[Nouser76]

Honestly, I made my own using this[0] setup and I've never been happier. I had Sodastream before and the cost of refills and inconvenience of restocking them meant that I didn't actually use it that much. I bought some fruit extracts on Amazon, put a few mL in a 2L of water, and have delicious seltzer water without vendor lock-in. Now we need to refill our 10lb tank every few months, unless there's some leak/gasket problem (which has happened once or twice when the cats play near it).

You can make it more automated if you'd like with some sort of automatic agitation to dissolve the CO2, but it hasn't been too big of a bother for me to manually shake it yet.

[0] https://www.seriouseats.com/pros-cons-diy-carbonation-rig

[jweather]

We got a Sodastream for Christmas along with a SodaMod kit which comes with three food-grade tanks with paintball fill valves. That way you can fill them at a sporting goods store for $5 instead of exchanging them for $15. Related to the article, there's something very strange about the Sodastream Diet Cola that I haven't quite put my finger on. I prefer to add some lime juice to mask the flavor.

[kevstev]

How do you get the carbonation levels to an equivalent level of commercial equivalents? I have this same setup (used mostly for beer)- but when I tried to carbonate water, it was always a bit on the flat side.

[Nouser76]

Honestly, I have the opposite experience. I pressurize around 50-55PSI and do at least 2 carbonation cycles, venting in-between. Using cold water is also key, so I keep a 2L full of flat water for later carbonation - we swap between 2-3 bottles. I've recarbonated flat Dr. Pepper and it truly tasted like a fresh cracked can, carbonation and all.

We've also tried carbonating blueberries, which was really interesting. It didn't work great, but we noticed the fizziness and it'll probably be something I try again soon - perhaps using a chamber with a bigger opening than a 2L's.

[thatcat]

Your temp is too high, pressure is too low, or you didnt wait long enough.