Making my own home CO2 carbonation system

I've been thinking about making my own home system for carbonation. This is what I have in mind:

http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2012-06/how-make-your-own-home-carbonation-system

It seems to me the weak link here is the bottle so I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience with this type of set up. I'm planning to use it as a DIY project I can build with my kids and then make fun drinks with them. Is using a plastic bottle the best option? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

That system works great. C02 bottle, regulator, carbonation cap. Screw on to any 2-liter, shake and enjoy. Not as pretty as a sodastream, but way more affordable in the long run.

I originally did that.... then I started using kegs... now I have an actual carbonator. It's really easy and much cheaper than the sodastream.

2 litre bottles are amazingly strong. We use to make water rockets with them and would routinely pressurize them to 100-125 PSI. I do make sodas and carbonated fruit juices in them (and beer) and will put 60 PSI in them to start with. I went the DIY route though and made my own caps with stainless steel tire valves from the auto parts store.

Once you charge the bottle up, do you just leave the special cap on it or can you put the regular cap it came with back on without losing all the carbonation within a day?

EndlessPurple said:

Once you charge the bottle up, do you just leave the special cap on it or can you put the regular cap it came with back on without losing all the carbonation within a day?

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I don't know what he does, but for the carbonator cap your supposed to carbonate with the special cap and then switch back.

sounds easy enough

once the bottle has been charged up, the regular bottle cap would go on.

sounds like i'd be ok to use a regular plastic two liter bottle for this plan. i'm going to go tomorrow and pick up the equipment. i've done some poking around on this site and google to try and find some decent (and healthy) flavoring syrups.

i know i'm coming at this from a little bit of a different angle than most of the people in this forum. but, i really appreciate the feedback i've gotten here. thanks everyone.

shelly_belly said:

2 litre bottles are amazingly strong. We use to make water rockets with them and would routinely pressurize them to 100-125 PSI. I do make sodas and carbonated fruit juices in them (and beer) and will put 60 PSI in them to start with. I went the DIY route though and made my own caps with stainless steel tire valves from the auto parts store.

Click to expand...

thanks shelly! where do you find your soda flavorings?

I mostly like a 60/40 mixture of juice/water. The kids like the water enhancers like MIO, Hawaiian Punch and Crystal Light. One even likes carbonated Gatorade! I've also tried and like one of the Ginger Ale recipes from this site. My all time favorite though is Licorice spice herbal tea from Stash. I was going to try the soda syrups from Sodastream but they're more expensive than brand name sodas, so I just carbonate whatever we already have.