Questions using soda stream? ( Want to carbonate my own flavors)

[lestblight]

Was thinking about purchasing one of these but did not want to be limited to the flavor syrups they provide.

I wanted to make some homemade lemonades or chilled teas with a little carbonation.

It says you can only carbonate the water and then add the syrup.

What happens if you carbonate a chilled tea or homemade lemonade?

Anyone know of a method where i can add carbonation to any concoction i come up with?

I saw some youtube videos using champagne yeast and a few other ingredients.. but takes a while to cabronate..

is there a faster method?

thanks!

[pdxgastro]

When I came across this syrup recipe recently, I thought it would make an interesting soda: http://www.littlehouseliving.com/make...

[rodrickjae]

I came up with somthing pretty cool. I squeezed juice from about 5 oranges into a mug. Then, i added a small amount of stevia (natural sweetener...very potent.. you only need a little). Mixed it really well and added to a liter i carbonated via the Fizz sodastream model. Turned out really well for a natural orange flavored soda. I also bout a few alternatives that are compatible. Ralph's Soda Mix has an old fashioned cream soda flavor that is absolutely wonderful. No after taste and a real authentic cream soda taste. My dad is experimenting with carbonating his tea... we will see how that goes lol!

[SWISSAIRE]

Passion Fruit concentrate and cane sugar.

Goiaba, Guava, and Pineapple, again with cane sugar.

Mix into a syrup to your taste, and slowly add it to 1 L of carbonated water.

I also purchase Nestle Maracuja (powdered Passion Fruit) when visiting Brasil, and use this as well. I do have to add it slowly as it effervesces quickly, and can bubble-up out of the bottle.

[LabLady]

"Anyone know of a method where i can add carbonation to any concoction i come up with?"

ici twist and sparkle. It is meant for smaller throughput (not a smaller volume each time, but like, you wouldn't want to be going through 5L a day, which you fairly easily could do with sodastream), but you can directly carbonate things like juice/tea/

eep . . . I just went to look up a link to make sure I had the name right, and apparently this product has been recalled. c'est la vie?

[rexster314]

Go look here. http://pittsburghsodapop.com/carbonat...
I haven't tried their syrups but there's some good information there.

[Leepa]

I've used a soda syphon for years to make my own carbonated beverages. It's easy and I don't see any reason you couldn't do it with flavored drinks. The standard syphon and CO2 cartridge might provide more carbonation that you're looking for though. If it did, you could make a concentrated version, carbonate that, and then dilute it when you serve it.

[Chemicalkinetics]

Can I carbonate milk? :) (probably not).

[Chris VR]

http://www.sodastreamusa.com/faq.aspx#c3

3. Can I carbonate drinks other than water?

No. Only water should be carbonated in the SodaStream home soda maker. You risk damaging your soda maker, not to mention making a big fizzy mess! The money-back guarantee and the warranty are both invalidated if you carbonate any liquid other than water in your soda maker. Stick with plain cold water and adding any one of our fantastic flavors - AFTER the water has been carbonated!

That being said, I can't imagine cucumber water would be any problem as long as it was strained of all solids. I wouldn't try milk.

[Chemicalkinetics]

Nooooo. I want carbonated milk :)

[Chris VR]

Hey, I wouldn't try it, but I hope you do and report back! I'd recommend doing it outdoors though :)

[Chemicalkinetics]

:) I don't even have a soda stream. But if I ever get one, milk will be on top of my list. :D

[ferret]

We're apparently not a carbonated-milk culture:

http://www.slashfood.com/2009/07/28/v...

[Chemicalkinetics]

I want to try them. :) I bet they taste great.

[ferret]

Where were you when Coke was test-marketing them?

[Chemicalkinetics]

Not in New York for sure. You said 2009, right? I was in New Jersey .

[collinsgavornik]

I know this is an old stream, but I just got a soda stream and like everyone else, I want to experiment. I accept that carbonating things other than water can cause explosions, but the person that carbonated tea [unsweetened] just said it tasted bad, not that the thing overpressurized. Has anyone tried carbonating cucumber water? [water in which cucumber slices have been soaking, cucumbers removed] It seems like it could be awesome, but I'm afraid to destroy my kitchen to find out.

