How can you make your own home carbonation system?

Question

How difficult and expensive would it be?

Or are there any systems you can buy to make your own sodas?

Answer 1

you can make carbon dioxide by mixing baking soda and something acidic like lemon juice or vinegar.  maybe you could mix them up in a sealed container with some sort of pipe (maybe a drinking straw) coming out, and put the pipe into a glass of water.  It probably wouldn't be very effective though, as the pressure is so low.

On a more serious note, search google for the "sodastream".

Answer 2

There once was a pill you could drop in water(It was called fizzies) that made carbonated drinks.So you could probably use an alka-seltzer to do the same thing.Or most large liquor stores have a seltzer"kit"

Answer 3

Between $100 and $200 for either home made or pre-built systems.

You can build you own as per instructions here:

http://www.truetex.com/carbonation.htm

Or purchase one of these:

http://www.sodaclubusa.com/default.htm

The downside to sodaclub is that you have to use their bottle to make it in and when the gas runs out they must refill it. So you are locked in to them. There are also bottles which you can buy at costco and other housewares store which use smaller co2 cartriges. The gas is only enoungh for a few bottles from what I hear.

I built one according to the instructions on the like above. Although I used a paintball co2 canister. It was easy and required supplies from home depot, a car parts store and a paintball shop. I have used it to make seltzer and recarbonate flat pop. One thing to check that I have yet to look into is if there is a distinction between food grade and industrial co2. I have been told that Canadian co2 is all food grade. Have yet to confirm this however so am using it sparingly.

Best of luck with your project.