5 pound CO2 tank or mini keg for homemade bubbly water?

July 2, 2024 10:55 AM

I would like to drink more bubbly water (and maybe lemonade?), but I don't want to spend the cash or fill the dump with plastic bottles. Is a one-gallon minikeg that uses 16g CO2 tubes enough to do the job, or do I really need to buy the 5-pound tank, hose, fill cap, and regulator? And how does refilling a CO2 tank work, in practice (WRT cost, turnaround time, etc.)?

I have looked at the mini kegs from Vevor, TMCraft, NutriChef, and the like. They cost about $100, and use small CO2 cartridges (a.k.a. "whippets") to serve whatever you're drinking through a tap. The cartridges are a consumable.

I have also looked at all the videos (like this one) about buying a 5-pound, refillable CO2 tank, and hooking it up to plastic bottles via a regulator, hose, and filler cap. These let you reuse some bottles many times; the only cost is refilling the tank. The capital costs is higher -- like maybe $150.

Is it hard to find a place to refill the tank? Do they do it while you wait? Or do you never see your shiny, new tank again?

posted by wenestvedt to Food & Drink (14 answers total)

Do you already know about SodaStream?
posted by tristeza at 11:20 AM on July 2

Sodastream and similar are the simplest, and they make adapters so you can refill the sodastream canisters yourself from a larger 5lb CO2 tank and save cost and the environment.

The mini-kegs will carbonate, but it's slow (have to wait 24-48hrs), and a weak carbonation. They're really intended to preserve & serve already-carbonated drinks

The 5lb CO2 + 2L bottle adapter is quick, and with the regulator you can set the desired carbonation strength. I did this, and it requires 2-3 minutes of vigorous shaking of the 2L bottle to carbonate the water (you're dissolving the CO2 into the water, and shaking greatly accelerates that by exposing more water to the CO2). I'd usually do 3-4 2L bottles at a time for efficiency, you'll need a place to chill the 2L bottles before filling, as cold water holds more carbonation than room-temp.

To refill a CO2 tank, usually it's a tank exchange at your local homebrew supply shop - you pay an initial deposit to "buy" the tank, then you exchange it and pay a "refill" cost. Then eventually you can return the tank to get your deposit back.
posted by jpeacock at 11:57 AM on July 2

I have a basic SodaStream machine and it's great for this. They were super popular for a while, and not too hard to find used ones. I've found a local company that does refill exchanges right at my doorstep, so it really couldn't be more convenient. Soda Sense does a UPS exchange that's pretty easy too.
posted by advicepig at 11:58 AM on July 2

5 lb tank with an adapter for a Sodastream type device - I like the aarke one.

We have a local refiller that charges $15 CAD for a 5 lb refill. 2 of us drink lots of soda water and refill about every 6 months. Find a source for refills before you go this route.
posted by snoboy at 11:58 AM on July 2

You shouldn't have trouble finding a place to refill your tank. This thread in r/Homebrewing has some decent leads. You should be looking for "food grade" quality CO2, although I have heard of people getting their tanks refilled at paintball supply shops because they felt the non-food grade was safe enough for soda. (IIRC, my dad was considering going this route until he found out his homebrew supply shop had CO2.)

Sounds like some places will refill your shiny tank if you wait, but swapping with a prefilled tank is pretty standard.
posted by katieinshoes at 11:59 AM on July 2

The SodaStream is the bane of my existence. It does a miraculous job of carbonating well and quickly, and is made of such flimsy materials that I've managed to break three of them (yes I use a lot of carbonated water). Drove me so nuts I went full DIY with the 5lb tank and carbonation cap, but as also noted above it takes at least a minute of vigorous shaking to get decent carbonation using this method. So as much as I hate to say it, I think the SodaStream is probably the way to go.
posted by lex mercatoria at 12:11 PM on July 2

We had a SodaStream for a while but we have since switched to a DrinkMate Omnifizz which uses the same size CO2 container but can carbonate any liquid!
posted by mkb at 12:15 PM on July 2

Homebrewer here - when my tank is empty, I do a swap at a local supply. They don't refill it while you wait. You can, in fact, "buy" a full dinged up tank from a local supply place and you'll never lose your bright shiny one. In fact, most places that I've dealt with charge you for the CO2 and take a deposit on the tank.

I've not tried the mini kegs - they look cute, but 128oz is about 3 3/4 liters, which when you have easy access to seltzer vanishes pretty quickly.

FWIW, we used refillable seltzer bottles for a couple years to cut down on plastic and they work...OK, but they don't last very long. Sooner or later the valve on top leaks and they're no repairing it and no replacement parts.
posted by plinth at 12:33 PM on July 2

i see sodastreams at the thrift store all the time; I have something called a Fizzpod that does the same thing but was cheaper and let me carbonate already flavored liquids. (as opposed to adding the flavoring after carbonating, with the sodastream - that never worked well for me.) I don't use it much anymore, though it works perfectly. It uses the same exchangable co2 canisters that the sodastream does, and they seem to last a good long time.
posted by lemniskate at 1:43 PM on July 2

We use an Aarke carbonator, it's a sodastream-alike but it uses refillable CO2 containers and heavy glass bottles. For a few bucks every month, we turn in our old containers for refilling and buy new ones. We've used it for years, it never breaks, works great.
posted by mhoye at 2:25 PM on July 2

If you decide it’s more trouble than it’s worth, switch to buying your fizz in aluminum cans. They are actually recyclable.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 2:31 PM on July 2

My wife would routinely drink 5-10+ cans of carbonated water a day when we met, at 4-6$ a 12 pack that added up real quick. We got a Sodastream but they charged a lot for their branded CO2 refills (Something like 20$ for a ~1liter tank which would last less than a month) and also our city had supply issues getting filled tanks during Covid.

When the first Sodastream dispenser broke due to heavy use, we then switched to a 10lb C02 tank + regulator + PET screw cap and reuse 2L bottles, and now I pay about 20$ every 6 months or so for gas refills at a local homebrew supply store. The total setup ran me around 120$ and is not complicated to use or assemble, I'd definitely recommend this route. It paid for itself in a couple months at our consumption rate.
posted by spatula at 3:15 PM on July 2

I have a ferocious fizzy water habit. We tried the 2L bottle method, but I absolutely hated shaking cold bottles to carbonate them. My husband used to home-brew, but has just been too busy in the last few years. So, we had a 5 gallon keg and CO2 tank around and are lucky enough to have a spare basement fridge. We now keep a full keg of fizzy water on tap all the time. We are obsessed, and now almost the whole family drinks it. Even our otherwise cynical teenagers love it. I can't recommend this option enough if you have the space.

My latest discovery? I drop a cut-up lime, half of a sliced jalapeno, and a couple of blocks of Trader Joe's frozen ginger into a 30oz Yeti with some ice, and then fill to the brim with cold fizzy water. I swear it's as enjoyable as a cocktail on a hot day.
posted by hessie at 5:28 AM on July 3

OK, Amazon has a 5# Vevor brand tank on sale for $58, plus a not-quite-the-cheapest regulator for $43, and a kit of hoses & caps for $16 or $19.

As for the gas, a local place, Rhode Island Fruit & Syrup, will refill a 5# tank while I wait for $25.

A nearby-ish home-brew shop, Blackstone Valley Brewing, offers a tank swap club which is $105+tax to buy into, but only $20 for a refill. That's like double the initial cost of buying the tank outright; if I love this set-up then I can buy in there when my tank finally reaches its fifth birthday.

Thanks for all the advice. I think I'm going for it!
posted by wenestvedt at 12:11 PM on July 3