[JEN10]

For lemonade, I just pour some strong stuff into a glass and top it off with the carbonated water for the perfect glass. Mom likes cranberry juice this way, I also do this with tea.

[splatgirl]

My partner tried to carbonate lemonade. Big mess, but better than the red stuff that's been described.

There is a video on Youtube of a guy who built a homemade carbonator ala SodaStream using some basic parts and one of those CO2 canisters you can buy for beer brewing. He makes a cap using a valve implanted in a regular plastic bottle cap. It seemed doable for anyone handy and he gave good directions, but I was adverse to the idea of having to have that big CO2 canister someplace being a lot less convenient than the countertop thing.

[smkit]

I don't limit myself to syrups. After carbonating the water, I often add a splash of cranberry juice. It gives it just enough flavor and some color. I wouldn't do pulpy stuff, but clean juices are my flavor of choice. I don't know if it affects the carbonation, but I usually drink it quickly anyhow.

[thew]

you can make your own syrups easily enough. i make ginger syrup to add to water frequently.

for ice tea you could make some super strong tea - using 4 or 5 times the tea to water ratio you would usually use, and then add that to the carbonated water.

[Nyleve]

I've never tried it myself but my son, once in a fit of experimentation, took some bad red wine and tried to carbonate it to see what would happen. I only found out about this afterward, as the experiment took place in the dead of night. What gave away the deal, however, was the weird stains all over the SodaStream unit, the counter and the wall behind it. Looked a bit like a murder scene. Not sure what the science is that causes the carbonation to go ballistic, but let's just say I haven't bothered trying it with anything else. Add some flavour to the carbonated bottle and it's a done deal.

[sbs401]

Umm yeah ...i did the exact same thing, the result was not tasty and the cleanup continues months later

[Nyleve]

Years, actually. I'm still finding splotches.

[ferret]

What happens when you carbonate a chilled tea is that it tastes like a$$. Not a good idea. You can certainly carbonate any liquid directly, but there is a possibility of backwash into the unit in which case you'd have to remove the air canister and rinse it well. As for homemade lemonade, if it's sweetened you're better off adding overly-carbonated water to the lemon/sugar. Any syrupy backwash is just asking for trouble.

You're in no way limited to their flavored syrups. You can use anything out there. There are countless syrups on the market (Poles and Germans like adding fruit syrup to carbonated water and you can find cherry, raspberry and other flavors in specialty stores. You can also find real ginger syrups for ginger ale. or come up with your own combination. The traditional method with the Sodastream is to add a "capful" of syrup to already carbonated water (just like with fountain drinks), so you're not compromising anything by "rolling your own."

You can also find commercial soda syrups (Coke, Diet Coke, etc.) online but they aren't especially economical in small quantities.

[lestblight]

I wonder why carbonating a sweetened tea would taste awful. Any thoughts ? I have some great Coca Leaf tea that i picked up in bolivian and would like to sweeten and carbonate for the hot summer days.

If backwash in the unit is an issue.. maybe a better option would be a co2? tank and some equipment? That might be cheaper too..

[ferret]

Backwash isn't a regular issue, but sometimes if you don't seat the bottle fully or overfill the bottle it can back up. We're huge tea drinkers, especially iced tea (even in winter) so I thought it would be a natural, but it just didn't taste right. It seems to enhance the bitter notes so you need to overcompensate with sweetener and we don't usually sweeten at all. If you're a fan of sweet then maybe you won't find it objectionable.

As for most other beverage combinations, adding syrup to the carbonated water shouldn't be a problem. As far as I can tell, any unit that will carbonate small quantities of liquids have the same potential issue for fouling, including the soda syphons - comes with the territory. So you'll need to rinse well after use if you're dealing with anything other than water. But you can hyper-saturate the soda with CO2 if you're adding a larger volume of un-carbonated liquid and end up with a satisfactory result.

[invinotheresverde]

My husband carbonated Hawaiian Punch with our Soda Stream. Our formerly green kitchen is now red. Caution.

[lestblight]

what exactly happened? sounds like he didnt give thje bottle enough room for the gas?

did at least taste ok?