Fizzy water aboard (at last!)

I really like fizzy water, but there is no way I'm going to either pay for, carry, nor store, bottles of water from the grocery store (not to mention that mass of plastic waste I'd be generating). The reality is my boat is NEVER going to have enough counter space for a soda-stream to live. I've been living aboard various boats since 2002 and managed just fine without one all this time (writing in 2020). I don't like plain water, but I do know water is inexpensive (often free) and good for you (necessary for life), so over the years I've found ways that I can enjoy water. Mostly I achieve this by adding flavor. Generally flavor means extra extra calories, so for years I've enjoyed the calorie free powder sachet flavorings (like Crystal Lite, etc). Goal achieved! But then I found myself cruising in areas where calorie free powder sachets were just not available; while I could purchase calorie free cordials, these came in plastic bottles and I loathed the weight and the waste.

By chance I stumbled across an alternative to the soda-stream, via a post from one of the wonderful members of 'Women Who Sail' facebook group. Such a setup has the benefit of a much larger tank of CO2 (i.e. lasts longer between refills), and the cost of each refill is much less than both soda-streams and purchased carbonated water. AND I can keep the whole setup off my counter tops.

After some time in more remote cruising grounds, I finally found myself in Australia where I was able to purchase all the items needed to make my own carbonation setup. After some basic research I found I could source all the parts from most home brewery stores (if they didn't have it in stock, they could get it for me), but all the items were also available on-line (ebay, etc) and at some great prices that included delivery. Most medium size towns seem to have at least one home-brewing store (at least in Australia).

I was in Austrlia at the time and sourced most of my parts online from Cheeky Peak Brewery - they were really helpful over the phone when I was trying to work out what 'bits' I needed. I found a great deal on a cylinder on eBay, but the postal service seemed to lose the package and failed to get the cylinder to me before we left Sydney; I eventually picked up my cylinder from a home-brewery supply store in Tasmania.

We now have a constant supply of fizzy water made from our tank water aboard Begonia. We love it!

What is the setup?

Here is what you need to make your own carbonation system at home

• CO2 cylinder - I have a 2.6kg/5lb cylinder and it came full with CO2
• A regulator (to reduce the tank pressure to suitable fizzing pressure, and to see/check the bottle pressure) - install onto tank using some teflon tape on the threads - the one we got is BIG and possibly overkill.. you may be able to find a simpler model. Ours came with a barb to install the hose to (I assume they all do).
• Gas Assembly can be purchased as a unit, or you can buy the parts and make your own. I wanted a longer hose so purchased the parts
  • Tube/hose 5mm Inner Diameter & 8mm Outer Diameter Beer & Gas Line - (crimps to regulator exit barb)
  • Crimps - called Stepless or Oetiker clamps to attach the hose to the regulator & disconnect - you need one for each end of your hose but they are inexpensive (and amazing) so we purchased extra/spare to allow for mistakes (but there were none).
  • A Disconnect (quick-disconnect) - which is a fitting at end of the line (crimped to hose, but allows for the Carbonation cap (and other adaptors) to be easily installed/removed.
• A Carbinoator/Carbonation Cap - An adaptor to screw onto a standard soda bottle (e.g. Coke or Lemonade PET bottles) - a carbonator Cap may also be called 'Carbonation & Kegerator Line Cleaner Cap & Counter Pressure Bottle Filler' (Ideally find one made of stainless steel rather than plastic, so it won't fail on you in the middle of nowhere).
• An empty PET (soda) bottle (any size). Anything that once held fizzy drinks and has the standard screw cap top. In my case I use old coke/lemonade bottles that I never had to toss in the recycling! I use the 1.25L size, and have 3 of them on the go at any time. I also have a smaller bottle (0.5L) for fizzing wine from time to time.

Now we can readily convert tank water into fizzy water aboard Begonia

How do I fizz my water?

