Soda-Club makes three different soda makers: Fountain Jet, Edition 1, and Penguin. The Fountain Jet and Edition 1 uses 1 liter polycarbonate bottles and a large CO2 gas canister that can make 110 liters of carbonated water before it needs to be replaced. The Penguin model uses smaller 620 mL glass carafes and CO2 canisters that make 45 carafes (the Penguin looks cute and the carafes are really nice, but it costs about $250). Both the Fountain Jet and Edition 1 start at $80.
The model that I tried out was the Edition 1. The basic kit comes with the soda maker (the big plastic contraption), a CO2 canister (Alco2Jet Carbonator), 2 carbonating bottles, and an assortment of soda mix samples.
Putting together the soda maker was a breeze. The CO2 canister fits easily into the back of the soda maker. Just remove the back of the soda maker, tilt the front forward and place the canister into the base. The front of the maker then tilts back onto the canister.
The canister then screws into the receptacle that lines up with the valve on top. The back panel then snaps in to cover the canister.The 1 liter water bottles included in the kit should be pre-filled with drinking water and refrigerated before using the soda maker. (Cold water is able to hold more CO2 than warm water.)
The next step is to attach the water bottle to the soda maker. This is facilitated by a lever that tilts the socket and nozzle so the bottle can be easily screwed in. (The tilt mechanism also makes it easy to remove the bottle after carbonation is complete.)
Pressing the large button on top of the maker causes the CO2 canister's valve to open and squirt the gas into the water. Short bursts are necessary so the water doesn't overflow out of the bottle. A few bursts are enough to cause a buzzing sound to come from the canister - a signal that the pressure is at the max. Soda-Club recommends about three buzzes, but I found that when mixing with juices or syrups, it helps to over carbonate a little, so I wait a minute and carbonate again.Latest Articles
Soda-Club instructs you to simply measure out the syrup in the cap and pour it into the bottle of carbonated water. (You don't want to add syrup to the water first or else you'll have an explosive mess on your hands when the CO2 is injected.) Rotate the bottle a couple times to mix, and viola! You have soda pop!
I didn't stop there - I proceeded to mix carbonated water with everything. Fruit juices were quite good, but I didn't want to dilute them too much so they came out a little less carbonated than I would have liked. Trader Joe's Strawberry Lemonade and carbonated water (half-half mix) was one of my favorite combinations. I also used a variety of Torani Italian Soda syrups (ranging from raspberry to praline) which worked wonderfully (as expected). Mixing carbonated water with milk was probably the only not-so-good idea.
In the end, since the device simply carbonates water, I realized that I could just buy carbonated water, but at $20 for a refill (they exchange canisters with you) that carbonates 110 liters of water, using the Soda Club is a lot cheaper than buying Crystal Geyser carbonated water at the grocery store (even at Trader Joe's who seems to have the low price at about $1 for a 1.25 L bottle).
In case you're wondering, the soda maker isn't small - it's about the same size as other medium sized appliances (but a little slimmer than food processor or standing mixer) measuring in at 5.5-in. (14 cm) by 8.5-in. (21.6 cm) and 18.5-in. (47 cm) in height.I find that I use my Soda-Club Edition 1 so often that I just keep it on my countertop. My other appliances have their own storage places, but the Soda club seems to have found a permanent home. If you like experimenting with beverages or just like to drink fizzy drinks, then I suggest you look into buying one for your home too.
Note: The Soda-Club product line is sold under different names in different countries. It's easiest just to go to Soda-Club's main website and select the country you're in to find out information on which models (and what their names are) are available in your location.
I am tired of paying $1.25 a liter so this is a great alternative.
Frank
This sounds like a great item, but I'm always wary of paying for something that I can DIY for a similar price & minimal effort.
Can you comment on how this system would compare with this DIY setup?
http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Soda-Water-%26-Home-Carbonation---Pays-For-Itsel/
Also, can you use any 1L bottles, or only those supplied by the manufacturer?
Thanks
Andrew
Nope, not much different at all. One nice thing is you can control the level of carbonation (lightly carbonated to "wow, I can't believe it's still bubbling like crazy!").
Well, it would carbonate it, but I'm not sure what happens when you inject carbon dioxide into a mixture of 40% alcohol and 60% water. You're not supposed to carbonate into anything but water becasue if the water contained large enough particles suspended in it (such as the soda mix syrup) then the bubbles don't dissolve into the water rapidly and instead latch onto the suspended particles causing the liquid to bubble over and spray out of the machine. A device like the one Andrew (ajanjigian) suggests might work better for that experiment.
http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Soda-Water-%26-Home-Carbonation---Pays-For-Itsel/
Also, can you use any 1L bottles, or only those supplied by the manufacturer?
The DIY setup you link to is quite interesting (as is the site <i>he</i> links to: http://www.truetex.com/carbonation.htm). Before I got a Soda-Club machine, I considered making my own but, oddly enough, what stopped me was wondering where to get my CO<sub>2</sub>. I could buy it from the local industrial suppliers in my area in 20 lb. quantities which would be extremely economical, but they were big and bulky, and I kept wondering if it would be "clean". I don't know anything about how they fill the tanks and what else they put in it that they don't tell you (or need to tell you since it's obviously not intended for consumption as a food). For all I know, industrial CO<sub>2</sub> contains other stuff that makes the flow through the valve more regular or something else that I'd be ingesting. Since I didn't have the time to research this further, and the Soda-Club was available (and wouldn't take up as much space as an awkward hose and valve combination) I went with that.
As to the bottles, yes, you have to use the manufacturer supplied bottles. They screw into the assembly to form a tight fit. When carbonated you can hear a slight hissing as pressure is slowly released, but the connection is tight enough that a decent amount of pressure is held in the bottle. The caps to the bottle are silicone lined to form an airtight seal. Even after a week, opening a half used bottle still releases that satisfying "Ssssst!"
