Good for them. I don't know much about Sodastream as a company, but I have one of their machines at home and it rules. Sparkling water, basically on tap. Awesome.
posted by braksandwich at 9:22 AM on June 19, 2012

Someone should tell Coke about the Streisand effect
posted by exogenous at 9:22 AM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

SodaStream, the creators of the piece, say the exhibit is part of the ¡°Help Free the World from [NON-SODASTREAM] Bottles¡± campaign...
posted by resurrexit at 9:24 AM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

So, I love my Sodastream machine, but Sodastream are also assholes who "license" you to use their device and equip them with nonstandard threading and boobytrapped valves in an attempt to prevent you from refilling their cylinders so that you have to buy all your gas from them at an absurd markup.

This is pretty much an asshole-vs-asshole fight.

Like basically all corporate fights.
posted by aramaic at 9:25 AM on June 19, 2012 [59 favorites]

I have a home carbonation system made a few years ago basically from home kegging equipment. I couldn't live without this thing.

How does sodastream handle empty CO? cylinders, anyway? With the keg systems you use large (5 to 20lb) cylinders that cost enough that there's no way you'll just dispose of an empty¡­ (they also last for years at a time, which is great)
posted by jepler at 9:26 AM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

Sodastream seem to be ignoring all of the packaging in the concentrates that you have to buy to make the fizzy drinks.
posted by DanCall at 9:27 AM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

How does sodastream handle empty CO? cylinders, anyway? With the keg systems you use large (5 to 20lb) cylinders that cost enough that there's no way you'll just dispose of an empty¡­ (they also last for years at a time, which is great)

They have partnered with some retail stores to take in empty CO2 cylinders in exchange for a discount for new cylinders.
posted by gyc at 9:28 AM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

I still don't understand why people can't just drink less soda? I'm sure rolling your own cigarettes at home can be seen as environmentally friendly too but that doesn't make them magically good for you either.

Consuming less sugar (or less bizarre chemical sweeteners, for all you Diet Coke crazies) would probably be a much better idea. Instead of being so impressed that you can make Coke at home from tap water, try drinking the water? Is that so crazy?
posted by trackofalljades at 9:29 AM on June 19, 2012 [30 favorites]

I thought long and hard about getting a Sodastream, but the whole "you don't own it we just license it to you" thing really turned me off. I'm not going to "license" physical goods from you, guys. The cylinders basically have a EULA printed on the side of them. Ew.

It's pretty trivial to make or buy a "carbonation cap" that will basically do what the Sodastream does, but from a bulk container of CO2 that you can get refilled at any paintball-supply store or welding gas supplier.

So good on them for not rolling over in response to Coke's C&D, but it's sort of an Alien vs. Predator situation as far as I can tell.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:30 AM on June 19, 2012 [9 favorites]

The best way for the average family to reduce the amount of discarded cans and plastic bottles each year is to simply stop consuming soda and other canned and bottled beverages.

What a ridiculous product.
posted by KokuRyu at 9:33 AM on June 19, 2012 [6 favorites]

Whether you like Sodastream or not, this is obviously without merit, and just a naked attempt by a large corporation to intimidate a much smaller competitor. No one loves a bully. I wish Coke would suffer some sort of meaningful penalty for this, since they know full well it's baseless. But they won't, and the next people they don't like will also be subject to a meritless suit. So, all I can do is hope Sodastream has the stamina to resist it.
posted by tyllwin at 9:34 AM on June 19, 2012

"try drinking the water? Is that so crazy?"

This is NOT crazy! Just please filter it through ground coffee beans first or I'm not interested.
posted by fusinski at 9:34 AM on June 19, 2012 [22 favorites]

Instead of being so impressed that you can make Coke at home from tap water, try drinking the water?

Sodastream makes seltzer, not actual soda. You can add flavor packets to actually make cola, but I don't know of a single person who uses them.
posted by griphus at 9:34 AM on June 19, 2012 [15 favorites]

(If someone in NY wants the flavor packets that came with my SodaStream, you're free to have them.)
posted by griphus at 9:35 AM on June 19, 2012

It doesn't fit with sodastream's business model, but rather than traditional soda flavors we enjoy things like:

• straight sparkling water
• lemon or lime juice, with or without sweetener
• cranberry juice concentrate with sweetener
• 1 part juice (apple, etc) + 3 parts water
• add "ginger juice" to any of the above for some extra zing

For sweetener, consider agave nectar or easy-to-make "simple syrup" (2 parts water : 1 part sugar, boil, store in bottle in fridge)

It's true that there are still containers involved for any or all of these flavors, but there's no doubt you'll use fewer than if you drink the same amount of store-bought cola.
posted by jepler at 9:35 AM on June 19, 2012 [6 favorites]

It's pretty trivial to make or buy a "carbonation cap"...

I couldn't keep watching that video after the guy actually drilled into his workbench just to get through a plastic cap.
posted by gurple at 9:35 AM on June 19, 2012

I still don't understand why people can't just drink less soda?

Soda tastes good. I don't think it's so crazy to want to reduce the environmental impact of an activity that I enjoy. Whether or not soda is killing me faster than regular old biology seems to be beside the point.

I have been thinking about getting a Soda Stream to make seltzer water. We consume a lot of it and I hate that low-packaging bottles go flat before I finish them.

The best way for the average family to reduce the amount of discarded cans and plastic bottles each year is to simply stop consuming soda and other canned and bottled beverages.

The best way for the average family to reduce the amount of discarded plastic baggies is to simply stop making bagged lunches.
posted by muddgirl at 9:36 AM on June 19, 2012 [26 favorites]

I still don't understand why people can't just drink less soda?

One of the benefits of having a carbonation system is that you can make your own soda. Not from a concentrate / mix, but actually make your own.

E.g., you can make your own tonic water. Or ginger ale. Or root beer. Etc.

Also, the same equipment (assuming you're going the DIY route, not Sodastream) is what you'd use for carbonating beer or running a keg/draught setup, which is really it's primary purpose for a lot of people. Once you have the gear, you might as well use it to carbonate other stuff.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:38 AM on June 19, 2012 [3 favorites]

I had SodaStream as a kid. But that was because we were poor not because we were environmentalists.

Also you'd think Coke would be suing over the misappropriation of the colours used on SodaStream's Cola range. Red for regular, grey for diet and black for zero? I WONDER WHERE I HAVE SEEN THAT BEFORE.

They have partnered with some retail stores to take in empty CO2 cylinders in exchange for a discount for new cylinders.

This was the only way to do it when I was a kid. New CO2 canisters were extremely expensive so you'd swap it over at the Big W for much, much cheaper. They'll also do mail order carbonator exchange.

I thought long and hard about getting a Sodastream, but the whole "you don't own it we just license it to you" thing really turned me off. I'm not going to "license" physical goods from you, guys. The cylinders basically have a EULA printed on the side of them. Ew.

This is not much different to me going down to getting a cylinder of CO2 from BOC. I pay for the gas and I pay a per day rate on the bottle or I can spend a fuckton of money to buy a bottle. Short of a payment plan on the bottle there's not much else they can do.

There are also important safety reasons why pressurized gas containers shouldn't be kept indefinitely by consumers or considered "property" by consumers. Namely these tanks need to be inspected, the valves will need to be cleaned and may need to be relubricated and generally you want to make sure they won't explode violently when/after being recharged with gas. The local minimum wage kid at the OSH has trouble making my keys properly with the aid of an automated machine. I sure as hell wouldn't trust him to inspect a CO2 cylinder or propane tank.
posted by Talez at 9:39 AM on June 19, 2012 [5 favorites]

I'm a homebrewer and not a soda drinker, but I do enjoy the occasional sparkly water to mix with booze.

It never occurred to me until the comments above to use my kegging system to carbonate water. So, uh... thanks, Coke, for filing a frivolous lawsuit that generated those comments!
posted by gurple at 9:40 AM on June 19, 2012 [5 favorites]

The best way for the average family to reduce the amount of discarded cans and plastic bottles each year is to simply stop consuming soda and other canned and bottled beverages.

