SodaStream CO2 bomb

[TdeV]

I have a borrowed Soda Stream CO2 maker with half litre bottles. When the liquid is fully charged, the SodaStream makes a honking sound, which tells you that the bottle has fully fizzed. I fizzed up some water this afternoon, poured out half the bottle of fizz, then emptied the remnants of a second bottle into the first, say 150 ml of water, which had lost its fizz. I just charged the remaining half bottle, noticed that it took as many pulls on the CO2 as a full bottle of water (to get to the honking sound), then started to unscrew the bottle from the SodaStream. It exploded.

 

Nothing is broken, but there's plenty of water between the fridge and counter.

 

I'd really like to never have to encounter this again. Advice?

[pastrygirl]

I haven't used mine in a while, but aren't you supposed to charge full bottles only?  Was the nozzle immersed in the water?

 

[TdeV]

49 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

I haven't used mine in a while, but aren't you supposed to charge full bottles only?  Was the nozzle immersed in the water?

 

This wasn't a full bottle, it was only half full, so the nozzle wasn't immersed. It's not the first time I've charged water that had previously been charged (but had lost alot of oomph). The half litre bottle holds two glasses of water and the second glass is less fizzy, even 20 minutes later.

[pastrygirl]

If you know what model it is you can check the user guide online, but IIRC the bottle needs to be full to the line and it works best if the water to be fizzed is already very cold.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

2 hours ago, TdeV said:

 I'd really like to never have to encounter this again. Advice?

 

Buy an iSi.  Most seriously.

 

[cdh]

When you say "exploded" do you mean that the bottle lost integrity and flew apart into pieces, or do you mean that the water in the bottle fizzed up and sprayed everywhere?

[TdeV]

8 hours ago, cdh said:

When you say "exploded" do you mean that the bottle lost integrity and flew apart into pieces, or do you mean that the water in the bottle fizzed up and sprayed everywhere?

 

The latter: the water in the bottle fizzed up and sprayed everywhere, with sufficient force to take apart the Soda Stream machine (DH reassembled it later).

[TdeV]

19 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Buy an iSi.  Most seriously.

 

Why is iSi superior?

[cdh]

Doing what you described sounds like you put a whole lot of gas into the bottle, and it didn't have a chance to dissolve into the liquid.  Surface area of the liquid vs surface area of the gas are big factors in how quickly it will dissolve.  If the gas was not bubbling through the liquid because it was only a half bottle and the gas injector was shooting into the airspace and not the liquid,  the surface area is only the area of the disc of liquid at the top of the column made by the bottle. If the gas bubbles through the liquid, it forms spheres, lots of spheres with a massively greater surface area contacting the liquid.  If the liquid was warm... or not as cold as possible to make it, the amount of gas that could be dissolved is lessened... 

 

So, for an appliance that does not allow you to do stuff that could encourage gas dissolution in sub-optimal circumstances (like chilling it for a long time before opening the bottle, and shaking the hell out of it), you have to just follow the directions. 

Edited May 28, 2020 by cdh (log)

[jimb0]

Additionally, carbonating a half bottle means there's a much bigger head space of compressible air to fill, which means you could potentially fit much more CO2 into the bottle that's only partially filled with liquid.

 

If you have the floor space and wherewithal, I recommend neither the SodaStream or the iSI (for carbonation, that is) as both are expensive in terms of ongoing costs. We converted a chest freezer (although you could also just use a refrigerator) with a tap. 10- or 20-lb tank of CO2 --> regulator --> corny keg filled with water == 5 gallons of fizzy water on tap at a time. We have two kegs for water, so that when one is emptied, we just pop the hose over (simple ball joint so it takes five seconds) and refill the other tank. It will carbonate on its own in a day or two, and there's never any kind of risk. 

 

A 5-gallon keg full of water is heavy, though, so that's a consideration. If strength is an issue, you can use 1- or 3- gallon kegs, as well, or even just buy a carbonator cap and carb your own 2L bottles of cold water.

 

More expensive (but still lower TCO) would be to install a used carbonator. This whole setup is worth it for us because we drink, like, obscene amounts of fizzy water. At least 5 gallons a week or so.

Edited May 29, 2020 by jimb0 (log)

[TdeV]

Thanks for the info, @cdh and @jimb0. The 1/2 litre bottle of water is usually refrigerated for 24 hours. I thought I drank a lot of soda water, but it's less than a gallon per week. 🥴

 

I didn't know that the nozzle should be covered by water.

 

And I will do some reading about this!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

3 hours ago, TdeV said:

 

Why is iSi superior?

 

I believe so.  From a safety standpoint, certainly.

 

[cdh]

On 5/28/2020 at 9:18 PM, jimb0 said:

Additionally, carbonating a half bottle means there's a much bigger head space of compressible air to fill, which means you could potentially fit much more CO2 into the bottle that's only partially filled with liquid.

 

If you have the floor space and wherewithal, I recommend neither the SodaStream or the iSI (for carbonation, that is) as both are expensive in terms of ongoing costs. We converted a chest freezer (although you could also just use a refrigerator) with a tap. 10- or 20-lb tank of CO2 --> regulator --> corny keg filled with water == 5 gallons of fizzy water on tap at a time. We have two kegs for water, so that when one is emptied, we just pop the hose over (simple ball joint so it takes five seconds) and refill the other tank. It will carbonate on its own in a day or two, and there's never any kind of risk. 

