I bought myself a seltzer bottle for Christmas. Isn’t it pretty?
At first, I couldn’t make it work. Then I noticed the cartridges not only said “Cream” but also said NO2 instead of CO2. (I had those cartridges because that’s what the chick at Williams-Sonoma sold me, okay?) I took the cartridges back, got the ones labeled “Soda,” and discovered they work much, much better.
Normally I drink carbonated water mixed with a slug or two of Torani syrups, available in nearly every flavor you can think of (and even more, if you buy the full-sugar ones — currently i use the sugar free ones flavored with Splenda). I hope adulterating perfectly good water with syrup removes it from my “glasses of water per day” total, but I can’t say that with certainty.
The best thing about making the bottle of soda is, of course, adding the CO2 to the water. You add the cartridge to the cartridge holder, carefully screw it in… and when the seal on the cartridge is pierced, WHOOMP! The water bubbles up. Then you shake the bottle a few times (to distributed the CO2?) and you’re good to go.
Now that I have used the seltzer bottle (successfully), I can give you a side-by-side comparison of how the bottle stacks up against a bottle of carbonated water (say, Crystal Geyser) bought at the store:
| Seltzer bottle | Bottle of water | |
| Attractiveness | High | None |
| Start-up cost | $50 | inc. in price of bottle |
| Price per liter | .50 (assuming box of cartridges at $5.00) | .88 (assuming 1.25 liter bottle at $1.10) |
| Sodium | As much as your drinking water | Low, but definitely there |
| Fizziness | On par with beer | On par with soda |
| Trash left over | One small cartridge per liter(recyclable) | One plastic bottle per 1.25 liters (recyclable) |
| Liberal guilt assuaged | Much | None |
Clearly in the short run it’s much more cost-effective to keep buying the carbonated water at the store, but I much, much prefer using the seltzer bottle. It tastes better, there’s no sodium, and best of all, I’m not filling up our recyclables container every week with four or five bottles.
So if you’re like me and a)like carbonated water and b)like to make your own Italian sodas with Torani syrup, I highly recommend picking up a seltzer bottle. There are both cheaper ones and bigger ones out there, depending on your needs.
Hah! We (well, I) had a major brain fart over the holidays. We have both the cream-whipper and a seltzer bottle and I (chemistry-challenged dork that I am) didn’t know they took different cartridges (they look exactly the same). So, I whipped up a batch of cream. Tasted AWFUL. Ew! We thought maybe the mechanism hadn’t been cleaned well enough from the last time. Cleaned. Whipped up another batch. Ew! Bitter and just awful. The hubby thought maybe they’d gone bad, but then noticed where I went when I went for another….
Problem solved. Oy.
(1) you shake it up to cause the CO2 to be absorbed into the water. It seems to me that it works better (more carbonated) if you then leave the cartidge attached a minute or two after shaking and maybe until you fill your first glass. My directions also said to use cold water (if you want cold soda).
(2) the soda cartidge is truly recyclable can be melted down into whatever metal is used for, and even saves much energy expended to refine raw ore into metal whereas the plastic bottle is not made into new plastic bottles, but into bulk plastics like 2x4s for park benches, which when done with go into landfill (unless something has changed lately), increasing the amount of liberal guilt assuaged. I first got a seltzer bottle about 1980, but got out of the practice till recently.
I make my own sodas, especially for my daughter who is alergic to artificial colors and other additives.
Are any brands of seltzer bottles better than others?
can you use the seltzer bottle to make egg cream fountain drinks such as the ones sold in the old days in Brooklyn? The kind where you put in some chocolate syrup, a little milk, then fizz in the soda and it gets all foamy. It doesn’t work when you just add club soda. You need some pressurized umph to it and I am wondering whether the seltzer bottle will do the trick. jean
Yup, absolutely — the seltzer bottle is what was originally used for making those egg creams.
Where did you buy your seltzer bottle? I’ve been looking but all I can find are vintage pieces or modern stainless steel (” “) ones.
Thanks
e
I bought mine at Williams-Sonoma, which has some very nice glass ones.
I bought the same wire mesh bottle at Goodwill for $3.99! I was wondering, do you need a housing around the chargers, or stick it right in?
