Sodastream; should I buy a 2013 fad in 2014?

[Imp]

Their instructions said only to use water in the machine:

http://www.sodastreamusa.com/Assets/InstructManual/genesis.pdf

I ignored it & used grape juice. It was like a middle school volcano science fair project

Any chemists or more edumucated people know why? Is it to do with the shit inside water and not allowing the CO2 to dissolve?

...I wonder how hot pure water would do.

 

[Crotulus]

Any chemists or more edumucated people know why? Is it to do with the shit inside water and not allowing the CO2 to dissolve?

...I wonder how hot pure water would do.

Any liquid can be carbonated. SodaStream does not want people complaining when something other than water gets into their injector system and plugs it.

I use a 10lb CO2 cylinder with a regulator and Pepsi style keg connector along with a Carbonator Cap. This setup lets me carbonate anything in most any plastic soda bottle (16 oz to 2L).

Oh, hot water would be a bad idea. The colder your liquid is the more carbonation it will take. That is why warm soda is almost always flat.

 

[Eug]

We've had this for half a dozen years now and still use it. We bought when it was called Soda Club, and now it's called Soda Stream. The only difference is now we can't get the bigger CO2 containers that we could get when it was Soda Club. They're all the slim canisters now locally, but otherwise it's the same.

 

[zerocool84]

My dad recently bought once. He guzzles pop like it's going out of style, so I guess he thought he'd save trips to the store. He was already using the SodaStream syrups to flavour his club soda.

It seems to work as advertised. Gives just the right amount of carbonation IMO. Does go flat quickly, just like any opened soda bottle. The syrup tastes like cheap grocery store brand. It's not awful but it's not great either.

I've seen official drink syrups from Pepsi and Coca-Cola for sale on Amazon. For $20, you can get 1 gallon of official Dr. Pepper syrup, which makes 5 gallons (19L) of pop. $2.10 per 2L bottle, which is comparable to what you'd buy them for at the store these days. Doesn't seem like SodaStream saves any money. Just more convenient, but only if you drink a lot of pop.

What's this Pop you speak of? It's called Sodastream not Popstream.

 

[ondarkness]

I use it for
ginger soda for Moscow mules
Non HFCS cola with rum
Concentrate sweet powders like lemonade, tang and so on
Plain bubbly water

It works very well. Just press 3 or 4 times till u hear the squeal a third time. Stays bubbly plenty.

Its great if you really use things and become familiar with the product. That goes for anying.