Sodastream CO2 Refill - Dry Ice

[HotSun]

My family drinks a lot of bubbly water, mainly sugar free sodas that we make and experiment with, and occasionally just a flavored sparkling water that I know WayneT and bride like to drink. We probably go through 4 liters per day, which requires a lot of CO2. We can afford the bottle refills if we wanted, but this is America and we have to hack and DIY. It's our thing.

I've refilled cylinders with liquid CO2, but that is not nearly as fun or convenient as dry ice. The method is to get some dry ice pellets, put them in a blender (I have a Ninja), make 'snow', and fill the bottles with the snow.

☠
Warning: Do not try this at home if you don't know what you are doing! I am a professional and have worked with dry ice for decades. This post deals with pressurized vessels, sub zero temps, and CO2, all of which can hurt or kill you.

Okay, you've been warned, now on to the good part. As always, mise en place:



I refill 400 grams, which is interesting because this stuff evaporates so quickly I can see the numbers go down on the scale. I do this in a large room with lots of ventilation, as CO2 can kill. The cloth on the scale is so I don't damage my scale.

I wear gloves to handle everything. Dry ice can be -50F or colder. It will legitimately give you severe frostbite.

CO2 snow in a silicone funnel. The funnel expands as it gets colder, so it doesn't fit tightly on the cylinder:



I do tare weights for each cylinder so I don't overfill. These do have a safety valve on the side, but I'd rather not test that. Note my crescent wrench to put the valve back on the cylinder:


All done, 10 cylinders, which should last 4 months, so roughly the Christmas/New Year's break. I had to include my favorite cooking device in the pic, my Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker:



Note the griddle top, which has frosted over. Big fun in my house today. I had enough dry ice to play with a little. Cost: $3 per bottle, as opposed to $15 per bottle (or whatever they cost nowadays.

As a side note, we have an awesome ice shop in Wilmington, DE, A&B Ice, which has been my source for dry ice. It is family owned and operated. I noticed they had some aged hickory splits for sale, and I found that it is super cheap, about $8 for a decent sized bag. I chatted with the guy and he says he is getting some apple and other types of smoking wood soon. We had a good chat about smoking ribs and techniques. Anyhow, I now have a great source for my smoking wood and I'll stop buying from the big box joints. What a great day!

[Jerod Broussard]

I wish I had a local supplier of dry ice. I'd run my CDC Mosquito Trap a lot more.

That crescent looks to work on SAE as well as Metric.

[HotSun]

That crescent looks to work on SAE as well as Metric.

LOL

As an aside, check your grocery store, bait shop, or similar retail establishment for dry ice. Ours runs $2.35/lb. I used to refill using a 5 lb cylinder, but my AirGas store is not open except during banker's hours, M-F.

[Jerod Broussard]

I got an AirGas 35 miles away and a Kroger (1-2lb dry ice blocks) same distance. Yeah, AirGas, I called and asked if I could purchase the small Oxy-Acetylene bottles and I was told I could only rent. So I rent them. I go to return them and was told I actually bought the bottles.

[Attjack]

I'm considering just using by my kegerator to dispense carbonated water since I no longer use it for beer or cider.

[HotSun]

A lot of people do that. Check out the SodaStream subreddit for how to do it easily: https://www.reddit.com/r/SodaStream/

[Attjack]

I was thinking I could just carbonate a 5 gallon keg and pour it straight from the tap no sodastream necessary.

[HotSun]

Attjack , I'm not sure about that. The best carbonation happens at the tap, meaning the CO2 is added to the water when it is drawn from the tap. That's why fountain drinks are so sparkly and wonderful. I'm thinking it might work in theory, but I'm also thinking of it as just a 5 gallon bottle of sparkling water. Once you start to take some out, the remaining starts to go flat. The keg is designed for high pressure, so that's not a worry. Anyhow, interesting idea.

[RonB]

Have you ever tried making rolled ice cream? It would be a neat way to use up any leftover dry ice.

[jhapka]

That griddle’s even pre-cooled

[HotSun]

Never heard of it. Will definitely have to check it.

[HotSun]

jhapka , I went to bake some cornbread and they had actually reduced the ambient temperature inside the oven, by about 6 degrees, just by thermal transfer. Crazy stuff.

[RolfTaylor]

Given you use so much fizzy water I am surprised you don't have the machine that takes the bigger cylinder. CHeaper if you are buying the CO2, and probably easier if you are refilling too.

Very interesting. Long ago I did the math and the Aldi's selzer is way cheaper than Soda stream. And Aluminum (unlike plastic) actually does get recycled I don't feel too guilty.

This could make it cheaper for sure.

Something most people don't realize about the sodastream cylinders. There is no deposit. Yes, you may get a discount on a refilled cylinder if you turn in an old one, but the empty cylinders on their own have no value. Odd but true.

[HotSun]

I have 5 lb cylinder, but a 20 lb is not practical and my AirGas store isn't open at any convenient time, and they don't always have them available. Dry ice is cheap and kind of fun. Weird hobby, I guess, haha.

[texastweeter]

I fill my own camp stove propane tanks for my heaters during deer season...and I once made a dry ice bomb, bun never thought to do this.

[WayneT]

We have a friend who gets a large tank of food grade CO2 and he fills our cartridges for us. 😁

[bbqLuv]

Thanks for the warning! I will not try this at home or anywhere else.

[jtw]

They're phasing out those blue tanks, presumably because they're too easy to refill at home. It's getting harder and harder to find them, and the new SodaStream models (such as the one I just bought) only use the pink cylinders which are much harder to refill.
(the blues have a standard "screw-in" pin while the new ones use a clamp-style.)

I just bought a kit to use my homebrewing C02 to refill them so I will let you know soon how well it works.
Personally, I'm not interested in concocting a dry ice bomb!

[HotSun]

jtw , exactly. I have a backup I bought on eBay for when the first one fails. Read the SodaStream subreddit I referenced above for any questions or tips.

[jtw]

Update on refilling the pink cylinders from a larger 10-pound tank: the kit I bought on Am***n worked well. At room temp I was only able to fill about half of the SodaStream tank but it was fast and easy. When it gets low again, I'll have the SS tank frozen first to push more gas into it.

[HotSun]

Freezing tanks before filling helps with your method. Also, when filling, go very slow when opening the valve, or you will trip the safety thingy inside the valve (may explain your half-fills). Finally, if you are using a tank with siphon, then you can refill upright, otherwise you will have to invert the tank, particularly when it gets low. I write the tare weights on my cylinders with a Sharpie.