My Party Keg

[MarkBastard]

How much is a sodastream gas bottle worth?

$43 from KMart for a 'new' one.

I think about $15 for a refill.

Apparently if you get a particularly dumb KMart employee they'll sell you a new one for the price of a refill. That's what I was hoping for but I ended up with one of those middle aged women that seem to know what they're doing. In fact it's the returns counter so I'd say most of the time the more competent staff would be working there.

If you ever find someone willing to sell new ones for $15 make sure you buy a few of them.

 

[fcmcg]

How much is a sodastream gas bottle worth?

I got my soda stream bottle from k-mart...think it was like $40, which is starter price.
Change over is apparently cheaper.
But...
You also need an adaptor for your regulator...which was about $25 or $30
Also , a soda stream bottle is really only usuful for serving...not really good for force carbonating or carbonating in general
Cheers
Ferg

 

[MarkBastard]

Also , a soda stream bottle is really only usuful for serving...not really good for force carbonating or carbonating in general

Only because of price though right? I've heard of some people doing it. I think one sodastream should carb and serve 2 postmix kegs, but that's $7.50 per batch and thus a bit expensive.

 

[Supra-Jim]

Yep, the costs of SS bottles makes it expensive/impractical.

Cheers SJ

 

[komodo]

could always naturally carb then dispence with soda stream - I'm pretty sure there was someone on here doing that a while ago?

 

[malbur]

Hi Supra-Jim, I used the expanda foam idea in my mini wheelie bin.
i got 2 buckets and cut the bottom out of one stuck one inside the other and glued them together at the desired hight. sprayed some foam in the bottom and stuck the buckets in with some packing around to keep in the middle.
after the foam started to expand i had to put some bricks in the bucket to keep the expanda foam from pushing the bucket out, and that made it come up around the sides, i let it go off and than put another can of foam in just doing one can at a time to fill any gaps.
than just cut a hole with a piece of PVC pipe the right length and leave that in there for you soda stream bottle.
this was just the way i did it might give you an idea if it's how you won't to do it.



Don't forget if you use expanda foam you need to paint it to stop it absorbing water.

cheers.
mal

 

[Supra-Jim]

Great pics there Malbur, how does it perform?

Cheers SJ

 

[MarkBastard]

That answered a few questions.

1 - I take it expander foam can be cut through easily? Just pushing down on the PVC made it cut through?
2 - It's not water proof. Damn. That's a bummer.

How does it perform? How long does the ice last?

How much did the foam cost you?

 

[Greg Lawrence]

Thanks for the info on the sodastream bottles guys.
I will probably go that way for my own party keg solution (Carb up using big gas cylinder).
I think its a better solution than those small soda bomb chargers with no real regulation as such.

 

[EZE-09Z]

how cool does that look Mark.............. well done !

looks like i have a full weekend now..... gotta make me one of those




Ernie

 

[MarkBastard]

Gregor, if you get a 9L keg you can actually transfer from your 19L keg quite easily and fill the small one up.

That's what I'm gunna do, ie I'm not gunna make a brew specifically for the little keg, but rather on 'party day' I'll decide which beer I wanna take, and fill up the little one straight from the big one. That way it's carbed, cold, and conditioned.

I was thinking about the soda bulb chargers simply because you wouldn't have to undo your regulator and all that, but it seems like a pain in the arse. If you could have the charger bit on a line so that you could mount it outside your bin/esky, then that'd be better, as you could give a quick charge when needed without letting the cold out.

But yeah I think a full soda stream bulb may be more cost affective in the long run.

 

[MarkBastard]

how cool does that look Mark.............. well done !

looks like i have a full weekend now..... gotta make me one of those

Ernie

Cheers mate, yeah I can't wait to put the finishing touches on. It was exciting for me because at the moment I'm using bronco taps in my chest freezer as I haven't got my font and taps reconditioned yet, so my test run of this was the first time I'd used a 'real' tap for my home brew. Much better experience. I can't wait to use this thing. I may even use it at home outside by myself just for the hell of it hahaha.