 

A 5-gallon keg full of water is heavy, though, so that's a consideration. If strength is an issue, you can use 1- or 3- gallon kegs, as well, or even just buy a carbonator cap and carb your own 2L bottles of cold water.

 

More expensive (but still lower TCO) would be to install a used carbonator. This whole setup is worth it for us because we drink, like, obscene amounts of fizzy water. At least 5 gallons a week or so.

 

I have been doing the keg method myself for a decade... last year finally got a nice tap handle plumbed in to the bar so the fizzy water line from the basement terminates into something nice looking where I make drinks rather than a cheapy looking black  cobra tap.  Amazing how cheap a nice tap handle was on ebay... something like $30.  It helps that the "bar" is actually an Ikea press-board bookcase that I had zero compunctions about drilling through... 

 

I've also found that delivery of fizzy water is much smoother when I have 2 kegs in series hooked up to the tap line... service keg out-port hooked to tap line, service keg gas port connected to a jumper attached to aux keg's out line... Also makes it much less likely that I'll run out of fizzy water... 

 

With some careful shopping and good luck, you could probably get a reg/keg setup going for less than the cost of a SodaStream thingy... presuming you rent your CO2 tank... But that would require diving down the homebrewing rabbit hole in a very serious way, as this equipment and info about it is not commonplace... then you'd have to figure out where your local welding shop is and make friends with them too, to keep you in gas... and that opens the door to thoughts of playing with liquid nitrogen and dry ice too (since the welding shop will also sell them)...   which may be more temptation than most people are ready to resist... 

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by cdh (log)

[jimb0]

The fire safety shops are also a good place to get gas, as they refill fire extinguishers. Our local ones now carry homebrew-specifics for that purpose.

 

@cdh brew anything interesting lately?

Edited May 29, 2020 by jimb0 (log)

[cdh]

46 minutes ago, jimb0 said:

The fire safety shops are also a good place to get gas, as they refill fire extinguishers. Our local ones now carry homebrew-specifics for that purpose.

 

@cdh brew anything interesting lately?

 

Recently I've been fermenting last fall's pear pickings and some Chilean grape juice... their fall harvest got shipped up here mid May.  Beer wise, I've got a lot of space taken up with a few iterations of flemish reds... need to drink through that and blend them down into fewer kegs so I have some space.  

[cdh]

And apropos all this... if you want the ultimate automated keg/reg setup, check this wily antipodean invention out: 

 

[jimb0]

That’s cool, though we just put a manifold mounted on the inside of our kegerator, so we can turn the gas on and off with a switch - the corny kegs themselves will carbonate water fine without anything else. 

[cdh]

21 minutes ago, jimb0 said:

That’s cool, though we just put a manifold mounted on the inside of our kegerator, so we can turn the gas on and off with a switch - the corny kegs themselves will carbonate water fine without anything else. 

That doesn't switch gas on and off.  That switches additional water on and off.  Hook your plumbing up to the device, and it works like a float valve to top up your pressurized carbonation chamber. 

[jimb0]

Ahh, I missed it when I watched the video; thanks for the clarification. Clearly I was only half paying attention. Definitely a cheaper option in comparison to buying something like a McCann. 

[weinoo]

I have this really cool system too...was able to do it without any taps, any basements...as a matter of fact, I get seltzer water from my computer!

 

[cdh]

1 hour ago, weinoo said:

I have this really cool system too...was able to do it without any taps, any basements...as a matter of fact, I get seltzer water from my computer!

 

Sorry for geeking out and talking over your head, Mitch.  You're doing what normal sane people do.  Us abnormal insane folks should remember that and keep it quiet.  The SodaStream is a gateway to madness. 

Edited May 30, 2020 by cdh (log)

[weinoo]

Oh I have a soda stream. And an iSi. And friends who have the whole set ups mentioned above. With giant tanks and stuff. They're nuts too.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Friends have soda stream in their basement.    Husband who drinks this water exclusively would love to have a kitchen spigot.    My husband taunts by repeatedly suggesting that they bore through the marble countertops and indeed plumb in this delivery.    Wife is not amused nor moved.   

 

Back down the basement stairs...

[btbyrd]

  

On 5/28/2020 at 9:18 PM, jimb0 said:

Additionally, carbonating a half bottle means there's a much bigger head space of compressible air to fill, which means you could potentially fit much more CO2 into the bottle that's only partially filled with liquid..

 

 

Bingo. Soda Streams are designed to carbonate bottles that are filled to the fill line. Underfilled bottles are liable to overcarbonate.

Edited May 30, 2020 by btbyrd (log)

[cdh]

14 hours ago, btbyrd said:

  

 

Bingo. Soda Streams are designed to carbonate bottles that are filled to the fill line. Underfilled bottles are liable to overcarbonate.

 

I think it is that underfilled bottle overpressurize... not overcarbonate.  The problem is the gas that isn't dissolved in the liquid.