Are there any household gadgets you found unexpectedly useful after you'd gotten them?
Are there any household gadgets you found unexpectedly useful after you'd gotten them?
I was thinking about how I missed having an indoor thermometer that measures humidity. It's such a small specific thing, one I'd never think of getting unless pushed to it (which I was by one particularly dry winter). But I like having one now.
What are your small, "random" or "junk drawer" type of gadgets that you actually use or like having around?
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I got a carbonization machine. I've been drinking way more water these days. I always thought I liked soda because of the sugar. Actually I liked the fizziness. It gets fizzier than anything else I've ever drank.
I can't agree more! I have tried both soda stream and drinkmate and would recommend the drinkmate. It's just better, you can fizz juice and non-water drinks. Soda stream is also a consumer boycott target if you don't want to support the genocide in Palestine. 😬
I've been wanting to get one for forever, but was told you couldn't carbonate non water drinks, and to mix flavor into the carbonated water (which, to my thinking, would make it go flat...). In the drink mate, could I make Kool aid (with Splenda) and carbonate that? Cause if I can have fizzy cherry drink, I'll be a happy boy.
You can carbonate non-water drinks with anyone of those, regardless of brand - heck, Sodastream even sells you flavoured syrup to mix with your water.
Just, be careful to clean those nozzles more, as sugary drinks are sticky by nature.
You can totally carbonate non-water. But be careful.
Wine is pretty nice, rum and whiskey will take ten times the amount of gas and then explode all over, 'fallen soldiers' will still taste stale...
Fruit juices are good too, but also will take more gas than they can hold
Thank you for already trying the things i was curious about
You can carbonate and then add Kool aid liquid drink mix. That will keep the carbonating nozzle clean while still giving you your choice of flavor.
I have a Soda Stream and use powders. The trick is to turn your powder into a “syrup” first.
Mix your powder with 1-2 oz of water, stir it well (I use a hand held milk frother), and then put that into your bubbly water.
If you corbonise rose wine in the soda stream, put less than you would have put water. Like 80%. Or the bottle might like get a bit stuck. Or so I have heard.
Also guess don't put sugary wine in it, never knew why you shouldn't though, CO2 doesn't react with sugar, right? Please do tell if you know!
It dislodges and shoots red wine all over your kitchen.
I'm lazy AF, so I just give it a gooood rinse in hot water after every use. I will say it is one more step than the soda stream but there is the added benefit that you never will need to play against the clock when dumping syrups it after you've carbonated. I always ended up with a sticky mess after failing to seal in time with the soda stream.
Cold, fresh seltzer water is the nectar of the gods. If you get unflavored seltzer in a can it has a noticeable unpleasant aftertaste, which I guess is why almost all of them are flavored. But plain filtered tap water in a seltzer maker? Glorious.
I've had a hacked up sodastream for over a decade. I get a 20lb co2 tank connected to it. Seltzer all day for months for like $30/refill
Ide recommend an in line filter for that co2 tank. Had a 20# set up for my kegerator (had a tank just for carb water) The gas should be clean but there was definitely an odd taste to it until I installed a filter. A bit expensive at <200USD but highly recommend.
Interesting. I haven't noticed any weirdness and the place refilling it advertises it as 'food grade co2'. I also use it for my beer kegs. No issue. I used to get refills from a wedding shop. That was a bit sketchy but also no issues with taste.
I was under the impression that my source was food grade as well, but I noticed it when coming from soda stream to kegged carb water having a slight bitter taste. Disappeared with the filter and subsequent refills for both soda and beer. It could very well be how strong I made the carb water too.
That's really odd. I'm glad I never did deal with that.
We used a soda stream for a little while until we realized how stupid expensive they are. Then we donated it and went to the local beer brewing shop and asked how we can make our own carbonated water. He hooked us up with a 5 lb canister of Co2, a valve, a hose, and a connector that goes on 2 liter bottles. Now we can make carbonated water in larger quantities for pennies on the dollar compared to soda stream. It costs about $35 to refill the Co2 canister and it lasts 6-8 months worth of constant use.