Actually my wonderful husband Kyle generally does the fizzing (simply becuase he enjoys it so much) but here is the step-by-step process we use

• Select your pre-chilled bottle of water - We use 1.25L soda bottles filled with normal tank water (our tank water is sourced at the dock, or from filtered rainwater captured from our decks).
  • Not quite full, we normally fill to the part of the bottle that starts to narrow again about 1.5" below the screw-top-neck.
  • Pre-chill the water before adding the gas (cold water will absorb more the CO2).
  • We have a system of colour coded hair bands (new/unused) so we can tell the difference at a glance between our flat and carbonated water in the fridge. In our case purple means it is still water in the bottle, and we switch to pink once fizzed....
• Remove bottle cap - Squeeze any air out of the bottle and screw in the disconnected carbonator cap - tighten it down fully while squeezing to leave ONLY water in the bottle - no air.
• Clip the whole thing to the 'quick-disconnect' (quick connect ball lock connector at end of gas line assembly) - Kyle tends to keep the bottle sideways rather than upright and keeps it low so any liquid won't pour back down the hose.
• Open main tank valve (at the top of the tank).
• Open/adjust secondary value to the pressure you want - depending on your personal preference (see below). Note: once this is done first time, we just leave it in that place for perfect future fizzing.
• The bottle will pretty much instantly expand full - Pop.!
• Shake the bottle while the valves remain open. Kyle says shake about 100 times. This forces the gas to dissolve into the liquid and the regulator will keep adding gas as it gets absorbed.
• Pop off quick-disconnect bit from the bottle set-up and replace the carbonation cap with the normal soda bottle cap on the bottle.
• Mark your bottle so you know you have fizzed water (a pink hair band in our case).
• Repeat for each bottle of water you have.
• Turn off main tank valve.
• Clip on the carbonation cap (not connected to any bottles) to the quick-disconnect to depressurize the hose line.

Selecting the right pressure to use

• We initially determined that 45 psi (around 3.25 bar) is the perfect pressure (for us!). Using this we had a 2.6kg cylinder last us 6 months fizzing on average one 1.25L bottle a day (in hotter climates we drink 2 bottles a day, cooler climates less).
• We later experimented more and found we were just as refreshed drinking water fizzed to 30psi which will obviously make the CO2 we have last longer
• I suggest you deliberatly fizz a few bottles with different pressures and do a taste test to see what suits you. Find your own lower limit.

Additional opportunities

• Adaptors are available that connect to the Disconnect to re-fill a standard soda stream cylinder - ?? Check
• Adaptors are available that connect big cylinder (via a hose) directly to your soda stream machine (as an alternative to the smaller Sodastream cylinders - ?? Check)

Benefits

• Primarily I'm just more likely to drink water (and less of other stuff), so I purchase less flavourings and cordials (and even beer) than I used to.
• CO2 cylinder is much larger (so lasts longer than a soda-stream cylinder between refills) - A sodastream cylinder 410g (14.5 ounces) of compressed CO2 and is said to make up to 60L of Sparkling Water. My 2.6kg bottle holds 2.6kg of CO2 (just over 6 sodastream cylinders!).
• Cost of each bottle of fizzy water is minimal (pennies)
• CO2 Refills are available from multiple sources: Home brewing stores, welding suppliers, breweries, much more readily available than soad-stream CO2 cylinders as you cruise (I've been told of cruisers getting free/inexpensive refills by vising berweries in far-flung places like Tonga).
• Can readily fizz other liquids - e.g.
  • turn a box white wine into an OK "champagne"/fizzy wine (we pour wine into a 0.5L soda/coke bottle and chill and fizz that as we need it).
  • You can purchase various cordials to make fizzy water into almost any fizzy drink (ginger ale, lemonade, etc)
  • You can add a dash of lemon juice
• Unlikely to run out of CO2 (provided I monitor the cylinder levels)
• System doesn't need to be stored/setup on a counter top
• You can fizz at whatever pressure you prefer

Negatives

• Unlikely to carry a spare cylinder (so I will need to monitor pressure levels and top up when a suitable opportunity arises).
• Takes more effort to make fizzy water
• Takes up more space (but thankfully I had the perfect available space in the guest berth - it's secure and I can leave it set-up and ready to fizz in there)

Useful Links

• Video for installing crimps (you can manage with just a pair of pliers or we actually found a 'oetiker' type tool in our bag of pliers and wirecutters and that was great).
• Other links on how to carbonate your own water
  • https://tasteofartisan.com/how-to-make-carbonated-water/,
  • https://modernparentsmessykids.com/homemade-soda-machine-required/,
  • https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/06/pros-cons-diy-carbonation-rig-how-to-carbonate-cocktails-at-home-equipment-how-to-build-cheaper-sodastream-replacement.html

Footprint Home |Footprint Projects