Refilling Soda Stream @ home

[Tex083]

So I have almost convinced my wife I need a keg set up, just for partys.... for now.
I have a very tight budget as she is compairing the cost to the price of a slab, not aurora borealis but somewhere in the $50 a slob mark. So I said I could use the soad stream cylinders to dispense and naturally carb. I have a CO2 reg.

I went searching for Keg systems that use soda stream bottles and found a youtube vid on refilling soda stream bottles with dry ice, now the video doesnt have a weight of dry ice used but I WOULD be measuring it recording the exact grams used and attach the CO2 reg to assess pressure to keep it safe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWcRDMAA8RE

Yes! this is what im trying next if I loose a hand/finger I will report back on it. Playing with pressure vessels is dangerous so be careful!

Enjoy.

 

[treefiddy]

Where will you get the dry ice from?

 

[adryargument]

Genius.

Thoughts on using the same method for my 50KG cylinder? :lol: :lol:

 

[Tex083]

Where will you get the dry ice from?

I had a look online. but as its not business hours I cant call places but Supagas in Campbellfield looks like they have the pellets.
BOC also has it listed but only in 100kgs so I might call them tomorrow.
And http://www.havingaparty.net.au/dry-ice.html
$11 a Kg 1kg should do 2 cylinders Keg King lists Soda Stream bottles as having 330g of CO2. Just to be clear I WILL ONLY be filling and sealing the canister WITH a regulator attached as its got a pressure releif valve preventing over pressurising the vessel.

 

[doon]

How much does it cost to just swap them at kmart

 

[treefiddy]

I had a look online. but as its not business hours I cant call places but Supagas in Campbellfield looks like they have the pellets.
BOC also has it listed but only in 100kgs so I might call them tomorrow.
And http://www.havingaparty.net.au/dry-ice.html
$11 a Kg 1kg should do 2 cylinders Keg King lists Soda Stream bottles as having 330g of CO2. Just to be clear I WILL ONLY be filling and sealing the canister WITH a regulator attached as its got a pressure releif valve preventing over pressurising the vessel.

Minimum order is 10 kg, at $11/kg that's $110.

The 2.6 kg KK bottles are maybe $170 delivered. If you can't find somewhere that supplies <1 kg quantities of dry ice then I'd consider one of those.

 

[barls]

i love the specialised torquing at the end

 

[mash head]

It could be calculated if you had the expansion figures. Eg from trade school I remember that LPG expands 280 times by volume from liquid to a gas. I am sure the values would be available somewhere.

 

[treefiddy]

On second thought, the vapour pressure of CO2 at room temp is less than the maximum pressure of a soda stream cylinder.

That means as long as you don't expose it to extreme temps, the pressure in the bottle won't be dangerous even if you overfill it.

Signed,
Some guy on the internet that you don't know.

 

[Scooby Tha Newbie]

OMG. Some of the things I've seen plp do to save a few bucks. Super dangerous guys take care if you do this you are making a bomb!$50 bucks at wollies gets you two filled canisters how much is you hands,eyes,life worth. If you need to do this to save a few bucks then maybe you need a new hobbie. Just saying.

 

[zwitter]

Hi
This does work.

BUT while the ice is dry it will freeze the moisture in the air and take it with the pellets into the cylinders and potentially put moisture into your reg.

Also metals become very brittle at low temperatures. Cast iron at room temp is reasonably ductile and you can whack it with a hammer. Cool it down to -5 or so and a decent swing will shatter it. Similar with aluminium, albeit at lower temps like you get with dry ice etc. the big risk in this venture is with removing the cylinder valve each time, introducing contaminates like water and getting it to seal again.
Also any impurities will be under high pressure and can therefore cause more damage. At $11 a kg it sort of has to be asked wether this is actually saving anything.

I have 2 of the smaller size soda stream bottles and have ordered a device from China to see if can refill them from larger CO2 cylinders. The bigger your tank the cheaper the CO2 price per litre. I would like to use the soda stream bottles for convenience and portability but not at the commercial rate for swapping.

Have outlaid about $70 in bits from China and will report success or failure, later in the month after they arrive.
Regards
James

 

[1974Alby]

please do report back Zwitter...I have a 6kg cylinder but need to improve portability...tried the little bulb dispenser but it needed multiple bulbs for one keg and broke second time I tried to use it!! THinking of going down the sodastream route but its all more $$$

 

[Scooby Tha Newbie]

Ok cool I two would like to
Learn how to refill sodastream cylinders but not in a way that could cost me my fingers.I'm not a metal expert but cooling these cylinders can't be good. If there is a way to safely fill from my larger canister that would be great.

 

[DU99]

look around for Diemen's 540g bottle..startup cost about same as sodstream and adapter..the weight you use is on the bottle the newer ones are 400grams

 

[meathead]

I see a new thread
"dry ice bulk buy"

 

[breakbeer]

you can swap over Soda Stream bottles for $16 each

are you really gonna save that much? Your phalanges will thank you

 

[Tex083]

After sobering up and reading what some people have read, I might just stick with the swap over cylinders @ Kmart.
Im sure its no more dangerous than playing with 240V PID's but im just going to pay the $20 for a cylinder.

Mykegonlegs 2.3kg bottle is $240. So 240/20 = 12 so in 12 kegs it will equal 1 C02 cylinder cost....

 

[DU99]

My 6kg bottle costs only $50 to refill..3 sodastrem refills will cost $48 and that's only 1.2kg..

 

[Tex083]

Yes C02 is cheap to fill but buying the cylinder is expensive

 

[treefiddy]

2.6 kg CO2 cylinder on ebay, $166 delivered. ~$30 refill/exchange.

2 x sodastream for $50, plus $20 for adaptor. $20 refill per bottle.

Get 5 sodastream refills and you're over the price of the 2.6 kg bottle and only get 2.3 kg of CO2. I guess it all comes down to how often you're going to use it.