Also I wanted to put a sticker over the SPA part but the only beer I can think of that would match is Tooheys New and I'm not putting a bloody Tooheys sticker on it! Haha!

Maybe NSW state of origin would be the go

 

[malbur]

That answered a few questions.

1 - I take it expander foam can be cut through easily? Just pushing down on the PVC made it cut through?
2 - It's not water proof. Damn. That's a bummer.

How does it perform? How long does the ice last?

How much did the foam cost you?

Sorry Mark^******* got a bit confused who posted this thread.

as for the PVC i just cut some notches out of the bottom like saw teeth and twisted it as it went in, or use a hole saw to start it.
I painted mine with some white house paint water runs off fine.
Not sure about how long it lasts used it for lunch time BBQ's till say 10pm, when i go out the next morning around 10am to clean it out and put keg back in kegorator there is still plenty of ice in it.
the reason i used the expanda foam was that it was FREE, but it took about 5 cans i think, so you might have to check out the price. :icon_cheers:

 

[MarkBastard]

No worries mate, all very handy info. I'll check out bunnings for the expander foam and if I leave the bucket in there I won't have to waterproof that part anyway so that's cool.

 

[Munut]

Hi Supra-Jim, I used the expanda foam idea in my mini wheelie bin.
i got 2 buckets and cut the bottom out of one stuck one inside the other and glued them together at the desired hight. sprayed some foam in the bottom and stuck the buckets in with some packing around to keep in the middle.
after the foam started to expand i had to put some bricks in the bucket to keep the expanda foam from pushing the bucket out, and that made it come up around the sides, i let it go off and than put another can of foam in just doing one can at a time to fill any gaps.
than just cut a hole with a piece of PVC pipe the right length and leave that in there for you soda stream bottle.
this was just the way i did it might give you an idea if it's how you won't to do it.
View attachment 32827View attachment 32828
View attachment 32829View attachment 32830

Don't forget if you use expanda foam you need to paint it to stop it absorbing water.

cheers.
mal

Mal,

Is there any particular type of paint you have to use to seal the foam?

Thanks
Munut

Sorry missed that bit above about the house paint.

As for the cans of foam you can by expanding foam in bigger quantities in 2 parts that you just tip in and one sets the other off.

 

[MarkBastard]

Probably outside paint or high sheen bathroom paint?

 

[malbur]

Mal,

Is there any particular type of paint you have to use to seal the foam?

Thanks
Munut

Sorry missed that bit above about the house paint.

As for the cans of foam you can by expanding foam in bigger quantities in 2 parts that you just tip in and one sets the other off.

Munut,
it was just an exterior house paint that was in the shed,
expanda foam in bulk that would have been the go, i will remember that if there is a next time.

 

[krusty_oz]

$43 from KMart for a 'new' one.

I think about $15 for a refill.

Apparently if you get a particularly dumb KMart employee they'll sell you a new one for the price of a refill. That's what I was hoping for but I ended up with one of those middle aged women that seem to know what they're doing. In fact it's the returns counter so I'd say most of the time the more competent staff would be working there.

If you ever find someone willing to sell new ones for $15 make sure you buy a few of them.

At BigW I've often seen the whole soda stream kit (cylinder, gassing station, bottle and syrup) for under $60, handy if you want to make the odd soda water.

 

[winkle]

My beer mobile solutions.

The dalek holds the standard corny

whilst the hand pump has space for a 9 litre keg underneath (or some form of polypin)

 

[woodwormm]

i went the bucket, foam, pvc tube route as others have...

i wasted a few tubes of silicon trying to seal the top of the foam, unsucessfully, now the bin fills up with water from stray ice etc, real pain actually, even after putting some drain holes in the under side of the bin, now the foam just melt out the drain holes when it's soggy enough...

I recommend you pay really good attention to sealing the foam.

Also re-inforce the place where the tap bolts through... the wall of the bin will flex over time and you're tap will get wonky, or possibly crack the plastic eventually, if you're going to this much trouble, re-inforce it now.

cheers