What a ridiculous product.

If you have a home carbonator, you can indeed have soda without using bottles (well, except for perhaps one that you constantly reuse). You can add things like fresh juice to soda water made from a carbonator; there's no reason why this is not as good a way of reducing discarded bottles as not drinking soda. I don't understand what you mean.
posted by Philosopher Dirtbike at 9:40 AM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

I couldn't keep watching that video after the guy actually drilled into his workbench just to get through a plastic cap.

Yeah, that's painful. Good example of why a drill press (or a block of scrap wood) is a useful tool, though.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:41 AM on June 19, 2012

Red for regular, grey for diet and black for zero? I WONDER WHERE I HAVE SEEN THAT BEFORE.

Every store-brand soda?
posted by one more dead town's last parade at 9:41 AM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

a satisfying fart noise every time we use the thing

Also useful for making cats jump straight up in the air.
posted by uncleozzy at 9:42 AM on June 19, 2012 [5 favorites]

The best way for the average family to reduce the amount of discarded cans and plastic bottles each year is to simply stop consuming soda and other canned and bottled beverages.

This is holier-than-thou nonsense. Your self-denial of small pleasures is not a sign of virtue, nor is it virtuous to insist others follow suit. Making a conscious effort to reduce waste while indulging in the occasional spritzer is not ridiculous. Devices like this also allow the consumer to decide what goes into their soda - low or no cal recipes abound, some that don't even use any sweetener at all, and plain ol' fresh fruit juice works very well as a flavoring.

(The non-standard CO2 tanks, those are ridiculous.)
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:43 AM on June 19, 2012 [44 favorites]

I'm rather pissed that Sodastream is talking about "free the world" when their production facility is on confiscated Palestinian land in the West Bank.

Also, if you want to make your own seltzer and don't want to pay the ridiculous price for the sodastream and its proprietary refills, here's how.
posted by Jon_Evil at 9:43 AM on June 19, 2012 [23 favorites]

Bathing in seltzer sounds amazing.
posted by griphus at 9:44 AM on June 19, 2012 [6 favorites]

So...let me get this straight. All the thing does is add carbon dioxide to water? And people are paying big money to get a vendor-locked version of this?

We are never going to fix any real problems the Earth has. We are far, far, FAR too stupid.
posted by DU at 9:45 AM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

This is the first I've heard of Sodastream, but I've been using the ISI soda siphon for a decade or more.

But for Coke to sue seems silly. If you look at the thriving "coffee pod" market, it seems like a no-brainer for Coke to buy out Sodastream (or create a competitive product) and sell their syrup for the same ridiculous markup that the coffee makers do.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 9:45 AM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

This is the first I've heard of Sodastream, but I've been using the ISI soda siphon for a decade or more.

How much seltzer does a single one of those chargers make?
posted by griphus at 9:47 AM on June 19, 2012

Bathing in seltzer sounds amazing.

Only if you like cold baths. The ability for water to retain CO2 is inversely related to temperature. The warmer the water the less CO2.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 9:47 AM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

Sodastream is manufactured by an Israeli company in an illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank.

Just sayin'.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:48 AM on June 19, 2012 [5 favorites]

First of all, hasn't this technology basically existed forever? The whole sodastream thing seems like an attempt to lock in a market that doesn't really need to be locked in. They obviously want to make money selling proprietary syrups rather then on the device itself.

Also, when you get pop at a fast food place, generally it tastes a lot worse then what you get in cans. I think that has to do with tap water vs. purified water used at a bottling company. Of course you could buy gallon jugs of pure water at the grocery store, and that would probably have it turn out pretty good.

I still don't understand why people can't just drink less soda? I'm sure rolling your own cigarettes at home can be seen as environmentally friendly too but that doesn't make them magically good for you either.

Consuming less sugar (or less bizarre chemical sweeteners, for all you Diet Coke crazies) would probably be a much better idea. Instead of being so impressed that you can make Coke at home from tap water, try drinking the water? Is that so crazy?

The most common "Bizzare" chemical sweetener is aspartame, which is a protein made out of two of the 20 amino acids that basically make up all life on earth. It does have calories, like any protein would, but it's 200 times sweeter then sugar, you use far less.

I don't get why people are so paranoid about this molecule. One half your body makes on it's own, and the other you actually have to eat or else you die (which isn't too big of a problem, since the only way you could not get it would be to avoid eating anything biological at all)

Anyway, I don't really see why drinking diet pop is that different then drinking water (not counting caffeine, which you might want, and is easy to avoid)
posted by delmoi at 9:48 AM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

I'm wondering if I could use a Sodastream to make a new kind of blue cola product!!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 9:50 AM on June 19, 2012 [3 favorites]

First of all, hasn't this technology basically existed forever? The whole sodastream thing seems like an attempt to lock in a market that doesn't really need to be locked in.

The single-serving proprietary coffee business seems to be doing fairly well.
posted by ODiV at 9:50 AM on June 19, 2012

And of course you can carbonate your homemade tonic water this way too. I simply must make myself a tonic syrup.
posted by jepler at 9:52 AM on June 19, 2012

This is holier-than-thou nonsense. Your self-denial of small pleasures is not a sign of virtue, nor is it virtuous to insist others follow suit. Making a conscious effort to reduce waste while indulging in the occasional spritzer is not ridiculous.

Soda pop is poison in a can.
posted by KokuRyu at 9:52 AM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

One half your body makes on it's own, and the other you actually have to eat or else you die (which isn't too big of a problem, since the only way you could not get it would be to avoid eating anything biological at all)

This is why I often enjoy a hearty meal of sodium with a side of chlorine.
posted by DU at 9:53 AM on June 19, 2012 [10 favorites]

I don't get why people are so paranoid about this molecule. One half your body makes on it's own, and the other you actually have to eat or else you die (which isn't too big of a problem, since the only way you could not get it would be to avoid eating anything biological at all)

Not commenting on whether aspartame is healthy or not, but my body produces prodigious amounts of hydrochloric acid to break down food in my stomach -- being produced by the body is not in and of itself a logical marker for consumption safety.
posted by Celsius1414 at 9:54 AM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

There is certainly an anti-carbonation hard-liner streak of Metafilter I did not know about.
posted by demiurge at 9:54 AM on June 19, 2012 [46 favorites]

Soda pop is poison in a can.

Seltzer isn't poison.
posted by Sticherbeast at 9:56 AM on June 19, 2012 [7 favorites]

The single-serving proprietary coffee business seems to be doing fairly well.

The single-serving proprietary coffee business is selling ease and convenience.
posted by tyllwin at 9:56 AM on June 19, 2012

Sodastream is great. We drink tons of sparkling water (I picked this up from my Jewish in-laws, they're big into seltzer) and I'm so happy not to be generating tons of plastic bottle waste.

As others have mentioned, I don't know of anybody who uses this to make soda. The soda packs that came with it were totes gross. Everybody I know just uses it to make sparkling water.

To the people who are all "just don't drink sparkling water!" or whatevs-- just listen to yourselves. Think about the logical extension of your "argument" to any joy you may have in life. Do you understand how silly you sound?
posted by jcruelty at 9:57 AM on June 19, 2012 [13 favorites]

The problem with the DIY solutions is that even a 5lb cylinder is pretty ugly and big enough to be a hassle to hide in the kitchen. And the 8g cartridges that the ISI uses wind up costing as much as or more than the SodaStream cylinders (if I'm doing the math right).
posted by uncleozzy at 9:57 AM on June 19, 2012

Soda pop is poison in a can.

What's the LD50 of soda pop?
posted by muddgirl at 9:58 AM on June 19, 2012 [16 favorites]

Jailbreak your SodaStream machine. It works great, so long as you have a place to safely stow a CO2 tank in your garage.
posted by anthill at 9:58 AM on June 19, 2012 [5 favorites]

Nice booth design. I like how the overhead lights are designed and arranged to mimic bubbles floating overhead.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:59 AM on June 19, 2012

We got a sodastream two years ago. The four water bottles we use for seltzer were purchased two years ago and get used/refilled just about every other day. The CO2 canisters are exchanged on a bi-weekly basis. The only disposable parts to the system are the plastic caps and security seals (why?) on the gas bottles. Having seltzer available on demand contributed to kicking the soda habit in our house.

But I might switch to an alternative system once I figure out where to get the gear and a place to put it in the kitchen.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 10:00 AM on June 19, 2012

Sodastream is manufactured by an Israeli company in an illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank.

Now that I didn't know. This will cause me to re-evaluate my purchase.
posted by Philosopher Dirtbike at 10:01 AM on June 19, 2012 [5 favorites]

Sodastream is manufactured by an Israeli company in an illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank

In Israel, it is marketed as "Fizzybubbly"
posted by Hoopo at 10:03 AM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Soda pop is poison in a can.
KokuRyu

Cool. Can you send me a list of what you eat so I can make sure my food and drinking choices meet your approval? Also, can I get your number so if I'm out I can get your opinion on what I'm ordering?

Or do you have some manual on how I should live by your standards? That would be more convenient.
posted by Sangermaine at 10:03 AM on June 19, 2012 [9 favorites]

Hey, this reminds me of the gin & tonic thread from last week. Can I make tonic water with a SodaStream machine?
posted by wenestvedt at 10:04 AM on June 19, 2012

it's sort of an Alien vs. Predator situation as far as I can tell.

Wait. So Sodastream will scar my head using a wounded Coca-Cola's citric acid blood to mark me as one of its pack?
posted by robocop is bleeding at 10:04 AM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

You know what's actually poison in a can? This shit.
posted by griphus at 10:05 AM on June 19, 2012 [6 favorites]

Whoops, never mind, jepler answered that already.
posted by wenestvedt at 10:06 AM on June 19, 2012

You know what's actually shit in a can? This shit.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 10:08 AM on June 19, 2012

I can make coffee in pan over an open fire too but I really prefer my Cuisinart Grind and Brew.

The objection is not that you are using an advanced tool. The objection is that you are using a weaponized tool. The corporation is actively doing all it can to make sure you can only use this thing the way they want, which is to funnel the most money possible towards them at the highest rate possible.

And before you say "bbbbut that's what businesses are FOR!" a) not all of them operate that way and b) they shouldn't be.
posted by DU at 10:08 AM on June 19, 2012 [4 favorites]

I got a mini-kegging system as a hand-me-down from another home brewer, and it's been sitting in the basement gathering dust for a few years now. I have lately started to crave fizzy mineral water, even just normal old club soda, but most of it comes in crap plastic bottles, and I don't want to be drinking all of that bisphenol-a.

Don't know how I didn't consider using the kegger to make cheap fizzy water. THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING! There are even a bunch of recipes out there for fancy varietal mineral water.

In conclusion, I support Coke and this fighting it out with Sodastream while I make more fizzy water than I can drink at home for cheap.
posted by wormwood23 at 10:08 AM on June 19, 2012

DU, I would genuinely love to hear your suggestions to an alternative seltzer-maker of equivalent price that does not involve actually building the thing. The ISI syphon noted above seems to make the same amount of soda for the same amount of money, except with more (probably recyclable) waste.
posted by griphus at 10:10 AM on June 19, 2012

Why can't you build the thing? It's a cap and a nozzle. Bam. 5 minutes, tops.

But if you allergic to your hands or whatever, I'm sure there are products out there you can buy that use standard cartridges from paintball guns or whatever. Do your own shopping.
posted by DU at 10:12 AM on June 19, 2012

My new Margaritaville margarita machine comes with a built-in salsa dispenser.
posted by TheRedArmy at 10:14 AM on June 19, 2012

Hey, this reminds me of the gin & tonic thread from last week

You know what I just discovered is better than gin and tonic? Gin and soda water. So refreshing! So much less sugar! Although I don't remember this weekend very well.
posted by Hoopo at 10:14 AM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

How else am I going to use it? It makes fizzy water. It's not like I need it to cut and paste.

It's that the SodaStream CO2 canisters are non-standard and proprietary for no reason other than vendor lock in.

There are cheaper sources of CO2 in most every town, and refilling the canisters doesn't even have to be particularly difficult.

But SS doesn't make (as much) money if people can re-use the canister.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 10:14 AM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Why can't you build the thing? It's a cap and a nozzle. Bam. 5 minutes, tops.

Sure just head out to the junkyard and pick up any old empty canisters, take the top off and refill it with dry ice. That's sure to work right?

At the very least you want a proper valve so your leaky-ass nozzle doesn't leak and kill you slowly and a pressure regulator to make sure you don't kill yourself quickly.
posted by Talez at 10:18 AM on June 19, 2012

We homebrew a bit, so we set up a carbonation station: 20# CO2 tank $80, regulator $40, refill at AirGas $30, Pellegrino bottle $2, various auto parts $10. We use it a lot, so we'll need to exchange/refill the tank about once a year.

We make pop with it, but that's tertiary. The cool thing about it is that once you get the hang of it, you can carbonate the water (or beer) to your exact taste. Homemade club soda is GOOD, y'all. If someone is sick, I'll make ginger syrup, but mostly we experiment in lieu of pop. My kids are way into muddled fresh strawberries, a shaving of vanilla bean, and a drizzle of honey. I learned how to make egg creams and phosphates. Coffee soda is delightful. Eight ounces of club soda with a teaspoon of maple syrup and couple of lemon slices is out of this world.

We hadn't even thought of this when we put it together- I was just looking forward to lambic on tap. I would recommend it to anyone with the caveat that it is big- about the size of a tall laundry hamper. We keep ours on an enclosed back porch with a built in counter that's just off our kitchen, so we are lucky in that we have the space.
posted by Athene at 10:18 AM on June 19, 2012 [9 favorites]

Actually, looking around, your options are systems that use small disposable CO2 BB-gun cartridges, or systems that are clones of the Soda Stream, down to the proprietary, non-refillable CO2 canisters.

There's aftermarket adapters for the SodaStream, but no counter-top system that uses a standard CO2 tank fitting, like the one used by paintball guns, out of the box.
posted by Slap*Happy at 10:20 AM on June 19, 2012

The real question is how many times you can burp the bottle before it explodes and turns your neighborhood into a smoking crater. I got to nine before I chickened out.
posted by theodolite at 10:20 AM on June 19, 2012 [4 favorites]

You can't save environment through consumer action.
posted by MartinWisse at 10:23 AM on June 19, 2012 [3 favorites]

Comrades, I have heard your pleas and your belches. Popular Science, a magazine covering er popular science, has just published a guide to domestic carbonation. Enjoy.
posted by fallingbadgers at 10:23 AM on June 19, 2012 [16 favorites]

Maybe it's just because I belong to a food co-op with a Soda Stream canister return policy, but I'm not seeing a whole lot of real world savings for making a DIY kit.
posted by Sticherbeast at 10:24 AM on June 19, 2012

What does a SodaStream do that a seltzer bottle doesn't do? I'm just curious.
posted by entropicamericana at 10:24 AM on June 19, 2012

If a side effect of all this interest in DIY soda is that the local place that exchanges CO2 tanks for me stays open later to serve all the new customers, then I'm all for it!
posted by gurple at 10:26 AM on June 19, 2012

It is like if countries do not have +5%growth, eco mess ensues.
fuqed up yeah?

Real capitalists use a gasogene.
posted by clavdivs at 10:27 AM on June 19, 2012

You re-use the bottles, so you're not generating waste and you don't have to lug home bottles of seltzer from the store (or go shopping if you want some and there isn't any.) We go through about 2 bottles a day in my house, refill the thing once every month or so, so that ends up to be about 30 liters of seltzer for sixteen bucks.
posted by griphus at 10:27 AM on June 19, 2012

Er, 60 liters, rather.
posted by griphus at 10:29 AM on June 19, 2012

Sodastream is manufactured by an Israeli company in an illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank.

Gah. I like my SodaStream machine. It makes fizzy water which I like more than non-fizzy water, which means I drink more of it, which means I stay hydrated when it's 31 degrees C outside. But OTOH this is so Not OK.
posted by Zarkonnen at 10:32 AM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

What does a SodaStream do that a seltzer bottle doesn't do? I'm just curious.

It carbonates many more bottles from a single (refillable) CO₂ cylinder.

The real question is how many times you can burp the bottle before it explodes and turns your neighborhood into a smoking crater. I got to nine before I chickened out.

SodaStream's FAQ says

One of the best benefits of making soda at home with a SodaStream drinks maker is that you control the "fizziness" of your carbonated soft drinks. When you're making soda: If you like very lightly carbonated soda, press the carbonating button until you hear just a single loud buzz. If you like extra-fizzy soda, keep going until you hear 5 buzzes. The amount of fizz your soda can hold is limited only by the laws of chemistry - after about 10 buzzes, you won't be able to inject any more fizz into the water.

posted by Songdog at 10:33 AM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Goddamn I know Metafilter is 'no fun allowed' sometimes but some of the comments in this thread are over the top. I own one of these machines to make fizzy water with. It was actually brought to my attention by another thread here on the blue that linked to a NYT article about seltzer water that I can't find now. I bought it because I was tired of hauling dozens of aluminum cans to the recycle center every month. A part of me grumbles every time I have to go to the Bed Bath to get another one of their dumb, proprietary CO2 tanks (if I still had my home-brew equipment I'd just use that, instead), but overall I've been satisfied with it and feel good about not having to recycle all those cans.
posted by word_virus at 10:33 AM on June 19, 2012 [3 favorites]

muddgirl: "The best way for the average family to reduce the amount of discarded plastic baggies is to simply stop making bagged lunches."

I use unbleached waxed paper bags held closed with paper tape. No plastic. One bag holds two sandwiches. And I use a SIGG bottle for my lunchtime beverage (water, nothing exciting). Plus a reusable insulated lunch bag, same one I've used for the last 5 years or so. I'm contributing as little as possible to the pile of plastic in the landfill, but that doesn't mean I'm cutting out bagged lunches.
posted by caution live frogs at 10:34 AM on June 19, 2012

What does a SodaStream do that a seltzer bottle doesn't do? I'm just curious.

SodaStream canisters are refillable. The retailer you get them from will exchange empties for a full canister. I don't think that traditional seltzer siphon charges are refillable, but they are recyclable.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 10:37 AM on June 19, 2012

Also, if there is a proprietary problem with just about any product, odds are someone will offer a solution.
posted by caution live frogs at 10:37 AM on June 19, 2012

Coke/Pepsi: Mac
SodaStream: PC

Sorry, which is the overpriced gimmicky gadget again?
posted by Sys Rq at 10:37 AM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

I wonder if one would have to use their syrup or if one could buy those bag of syrup that dispenser machines usually use from Coke/Pepsi/Verners (well, perhaps Verners would only sell them in my dreams but still).
posted by Slackermagee at 10:38 AM on June 19, 2012

Usually, to buy national brand pop syrup, you have to have a restaurant account with a supplier.
posted by Athene at 10:40 AM on June 19, 2012

Once you have the gear, you might as well use it to carbonate other stuff.

The whole "is sodastream a good product" is sort of a derail, but since you're going there ...

Is it good for "re-carbonating" flat beer or flat champagne? I think that would be a fairly nice use for it (a large fancy bottle of beer or champage that has a glass left the next day, etc.)

Anyone care to comment on the copyright issue? I.e. labels of Coke and Sprite in the display? Is that a valid complaint? What the hell is "derogative advertising" and wouldn't "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" apply? ;)
posted by mrgrimm at 10:40 AM on June 19, 2012

You re-use the bottles, so you're not generating waste and you don't have to lug home bottles of seltzer from the store (or go shopping if you want some and there isn't any.) We go through about 2 bottles a day in my house, refill the thing once every month or so, so that ends up to be about 30 liters of seltzer for sixteen bucks.

So, doing the math here, with the Sodastream, you're running about US$0.53/L in CO2 costs, or about US$389/year at 2 L per day.

I can buy Club Soda from the store for about US$0.75/L, or US$547.50/year at the same rate.

The fancy DIY rig (working back from his buddy's claim of 1000L from a 20lb tank to 250L from a 5lb tank), comes in at US%0.06/L, or just US$43.50/year. Either way, the DIY rig has paid for itself in superfluous fizzy drinks pretty quickly.

Not saying that everyone should always build it themselves, but the prices make a compelling case.
posted by wormwood23 at 10:40 AM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

So the advantage of SodaStream is you can do smaller containers from a single CO2 cartridge, while the old school seltzer bottles (that you see Bugs Bunny using to spritz Elmer in the face) use a single cartridge in one go and then go flat if you don't use them quickly enough? Is that right?
posted by entropicamericana at 10:40 AM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Is it good for "re-carbonating" flat beer or flat champagne?

According to the instructions -- which I have no idea if they're actual "don't do this it'll explode" instructions or "weird legal reasons" instructions -- you're not supposed to carbonate anything except water. Everything else gets added in later.
posted by griphus at 10:42 AM on June 19, 2012

perhaps Verners would only sell them in my dreams but still).

Since it has devolved into a poison soda drinkers are things white people like thread....

I ? VERNOR'S.
posted by mrgrimm at 10:43 AM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

I think you're only supposed to carbonate water just from a cleanliness and mess standpoint. Imagine the gunk that would develop on the nozzle if you didn't clean it perfectly after trying to carbonate your peanut butter or whatever.
posted by Sticherbeast at 10:44 AM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

You know, it's worth mentioning that the "DIY rigs" don't have to involve any "building" whatsoever. You can buy everything you need from any homebrew shop except the CO2 tank, which you'll source from the same welding supply shop where you'll end up getting it refilled.

Just walk in the homebrew shop door and tell them what you want to do. 10 minutes later, you've got your "rig" and you know how to use it.
posted by gurple at 10:44 AM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Outside of lack of expertise to trust myself to work with a pressurized gas container, aesthetics and convenience, my issue with the DIY rig is that I don't own a car and those canisters look pretty damn heavy.
posted by griphus at 10:46 AM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

...carbonate your peanut butter or whatever.

PATENT PENDING
posted by griphus at 10:47 AM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

I didn't realize SodaStream was an Israeli company but the first thing I thought when I saw the cages were the public recycling cages that are all over Israel. Do any other countries use those?
posted by camcgee at 10:48 AM on June 19, 2012

PATENT PENDING

THIS IS SORT OF LIKE THAT I GUESS
posted by Sticherbeast at 10:50 AM on June 19, 2012

which you'll source from the same welding supply shop

Sometimes I start to think that I'm kind of normal and then I start thinking that everyone else just knows not only that there are welding supply shops just liberally sprinkled all over the goddamn place, which is NOT a thing I know, but then they also know actually where they when I didn't even know they were a thing are and then I'm like right, OK, yeah, I remember now and then I do a little dance.
posted by davidjmcgee at 10:50 AM on June 19, 2012 [8 favorites]

Outside of lack of expertise to trust myself to work with a pressurized gas container, aesthetics and convenience, my issue with the DIY rig is that I don't own a car and those canisters look pretty damn heavy.

Most of the little ones, the ones that you buy at a homebrew supplier, are small and made of aluminum. The "5lbs" name basically means that they put the tank on a scale as they fill it, and keep filling it until the scale weighs in at 5lbs.

The tall ones ('K' size) are too heavy to take with you on, say, a bike.
posted by wormwood23 at 10:52 AM on June 19, 2012

THIS IS SORT OF LIKE THAT I GUESS

Wow, I hope whoever came up with the idea "let's aerate the peanut butter, sell less by volume and claim it has less sugar and calories" got a raise.
posted by griphus at 10:56 AM on June 19, 2012 [4 favorites]

The single-serving proprietary coffee business seems to be doing fairly well.

The single-serving proprietary coffee business is selling ease and convenience.

The single-serving proprietary coffee business is under the misapprehension that I can survive on four-and-a-half ounces of coffee every morning.

Also: Karl Rove uses seltzer to kill baby rabbits in his basement workshop.
posted by steambadger at 10:57 AM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

With a DIY rig, nothing but gas is passing through the hose and air chuck. We have a bottle that's water only, and cycle through other containers (of the same cap size) to carbonate other stuff. And yes, flat beer and champagne revive nicely. Carbonated pinot grigio is really good, as is carbonated orange juice for mimosas.
posted by Athene at 11:03 AM on June 19, 2012

Wow, I hope whoever came up with the idea "let's aerate the peanut butter, sell less by volume and claim it has less sugar and calories" got a raise.

I saw a "low-calorie vodka" the other day. It's just regular vodka but sold at 60 proof instead of 80. Genius like that should be working at NASA.
posted by theodolite at 11:03 AM on June 19, 2012 [6 favorites]

Onward the silly-battle fighting!

I have no doubt that I could build my own carbonation system. But then what? I pull a hose out from under my sink, where I keep all the smelly cleaners and rags, and turn a metal valve whenever I want fizzy water? My ten year old does this a couple times a day?

If you want, I guess. Or you just do that once every couple days and fill a 2-liter or two at a time. I keep my tank in the garage, so that's where I'll be going with my empty 2-liter.

I drive down to my "local welding supply place", which I'm sure is located in the most convenient part of town and hang around talking shop with welders and welding supply guys while I wait for them to refill my tank?

About once a year, yeah. Most places exchange tanks, so it usually only takes a minute or two.

I then lug a 50lb tank back home and hook it up?

If you want, but I'd recommend the 5-pound jobbies.

I actually don't have any problem with people preferring the perceived convenience of SodaStream. Go for it! But the "DIY" way is really a lot less work than you think it is, and I don't want people to be turned off by a caricature.
posted by gurple at 11:09 AM on June 19, 2012 [5 favorites]

I use unbleached waxed paper bags held closed with paper tape. No plastic. One bag holds two sandwiches. And I use a SIGG bottle for my lunchtime beverage (water, nothing exciting). Plus a reusable insulated lunch bag, same one I've used for the last 5 years or so. I'm contributing as little as possible to the pile of plastic in the landfill, but that doesn't mean I'm cutting out bagged lunches.

Yes, and many people buy a Soda Stream to contribute as little as possible to the pile of plastic and the landfill. That was my point. People are going to consume things, by definition. It's necessary for that consumption to be as low-cost as possible. It's not sufficient, but it is necessary.
posted by muddgirl at 11:09 AM on June 19, 2012

From now on when people on the internet make fun of us, they will point to this ridiculous thread. *sips delicious and proprietary fizzy water*
posted by Think_Long at 11:09 AM on June 19, 2012 [5 favorites]

Team Sodastream!

Team Contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention!
posted by Sys Rq at 11:11 AM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

From now on when people on the internet make fun of us, they will point to this ridiculous thread. *sips delicious and proprietary fizzy water*

Yeah, it's not everyday you can get enviro-nutritionism, DIYihadists, and Middle East politics all in one thread!

If we continue this conversational multi-threading, we could conceivably cut down our word-usage by 1/3 or more. And while Peak Snark is still under debate as a viable theory, we should all do our part just in case it turns out to be true.
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:20 AM on June 19, 2012 [7 favorites]

Randomly, for the benefit of future generations: when Sodastream tells you to only carbonate plain water, not anything else, they're not exaggerating.

Carbonated pinot grigio IS good, but you're about five seconds away from a wine explosion in your kitchen. You gotta walk that razor edge really damn carefully.

Guess how I know.

Yep.

It was not one of my finer moments. Thank god I used a white.
posted by aramaic at 11:22 AM on June 19, 2012 [10 favorites]

Any idea why it happened?
posted by griphus at 11:23 AM on June 19, 2012

Yeah, it's not everyday you can get enviro-nutritionism, DIYihadists, and Middle East politics all in one thread!

Incidentally, does anyone know why they are located in Israel? Because that's where all the cat foreskins they use to make the carbonation are located!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 11:24 AM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

If you carbonate anything with particles suspended in it, they seed the precipitation of CO2 out of solution semi-explosively.
posted by anthill at 11:27 AM on June 19, 2012 [5 favorites]

So, two questions:

1) I think it's already been answered, but I take it that there's no "standardized" version of SodaStream?

2) Is the CO2 in paintball cartridges actually safe to use to make fizzy water?
posted by schmod at 11:30 AM on June 19, 2012

Hoopo- try gin with mineral water, gives it just a little bit of bitterness and no sugar. My go to drink these days is Bombay Sapphire and Pelegrino, with a twist of lime.
posted by InfidelZombie at 11:31 AM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

I know everybody was joking - but my mouth did water a bit when I got to carbonated peanut butter. And the more said about (succesfully) carbonating your own alcoholic beverages the better.

Maybe AskMetafilter and "Will It Blend?" could team up with Sodastream to do a promotion:

"Does it Carbonate? Should I Drink it?"
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:32 AM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

thirding (or so) the beer thing. I homebrew, and while I haven't got a keg setup yet, it's super easy to carbonate one bottle on bottling day so as to be able to drink and bottle at the same time. (just take what you removed to do your final SG measurement plus enough to 3/4 fill a 16 floz bottle, carbonate, and refrigerate)
posted by jepler at 11:34 AM on June 19, 2012

Incidentally, does anyone know why they are located in Israel?

It's because Sodastream was bought from Cadbury by an Israeli company. That's all.

(But the factory is not located in Israel, which is the thing.)
posted by Sys Rq at 11:35 AM on June 19, 2012

One of the SodaStream brand diet cola (YES I KNOW SHUT UP) flavors is okay enough with grenadine and/or rum.

What's good though:
-- Torani root beer syrup
-- lime juice + Torani almond syrup + bitters
-- Old Ballycastle Ginger + Torani almond syrup + cinnamon
-- Old Ballycastle Ginger + lemon juice
-- creme de menthe + Rumchata
-- pretty much any fruit juice + miel de agave

Not so good:
-- matcha + Torani pomegrante syrup
posted by Foosnark at 11:43 AM on June 19, 2012

Oh god I just realized if I build a DIY system I can carbonate milk

Sharpen myself up for a bit of the old ultraviolence


Horrorshow, me old droogy.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 11:53 AM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

The single-serving proprietary coffee business is under the misapprehension that I can survive on four-and-a-half ounces of coffee every morning.

Incorrect. The single-serving proprietary coffee business is betting that you can't.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 11:56 AM on June 19, 2012 [3 favorites]

Oh god I just realized if I build a DIY system I can carbonate milk

Doc had been in the hospital kitchen all morning, goosing the nurses and tanking up on coal gas and Klim.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:28 PM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

...the more I'm convinced I'm about to go down a VERY DARK ROAD...

Indeed...it starts with selter but soon you're homebrewing your own hard cider and mustang wine. God help you if you get into the nuances of beer.

Also, just FYI- a lot of brewing/homebrew supply stores sell/exchange CO2 tanks.
posted by Esteemed Offendi at 12:35 PM on June 19, 2012

Can I just potentially save somebody some time and relay the results of some late 1970s experiments I did, which confirmed that you cannot SodaStream milk.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 12:43 PM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yeah this thread is crazy. Some people seem to have this idea the "Soda is poison" and that, therefore, even if you are in complete control over the production and ingredients you can't make it in a way that isn't bad for you. Obviously drinks with a lot of sugar are bad for you. But if you don't have the sugar, what's the problem? If you don't like artificial sweeteners, you can actually leave the drink unsweetened.

Also, the DIY thing: it's not at all clear that doing a "DIY" version (which is just a hose hooked up to a tank, apparently) requires a significant amount of effort. In fact, since you get larger tank, you might actually end up spending less time messing with it then if you got a sodastream.

---

_{One [of the two amino acids in aspartame] your body makes on it's own, and the other you actually have to eat or else you die (which isn't too big of a problem, since the only way you could not get it would be to avoid eating anything biological at all)}

This is why I often enjoy a hearty meal of sodium with a side of chlorine.

Except in this case the Aspartame is the equivalent of sodium chloride, rather then a mixture of non-ionized sodium and chlorine.

Also, are you seriously suggesting that phenylalanine and aspartic acid are somehow harmful? (obviously people with Phenylketonuria have to be careful with their phenylalanine intake. But it is an essential amino acid. You must consume it, or die)

Not commenting on whether aspartame is healthy or not, but my body produces prodigious amounts of hydrochloric acid to break down food in my stomach -- being produced by the body is not in and of itself a logical marker for consumption safety.

Well, first of all aspartame is perfectly safe. Second of all, it's a protein. The stomach acid you just mentioned: It breaks them down. into their individual amino acids. In this case phenylalanine and aspartic acid. Now obviously not all proteins are safe, something like Snake venoms are made from proteins as well (as are all biological compounds). However, if you don't have any cuts or ulcers or whatever, you can actually eat it. That's why it's reasonably safe for people to try to suck venom out of wound.

Now obviously there are some proteins that are not broken up in your stomach. cellulose is an example of one. However, Aspartame is definitely one that is broken down.

---

Also, if you get a device like this (this particular thing seems to be a ripoff), you can use whatever sweetener you want. You can use stevia or "real" sugar, honey, fruit juice, whatever. Of course it seems like some people think everything sweet will kill you. In which case you can actually leave it unsweetened.
posted by delmoi at 12:44 PM on June 19, 2012 [4 favorites]

Part of the appeal of the SodaStream system is that it not only reduces plastic and aluminum waste but the flavors they provide have no HFCS and about half the sugar of commercially available pop. They don't tasteas good but the cola with a little Grenadine is pretty good.

As for pop as poison, I'm sure you don't sully your lips with vile demon alcohol, right? Because alcohol does have an LD50.
posted by double block and bleed at 12:53 PM on June 19, 2012

Well, first of all aspartame is perfectly safe.

That might be generally true, and it's certainly not the "OMG formaldehyde!!!" bogeyman; see beer and apple juice.

But whatever the science is on allergic reactions to aspartame, my wife does indeed get headaches from it.
posted by Foosnark at 1:02 PM on June 19, 2012

those canisters look pretty damn heavy.
You would be amazed how many cylinders of gas and/or kegs one can fit in a bike trailer.
posted by asterisk at 1:06 PM on June 19, 2012

High-gluten gives me heartburn but that doesn't make wheat bread "poison in plastic wrap," which was the claim being discussed.
posted by muddgirl at 1:08 PM on June 19, 2012

Cellulose isn't a protein. Personally, I avoid aspartame for two reasons. First, there was a period of time when products containing it had a tendency to trigger migraine headaches. It may be a false coincidence but it put me off of diet drinks.

Secondly, after two months of almost cold turkey on sweetened beverages, by brain switched to preferring slightly tart over sweet, so I don't have much of a need for artificial sweeteners. (A fringe benefit is that when I do indulge, I radically cut the serving size.)

I'm not one to pick the perfect over the good here. Either a SodaStream or DIY carbonation rig will save you money, put less money in the pockets of the Coka-Cola company (which is mass-scale evil), generally be healthier for you, send less material into the recycling system, and result in less carbon emissions compared to buying similar quantities of pre-packaged beverage.

Anyone care to comment on the copyright issue? I.e. labels of Coke and Sprite in the display? ... "derogatory advertising" laws?

I don't know that copyright really applies here. Trademark dilution and derogatory advertising might. Trademark law kinda demands that such suits be filed in order to keep the trademark "live."
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 1:11 PM on June 19, 2012

Sodastream makes seltzer, not actual soda. You can add flavor packets to actually make cola, but I don't know of a single person who uses them.

Their phoney Diet Coke and phoney Coke Zero products aren't bad. I'm drinking some now!
posted by gjc at 1:11 PM on June 19, 2012

the cola with a little Grenadine is pretty good.

My latest favorite is to add small quantities of vinegar -- balsamic, cider, champagne, pear vinegar, etc. Choose the vinegar carefully and add just a little bit (fraction of a teaspoon per tall glass) and it can really improve the overall flavor.

...and not just by adding acidity.
posted by aramaic at 1:13 PM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

(although, let me be clear: adding acidity plays a major role)
posted by aramaic at 1:16 PM on June 19, 2012

re: aspartame. I agree that it is perfectly safe, on paper. But in practice, stuff with aspartame gives me tinnitus.

I think the perfectly safe thing also ignores the methanol molecule that is in there.
posted by gjc at 1:16 PM on June 19, 2012

The licensing thing is, unfortunately, a necessity. CO2 has a tremendously high vapor pressure, and allowing people to refill those little containers themselves would open up the Sodastream people to all sorts of liability. My understanding is that the bottles are only strong enough to contain highly compressed gas, NOT liquid CO2. So if some bonehead puts some dry ice chunks in there and seals it up, it will get nice and cold, turn to liquid and then when it warms up hours later, explode like a grenade.
posted by gjc at 1:36 PM on June 19, 2012

SodaStream touts that they don't use aspartame.
posted by double block and bleed at 1:52 PM on June 19, 2012

The most common "Bizzare" chemical sweetener is aspartame, which is a protein made out of two of the 20 amino acids that basically make up all life on earth.

And do you know what else is a protein made out of the same amino acids? That's right, Botulism Toxin. The amount of Botulism Toxin necessary to cover the period at the end of this sentence could kill the entire nation of Ecuador.

And you wouldn't want to inject that in your face, would you?

Oh wait.
posted by euphorb at 1:54 PM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

The licensing thing is, unfortunately, a necessity.

This seems suspect to me. The only thing the anti-refill valve and atypical threading achieve is to limit the ability of the customer to get their gas elsewhere. Standardized CO2 fittings have worked for decades in industries where the employees are not known for being safety-conscious, so it seems to me that the argument SodaStream must use proprietary fittings for the sake of consumer safety is a bit unlikely.

After all, I can cut off their fittings as easily as I can cut off standard ones. It's not like they're armor-plated or something, and nobody is going to jam dry ice backwards through a standard fitting without removing it first (and if they do, and then reinstall the standard fitting, the safety will blow anyway, just as the safety on the SodaStream valve would blow).

I cannot, of course, say that this line of reasoning is impossible -- I just doesn't seem especially convincing. I dunno.
posted by aramaic at 2:12 PM on June 19, 2012

So if some bonehead puts some dry ice chunks in there and seals it up, it will get nice and cold, turn to liquid and then when it warms up hours later, explode like a grenade.

In my defense, the bangs are quite impressive. And besides, liquid nitrogen is easier to get past their valve.
posted by bonehead at 2:20 PM on June 19, 2012 [3 favorites]

Through a stroke of luck, I managed to inherit one of these, barely used, from my workplace. As I purchase a lot of carbonated-water at the grocery store/delis, I am pretty excited.

Still, the licensing thing does seem strange to me, as I am unfamiliar with that for a physical product. So modifying this device is illegal? Seems like the (US?) laws are the problem...
posted by rosswald at 2:23 PM on June 19, 2012

If it was a serious safety issue, then the paintball industry would be screwed.
posted by ryanrs at 2:24 PM on June 19, 2012

Sodastream uses sucralose in almost all of their syrups, even the non-diet ones. This turned off the very people in my family that the machine was intended for, since my husband and son both can taste sucralose even in minute amounts. I use it now for citrusy seltzers.
posted by Biblio at 2:26 PM on June 19, 2012

I prefer to enrage both companies by using our Sodastream to recarbonate my Coca Cola. I drink this dangerous liquid in sufficiently small quantities that the last third of a two-liter is always flat. But although Sodastream sternly tells you not to, with a little patience flat coke can be easily recarbonated with no overfoamage. Meanwhile my wife has her occasional fizzy pomegranate molasses drinks without worrying that the seltzer will be flat. Someday I'd like to go the DIY route, but life is short, and fun projects, many.
posted by chortly at 2:30 PM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Huh. I had no idea about the licensing issue.

But in this case, at least, I don't care. I get to have fizzy water now whenever I want, instead of feeling sad when I open the fridge and there isn't any left and oh god I have to go to the store? That and not having to carry down bags of bottles to the recycling bin make it worth it.

We don't use their syrups - they taste weird. Squeeze of lime and/or Campari and/or rye and it's all tasty.
posted by rtha at 2:30 PM on June 19, 2012

Except in this case the Aspartame is the equivalent of sodium chloride, rather then a mixture of non-ionized sodium and chlorine.

Know what you mean, but sodium chloride can also be bad for you. The general point that "natural" does not necessarily equal "healthy" still stands...

Second of all, it's a protein. The stomach acid you just mentioned: It breaks them down. into their individual amino acids. In this case phenylalanine and aspartic acid.

It's a dipeptide. The acid would denature a protein, but it's actually an enzyme that breaks the peptide bond.

there are some proteins that are not broken up in your stomach. cellulose is an example of one.

As someone else pointed out, cellulose is a polysaccharide, rather than a protein.

Sorry for all the pedantry! To make up for it, I heard on a lab safety course that aspartame was first invented by a large pharma company - but they missed its potential because no-one tasted it. The guys that monetised it were sloppier, and one of them licked his finger after synthesising it.

Not totally sure what the lesson was there for us but hey.
posted by Isn't in each artist (7) at 2:35 PM on June 19, 2012 [3 favorites]

All the "why would you buy a sodastream when you could build a DIY system?" stuff reminds me EXACTLY of the "why would you buy a Tivo when you could build a DIY system?" Sometimes, I don't want to build it myself; I don't want to have to guess and test and have things go wrong and hope my tolerances are close and figure out a place to put it and a box to keep it in. I want to go to the store, buy something that someone else has already designed and tested, and come home and put it in an Appliance Spot.

I love my sodastream. I've never used their syrup flavors, anyone who wants mine and is in Seattle can have them. I make my own shrubs from fresh fruit and flavor the water with those, or just have the seltzer plain or with bitters.
posted by KathrynT at 2:49 PM on June 19, 2012 [7 favorites]

For those that want to swim in soda water, you can do so in natural spring water in Pamukkale in Turkey.
posted by ShooBoo at 2:55 PM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

...and if we want to swim in carbonated peanut butter?
posted by Isn't in each artist (7) at 2:57 PM on June 19, 2012 [4 favorites]

IN the 1950s, my grandfather was a chemist created Fizzies for Emerson Drug, based on someone else's idea.
posted by parmanparman at 3:18 PM on June 19, 2012

Carbonated water erodes dental enamel due to lower pH. Mind you, so does orange juice.
posted by anigbrowl at 3:54 PM on June 19, 2012

I heard on a lab safety course that aspartame was first invented by a large pharma company - but they missed its potential because no-one tasted it. The guys that monetised it were sloppier, and one of them licked his finger after synthesising it.

It was my former employer G.D. Searle, now a division of Pfizer (after being a division of Monsanto), and pretty much famous for two things -- aspartame and onetime CEO Donald Rumsfeld. The sweetness was noticed right away, and they actually monetized it fairly rapidly considering the lead times in the industry. The only competition it had besides sugar, at the time, was the widely-regarded-as-imperfect saccharine.
posted by dhartung at 3:56 PM on June 19, 2012

All the "why would you buy a sodastream when you could build a DIY system?" stuff reminds me EXACTLY of the "why would you buy a Tivo when you could build a DIY system?" ... I don't want to have to guess and test and have things go wrong and hope my tolerances are close and figure out a place to put it and a box to keep it in.

To my mind DIY soda is massively simpler than building one's own Tivo-equivalent. The only reason it seems at all intimidating is because it involves buying stuff from retailers that most people aren't used to frequenting (homebrew shops and/or welding supply companies). If you could get the same stuff at your supermarket in friendly packaging, you wouldn't think twice about it.

The steps are:

1. Buy $50 worth of stuff from one or possibly two different retailers
2. Make two simple screw connections (regulator to tank, hose to regulator)
3. Adjust regulator pressure with a screwdriver (this may sound complicated, but it's really easy)
3. Fill a 2-liter bottle most of the way with water
4. Open a valve for 30 seconds, optionally shake the bottle a bit, close the valve

Now, there's nothing wrong with not wanting to do that stuff. I'm not trying to convince you to, in fact -- use your SodaStream! I got no beef.

But there's an idea that SodaStream is providing a massive simplification of what would be a difficult process if done "DIY", and that idea is really just a triumph of branding -- this particular "DIY system" is, to my mind, not noticeably more difficult to set up or use than the SodaStream itself.
posted by gurple at 4:07 PM on June 19, 2012 [4 favorites]

Heh. 1. 2. 3. 3. 4. Oops.
posted by gurple at 4:09 PM on June 19, 2012

For anyone who's ever built their own PC, building a tivo-equivalent is also massively simple. There's a lot of thought and stuff outside the actual building that you're not considering. You are familiar with all the equipment, so of course it's not much more difficult to set up or use. But I can use the sodastream without having to get familiar first. Much lower barrier to entry.
posted by KathrynT at 4:11 PM on June 19, 2012

Yeah, you're absolutely right. It is the same type of barrier to entry that I would have if I tried to build my own Tivo, without hardware experience. It's a matter of confidence.

To my mind, the barrier in this case is literally just walking into a homebrew shop and saying "I want to carbonate water". The (usually very friendly) person behind the counter will walk you through everything remotely complicated and make it simple.

But just walking into an unfamiliar type of store and having that conversation is intimidating. I get that. What I'm trying to get across is that that's literally the hardest part of it -- overcoming the social awkwardness of being in a new type of place.

That's the only thing SodaStream has really overcome. I don't begrudge them their success at that.
posted by gurple at 4:16 PM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Sys Rq wrote: Sodastream is manufactured by an Israeli company in an illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank.

I don't want anyone to be denied the joy of fresh soda water, so I checked into this allegation.

The Sodastream factory is in Mishor Adumim, an industrial park located in Maaleh Adumim. Ma'aleh Adumim was established in 1975. The Israeli NGO Peace Now (which is no friend of Israel's presence in the West Bank) says that half a percent of Maaleh Adumim was private Palestinian land. I have no idea whether Mishor Adumim was built on that .5%, but the odds are against it.

I support justice; I support property rights; and although I think the 1947 ceasefire lines are pretty arbitrary I certainly think that you have to have a line somewhere. None the less, the hypothetical breach of rights occasioned by the presence of the Sodastream factory is pretty small; and the 190 Palestinians who work there (according to Sodastream) are presumably OK with it. In the absence of a specific grievance I think this is way, way down the list of politically correct things to consider when shopping; certainly way after things like (e.g.) buying an iPhone.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:17 PM on June 19, 2012 [3 favorites]

half a percent of Maaleh Adumim was private Palestinian land.

And zero percent of it was Israeli land by covenant or law. So there's that. Don't support companies that operate in settlements is a good rule of thumb if you truly support justice and property rights. Yes, there are some grey areas but expropriated land captured by war is generally thought by most in favor or justice and property rights to be something that should be be supported.
posted by cell divide at 4:22 PM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

I no longer allow soda in the house.

A carbonated beverage contains four times the volume of gas after expansion. Aside from the sugar, how is this not bad for you? Wouldn't that amount of gas expand in your insides, making your stomach pouch grow in size, always feeling empty? 44oz soda roughly equals 176 US fluid ounces of gas = 1.38 US gallons = 5.20 liters ...

"In the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, the stomach pouch is created at one ounce or less in size (15-30cc). In the first few months it is rather stiff due to natural surgical inflammation. About 6-12 months after surgery, the stomach pouch can expand and will become more expandable as swelling subsides. Many patients end up with a meal capacity of 3-7 ounces." - imagine how big a normal stomach is and how much it can expand.

So when your Dr says "no soda" she means just that.
posted by Monkey0nCrack at 4:52 PM on June 19, 2012

Long, long ago, there was a Metafilter thread in which people who deign to own and/or use clothes driers faced off with people who understand that air drying is the only possible way to deal with wet clothes.

That thread has met its match.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 4:53 PM on June 19, 2012 [12 favorites]

Precisely why I don't allow any gases in my house.

Mom?

MOM???
posted by ftm at 4:56 PM on June 19, 2012 [3 favorites]

Sodastream on whoprofits.org regarding its Israeli occupied territories headquarters.
posted by small_ruminant at 4:59 PM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

I didn't link to whoprofits's actual report on Sodastream because it's a pdf and I hate them, but the link to it is on that page.
posted by small_ruminant at 5:01 PM on June 19, 2012

and the 190 Palestinians who work there (according to Sodastream) are presumably OK with it.

Doesn't actually sound like this is the case, if the report is to be believed. They have none of the workers' rights granted to Israelis, and apparently have been making far under the minimum wage. When they complain, they're fired and their backwages never paid them.
posted by small_ruminant at 5:06 PM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

So when your Dr says "no soda" she means just that.

She does not, however, mean "no carbonated water," which is perfectly healthy to drink.
posted by brain_drain at 5:10 PM on June 19, 2012

Has SodaStream been around for a while? This is the first I've heard of it. Looks nifty, but I'm not a fan of locked down, proprietary appliances (*glares at iPhone*).

I, too, love the bubbly bubbly, but not everything should be carbonated. In Japan a few years back some company introduced carbonated coffee. It took me a while to get used to canned coffee, but the black coffee isn't bad, or at least, I acclimated to it. But carbonated coffee?

I bought one. And tried it. One swallow, that's all it took. It was awful. I love coffee and I love fizzy drinks, but the two do not match at all. Right outside the convenience store I sighed a deep sigh of resignation and pitched the rest in the garbage.
posted by zardoz at 5:18 PM on June 19, 2012

Wow, this is not absolutely classic metafilter and not at all what I expected clicking on a link about Sodastream (apropos because we got one as a gift just last week).

Joe and small_ruminant, thank you both for more information about SodaStream. Kinda feeling conflicted about it now.
posted by smoke at 5:21 PM on June 19, 2012

Aside from the sugar, how is this not bad for you? Wouldn't that amount of gas expand in your insides, making your stomach pouch grow in size, always feeling empty?

That is why the spaghetti monster blessed us with burps and belches. Unfortunately, I've never been able to master the Star Spangled Banner.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 5:37 PM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Is this something I would have to have a local welding supply place to understand?
posted by MrBadExample at 6:16 PM on June 19, 2012 [4 favorites]

So when your Dr says "no soda"

Fuck that guy, he says I shouldn't have gin on my cereal in the morning too.
posted by markr at 6:19 PM on June 19, 2012 [9 favorites]

I predict that the next fad to get buzzed will be cough syrup run through a Sodastream. It will be called "robofizzin'".
posted by sourwookie at 6:54 PM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

We tossed all the syrup that came with ours except the ginger ale. A little spoonful of that in your seltzer with a twist of lime in a pint glass is refreshing. ALSO WORKS WITH PIMM'S.
posted by stargell at 7:24 PM on June 19, 2012

Wow, this is not absolutely classic metafilter

Just noticed this. Obviously, I mean it is absolutely classic, not that it's not.
posted by smoke at 7:46 PM on June 19, 2012

Yeah, I was completely and utterly bummed out when I found out that my beloved fizzy maker was made in the same settlements that I have fought against most of my adult life. Bummer to hear that Sarandon is hawking there shite.
posted by pdxjmorris at 8:00 PM on June 19, 2012

1) I think it's already been answered, but I take it that there's no "standardized" version of SodaStream?

The cartridge-charged siphons that have been around since the 1800s don't count? The only real difference is that the gas canisters get recycled instead of being shipped back to be refilled. The price per liter of carbonated water is roughly the same (if you buy brand-name CO2 cartridges from a local kitchen specialty store, it's about 30% more than the sodastream, at least judging by the price sticker on the half-empty box in my cupboard; if you buy them online, it's cheaper than the sodastream refills by a bit). Obviously if you drink a whole lot of soda a DIY rig would be cheaper and less wasteful than either, of course.
posted by hattifattener at 8:17 PM on June 19, 2012

KokuRyu: "This is holier-than-thou nonsense. Your self-denial of small pleasures is not a sign of virtue, nor is it virtuous to insist others follow suit. Making a conscious effort to reduce waste while indulging in the occasional spritzer is not ridiculous.

Soda pop is poison in a can."

And that's why I drink my Mountain Dew Voltage by the 2 litre.

(And I avoid cancer by only buying cigarettes in packs that threaten me with low birth weight, as I am an outie and not an innie.)
posted by Samizdata at 8:18 PM on June 19, 2012 [5 favorites]

Celsius1414: "I don't get why people are so paranoid about this molecule. One half your body makes on it's own, and the other you actually have to eat or else you die (which isn't too big of a problem, since the only way you could not get it would be to avoid eating anything biological at all)

Not commenting on whether aspartame is healthy or not, but my body produces prodigious amounts of hydrochloric acid to break down food in my stomach -- being produced by the body is not in and of itself a logical marker for consumption safety."

This is something that bothers me about modern food labelling - "ALL NATURAL INGREDIENTS!"

Last time I checked, crude oil is an all natural ingredient, and I doubt it should be added to the diet. Of course, so can be cyanide.
posted by Samizdata at 8:21 PM on June 19, 2012

That is why the spaghetti monster blessed us with burps and belches. Unfortunately, I've never been able to master the Star Spangled Banner.

You gotta start slow.
posted by MrBadExample at 9:37 PM on June 19, 2012

Last time I checked, crude oil is an all natural ingredient, and I doubt it should be added to the diet. Of course, so can be cyanide.

If you want natural almond flavouring in your product, the process will leave you with very tiny amounts of hydrogen cyanide in your food, thanks to the breakdown of amygdalin. No such problem with synthesising benzaldehyde directly, but then you have to write 'artificial flavouring' on the packet.

But yeah, uranium's natural too. So are explosive squid spermaphores!
posted by Isn't in each artist (7) at 10:27 PM on June 19, 2012

My old yoga teacher quit the teaching yoga business and took up making soup. He sent out this email saying that his soup 'contained no chemicals' and i was all 'but why would you call a hard vacuum "soup"? (Rather than say, "ultra-low calorie space food"?)'
posted by Isn't in each artist (7) at 10:35 PM on June 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

I use unbleached waxed paper bags held closed with paper tape. No plastic. One bag holds two sandwiches. And I use a SIGG bottle for my lunchtime beverage (water, nothing exciting).

I don't pack a lunch for work. I scuttle around the fire escape stairs eating dead rats and a daring beverage I concoct of rainwater and the crispy dead insects I painstakingly harvest from the light fixture globes. AND IT TASTES GREAT PEOPLE! It can be a tad wing-y at times, but I just add a bit of spiderweb and BAM! RIGHT BACK TO DELICIOUSVILLE.
posted by moneyjane at 3:59 AM on June 20, 2012 [6 favorites]

To bathe AND shower in carbonated water, hit Crystal Geyser in Utah. Alternatively, if that's too tense for you, find one of the mineral springs that's high in lithium content. The heat and the calmative affect of the lithium make for the most relaxing soak you'll ever have.
posted by Purposeful Grimace at 4:59 AM on June 20, 2012

You know that you have to start that thread 6 months from now.
posted by euphorb at 6:34 PM on June 20, 2012

As a Jew, I love seltzer. I was really disheartened to learn that even lowly seltzer water can harm your teeth enamel.
posted by Deathalicious at 7:08 AM on June 21, 2012

Very cool company, thanks for posting!
posted by jeffburdges at 1:16 PM on June 21, 2012

A clown crawls through the desert, alone, needing seltzer.

"Seltzer . . . seltzer!"
posted by mrgrimm at 4:04 PM on June 21, 2012

A fish sculpture constructed from discarded plastic bottles rises out of the sand at Botafogo beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ...
posted by mrgrimm at 4:16 PM on June 21, 2012