Brew Your Own Soda Pop
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Before Pepsi and Coke, how did people get soda? They made their own! Here are procedures which vary from traditional to modern.
Contents
Steps
Traditional Symbiotic Bacteria-Yeast Culture
- Measure out a quantity of water equal to the amount of soft drink you want to make.
- Boil any flavoring herbs or roots (ie, ginger) in the water.
- Strain the flavoring ingredients from the liquid.
- Dissolve some sugar in the water. Perhaps 1.5 cups/gallon. This sugar may be white or brown, as desired.
- Pour the liquid into a fermentation container. The volume of this container should be somewhat larger than the volume of the liquid, and the container should be able to be sealed.
- Allow the liquid to cool to body temperature (37°C) or less.
- Add some (perhaps 1 cup per gallon) Lactobacillus Hilgardii (Make a Ginger Beer Culture) culture. This may be purchased, or reused from a previous batch.
- Add an Make-an-Airlock-for-Wine-and-Beer-Production to the vessel, or some other way to keep intruding oxygen to a minimum.
- Allow the beverage to ferment in a dark place for a few days. Fewer days (perhaps as few as 3) results in a wetter (as opposed to dry and astringent) mouth-feel and a more pronounced change in flavor, as well as a somewhat higher (though still very low - most will be converted to lactic acid) alcohol content. A long fermentation period for a soft drink may be considered to be 10-12 days - though these numbers are rough and depend upon the exact cultivar of ginger beer plant, the initial chemistry of the liquid, and the conditions under which the fermentation is proceeding.
- When the fermentation is "complete", siphon off the liquid, leaving behind any sediment at the bottom of the container, into pressure-capable bottles (or other containers).
- You may notice a bunch of translucent, granular lumps: these are ginger beer plant nodules. Gather them and keep them refrigerated so that you can start the next batch.
- Allow the bottles to sit around in a dark place, carbonating themselves with the CO2 produced by the yeast, but do not let the bottles sit too long: they might burst! After a period of time (perhaps 2-5 days), it would be prudent to refrigerate them to slow the build of pressure, but it will still be necessary to consume them within a month.
- Consume the beverage.
Semi-Traditional Yeast Fermentation
- Measure out a quantity of water equal to the amount of soft drink you want to make.
- Boil any flavoring herbs or roots (ie, ginger) in the water.
- Strain the flavoring ingredients from the liquid.
- Dissolve some sugar in the water. Perhaps 1.5 cups/gallon. This sugar may be white or brown, as desired.
- Pour the liquid into a fermentation container. The volume of this container should be somewhat larger than the volume of the liquid, and the container should be able to be sealed.
- Allow the liquid to cool to body temperature (37°C) or less.
- Add some (perhaps 1/8 teaspoon per gallon) yeast, preferably a wine or beer yeast. Bread yeast may be used if you have absolutely no choice in the matter...
- Add an Make-an-Airlock-for-Wine-and-Beer-Production to the vessel, or some other way to keep intruding oxygen to a minimum.
- Allow the beverage to ferment in a dark place for a few days. Fewer days (perhaps as few as 3) results in a wetter (as opposed to dry and astringent) mouth-feel and a more pronounced change in flavor, as well as a significantly higher alcohol content. A long fermentation period for a soft drink may be considered to be 10-12 days - though these numbers are rough and depend upon the exact cultivar of yeast, the initial chemistry of the liquid, and the conditions under which the fermentation is proceeding.
- When the fermentation is "complete", Start-a-Siphon-(Fish-Tank) off the liquid, leaving behind any sediment at the bottom of the container, into pressure-capable bottles (or other containers).
- Allow the bottles to sit around in a dark place, carbonating themselves with the CO2 produced by the yeast, but do not let the bottles sit too long: they might burst! After a period of time (perhaps 2-5 days), it would be prudent to refrigerate them to slow the build of pressure, but it will still be necessary to consume them within a month.
- Consume the beverage.
Modern (No Fermentation) Method
- Measure out a quantity of water equal to the amount of soft drink you want to make.
- Boil any flavoring herbs or roots (ie, ginger) in the water.
- Strain the flavoring ingredients from the liquid.
- Dissolve some sugar in the water. Perhaps 1.5 cups/gallon. This sugar may be white or brown, as desired.
- Pour the liquid into a fermentation container. The volume of this container should be somewhat larger than the volume of the liquid, and the container should be able to be sealed.
- Allow the liquid to cool. The cooler the better; refrigerate it if you can.
- Carbonate-a-Beverage the liquid with an outside source of CO2, perhaps using dry iced or a pressurized bottle of the gas.
- Some popular methods of carbonating liquids involve using a modern carbonator like the Sodastream or Fizz-Giz products or a homebrew kit.
Video
Template:Video:Brew Your Own Soda Pop
Tips
- With hard candy, you can heat it up a little in some water until it becomes candy flavored water.
- To make soda look and taste more interesting, use juice ice cubes. Not only will it make the soda look nice and cool, it will add a punch of flavor.
Example Flavorings
- Ginger Ale: {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} grated ginger per gallon
- Old Fashioned (and carcinogenic) Root Beer: grated sassafras and sarsaparilla to taste
- Lemon Lime: lemon and lime juice to taste (remember that the liquid will become less sweet upon fermentation/carbonation)
- Write down your ingredients and exactly how much you put in for which liquid/syrup for future reference.
Warnings
- If you are going to use hard candy, be sure to get lots of the same kind of flavor because one would only flavor it a little bit.
- You may want to do smaller batches (say, 1 gallon) when trying experimental flavors.
Things You'll Need
- Herbs/fruit juices/roots for flavoring
- Syrup/honey/sugar for sweetening
- Source of CO2; ginger beer plant, wine yeast, or just the pure compound.
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