I understand where you're going with this - I too prefer a non-proprietary system that is easy to maintain and works for almost forever, but I found to Soda-Club a decent alternative. (I have found that as I've become more and more busy - I've been prioritizing business, work, and fun differently than I would have in the past. Just a few years ago, I would have spent a Saturday and built myself a carbonation machine, but now, I'd rather research an article, work on the software backend, play board games with some friends I haven't seen because I've been working so much, and just finding time to sleep.)
I do make my own carbonated beverages. I realized that the equipment that I use to make beer is great for that purpose. I use stainless steel canisters that used to be used for soda before they switched to plastic bags of syrup. In beer land these are called Cornelius kegs. using those and a CO2 tank I am able to make 5 gallons at a time. Because there is no air inside the tank when it is pressurized the carbonated water lasts forever without spoiling.
I have seen portable contraptions for beer use that might work here as well such as using a "carbonator cap" for PET bottles with a "keg charger"
This arrangement would cost about $35 or so and would be much smaller. The drawback is the very small CO2 canister size.
thanks for the article
Adam
I agree with the whole "too busy to make one myself" thing - I don't even do my own oil changes any more, lol.
Did you do the math as well, and if so did it line up for you?
Would it be possible to heat the fruit juices slowly as to reduce them a bit and then add the water back with the carbonated water?
-OR-
What about the juices from concentrate? I don't know if making an entire pitcher at a time would be feasible or not, but you could probably play around with the non-frozen concentrates a bit and come out with a satisfactory result.
Just a thought
Chris
With the concentrated juice I would recommend using a more highly carbonated water because a considerable amount will be lost while stirring / shaking. However, I have found that using carbonated water + juice is a work around for not having a carbonator for your juice. Why not cut out he middle man and carbonate the juice directly?
A note on carbonation: Don't forget that the amount of CO2 you can disolve in a liquid varies with the temperature and that mechanical agitation (stirring, shaking, etc.) accelerates the co2 going into and coming out of solution depending on the partial pressure of co2 in the container vs. the liquid. Carbonation level is an equation dependent on the pressure of co2 and the temperature. I'm always impatient with my beer and force carbonate it in about 10 minutes by shaking 5 gallons of cold beer hooked up to a live, high pressure co2 line. When I'm done I really need some rest and a beer! ;-)
Also are the 3 models featured similar in price, I konw the penguiin is more because of it's design, but how about the other 2, would you find one superior for carbonation levels?
Thanks very much for your help.
The carbonating abilities of all three devices are the same. You can get more bubbles into the water by pressing the button a bit more - squirting in more carbon dioxide and then waiting about 20-30 seconds and doing it again. It uses more gas, but you get lots and lots of bubbles.
But - as a long time user I have to say that the plastic bottles get shabby and dont look nice after a while, also you can not put them into the dishwasher or use boiling water to clean them.
That´s why we bought the Penguin - the bottles are made of glass, look good on the table and are dishwashersafe.
Susanne
*They are selling a product -)
If you scroll down two or three articles, you'll see the one by me with a photo of my home carbonating system. In that photo, you'll also see my Soda Club. The advantages of building your own is significant, particularly if you drink a lot of bubbly watter.
Firstly, my system cost me only $75 bucks (vs the $100 bucks for the Soda Club) including the CO2 cannister, which I got on eBay. You'll want to buy the cheapest CO2 cannister that you can find, as when you get it reloaded, you'll be trading in yours for a filled one (so there's little point in buying a new one, only to lose it to someone else).
Secondly, the CO2 cannister in the Soda Club is a proprietary system that requires you to have them refill it. In addition to having intellectual problems with proprietary systems, the cost is quite high. By Soda Club's own admission, the cost of a liter of soda will range from between 0.23 - 0.27 cents (depending on the cost of the syrup that you buy). Mine, however costs less than 0.02 cents per liter (that's more than ten times cheaper for those of you bad in math).
In any event, I think any system beats buying liter after liter in the supermarket as the bottles themselves are bad for our environment, not to mention all the energy it takes to lug liter after liter from the supermarket to the car, to the house.
Misobrilliant
Thus far, I have made an average of 93 liters of carbonated water per carbonator – substantially fewer than the 110 liters that were advertised. If that trend continues for the remaining 2 carbonators my total number of liters for the 6 carbonators will be 558, and costs will be as follows.
149.99 - Edition 1 Starter Kit with 3 carbonators w/ license agreement.
74.97 – 2 carbonator refills and one spare w/ license agreement
14.99 – shipping fee for the refills.
55.80 – 558 liters of bottled water (our tap water tastes even worse when carbonated)
$295.75 – Total
$295.75 / 558 liters = $ .53 per liter
So far this is costing me a bit more than the $.50 per liter the generic seltzer water sells for locally at Hyper Mart.
It is understood that I now own the equipment, and will not need to pay an additional license fee for the use of the carbonators. Exchanging three carbonators at a time instead of two will result in lower shipping per carbonator. If the equipment continues to work indefinitely and the bottles do not wear out the future cost will become approximately $ .36 per liter provided by each additional carbonator.
Is it worth it?
The quality of carbonation with 3 buzzes is a bit less than desirable.
It is most convenient, and sure beats carrying all of those heavy bottles from Hyper Mart.
I never need to worry about running out.
Now that I have it, I will probably use the system as long as it continues working.
My usage: I mix it with fruit juice or a bit of whisky. Cranberry or orange juice is wonderful. Sparkling lemon (sweetened with Crème de Menthe) or limeade hits the spot on a hot summer day. My favorite: A tall glass of seltzer with about two fingers of tomato juice and a squirt of lemon.
Burp! :lol: