- Free yourself from the international beverage cartel
Coke, Pepsi and the rest of the international beverage cartel may be feeling pretty good about themselves right now, after pouring $17 million into I-1107’s successful campaign to repeal a temporary two cent per can tax on soda pop. But you don’t need to swallow their sweet, fizzy product as easily as voters swallowed their lies.
Last year I invested about $240 in the contraption above, finally freeing myself from the international beverage cartel, and while that may seem like a pricey extravagance, given my two to three liter a day habit, it paid for itself in months. About a thousand liters of sparkling water later, and a little more than a year to the date, I finally had to swap my 20 pound CO2 tank at my local welding supply store, at the cost of $18 including tax.
Excuse me while I enjoy a cold, fizzy drink of genuine two-cents-plain:
Ahhhhhhh! (burp) Refreshing.
And I’m not just saving money, I’m helping to save the environment, what with less fossil fuel being burned to lug carbonated tap water to the store and back to my house, and hundreds a year of fewer plastic bottles needed to support my habit. And while my daughter and I mostly drink plain seltzer, we’ve also had loads of fun experimenting with carbonated juices, and a variety of homemade and commercial syrups. (Hint: even a run of the mill dry white wine makes a better “champagne” than many of the cheaper brands.)
So if you too are into fizzy beverages, but you’re not into lining the pockets of the multinational corporations who just fucked with our tax code, I suggest you do what I did, and fuck ’em back. It’ll be delicious, in more ways the one.
Well, they injected $17 million in spending into the economy, so we may as well reinstate the tax in the next legislative session. We can also tax other industries that have deep pockets like fast food and privately-owned utilities.
And we should quadruple Linda Derschang’s taxes.
We’re still waiting for your condemnation of Big Beer’s influence on defeating I-1100.
And if you don’t want that big ugly thing in your kitchen: http://www.sodastreamusa.com/
DIY possibly only 100 dollars: http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Soda…
I’ve been thinking about doing this for a long time. I’d settle for just a seltzer bottle that cost less than $100 and used the little CO2 cartridges, but the only ones I could find online (last time I looked, a couple of years ago) were all over $200. There’s no reason whatsoever for them (or your setup either, Goldy) to be anywhere near that expensive. It’s not high-tech or expensive materials at all. There’s really no reason why a seltzer bottle should cost more than $25. But it does save money even so.
I’d have to be able to make tonic water at home though (G&T’s are must-have), in addition to seltzer, or at least re-fizzify the remnant half of store-bought liter bottles gone flat.
(Just as an aside, OSHA holds no sway at home, but you’d still be smart to strap that CO2 tank to a secure vertical support–if it falls over and cracks off the valve assembly, you’ve either got a whirligig spewing cryogenic liquid or a rocket that can punch through a concrete-block wall.)
Sorry Goldy, but the State just can’t continue to tax products with no rhyme or reason. If there was simply a cabonated beverage tax, fine – I’d gladly pay it. But bottled water taxed, and various junk snacks and candy taxed or not taxed. That’s sloppy government. Consumers deserve better.
two to three liters a day??! good heavens, goldy, that can’t possibly be good for you. but what i really want to know is where do you find the time?
i think the same thing when i hear about pack (or more) a day smokers – seriously, there just aren’t enough hours in the day. are there?
i guess the difference is that, unlike smoking where you have to stop and go outside, you can pretty much drink pop all day long, whatever you’re doing. but it just seems like you’d be slugging it non-stop.
@7, “my daughter and I mostly drink plain seltzer”.
@3: I was just about to point out you can buy a remarkably similar thing at Macy’s. Part of me hates myself for even knowing this, but since I work there, I give myself a pass.
You can trust CO2 from a welding shop to be potable (or whatever the word is for fizz ingestion)?
Seconding @5 – get that cylinder securely strapped to the wall! You got pressurized gas in that container – it it tips over with the regulator on, the impact can blow the valve and now you’ve got an uncontrolled rocket on your hands. You don’t need anything fancy, strong chain from the hardware store securely bolted into studs in the wall should do.
@6
And the hypocrisy in what you say is that when the state raised the beer tax, they raised it on national beers (bud, coors, miller, etc), but not for local microbrews. Just the same amount of sloppy government that you bitch about, but I dont remember anyone complaining about that.
Wahhh, so they didnt tax everything in sight. Big fucking deal.
We have a soda stream. Not only do we have unlimited amounts of sparkling water, but the cola flavoring you can buy are made without corn syrup. And no plastic bottles to recycle. It is dreamy!
@ #10. Yes, that’s what us homebrewers use all the time and the welding supply stores are mainly *gas* and welding supply. They provide the CO2 to bars and restaurants as well. They also provide oxygen to hospitals. So, it’s as safe as any other beverage grade CO2 you get.
Tax advertising! Especially insurance and pharma ads!
Another thing you have to worry about with compressed gas cylinders besides the risk of explosions or giant rockets; if the main valve breaks off and the cylinder is large enough, the escaping gas can displace all the oxygen in the room. They make supports for compressed gas cylinders that clamp onto any counter top. You should get one.
Water, Goldy. Cool, clear tap water.
I just mix Cranberry Juice with Pelligrino water.
Sodastream machines are fine, but Goldy’s method is definitely cheaper for big fizz-drinkers.
And yeah, agree with @16: Strap that fucking cylinder to the wall, or something else solid! I used to work with compressed gas, and it’s well-known what can happen to cylinders that fall over. Deadly uncontrolled rockets. No shit.
@19,
Yes, the Sodastream machines work fine, but the proprietary gas cartridges make them inconvenient, and fairly expensive.
As for the expense of my setup, you can do it considerably cheaper with a smaller tank, but considering the volume I use, it is more convenient (and in the long run, cheaper) to go with the 20 pound tank.
@15 Hell yes
Mythbusters video of gas cylinder rocket. (Spoiler: it works.)
And this.
Okay, okay… my tank isn’t exactly strapped, but it’s usually wedged securely in a corner. The picture is not representative of its normal state.
What a great “solution” for someone who thinks sodas are a “gas!” Congratulations on your inventiveness! Sorry about the flatulent pun.
Does anyone have a solution to Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin, Lawrence Summers, Timothy Geithner, asshole Republicans, self-styled “tea party” dipshits, unregulated derivative trading, chicken-shit banks, lobbyists, neo-Nazis, right wing death squads (whether over there or here at home), jerk-off losers who go to political rallies with loaded guns and about 10,001 other sickening features of 2010 America?
I’d go for that setup just because most sodas are too damn sweet for me. At the dining hall, I tend to water down soda or juice with seltzer by about a factor of 3.
Seltzer rocks.
If you’re a fan of real ginger ale or root beer, it’s really REALLY easy to make your own (and as a bonus it’s tons better than anything in the stores…spicy gingery rather than overly sweet).
Basically, you need ginger root, sugar, lemon juice (if you like your ginger ale that way), water, yeast and a plastic (not glass) bottle (soda bottles work great and of course it’s instant recycling).
You basically ferment some of the sugar. This results in carbon dioxide (and a little alcohol, nowhere near enough to get you drunk). This is, incidentally, the method used to put the bubbly in champagne.
Once you’ve produced enough CO2, just refrigerate and the yeast will go dormant (if you don’t refrigerate you may end up with a ginger ale bomb exploding all over the kitchen like I did one memorable Christmas).
If you want root beer, substitute root beer extract (available online or from brewing shops) for ginger. The site below suggests substituting vanilla for ginger if you want cream soda; I haven’t tried that yet.
Full details here.
If you’re a fan of real ginger ale or root beer, it’s really REALLY easy to make your own (and as a bonus it’s tons better than anything in the stores…spicy gingery rather than overly sweet).
Basically, you need ginger root, sugar, lemon juice (if you like your ginger ale that way), water, yeast and a plastic (not glass) bottle (soda bottles work great and of course it’s instant recycling).
You basically ferment some of the sugar. This results in carbon dioxide (and a little alcohol, nowhere near enough to get you drunk). This is, incidentally, the method used to put the bubbly in champagne.
Once you’ve produced enough CO2, just refrigerate and the yeast will go dormant (if you don’t refrigerate you may end up with a ginger ale bomb exploding all over the kitchen like I did one memorable Christmas).
If you want root beer, substitute root beer extract (available online or from brewing shops) for ginger. The site below suggests substituting vanilla for ginger if you want cream soda; I haven’t tried that yet.
Full details here.
