Asklemmy

44224 readers

993 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
[email protected]: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

People who tried La Croix, what is your opinion on it? (self.asklemmy)

submitted 4 days ago by zachimusprime44 to c/[email protected]

106 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] corroded 12 points 4 days ago (9 children)

I love it, and for anyone else who does, I have a suggestion.

Get a SodaStream (or whatever your carbonator-of-choice is) and a cheap adapter to run it from a standard CO2 tank. Not only do you save money on CO2 refills, but you save money on buying cans of seltzer, too. The concentrated flavor additives are only a few dollars at the grocery store.

I think my SodaStream was something like $100. The adapter and hoses were $50-ish. The flavor syrup costs around $5 for enough to make gallons. Every few months or more, I might pay $50 or so to refill a 20lb CO2 tank. It's already paid for itself, and it's incredibly convenient.

[–] Botzo 15 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

You can skip the soda stream and use a cheap carbonator cap on standard plastic bottles and a ball lock connector on your gas line if you're willing to shake the bottle manually.

I've taken this setup a couple levels up over the last 5 years.

First level: kegerator and switch out the bottle for a keg, bonus points for using a diffusion stone in the keg to speed the absorption of CO2.

Second level: plumb the water line and use a continuous carbonator lid on the keg. Your gas pressure will need to be 10-15 psi (.7-1 bar) lower than the water pressure. Even a small 2.5gal (9.5L) keg makes for nearly infinite cold fizzy water at reasonable consumption rates.

Happy to make a parts list if anyone is interested.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'm on this journey myself; lay out that parts list, my man

[–] Botzo 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

The list is going to be mostly USA specific ~~(I'll come back with links)~~, but many of the fittings are from Kegland (Australia), so we get a blend of "freedom" units and metric

We'll start with level 1:

Tools: Depending on what exactly your goals are, you'll need

a tubing cutter
a faucet wrench
a crescent wrench (for attaching the regulator nut. 1^1/8^in nuts on the regulators in my possession)
a cheap water pressure gauge (you can check on your hose bib outside).

I'll be specifying push-in fittings because they're so much nicer to use.

Kegerator: obviously not a hard requirement. You can build a "keezer" out of a chest freezer, or bore a hole in your fridge for the faucet, or even use a picnic tap on a keg in the fridge (but you'll also have to get your gas line in the fridge which means also putting the tank in there, or boring a hole for the line anyway)

CO2 tank: These come in 5, 10, and 20lb sizes commonly available at welding shops, and are almost universally swapped out instead of refilled (so don't get attached). Check your prices for a new tank on the internet before you go to the welding shop to buy one. They will likely overcharge you for the first tank (by a hundred dollars), but they'll like it if you bring them a shiny new one and might give you a discount. My 10lb tank lasts us about 6 months and I have a backup 5lb tank.

CO2 regulator: If you're planning on beer taps too, go for a dual regulator right away and save yourself the hassle (serving beer is low pressure vs high pressure for water). Try to find one with a threaded output ("flare") instead of a barbed output (or bonus points for having a push-in fitting already).

Keg: I use 2.5 or 5 gallon ball-lock cornelius (corny/soda) kegs

Gas and beer/water tubing: I use evabarrier only. All the fittings will be 8mm push-in (typically "duotight") so get a length of 8mm x 4mm for liquid, and 8mm x 5mm for gas. These are the conventions for beer, and I just followed them for water.

Fittings:

1x of the 1/4" x 8mm push-in fittings for the CO2 regulator
1x Gas ball lock (typically gray), 1x Liquid Ball lock (typically black). I'd go for a "flow control" liquid ball-lock fitting. They are just enough different to be incompatible, so make sure to get 1 of each.
1x 8mm x 6.5mm push-in reducer (for the tap faucet shank)
1 6.5mm (3/16") compatible faucet shank
1 beer faucet
1 novelty tap handle
I always recommend a check valve on the CO2 line, but it isn't a hard requirement (until we plumb the water line in level 2).
Optional: keg lid with diffusion stone (or buy the stone and attach it to your gas post to save a little, but you'll need matching hose and clamps.

Level 2: This assumes you have completed level 1 Additional tools: none!

I'm going to assume you have a standard angle stop (like your toilet) for your water line. And I'm going to assume your plumber was nice enough to attach a 3/8" (9.5mm) push-in fitting.

Tubing:

9.5mm evabarrier to connect to the output that we'll step down to our "standard" beer dispensing 8mm. I have about 4 inches of it before reducing

Fittings:

1x 9.5mm to 8mm push-in reducer
2x 8mm check valves for your gas and water lines (don't be backing up the system on either side!)
1x [liquid ball lock ](Liquid Ball lock)
1x inline push-in regulator if you don't know your water pressure and/or need to reduce it
1x continuous carbonator keg lid (you can move your diffusion stone to this cap)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Thanks for the info, I especially like the cheeky note about the novelty tap handle! I'm going to save this into my second brain for 2025 doings

[–] Botzo 3 points 3 days ago

You're welcome! It's a fun project and journey. Feel free to message if you have questions.