I bought a soda thing!
For over a year I have visited the Sodastream soda maker at ShopKo every time I went there. I’d look at it, weigh the pros and cons, ultimately decide I didn’t need it, then walk away. It was especially difficult when it was on sale, but still I stayed strong, and walked away.
But then Brad had to post about his love of sparkling flavored water, and I had to make my comment,
and Lloyd and I went to Lincoln today,
and I went to ShopKo,
and it was on sale!!
And….. I walked away again. Eighty bucks was too much to spend for a whim.
But then…. Tuesday Morning had a soda maker. Not a Sodastream but a Primo something….. And it was only thirty bucks! Sold!
Sidebar: it is incredibly annoying to me when stores do this. This item would never be $99 in real life. What a scam.
It’s pretty fun. I found a recipe for cream soda syrup that is another post for another day, but for now I’ve had fun making fizzy water.
(I had too much water in the bottle – that’s why it made that crazy loud noise.) It is also interesting that it makes regular water have a slightly salty taste. Apparently that is what the carbonic acid does? (More research required.) You are supposed to buy new tanks from the company, but the tank that this brand has is apparently cheaply refillable if I can find a paintball place. That should be fun!
Side bonus! It is too tall to fit under the cupboards. Awesome.
I can now field your questions, should you have any.
1. Your video is set to “private”
2. Can you carbonate only water, or could you do other things like orange juice?
3. How many bottles will one cartridge do?
1. Sorry about that. Thanks for the catch.
2. I guess you could carbonate other stuff, but it recommends that for a non-sticky experience, just carbonate the water and add it to stuff. Although, I am not opposed to experimentation, I’d just have to make sure the bottle wasn’t too full. (In the video it sprayed water around a bit.)
3. I have no idea. It says you can make 135 liters per CO2 cylinder, but there are levels of sparkling that can be achieved, and I’m sure that’s based on the lowest level of sparkle. In the instructions it tells you how to set the dial level, and how many times to press the button. My favorite is the last line: “Pressing it additionally (after 2 presses) will increase the consumption of CO2 without a gain of sparkle.” I think that will become a common phrase for me. “He was slamming that block as hard as he could, without a gain of sparkle.” “I kept revving the engine, without a gain of sparkle.”
So can you make Diet Caffeine free Pepsi with this thing?
Yes! It tastes and looks just like clear sparkly tap water. 😉
Did any flavorings come with the machine?
Is it very complicated to make your own flavorings?
No flavorings came with it, but so far I have tried just the juice concentrate that I get at the store (Fruit Fantastico!) and that’s pretty good. I would imagine if you would just add concentrated orange juice or lemon/limeade to it it would be pretty good.
There are a bunch of recipes on the interwebs that mostly just involve simple syrup (water and sugar heated together until dissolved, then cooled) and then whatever. I made some with lemon juice last night and it was alright, but I didn’t use enough to balance the salty taste. This morning I had fizzy juice (Fruit Fantastico!) with not much juice and liked the saltiness. I’ve wondered about just a dab of lemon juice straight.
I also have tried powdered drinks. I think I have some Tang around here. I’ll get back to you, but I need to empty the dishwasher and rearrange some furniture first.