbonate with a cylinder of CO2 is to fill the water bottle above the line marked on it. This will reduce the amount of air in the bottle and so presumably also the amount of CO2 lost when the bottle is removed.
I am assuming that the fill line is well below the bottle’s capacity (for the 1L bottle the fill line is at 840mL) mainly to allow room to add syrup, etc. to the carbonated water. So this is only applicable if, like me, you do not add anything to the carbonated water in the bottle. However, it is applicable if you add syrup, etc. to the carbonated water after pouring it into another container.
The SodaKing machine (a competitor to SodaStream) which I mentioned earlier being on sale at K Mart for $27 is no longer available online and when I enquired about availability at my local store I was told that it is no longer available there and has been discontinued. So, I guess it may only be available at that very low price at K Marts selling off their remaining stock. SodaKing machines are of course available at other places, which you can find on its website.
My technique is to fill the plastic bottles to just above to top line (the bottom line is what they suggest), to minimise escaping/waste CO2 volume/$$ when you remove the bottle, and don’t let any gas burp at the end of each button press (they suggest you do burp it). A couple of shortish gas button presses is followed by a shake to dissolve the CO2, repeated 3 times. A lot more bottles of water can be gassed from each cylinder this way
Thanks for reminding me about your earlier post on this. I’ll try your suggestion to fill the water bottles well above the marked line. Am still not clear why the CO2 “burps” (manual calls it a buzz) . Has never happened with the cheap modern Jet model (even though the user manual says it will) but always with the old expensive Crystal model.
Will also try your shake the bottle suggestion, especially if filling it more which should reduce the possibility of the shaking releasing more CO2 into the air space.
Re A couple of shortish gas button presses is followed by a shake to dissolve the CO2, repeated 3 times.
do you do this while the bottle is still attached to the CO2 cylinder, or do your remove and recap the bottle? So far I have just shaken the bottle after all the CO2 has been added.
There is an interesting discussion here on the effects of shaking:
The comment that shaking helps to dissolve the gas is correct. The aim is to have the water and the gas reach equilibrium by improving contact between them, leaving the gas to just sit on top is less efficient. Shaking an already gassed bottle (say you drop it getting it out of the fridge) has the effect of speeding up the outgassing. As soon as you release the cap the contents are no longer in equilibrium as it takes pressure to keep the gas in solution. But if it is agitated it all happens much quicker.
Other comment that cold water absorbs CO2 better is also correct. It is generally true that the amount of any gas that can be dissolved in water is inversely related to the temperature.
A third point that has been missed is that CO2 solubility depends on pH (acidity). Acid conditions reduce the amount of CO2 gas that can be dissolved at any given temperature. This is why if you add fruit juice or cordial containing fruit juice (especially acid fruits like citrus) the soda will bubble up quickly as the equilibrium shifts.
You have this going on:
CO2 (Gas) + H2O <=> CO2 (dissolved) + H2O
CO2 (disolved) + H2O <=> H2CO3 (carbonic acid)
H2CO3 <=> H+ + HCO3- (bicarbonate)
and HCO3- <=> H+ + CO3-- (carbonate)
The two headed arrows mean the reaction goes both ways. Where it settles depends on the conditions. If you add acid (H+) that pushes the last equilibrium to the left, which pushes all the others in turn to the left so CO2 comes out of solution.
Some Soda waters have added salts to modify the flavour and also aid the softness of the bubble (less acidic), these are often called Club Soda and are often used with Whiskey etc. Some of the most common salts are Sodium Bicarbonate, or Potassium Bicarbonate, however Sodium Chloride (Salt) can also be added. Only a small of the salt amount is needed, indeed much less than would make the taste salty. There are other salts which are sometimes added and there is a Wikipedia article on it:
