# Refilling Sodastream Bottles?



## seravitae (20/2/09)

Hi there,

I plan to start off kegging with a sodastream CO2 bottle and an adaptor/reg setup. One because i can't see myself drinking a hell of a lot, plus if i decide to upgrade i will already have the regulator and such. Was just wondering if anyone knew what places would refill these lil' CO2 bottles. Surely going directly to a gas company like BOC would cause some rather weird looks... Anyone brewer friendly in my area?

I'm in brisbane 

Cheers!


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## FreemanDC (20/2/09)

Hi mate, not aware of anyone refilling the SS bottles (soda Stream) i bulk prime and use them for pouring. local Coles swaps them for $11.99 you'll get a good 3 kegs of dispensing out of them. 

if you find a refiller or a safe way to do so, let me know lol !


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## Fents (20/2/09)

sera, no one will refill a soda stream unless you do it yourself which is tricky and dangerous. they are $11 swap over from kmart, really not worth even contemplating refilling them.

Can i ask will you prime your kegs with something and then just use the soda stream to push the beer out, cause i dont think you would get many kegs out of a soda stream if your are carbonating with it as well...


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## seravitae (20/2/09)

Was hoping to carbonate with them as well - I dont plan to drink a lot, 2-3 kegs a year is probably heaps for me.



I was offered $270-$350 for a big tank which i can always fall back on, but for my needs it really is overkill.

What about paintball co2 tanks? they seem to be a bit smaller but im not sure what grade of CO2 people fill those tanks with. And in brisbane there seems to be very very few painball shops, none listing refill services.



(starting to look like getting the normal tank wil win....)


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## FreemanDC (20/2/09)

Mudgeeraba Paintball Supplies on the Gold Coast has many tanks of various sizes, as you said, no idea about quality of gas and cost/prices i think you'll find that a paintball tank is going to be alot more price wise compared to a regular tank or soda stream.

I have used soda stream to force carb before, got it done with enough gas left to pour the brew from 19lt keg, it can be done but it will push your brew up by another 12 bucks. - that assuming you allready outlaided the $40 originaly to buy one.


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## seravitae (20/2/09)

Mm, at $12 a fill its probably not worth it over time.. Figuring the $350 bottle only takes $45 to refill or so.

Guess the big tank wins  Might still buy a sodastream adapter if i want to bring a keg to a party for pouring pressure.


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## FreemanDC (20/2/09)

you can allways rent a tank from boc, or avgas etc. little more about 120 bucks a year i think.


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## tones71 (20/2/09)

I sound in a similar situation to yourself in the amount I drink. I bulk prime in the keg and use a sodastream to dispense. I found I was going through a lot of the gas when cleaning the kegs and hoses out between brews. I recently got myself an old fire extinguisher as well but the sodastream fits better in the fridge so I now use the extinguisher when cleaning but still use the soda stream to dispense. Found I get through more kegs with one sodastream bottle this way.

My last brew I haven't bulk primed and after cleaning and filling the keg used the fire extinguisher to initially to charge the brew. Put the keg in the fridge overnight and repeated the process by giving it a couple of charges over 2 days to keep the pressure up and have now let it sit in the fridge with the sodastream. It will be my first force carbed brew so will be interesting to see how it differs if at all.


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## gibbocore (20/2/09)

i get about 4 to five kegs out of a soda stream, try and reduce the pressure as the kegs get emptier.


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## seravitae (20/2/09)

sounds interesting tones. never heard of people using a fire extinguisher before. i'll be keen to here the results of your force carb.

freemasha, yeah, I have some thing in my brain, that dispises renting objects of any form. especially because in about 2-3 years the bottle will be free if i buy it outright, compared to renting. What's the lifespan of a cylinder before they need to get retired? 10 years?


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## zabond (20/2/09)

before upgrading to a 6kg bottle ^_^ ,I used a soda stream cyl plus adaptor and could force carb and pour 2 corny's per cyl @ $11 c/o from coles so if your only drinking 2 kegs per year better using the SS cyls,if you shelled out for a big cyl[6kg]aprox 30 kegs it'll last you about 15 years  
Russ


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## Barramundi (20/2/09)

Fents said:


> sera, no one will refill a soda stream unless you do it yourself which is tricky and dangerous. they are $11 swap over from kmart, really not worth even contemplating refilling them.




not that tricky or dangerous however the bits required to make up a filling unit arent cheap , about $100 or more in parts to get it done....

whats your location sera ??


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## seravitae (20/2/09)

Barramundi said:


> not that tricky or dangerous however the bits required to make up a filling unit arent cheap , about $100 or more in parts to get it done....
> 
> whats your location sera ??


Brisbane...



Still kind of in limbo as to what to do. I think i may start off with a sodastream, and then upgrade to a cylinder later if i end up making a lot of booze. $350 seems like a bit of a huge outlay for me at the moment. As stated before, i can still swap-out the sodastreams if i want to take the keg to a party or something...


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## FarsideOfCrazy (20/2/09)

Maybe these guys are what you need.

www.diemen.com.au


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## clean brewer (21/2/09)

> I dont plan to drink a lot, 2-3 kegs a year is probably heaps for me.


Whats the point then, 4-6 cartons a year, just buy beer... :unsure: 



> I was offered $270-$350 for a big tank which i can always fall back on, but for my needs it really is overkill.





> Mm, at $12 a fill its probably not worth it over time.. Figuring the $350 bottle only takes $45 to refill or so.
> 
> Guess the big tank wins





> freemasha, yeah, I have some thing in my brain, that dispises renting objects of any form. especially because in about 2-3 years the bottle will be free if i buy it outright, compared to renting.





> Still kind of in limbo as to what to do. I think i may start off with a sodastream, and then upgrade to a cylinder later if i end up making a lot of booze. $350 seems like a bit of a huge outlay for me at the moment.



Very confusing!!! Sodastream? Big bottle? Sodastream? Big bottle?
Just buy beer if you are only going to drink a couple kegs a year, all pointless worrying about gas for that sort of consumption... By the sound of it, itll cost you 2-3 Sodastream refills to carb and dispense the kegs you want to drink per year.. Do that or forget kegs and buy beer..


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## seravitae (22/2/09)

Yes, i realise i'm playing ping-pong with my decisions.. Apologies. Have made decision. 





> Whats the point then, 4-6 cartons a year, just buy beer...



Then i'd have to join the aussie-nothomebrewing forums...


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## FarsideOfCrazy (22/2/09)

sera said:


> Yes, i realise i'm playing ping-pong with my decisions.. Apologies. Have made decision.



And what was the decision????? :huh:


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## seravitae (22/2/09)

Decided to bite the bullet and go proper. Since I was not making up my mind before, then it became obvious I was not serious about it, and I want to be, so i found a 2.6kg tank new, filled for $200. Gonna grab that and a reg and start building a kegerator style fridge to house the incoming keg(s). This is my final decision, I promise. (will show cylinder invoices for proof!)


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## FarsideOfCrazy (23/2/09)

sera said:


> will show cylinder invoices for proof!



Now that's dedication!!!! :lol:


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## afromaiko (23/2/09)

I used Soda Stream cylinders exclusively for almost a year before buying a MKOL cylinder. If you don't drink much then Soda Stream works out quite favourably to the other options of renting or buying. I used to force carbonate using the 'Ross Method' and would be able to gas & dispense one keg using a single Soda Stream cylinder. You have to be very precious of your gas though. If I bulk primed I would be able to dispense a couple of kegs worth. 

Don't worry about refilling them of the sly, at others have said they are dirt cheap to get changeovers at Kmart etc. The main reason I actually went to MKOL was that the Soda Stream reps don't visit the stores often enough, so I was constantly having to visit multiple stores just to find somewhere that had refills in stock. 

What happens is that the store get supplied a box of refills, guessing at around 20 or 30 from eye, and then these get swapped out for empties until the whole box is just empties. Then the rep comes back and swaps them all for refills again. So I found they very often only had a box of empties and were waiting on the rep to bring new stock. I have 3 of the Soda Stream cylinders so was usually able to not run out of gas, although it sometimes it did happen. So I'd say you need at least two cylinders to be safe.

Also, Soda Stream have sneakily reduced the amount of CO2 in their cylinders starting a couple of months ago and are phasing these new smaller ones in. They still say 'Makes 40 Litres' on the front, but the contents are less which seems a little sucky to me considering how cheap the gas must be. So perhaps 'Makes 40 litres of less carbonate drinks than before' would be more appropriate.


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## splatter2011 (1/7/11)

Don't you just take the soda stream co2 bottle back to where you bought it and they swap for $20?

Paintball Blacksoil / Brisbane / Gold Coast / Ipswich
http://www.npf.com.au
http://www.facebook.com/#!/National.Pa...ields.Blacksoil


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