This motherfricker right here runs $150, but unlike other carbonators it doesn't use CO2, but citric acid and sodium bicarbonate. These react to create CO2 and water. Not familiar with chemistry equipment or ghetto engineering, but I'd like to use something other than a bike inner tube to force pressure into a bottle without filling myself with glass shrapnel.
I have no way to answer your question but wanting to build my own soda fountain so hijacking your thread:
What stops water in a cold plate from freezing? I want to try find a fridge with a cold plate, run water through it to a carbonator and connect it up to some syrup bags with a hand dispenser out of my kitchen sink. Struggling to find a fridge that has a cold plate you can connect water through though, and also unsure if a cold plate is the right way to go (seems the most ideal if I can find one and if it's not just going to clog from freezing).
Paintball tank conversion
Soda Fridge diy
https://imgur.io/a/29GFY6q
Hooking up soda machine
https://www.instructables.com/How-to-Install-a-soda-fountain/
>Paintball tank conversion
Lol enjoy drinking some oil with your seltzer.
It's simple. All you need to do is plumb an adjustable blowoff valve and or a regulator inline. You can get schrader valve tops for 2l soda bottles.
30-45 PSI is where I like my carbonated water.
Spend 150 bucks and get a beer keg system to do 5 gallons at a time. It's easier and better.
This is a modern gasogene, a victorian era device to make seltzer water. Frankly I like this idea of carbonation better than buying expensive CO2 tanks.
The idea is simple, water + highly pressurized CO2 = soda. Baking soda and acid create high volumes of CO2, but also a nasty byproduct. It also reacts very quickly. So you need a staging process to react the two and feed the gas only to a pressure-rated bottle. This is achievable with soda bottles, inner tube valves, bike pump tubes and ball joint valves.
Oh yeah, the gasogene is famous for exploding. Have fun.
Wow I've never known this was a thing. If they've been exploding since Victorian times I might just bite the bullet and buy the machine until I get a bigger place. I am a total bubble bawd and would totally get a whole faucet to dispense sparkling water, but I don't have the space for that.
CO2 costs pretty much nothing after a modest initial investment in the cylinder if you do what I do and get gas from a local welding supply.
I've tried it with yeast and sugar and it smelled disgusting
That sounds terrible
>I've tried it with yeast and sugar and it smelled disgusting
That's called "fermentation" and a very different thing from what OP is talking about.
OP, if you don't want to go the home grenade route, you can get picrel off eBay and reuse regular PET (aka pop, soda, coke, etc) bottles.
You'll also need a ball connector from a local home brew place and a regulator, hoses and CO2 from your local welding store. Make sure your store has the correct regulator for CO2, or have them refer you to someone who can sell you one.
Entire setup is the left of picrel.
You can carbonate with yeast, that’s typically how beer is made. Unless if it’s super filtered then it has to be force carbonated (most macro beers like bud light).
It is fermenting but since you’re starving off oxygen and poisoning the yeast with its own co2, there’s less than 1% APV. It tastes just fine with root beers, although you may want to serve it through a strainer.
CO2 is cheap and the cylinders have other DIY uses from welding gas to tire inflation and more.
Don't be weird about industrial gas cylinders. You can buy them used and have them refilled or exchanged at your local industrial gas supplier.
I thought about this but I don't know how I'd buy those boxes of syrup. I'd just end up carbonating grape juice and what benefit would that even be.
Syrup is easily made at home. Half juice, half sugar (by volume). Heat to get the sugar dissolved. Add some citric acid if you want a bit more bite.
Or you can buy small quantities of commercial syrups from pretty much any big box store.