SodaStream’s Penguin Home Carbonator: Very cool, relatively practical, and even a touch green

Comments

  • RyanMMRyanMM Ferndale, MI Icrontian
    edited August 2010
    I've been thinking about buying one of these but it would have to be able to duplicate diet coke/pepsi and diet a&w to truly replace our 2-liter consumption. Anyone want to hook me up with a tasting sample? :D
  • AlexDeGruvenAlexDeGruven Wut? Meechigan Icrontian
    edited August 2010
    They're pretty close on the Coke side of things. The Cola Zero is remarkably close to Coke Zero, even when accounting for the difference in taste between aspartame (nasty) and sucralose (much less offensive).

    The root beer is definitely spicier than A&W and the like.

    I'd offer samples, myself, but I've burned through most of what they sent me already.
  • Mike Spike
    edited September 2010
    RyanMeray - once you make seltzer, you can add any company's syrup to it. I cannot afford a counter top soda maker, so I bought a little $30 handheld portable soda maker at www.fizzgiz.com and am using it. It works great. I've bought genuine coca cola classic syrup at sam's club in the 5-gallon BIB's. I've also bought dr. pepper & cheerwine syrup locally. They're as good as what you'd expect. I pay abougt $12/gallon for name brand syrups & half that for generics. So my single serving size drinks run 10 to 19 cents per bottle.
  • FrylockFrylock Washington St...not DC
    edited September 2010
    finally I can have carbonated milk
  • AlexDeGruvenAlexDeGruven Wut? Meechigan Icrontian
    edited September 2010
    1. Eww.
    2. Not recommended to carbonate anything other than plain water (I imagine due to cleaning issues).
  • brightblue
    edited September 2010
    If you carbonate anything but plain water, you will observe an "explosive" spray; it can make a great sticky mess. I doubt it really damages the machine. Cleaning issues, indeed.

    Try powdered milk, or condensed milk.
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited September 2010
    We should do this, FOR SCIENCE!!!

    bunsen-and-beaker.jpg
  • AlexDeGruvenAlexDeGruven Wut? Meechigan Icrontian
    edited September 2010
    brightblue wrote:
    If you carbonate anything but plain water, you will observe an "explosive" spray; it can make a great sticky mess. I doubt it really damages the machine. Cleaning issues, indeed.

    Try powdered milk, or condensed milk.

    You could definitely do either of those. Like with my Kool-Aid example, you can mix any dry ingredients into a small amount of water, which you can then mix in later.
  • bjbroderickbjbroderick Clinton Township, MI
    edited September 2010
    So can I assume that if I bought one of the cheaper models as mentioned in the op, could I still use the mixes from the Sodastream? We go through a lot of blue monster here at my house, and this would really help our budget.
  • AlexDeGruvenAlexDeGruven Wut? Meechigan Icrontian
    edited September 2010
    bjbroderick wrote:
    So can I assume that if I bought one of the cheaper models as mentioned in the op, could I still use the mixes from the Sodastream? We go through a lot of blue monster here at my house, and this would really help our budget.

    Oh yes indeed. In fact, they will measure more easily, because the bottles for the other models are all 1/2L, where the Penguin's glass bottles are 690mL
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    Update:

    I got a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004C5D82G?ie=UTF8&tag=icrontic-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004C5D82G">Sodastream Genesis</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=icrontic-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004C5D82G&quot; width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> for Christmas and I'm gonna back up everything ADG said: It's awesome, and the flavor possibilities are fantastic. I love how fizzy I can make pop, and the flavors are surprisingly tasty; some are better than their name brand equivalents.

    I wish re-filling the CO2 canisters was cheaper/easier, but it's not a big sacrifice for the ability to make my own pop at home.
  • AlexDeGruvenAlexDeGruven Wut? Meechigan Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    Awesome. It's one of those things where I think a lot of people have to try it before they can make a judgement about it.

    The cartridge thing is a bit of a pain, but not that bad, really. The Bed Bath & Beyond at GLC has them in-stock, and you can exchange them in about 5 minutes.
  • RyanMMRyanMM Ferndale, MI Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    A pain is having to haul 10 2-liters of pop home from the store every 2 weeks, doing bottle returns, etc. All I need is to taste their diet root beer to find out if it's palatable and if it is, I'm so getting one.
  • KwitkoKwitko Sheriff of Banning (Retired) By the thing near the stuff Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    primesuspect wrote:
    Update:

    I got a Sodastream Genesisir?t=icrontic-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004C5D82G for Christmas and I'm gonna back up everything ADG said: It's awesome, and the flavor possibilities are fantastic. I love how fizzy I can make <strike>pop</strike> soda, and the flavors are surprisingly tasty; some are better than their name brand equivalents.

    I wish re-filling the CO2 canisters was cheaper/easier, but it's not a big sacrifice for the ability to make my own <strike>pop</strike> soda at home.
    That's awesome! I was telling Dagmara about it, told her we could make seltzer and sodas in practically any flavor we wanted. Now that it's endorsed by several Icrontians, maybe I'll be able to score one for my birthday.

    And it's soda, not pop. Just sayin'. Notice it's called Sodastream, not Popstream. Just sayin'.
  • AlexDeGruvenAlexDeGruven Wut? Meechigan Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    Icrontic is based and founded in Michigan. Therefore, all discussion about carbonated drinks will refer to them as "pop".
  • KwitkoKwitko Sheriff of Banning (Retired) By the thing near the stuff Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    Icrontic was originally founded in Florida, where the majority call it soda or Coke, and a fraction of the state calls it pop. Therefore, out of respect for our founding father, I will call it soda.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    Regardless, I highly recommend the PopStream.
  • KwitkoKwitko Sheriff of Banning (Retired) By the thing near the stuff Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    Regardless, I heart you.
  • AlexDeGruvenAlexDeGruven Wut? Meechigan Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    For some reason, and I can't quite pinpoint it, "PopStream" sounds dirty to me.
  • KwitkoKwitko Sheriff of Banning (Retired) By the thing near the stuff Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    PopStream sounds like a bad blog about crappy music.
  • BasilBasil Nubcaek England Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    AlexDeGruven wrote:
    "PopStream" sounds dirty to me.
    With the addition of a single letter it sounds like some sort of terrifying laxative.
  • RyanMMRyanMM Ferndale, MI Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    With the addition of a different letter it sounds like a weird Vatican thing.
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    I lol'd at PopeStream. Hard.
  • RyanMMRyanMM Ferndale, MI Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    Popestream...your Holy See is only a button push away!
  • Big Ed Mac
    edited February 2011
    Rootbeer is great; reminds me of Stewards. Diet Mountain Dew (Fountain Mist) and Diet Dr. Pepper (Pete's Choice) all very good.
  • KoreishKoreish I'm a penguin, deal with it. KCMO Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    Lets not for get the very important fact that it is shaped like a penguin. :p
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