# Seltzer making equipment advice wanted



## chiman (Feb 25, 2007)

Hello,
I am considering buying either a seltzer bottle or machine to make seltzer / bubble water.

Does anyone have any comments or recommendations regarding their experience with the available choices.

I want to offer my son a creative alternative to the sugar and chemical based commercial drinks and not contribute the the plastic environmental problems of prepacked bubble water. It is a household version for 3 of us I am looking for.

Thanks


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## wtdedula (Feb 25, 2007)

I recently did research to locate a way to make carbonated water at home for the exact same reason. I could only find one affordable method. Take a look at Soda Club. Here is their website - http://www.sodaclubusa.com/Default.htm. I ordered their Edition 1 and I like it a lot. They sell a whole bunch of flavors of Soda-Mix (Both sweetned and diet using Splenda). I liked their Ginger Ale Soda-Mix because it was the only diet flavor that used a natural flavoring - everything else was artificially flavored. I have been experimenting making freshly squeezed Lemonaid sweetned with Stevia (A natural Sweetner) and it works pretty good. I have also tried to make Ginger Ale using Ginger-Root and Stevia but my first attempt turned out to be not strong enough so I need to try again. I recently discovered another natural sweetner called Xylitol and later in the Spring will see how well I can make Lemonaid using it. The manufacturer claims that you can only carbonate plain water and never any water with a mix in it, so whatever sweetner you make or use, you'll need to mix it in after making the fizzy water.

If you need any more info, you can contact me directly, or post a reply to this message.

Tim


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## chiman (Feb 25, 2007)

I was looking at the soda club and it looks like an interesting product. I like the environmental aspect of it but hate the idea of another counter top device. Maybe I could make a mini base and hang it. 

The main thing is I would love to hear how you like it after a few times using it. I read that with homemade soda water, it is best to let it get cold before drinking because the bubbles go into the water better when it gets about 40 degrees F. On the other hand, with soda club one can put more gas into the water when you pump it so maybe that wold make it better then from a seltzer bottle if used not so cold.

As for flavors, 1/4 cup all fruit juice drinks plus a shot of bubble water is wonderful. For ginger ale?? I was thinking of boiling up a few roots to make a syrup, then add maple or stevia. 

chiman


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## wtdedula (Feb 25, 2007)

Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions. 

Tim


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## chiman (Feb 25, 2007)

In the old days, they just shot the seltzer water into a cup with a bit of juice or syrup in it. No premixing in the bottle. Personally I would do the same because it lets each person customize their drink when they are ready for it.

With your machine, the internet directions say you can pump a few extra pumps of gas into the bottle. That is one of the attractive features of soda club machine.

Also do you turn it upside down once or twice after pumping the gas in as I believe was recommended.

I appreciate your sharing your experiences with your machine.


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## wtdedula (Feb 25, 2007)

Hi chiman;
In the old days, they just shot the seltzer water into a cup with a bit of juice or syrup in it. No premixing in the bottle. Personally I would do the same because it lets each person customize their drink when they are ready for it.

This is really the same you do with Soda Club. You add plain water (I always use distilled or filtered water because I don't trust the city's supply) to the special bottle that Soda Club provides, Then you screw the bottle into the Soda Club machine (So no gas escapes) and then you press a button as long as you want to add as much fizz as you want. Then you unscrew the bottle and add whatever flavoring you want ... either the flavoring that Soda Club sells, or your own. 

When I make it, I flavor a whole bottle at a time, but I'm sure you could just as easily and successfully create bubbling water and then let guests mix the bubbling water and their flavoring of choice in an individual glass.

With your machine, the internet directions say you can pump a few extra pumps of gas into the bottle. That is one of the attractive features of soda club machine.

Yep you sure can. 

Also do you turn it upside down once or twice after pumping the gas in as I believe was recommended.

No. However, I do that to distribute the flavor in the special bottle Soda Club provides after mixing the flavor in. I don't see any advantage to turing the bottle upside down before adding flavor but perhaps I missed something. Of course this wouldn't be possible if you mix the flavor and bubbling water in a cup. However, I don't think that would really be necessary because I think the flavor distributes itself pretty good without mixing or atleast when you pick the glass up a few times.  

I appreciate your sharing your experiences with your machine.

The machine works as advertised. My only complaint is that the fizz doesn't seem to last that long. Perhaps that is because I never used cold water. This spring and summer when I use the machine a lot more, I'll have to play around and see if cold water works better. I may not be adding enoug fizz as well. I thought I was adding a lot but perhaps not. I may contact the company for suggestions if I get the same results. You also need to be sure to keep the bottle cap tight or the fizz will go away fairly fast. 

The Fizz duration issue may not be a complaint however, it may be a scientific fact. Since you're adding bsically air to water (Seen as the bubbles) which rise to the surface, eventually, all of the air will escape and you'll just have water. I am comparing my results with the Soda Club machine to a bottled drink I would buy in the store (Where the fizz seems to last longer) or from a fountain but that may not be a fair comparison. Those drinks may be very heavily carbonated. 

To my knowledge, Soda Club is the only machine out there priced for the ordinary consumer. 

You could buy an actual soda fountain but they are really expensive. See 
http://www.athomesoda.com/sys-tmpl/door/ or
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/nav...=5&item=120797

Of you could search Ebay for one and get one much cheaper but still expensive. See http://cgi.ebay.com/SODA-FOUNTAIN-DI...QQcmdZViewItem

I'll be happy to answer any more questions. 

Tim


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