As someone who works with compressed gases, I have to echo the safety concerns. If you go to mcmaster.com, you can get a bench mount or wall mount gas cylinder holder for $30 or less, depending on your needs. A modest investment to forestall a huge hole being blown through your kitchen wall.
Also – is it possible your regulator is on backwards? Typical units are in psi (which it looks like you have on the right). With the inside gauge going up to only 60 psi, that’s 4 atmospheres, which is pretty low for a full canister. Not trying to be a dick – I just want you to continue enjoying your seltzer. If the units on the left are in psi, you should really switch it so that the big numbers are next to the cylinder.
I suppose there’s the advantage of not having high fructose corn syrup in your soda, but I usually go for the non-bubbly drinks.
So how long before experimenting involves carbonating the lube?
Now that the election is over, when is this guy gonna go away?
carbonation sucks the calcium out of your bones.
you’re killing your little girl.
asshole.
Are you sure it doesn’t taste creepy, like HoJo soda?
SodaStream user here, and I love it. Been using it for two years, filtered tap water only, and I’ve finally stopped tossing 2-3 1-liter plastic bottles into the landfill every day! The cartridges aren’t cheap, but at $.89/bottle for fizzy water at the grocery store it’s still cheaper.
Really? $240 to be free of Coke? How about
http://creamright.com/category/soda-siph…
Get the seltzer maker for under $50 then buy the rechargers. The rechargers are undoubtedly more expensive long term than the huge canister but still far cheaper than buying from Coke and it doesn’t take up your whole kitchen or require an engineering degree to use.
That site is also good for buying mass quantities of whip-its…I mean, whipped cream rechargers, if you’re into that kind of thing.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Root! I was hoping that crowd-sourcing would work for a decently priced seltzer bottle!
prick @33,
Ah… I’m feeling right at home now. Somebody doesn’t like my politics, so they accuse me of being a bad father.
As to your assertion about carbonation and bone loss, that’s total bullshit. Plain seltzer is a dilute carbonic acid solution that has zero deleterious health effects. There have been some studies suggesting that the caffeine and phosphoric acid in many sodas can cause calcium loss, but the greater concern is that children are substituting these beverages for milk.
Speaking of which, my daughter generally drinks three beverages in my house: milk, seltzer and water. I don’t even usually have juice around.
That’s all well and good, but why drink seltzer when there’s beer in the world?
Root @36,
Absolutely, there are cheaper setups than mine. But considering the two to three liters we drink a day, mine turns out to be much cheaper due to the mere $18/year cost of the CO2.
Also, I like my seltzer really fizzy, so I carbonate to over 40 lbs of pressure… more than you can do with some of the other setups.
The carbonation in all soft drinks causes calcium loss in the bones through a three-stage process:
The carbonation irritates the stomach.
The stomach “cures” the irritation the only way it knows how. It adds the only antacid at its disposal: calcium. It gets this from the blood.
The blood, now low on calcium, replenishes its supply from the bones. If it did not do this, muscular and brain function would be severely impaired.
Colas, but not other carbonated beverages, are associated with low bone mineral density in older women: The Framingham Osteoporosis Study
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract…
@ Goldy – Retorts are all well and good, but could you PLEASE check your regulator? It’s driving me nuts. Unless the units on the left gauge are in mmHg, you’re
1. In danger of over-pressurizing, and wasting CO2.
2. Screwing up your regulator, which is by far the most expensive component of your setup.
Schmooze @43,
It looks weird, but the regulator is fine. The one on the left measure’s tank pressure, and the one on the right the hose to the bottle. Both are psi. Just like the picture on the website where I bought it: http://stores.kegconnection.com/Detail.b…
Fifty-two-eighty for the win. Jesus, Goldy, why don’t you get yourself a keg and a tap handle if you’ve already put down for the gas equipment? Unless you’re a “real ale” knob like Fnarf, forced carbonation is definitely the way to go.
Thanks for answering, Goldy. I see what you’re saying. Maybe it’s just because I’ve only dealt with scientific grade regulators, but I’d never seen one with that configuration before (very odd… but if those are the specs, those are the specs). Glad it’s all kosher! Enjoy your seltzer!
This is awesome! Goldy, where does the $240 come in? The kit you linked only costs $70, or $130 with the canister. Is there something else that the setup needs?