If you have a homebrewing store nearby, chances are they have the Rainbow brand soda concentrates for $4-5. Mix them with tap water and sugar (or honey or whatever sweetener you prefer) according to directions, add 1/8 tsp. of champagne or ale yeast (natural carbonation), bottle it in a 2L plastic bottle and leave it sit for 2-3 days until the bottle gets firm with carbonation. Let it mellow in the fridge for a week or so and then enjoy some of the best soda you've ever had. The root beer, sarsparilla and orange are my favorites. Be sure to decant the bottle to keep any sediment in the bottom. The yeast has no taste, but is rather cloudy. Don't use bread yeast!

I bought one of the machines last summer, and so far I love it.

Sometimes I have had problems with the soda being too fizzy when I try to add the flavoring and the bottle bubbles over on me, but that was just in the beginning and was trial and error to get the bubble concentration to my liking.

The energy drink is probably my favorite as I am a Red Bull, Full Throttle nut and buy the stuff by the case whenever I see it on sale. The SC drink has an off taste to it, similar to RB, but more of a sweet/sour taste, hard for me to explain, but good nonetheless.

The Co2 cart. lasts quite a long time, and if you buy the refill when you buy your kit they cut you a break like $18 for the refill or something, I used up one and am on my 2nd one, still have not sent one back to get a refill yet, but probably will have to in the next couple of months.

The only complaint I do have is sometimes when you order flavors, the expiration dates are not consistent, like one of my energy drinks only had about 2 months on it, but the orange flavor had 6+ on it. Other than that I have been happy with all the flavors I have ordered, I think that the Mt Dew knockoff they sell tastes more like Mello Yello which is just fine with me.

Any questions just put em here, and I will try to answer best I can.

I picked one up at a yard sale for $5. I tried some differant Torani flavored syrups and they turned out pretty good. It even had a full co2 tank when I bought it.

My problem with this thing is; after watching the video; I noticed after carbonating the water there is no vacuum seal to keep it fresh. If you make a few bottles; it'll all be flat.

This is one reason why I dont buy 2-3 liters of pop. Because the first time its opened air gets to it, so next time I drink it; its near flat.

[ 10-03-2006, 01:29 AM: Message edited by: DakotaDave ]

This works for me.
I found that when drinking out of a bottle (2 litr) that keeping the cap on at all times seems to help keep the carbonation strong. The biggest things are to twist the cap on super tight and store the bottle in the coldest part of the fridge (standing up).

I can keep a half used bottle of soda pop for a good 3 to 4 days this way. I'm picky about carbonation so I do know what you mean. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 10-03-2006, 02:55 AM: Message edited by: Mr Zabe ]