If you own a soda maker, then you know the manufacturer rules: you must only use water! But as The New York Times recently wrote, a few adventurous drinkers are flouting those instructions and using home carbonators to concoct everything from sparkling wines to non-alcoholic fruit sodas. How do they do it, and what's more, is it safe?
In 2012 Americans bought roughly 1.2 million home carbonators, according to the Times. Homemade seltzer "is space-saving, inexpensive and environmentally friendly," the Times writes. (We agree! We've been using SodaStreams for years, and we loved the recent Yves Behar-designed model.)
Given the popularity, it's no surprise people have taken the machines "off-label", first by mixing syrup into the water pre-fizz (the Times reports that Morris Kitchen's Preserved Lemon and P & H's grapefruit makes particularly lovely soda) and then adding fruit juice, wine, and liquor — sometimes risking damage to the machine (but only the machine, thank goodness).
But the results are worth it. Gregory Brainin, director of culinary development for the Jean-Georges restaurant group, "infused white wine with basil and mint leaves, and then fizzed red wine with orange and pineapple, creating an instant sparkling sangria in which the fruit was still crunchy and bright." Dave Arnold, formerly the director of culinary technology at the International Culinary Center, made a "fizzy rum punch without the rum" by fizzing together brown sugar, charred wood chips, passion fruit juice, pineapple juice, cherry juice and water.
So how can novice soda makers be successful? Here are a few starting tips, according to the Times:
All-juice mixtures can be too thick and pulpy to carbonate, Mr. Arnold said. Strained juice, mixed with water, often produces the best results... For successful and controlled carbonation, it's important to have cold liquid, plenty of kitchen towels and patience.
At first, add a small amount of liquid to the machine at a time. And after charging, wait until the foamy head has subsided, then slowly and gradually remove the bottle, as if opening a shaken-up bottle of soda. "You're taking the liquid from a pressurized to a nonpressurized situation," he said, covering a bottle overflowing with a just-fizzed cocktail of Campari and gin. "It just wants to expand."
Have you gone off-label with your home soda maker? Tell us your experiences!
Read More: Home, Where the Fizz Is | The New York Times
Related: SodaStream Source by Yves Béhar
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I'm excited to read these responses, because I've been dying to do this for a while, but held back out of SodaStream-ruining fear. Loves my seltzah y'all.
When I was a kid, we got a cartridge-based carbonator, sort of a precursor to SodaStreams. We carbonated juice all the time, including full-pulp orange juice, and it was great. So "too thick and pulpy to carbonate" may mean "in the SodaStream, at least for warranty purposes," but it definitely isn't a blanket statement on juices themselves.
I'm curious how others avoided the exploding liquid issue and am confused by "at first add a small amount of liquid to the machine." I thought the tip of the nozzle had to be submerged. Do they turn the machine upside down for these off-label uses? So confused...
It's a pity the iSi Twist and Sparkle had to be pulled from the market; it was advertised as being able to carbonate any liquid.
There's a similar-looking new carbonator called the Soda Sparkle that uses individual cartridges like the iSi one did; I'm curious to see whether it ends up being less prone to clogging than the SodaStream.
The issue with the SodaStream is the release valve getting clogged -- but I'm not sure the individual cartridge machines even need one.
DONT DO IT! I made fresh lemonade and tried to add fizz. The unit locked up and there was fizz coming out of everywhere, like adding vinegar to baking soda. It damaged the unit and I had to buy a new one.
Depending on your goal, there's really no need mix in the syrup pre-fizzing. Just like at cocktail bars, you can create flavored syrups and add seltzer to create flavored sodas/cocktails. This way, you can make different drinks per glass instead of keeping a canister of only one kind of soda around.
I can make an endless variety of "sodas" by adding bitters, liqueurs, and homemade syrups to seltzer.
I've been wanting to fizz some vodka - has anyone tried that?
(Alcoholic) cider is even better once given a go in the SodaStream
I've totally fizzed up some white wine in my sodastream & it works! The trick is to not fill it too high (just past the nozzle, but NOT to the normal water line). Then to fizz it, do it in short bursts. When you remove the cannister, go SLOW like it said above. Do in short bursts to release the pressure just a hair at a time.
I don't own a Soda Stream but to me, the biggest hack you can do is to install an adapter that allows you to use standard, refillable, co2 tank. They are cheap and easily found, used most often for paintball markers. I have spare 9 oz, 12 oz and 20 oz bottles sitting around. Sure beats the exchange program for co2 that Soda Stream has.
