Reddit mentions of All Brew Supplies 325 Stainless Carbonation Cap with 5/16" Barb Ball Lock Type, Fit Most Soft Drink PET Bottles

Don't even need the soda stream - get a carbonation cap, a Co2 regulator, a ball lock gas coupler, and some 5/16" tubing. Also probably get some tubing clamps from the hardware store to help keep everything together.

With that setup, you can carbonate anything you want in a regular plastic soda bottle. Screw on the cap, snap the coupler to it, and pressurize it directly from the Co2 tank. You don't even need to limit yourself to carbonating liquids. Cut up little pieces of fruit so they fit into the soda bottle and you can carbonate them too.

Also, if you're buying a Co2 tank, don't get a new one. Look on Craigslist, old welding tanks are fine. When you take a tank to be "refilled" at a welding shop (or even a homebrew shop), you don't get the same tank back. They just swap it out for a full one. So if you bought a shiny new one, that's just a waste of money.

Not sure if you're looking for extra frugality, but you can make your own SodaStream for cheap. Only problem is that it's ugly as sin. That said, you can also buy a paintball co2 canister and an adapter and hook that up to your SodaStream to replace the stupid expensive little cartridges.

EDIT: Found the instructions to do it, don't remember where they're from though.


Don't even need the soda stream - get a carbonation cap, a Co2 regulator, a ball lock gas coupler, and some 5/16" tubing. Also probably get some tubing clamps from the hardware store to help keep everything together.

With that setup, you can carbonate anything you want in a regular plastic soda bottle. Screw on the cap, snap the coupler to it, and pressurize it directly from the Co2 tank. You don't even need to limit yourself to carbonating liquids. Cut up little pieces of fruit so they fit into the soda bottle and you can carbonate them too.

Also, if you're buying a Co2 tank, don't get a new one. Look on Craigslist, old welding tanks are fine. When you take a tank to be "refilled" at a welding shop (or even a homebrew shop), you don't get the same tank back. They just swap it out for a full one. So if you bought a shiny new one, that's just a waste of money.

That gave me a great idea! What if I bought all 5 of these items and rigged them up in order onto a 12 oz soda bottle:

• PET Bottle "Carbonator" Cap
  
  
• Disconnect with 1/4" flared male
  
  
• 1/4" flared female to 1/4" MPT
  
  
• 1/4" FPT coupling
  
  
• 1/4 MPT Digital Pressure Gauge

I bought the SS carb caps after my plastic one cracked and started leaking: https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Carbonation-Barb-Drink-Bottles/dp/B00V334SME

Haven't had any issues, they work great for me. They're also awesome because they fit both gas and liquid QDs. So I also use them to flush my lines after a keg kicks.

You can carbonate with a SodaStream or iSi cream whipper, but the per-use cost can get a little high. If you consume a decent volume, or want a little more control over the level of carbonation, here's the setup I use:

• 5-lb CO2 tank (you can fill these at homebrew shops)
  
• Regulator
  
• 5/16" hose w/ ball-lock valve
  
• Carbonator cap
  
  Basic procedure:
  
  
• Fill a PET seltzer bottle about 80% full of whatever you want to carbonate.
  
• Get it really cold.
  
• Squeeze the excess air out of the bottle and tighten the carbonator cap
  
• Attach the CO2 hose, open the valve to start the flow of gas to the bottle, and shake the hell out of it.
  
• Remove the hose, loosen the carbonator cap, and repeat. Once for water, twice for cocktails.

Do you struggle to finish an entire growler? I'm trying to understand how 4 pints of beer is hard for a group of people to finish. Getting past that point. What are you trying to accomplish by having a pressurized growler? Prevent oxidation?

There are carbonation caps which you can do almost what you want. Although I'd use a 2 liter soda bottle and put a pickup tube that goes down to the bottom.
https://www.amazon.com/Happybrew-325-Stainless-Carbonation-Bottles/dp/B00V334SME

Probably not that one. Get one that says it works for both liquid and gas posts like this one. Some do. Some don't. Dual use post allows you to use the bottle for cleaning and maybe it has other uses.

Edit: changed link to the better carb cap that I bought, which includes a barb on underside.

Just need any bottle, any regulator to fit that bottle, beer tubing, a soda keg disconnect, and something called a "carbonator cap". The stainless ones can be found on amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Carbonation-Barb-Drink-Bottles/dp/B00V334SME/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1482679787&sr=8-4&keywords=carbonation+cap

Something like this (random from google for example): https://www.amazon.com/Happybrew-325-Stainless-Carbonation-Bottles/dp/B00V334SME

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

Carbonation cap: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V334SME/

Hose and quick disconnect: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0064OI77Y/

Pressure regulator: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002UZUJ22/

For the tank, contact a local welding shop and ask them to price a pure CO2 cylinder. Tell them what it's for if they ask about grade. Make sure you find out cylinder cost as well as refill cost. I could have gotten a cheaper cylinder on Amazon apparently, but I didn't overpay by much. Mine's a 20 pound, but you can get 5 and 10 as well.

You can hook up your CO2 tank directly to a 2L soda bottle, and bypass the whole Sodastream machine.

Just get one of these hoses with a ball valve adapter to connect to your regulator, and [one of these ball valves to screw onto your soda bottle].(https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Carbonation-Barb-Drink-Bottles/dp/B00V334SME/ref=pd_bxgy_328_img_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=53SWD2Y7DFRQ6TR07RPB)

Second this! It's actually really easy to make at home. Forget about that overpriced landfill-saturating Soda Stream. Go to your local gas dispensary, get a 5lb or 20lb tank of "food grade" CO2, a regulator, some tubing, and a carbonator cap. It's crazy easy, and you end up saving big in the long run. Pennies per gallon instead of dollars per pint. My regulator caps out about 45PSI. I'd recommend maybe 60PSI given my results.

I bought one of these https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Carbonation-Barb-Drink-Bottles/dp/B00V334SME

I just have to disconnect one of my other gas post ball locks from a different keg and I'm good to go.

Yeah, put the regulator on low to fill the balloon. I used one of these things to fill it, have ball lock QD attached to regulator, but many configurations are valid. I think I've seen the barb-qds cheaper on Ebay

I don't know if you have a craft brew set up or not, but a bottle of co2 and a carbonation cap like this will let you mix up, oxygen purge and keep, essentially for ever.

I use the stainless carb cap with a barb on it https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V334SME/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_.jT8ybMVS3DKG


I put a piece of vinyl tubing on the carb cap barb and stick that inside 1/2" silicon tubing as an a reducer of sorts. The pump has a barb that fits 1/2" tubing.

I have this hooked up to a submersion pump (Mark II keg/carboy washer). I just hook the ball lock to it, slip a half inch silicone hose over the tap and lay it in the basin to recirculate.

It's not classy, but I like to use a 2L soda bottle, filled through a carbonation cap with a tube to minimize CO2 loss. Cheap and effective, if sketchy-looking.

I like this version of the carb cap. The barb on the underside let’s you connect tubing for a few extra uses: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V334SME/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_rrkACb3FQHYP7