DIY carbonating at Home with Improvised Equipment and Soda Fountains

Co2I Carbonating tap water to make seltzer is easy, fast, and absurdly inexpensive with my improvised apparatus. All that is required is to place CO2 (carbon dioxide) gas in agitated contact with chilled water for a few seconds. Link.

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Posted by: vt606 on August 10, 2005 at 12:44 PM


I have something very easy to, that carbonates water called a seltzer bottle. I've picked them up, in working order for $10-15 does in second hand shops. After a little cleaning and some small C02 canisters, I can make about a quart of seltzer water, with a handy dispenser built into the bottles. I know it's not very 'Make' but sometimes the simple technology is also the most eligant.


Posted by: toxonix on August 10, 2005 at 1:32 PM

yeah, I was going to say the same thing. My seltzer bottle is thick glass wrapped in wire mesh to keep it from exploding. Don't the water bottles expand and threaten to explode when gassed up? They probably would not produce much shrapnel, but still...

This would be in interesting project for a bar owner who does not want to purchase a commercially available system. I was at some bars in the Carribean that could have used a cheap carbonation system. All they could sell was cold El Presidente beers and warm Brugal rum. Which is excellent by the way. I wonder if it is possible to get N20 to mix with water in a similar way. That would be really fun.


Posted by: gadgetdon@mac.com on August 10, 2005 at 4:09 PM

There's a company that makes and sells the gear for making your own carbonated soft drinks at http://www.sodaclubusa.com/


Posted by: dalton@daltonrooney.com on August 10, 2005 at 7:02 PM

Agreed - seltzer bottles are so easy to use and I smile every time I think about how 2 liters of carbonated water are 2 dollars at the grocery store.


Posted by: Chrisg on August 11, 2005 at 6:40 AM

The plastic 1 liter and 2 liter bottles do indeed explode. When R/C model airplane people use the bottles to power pneumatic landing gear, they typically wrap the bottles in fiberglass/carbon fiber and epoxy. I believe that the best pressure available in a 1 liter bottle was less than 130psi. I think I read somewhare that the pressure from the beverage was estimated at about 70psi.


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