Totally agree. I loved using my Twist and Sparkle and I had plenty of co2 carts since I use an iSi Siphon for cooking. I couldn't believe they pulled it off the market. It was nice of Amazon to credit me back without having to send it back. I threw it away of course (not worth the danger of an exploding container).
Learn from my fail: Hawaiian Punch in soda stream will get you to clean EVERY surface in your kitchen.
Is there a different standard device used in Europe? I remember our German exchange students telling us that they carbonated everything from wine to juice TO MILK in their house, and this was 10+ years ago and they were kids. When my little brother went to their house the following year he confirmed they carbonated milk all the time. It seems like they had a better system than the SodaStream, though I'm not sure what it was.
(Also I was in Austria last summer and went to a spa... everyone there kept going back to the cafe for a glass of half buttermilk, half soda water. I googled this drink and get nothing except a news article from 1916... what's up with this combo?)
Yeah, I was hoping this would be an actual hack, like modding it to use normal CO2 cartridges. Mine finally ran out of gas, and I both don't want to pay the exorbitant price for their branded replacements, and don't want to support a company utilizing illegal settlements in the West Bank. I'm sure there are plenty of guides/tools out there on the internet to use in modding it, though.
I really wish there were a sodastream alternative too. Both to avoid the the proprietary CO2 cartridge issue as well as for political issues as well. I've researched a lots of hacks to do a DIY carbonator - the problem is the setup isn't as elegantly packaged. And perhaps the mechanics of it seem a little intimidating. Maybe this will be the year where I figure it out...
There are certainly many CO2 hacks available online for using regular canisters, if you're comfortable with storing a large canister below your sink, etc. you can bypass the soda-stream ...
If you'd like an actual hack instead of a recipe change, go here!
http://co2doctor.com/index.htm
http://www.criticalpaintball.com/SodaMod-p/sodastream-sodamod.htm
To add- you still need the original "soda stream" machine, but you don't need to replace/refill those tiny, prohibitively expensive canisters.
It looks like there are adapters made (it takes a fair bit of googling) that allow you to use paintball co2 canisters. The stock bottles have anti-refill valves(similar to those that blue rhino uses for propane) so you have to modify your canisters to accept refills, and the hardware to do so is over $100(which negates the cost savings of carbonating your own). Probably 20 years ago, my mom bought a "The Carbonator" by "The Pop Shoppe" at the local fair, and it used a refillable CO2 canister, and you'd fill the device with your water, carbonate, then dispense into a bottle or glass. Nothing was proprietary, and it came with REAL soda syrups, including fruit essence drops MADE BY talking rain. The company must have gone out of business because I can't find anything on it anymore.
@TheWhitePlates - could the Europeans be employing natural fermentation to make carbonated beverages?
I am reading an amazing book right now - The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz - and in it he describes many carbonated beverages from different cultures (forgive pun) such as water kefir, Mabi from the Caribbean, Tepache from Mexico, ginger beer, kvass from the Ukraine, kombucha and lots more. (He does warn that fermenting sweet beverages can be dangerous due to explosion potential but also suggests some safety measures.)
TheWhitePlates, sounds like Rivella to me (the milk soda). I can't manage to drink it, it's never tasted good to me!
there is! it's called the primo. i got the liberty model and it's so much better than sodastream...it takes standard (eg, non-proprietary) paintball co2 canisters. it costs $3-5 to refill at a standard hardware or sports store.
It's those crazy Germanic types, they LURVE mixing beverages together. My husband is German and I've seen him drink: mixed Coke-juice, mixed beer-lemonade, mixed coffee-Coke.
I've never seen him mix buttermilk and soda water, thank goodness, because buttermilk makes me dry heave, but as a combination, it's not crazier than other things they mix together!
i make sparkly stuff by first making the syrup and then adding fizzy water to the pitcher. mostly because washing those tiny necked bottles is a major PITA, so i try to only use the for water. there are a lot of concentrates available in ethnic stores, guava juice, mango juice, pineapple nectar etc. now if i could only get my husband to use a glass....
Yeah I make individual glasses of soda as well, rather than making it in the bottle. You can't wash the bottle in the dishwasher, and since I live in Seattle I have an unnatural fear of mold, so the thought of the little sugar particles living on in the bottle forever freaks me out. So I only have water in the bottle and mix a glass of soda at a time with syrups like Morris Kitchen etc. The actual SodaStream syrups are pretty gross.