Unfortunately a great many of them use Sodastream’s gas cylinders - after their patent expired and anyone could build a compatible unit - so you might not be able to escape them getting your money when buying CO2 refills, if there isn’t another brand of gas cylinder available where you shop.
Sodastream have released a new cylinder design (with a bayonet rather than screw fitting), presumably to again attempt to kill off the market for home refilling from a larger CO2 cylinder, or use in other brands of machines.
Where I live (Germany), most bigger Supermarket chains offer in house brand sodastream compatible gas cylinders. There usually even cheaper. I also have an ALDI in house sodastream dupe called soda star. Never saw a reason to buy sodastream, even before I knew about their political/moral questionability, when there are cheaper alternatives that literally do the exact same thing.
lol damn. I haven’t even used the first can up in like a year, but I don’t use it a ton. Just occasionally carbonate some gin drinks or re-carbonate flat soda or etc. have made a few sodas but not much, am going to be making some syrups soon so I’ll probably actually get more use out of it once I’ve made those. Still, absolutely love it.
You can just get a cap that will fit on any bottle and attach to a traditional c02 tank. Added benefit that if you use this with any regularity it will cost you much less over time.
You can also get corny kegs like the other person posted but those can be pricey. You can get them cheap at restaurant auctions sometimes (I basically got mine for free but they were gross). These take up a decent amount of space but you can make a lot of stuff at once
Drinkmate. Better anyway because the removable/cleanable carbonator head allows you to carbonate any drink and also premix drinks. You’ll lose a lot of carbonation the SodaStream way of mixing after carbonating.
Is there an alternative that isn’t directly tied to an apartheid state committing genocide?
Yeah there are countless alternatives (at least here in Germany, but Germans are obsessed with sparkling water so YMMV depending on where you are). A soda maker ain’t some crazy technology, it’s a CO₂ cylinder, a valve, and something that holds the bottle, in fact, it’s so simple, other comments suggest to just build one yourself: https://lemmy.world/comment/13959890
Just make a couple of Google (or preferably DuckDuckGo) searches for “soda maker” or “sodastream alternative” and I’m sure you’ll find something that suits your needs.
Aww man, I like using sodastream. Is there an alternative that isn’t directly tied to an apartheid state committing genocide?
I’d assume that most other carbonators aren’t made by Sodastream 👍
Seconding Drinkmate. I replaced my soda stream a while ago and have been very happy.
Unfortunately a great many of them use Sodastream’s gas cylinders - after their patent expired and anyone could build a compatible unit - so you might not be able to escape them getting your money when buying CO2 refills, if there isn’t another brand of gas cylinder available where you shop.
Sodastream have released a new cylinder design (with a bayonet rather than screw fitting), presumably to again attempt to kill off the market for home refilling from a larger CO2 cylinder, or use in other brands of machines.
All of that said, I do like my Aarke machine.
Where I live (Germany), most bigger Supermarket chains offer in house brand sodastream compatible gas cylinders. There usually even cheaper. I also have an ALDI in house sodastream dupe called soda star. Never saw a reason to buy sodastream, even before I knew about their political/moral questionability, when there are cheaper alternatives that literally do the exact same thing.
Check out Soda Sense. They ship the bottles to you and provide a prepaid return label.
Drinkmate is solid idk where they are produced tho just that they are based in Michigan.
Love my drinkmate that I hook up to 5 Lb C02 tanks swapped locally!
lol damn. I haven’t even used the first can up in like a year, but I don’t use it a ton. Just occasionally carbonate some gin drinks or re-carbonate flat soda or etc. have made a few sodas but not much, am going to be making some syrups soon so I’ll probably actually get more use out of it once I’ve made those. Still, absolutely love it.
You can just get a cap that will fit on any bottle and attach to a traditional c02 tank. Added benefit that if you use this with any regularity it will cost you much less over time.
You can also get corny kegs like the other person posted but those can be pricey. You can get them cheap at restaurant auctions sometimes (I basically got mine for free but they were gross). These take up a decent amount of space but you can make a lot of stuff at once
Drinkmate. Better anyway because the removable/cleanable carbonator head allows you to carbonate any drink and also premix drinks. You’ll lose a lot of carbonation the SodaStream way of mixing after carbonating.
Yeah there are countless alternatives (at least here in Germany, but Germans are obsessed with sparkling water so YMMV depending on where you are). A soda maker ain’t some crazy technology, it’s a CO₂ cylinder, a valve, and something that holds the bottle, in fact, it’s so simple, other comments suggest to just build one yourself: https://lemmy.world/comment/13959890
Just make a couple of Google (or preferably DuckDuckGo) searches for “soda maker” or “sodastream alternative” and I’m sure you’ll find something that suits your needs.
I’ve never used one of these, why not just get a good old fashioned soda syphon? Does a Sodastream do anything special?
If you already have the machine plenty of places sell compatible cartridges, or you can get an adapter to hook it up to a larger co2 tank.
and it’s actually more affordable to get a larger co2 tank.
In Germany Brita is quite good.