You definitely need the housing. Check with the mrfizz.com website and call them; their accessories will possibly fit. Otherwise try the Williams Sonoma folk.
Best place for parts:
Types of seltzers
http://prairiemoon.biz/fuliofsosise.html
Links to parts pages
http://prairiemoon.biz/sosisebopa.html
Mr. Fizz wasn’t much help when I contacted them. Luckily, Liss parts fit my vintage BOC and Sparklets seltzer. Prarie Moon has a great return policy so you could try the cartridge holders for different brands and see what fits.
There is also the Nitrokit http://www.nitrokit.com – I haven’t been able to get answer from them about what siphon brands their charger holder works with but it looks very interesting. (I have an old seltzer missing the piercing pin).
More info:
Kovocas also made a steel mesh glass seltzer (along with Liss, and Sparklets). Most were made in Czechoslovakia or Hungary:
Kovocas/KovoÄas Parts:
http://www.fantes.com/seltzer.html
Kayser Parts (don’t know that they did a mesh version but their parts might fit other brands):
http://www.trulythefinest.com/prodList.cfm/5251,M,Soda_Siphon_Spare_Parts,1,1,F,MX0
Just was given a seltzer bottle of this type… no charger, lost I guess…but put selzer bottle in my browser and up comes Fantes.com…a kitchen supply house and the selter bottle was the same one so I bought a charger and a key just in case… The manual which you can download is Liss… Kovocas bottle stainless steel mesh covered, Model M-90 and they have a diagram of all the parts too… Handsome addition to any bar…
Can you make fuzzy water glass by glass or do you have to make a liter or so at a time?
You put a liter of water into the bottle, then spray out seltzer water in whatever amounts you want.
I was just given a Kovocas mesh/glass bottle, never used, all parts, and not sure if I want to keep it (was also given a smaller red one…might keep)but can’t seem to find out how much it is worth. I’m sure it is old, like everything I get from this friend, but like I said, it’s in brand new-never used condition. can anyone help? Fantes.com says the bottles aren’t being made currently, so there’s no prices.
Check e-bay. Search “syphon” and “seltzer”.
I am bidding on 3 Sparklets Seltzer bottles. If I need parts, are they available? If so, where?
for anyone really serious about carbonating, you got to move up to a CO2 tank. Startup cost is about $120, but you’re looking at pennies a liter.
check out this guy’s site, he describes what you need in detail:
http://www.truetex.com/carbonation.htm
I did it. Now all I drink is carbonated water.
I would like to know what different thing a seltzer bottle will do, cream [chocolate coke,etc. ] thanks
I have come across an old seltzer dispenser, and was wondering if you might know who I might contact about repair/cleaning. I am unsure of the exact age, but it is metal and says “isi (in italics) Austria 85_05 ” on the bottom. When I unscrewed the top portion and withdrew the stem, there was a little bit of clear goo at the bottom of it. Undeterred, I tried my best to clean it out, and out came little white, pebbly crystals (I am guessing this is from the carbon?) and the water would not drain all the way out of it. Trying to put on a cartridge is very difficult as well. I would love to hold on to it for sentimental reasons, but am unsure about how to even begin this quest of repair.
Nope, sorry, I have no clue as to what to do about this!
Any cartridges available to Europe?
Have the bottle, but no CO Chargers.
Fantes f.i. doesn’t sell to EU.
After reading all of these posts, I bought a iSi siphon with chargers. I’m following the instructions from http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/prairiemoon-store/iSiSiphonP1.pdf, but I’m not getting these crisp, bubbly, refreshing glasses of soda water I read here. I’ve read elsewhere that you sometimes need 2 doses of CO2 & need to chill the water after it’s charged. Am I doing something wrong?
i drink selzer,how can i get set up and make my own??and how much???thank you
How long do the CO2 cartridges last?
just a couple of comments seeing as the same questions come up everywhere:
some bottled soda water is just pure filtered water plus CO2 (often very cheap, too), and some uses potassium carbonate to make that slight mineral water taste, so that is also zero sodium. it pays to check the label.
