Has anyone had any luck with sparkling water or other carbonated non-fermented drinks? There's a sparkling water option but after 10 hours of it "pressurizing" it still spits out flat water. I think it would work better if there was a tube that went down from the CO2 inlet to the bottom, so that the CO2 bubbles could suspend in solution, but it's not an option and the AS coupler only fits 5L mini kegs.
Is the water you are using cold? It can take a while for Co2 to carbonate liquid. You coud try hooking up the Co2 and then shaking the keg to increase surface area with the gas.
Have you been able to carbonate other beverages?
Yes, the water was cold. I've used the sparkling water function with both plain water and twice with a sodastream syrup mixed with water, and all three times it has come out flat. It takes 10 hours each time. I just don't think it's capable of making sparkling beverages that aren't fermented, and those come out over-carbonated.
I'll try this at some point and report back. Everything that is needed to make sparkling water is there, just like everything that is needed to make fermented beverages that are not over carbonated is there. It's just a matter of technique, which I learned with my last brew.
