How to make your own bright water (2021)

Sorry, Perrier: Anyone whoever cleans a taco al pastor knows that Topo Chico is the king of shining waters. Unfortunately, thanks to thick Mexican glass bottles and Mexican shipping rates, this magnificent masterpiece is much more expensive than La Croix.

After a few years of crushing burrito missions in San Francisco Bay, my financial brother did some mental drunkenness and sent me a Facebook message: $ 3,800. That’s what he said it costs to drink eight bottles a day at Topo Chico on average for just over $ 1 per drink — the price of San Francisco Whole Foods — he claimed.

As an old home beer with barrel, kegerator, CO₂ the tank, and getting into the minerals that make my beer crisp and turn my malt lags into silks, I laughed. I’ve been making my own bright water for years.

It was then that I realized that I wasn’t the stylish pants that spent too much money on beer gear. He thought of doing the same, because of the habit of sparkling water. The previous cost was quite high, but with the necessary equipment, my brother could have made his bright water for much less than $ 3,800.

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Mathematics

Let’s start with a kegerator that costs around $ 1,000. You can also use this setup for beer, cider, wine, and other drinking barrels, all of which are significantly cheaper as barrels.

There is also the benefit of the environment. Although glass and cans are recyclable, many of them end up in landfills. I drink from a reusable homemade Topo Chico, insulated bowl or hydroplate. I barely touch a single-use can or bottle.

Plus, the flavors are incredibly cheap. You can buy lime and grapefruit extract powders online for less than $ 50 a pack of 500. Like a hard seltzer? You can buy flavor online, pour in your barrel of bright water, add a little alcohol to the clean grain and voilà: hard seltzer!

Sodastreams and other devices make bright water at home, but in the long run they are less cost-effective and less versatile. We all have a friend who tried to carbonate the juice or wine in a Sodastream and broke it. With a barrel and a CO₂ tank, you can do whatever you want and carbonate.

If you have the space and find yourself recycling dozens of cans and bottles a week, you should think about doing it yourself. They hardly drink sparkling drinks, and the recycling bin is much more empty than when I bought it beforehand.

Kegerator

I’ve been confused about the Kegerator theme over the years. I built it with my little fridge, chest freezer, and fridge-based burners, with hoses and accessories, but it’s much easier to buy something designed for the job. When you consider the cost of hoses, connectors and faucets, it’s not so much more money.

Used kegerators appear regularly on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, but I like them These basic EdgeStar kegerators ($ 559), With enough space to fit two 5-liter barrels at the same time. You can save one barrel of water for carbonation while the other is in a vortex. You can save problems two-cover version ($ 659) a hundred dollars more. If you’ve read this far, you’ll end up wanting to touch two.