the best source of siphons are second hand shops and garage sales. finding them with the charger holder is MUCH rarer, but it’s worth waiting until you find an intact one (especially if you see a metal one!), since there are different thread sizes for different brands and eras. remember – there are a million of these things stashed at the back of old ladies’ shelves (bottled water is cheap enough that people mostly persevere for aesthetic reasons, ie the novelty generally wears off)
i used to have a lovely old glass & mesh siphon … one day it went bang! and i was holding a wet mesh sack of broken glass. suit yourself, but personally i’ve lost the nerve for that type
despite what some shops claim, you can completely dismantle your siphon without special tools, and generally get it into good working order. the most common problem is a leak where the gas doesn’t make it into the bottle, meaning a rubber seal has perished. in an ISI type, you need a new “push pin seal” (although these last a very long time), but in a sparklets type or similar, there is a small o-ring just inside the lip where the bulb goes. you can replace this with a 9mm ID x 2mm thick ring (try ebay) which is close enough to work like new and costs 50c (if you research you can probably get a closer fit). dig out the old ring (eg small screwdriver), hold one bit of the new ring in the groove with pointy pliers, and poke the rest of the ring in place with a match
if the handle-operated valve totally fails, it’s often a small rubber seal that has become dislodged (these might need a bit of glue to hold them properly in place if they are a bit perished, but work until death. to dismantle sparklets type, unscrew cap at very top, unscrew and remove handle, push out innards with blunt bamboo skewer via the small hole at the bottom, noting which way things pointed as they come out)
We have an aluminum seltzer bottle with the charger holder for sale in our consignment shop. $10.00.
We’re located in Smithfield, NC. Give us a call, we will ship! 919-934-5051
First, one CO2 cartridge is used each time you charge the bottle. USE COLD WATER, it absorbs CO2 better.
Second, DO NOT use more than one cartridge per bottle! You will over-pressurize the bottle, and can burst it, causing painful injury.
Third, leave the charger on for a minute or two to even out the pressure (it gets cold as pressure releases, and takes a bit for pressures to equalize). THEN remove the charger and recycle the cartridge.
Fourth, after you remove the charger, give the bottle a good shake, and stash it in the fridge for an hour if you can (YES, I know you want a drink RIGHT NOW). This will help even more to allow the CO2 to be absorbed.
For those model syphons that use “O-Rings” for seals, you can often find them in a decent hardware store’s parts bins/drawers, or even in many automotive parts stores. They are CHEAP. I dig the old one out (Carefully!) with a dental pick, and replace it using a drop of *unscented* dish soap to set and seal. Then I wash the hell out of it to get the soap off.
You will frequently find some schmutz on and around the seals and piercer pin, I use a blunted toothpick to remove this crap, rinsing thoroughly.
Every ten or so refills, I remove the filler limiter and rinse the bottle thoroughly, you’d be surprised what you might find.
And I wash VERY thoroughly any seltzer bottles I find at garage sales, etc. before using. I use a mild dish detergent, rinse thoroughly, and let air-dry. I examine for spare parts if needed, and act accordingly.
I find BOC and iSi bottles for anywhere from $1-5 at yard and garage sales. If I buy from an antique dealer, I make SURE all the parts are there…I know I cannot depend on this with garage sale finds.
IF parts are missing, I dicker down the price!
Many chargers are worn, with the first thread or two stripped off, this is a simple replacement part. Cleaning the inlet area helps the new cartridge insert easier, saving wear on the charger.
Hope this helps.
I just bought a lovely looking Sparklets version, probably mid-70s, from a thrift store. It doesn’t have the bulb holder but I’ve seen them on eBay so I’m not worried about getting my hands on one. I’d like to clean it though and without the bulb holder I don’t have the “key” to remove the plastic liner in the bottle. I don’t want to damage it by trying to pry or screw it out with pliers. The bottle looks barely used. Any suggestions on how to get the plastic liner out?
I have a BOC siphon my family originally bought in 1973 (chocolate egg creams everyday!!!). All of these years I never knew the back end of the cartridge holder was a “key”. I used to stick my thumb in, twist 1/4 turn to left and pull it out. The Co2 bulbs were green. I wish I could figure out which brand Co2 is compatible. I get so much conflicting info from websites. Some say they haven’t changed in 40 yrs, others say new non-threaded fit all except BOC brand. Any help? Thanks