Homemade sodas?

[shireen]

Has anyone tried making homemade sodas, either with yeasts, carbonating the beverage, or using tonic water with syrups?

I love Gus extra dry ginger ale but it's pricey. So I'm looking for a way to make dry ginger ale at home. I'd also love to try making sodas out of apple, passion fruit, and raspberry juices.

Also interested in making ginger beer, you know, the kind with alcohol in it.

[cbayer]

1. A friend has one of those soda machines and loves it.

All it does is inject CO2 into any liquid you choose. I don't know if it will save a lot of money, but you can make only what you need, so you don't throw out flat beverages.

Here is a pretty good article on it:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/flavor-base--bubbles--easy-homemade-soda/2011/07/07/gIQASjpzNI_story.html

[Retrograde]

4. I've done ginger ale using yeast

according to Alton Brown's directions at the Food Network website. It didn't explode (a plastic bottle helped), and tasted like commercial ginger ale. The recipe I used made 2 liters, and took about a week.

[eridani]

5. You add the CO2 BEFORE you add flavoring

Any flavoring you make will need to be reasonably concentrated. Maybe trying various ginger ale recipes without the yeast until you find something that you like?

[Warpy]

2. Yeasted sodas are very tricky

because you don't get to an end point when the yeast has used up all the sugar and then re sugar it with enough dextrose to carbonate and no more. Most people who try things like root beers end up with alcoholic soda and a lot of broken bottles.

I have a Soda Stream setup and it's great. Most of their mixes are good but I confess I didn't like their ginger ale. YMMV, somebody must like it or they'd make it differently.

The break even point on the Soda Stream is $2.50 per case of canned soda, something you can equal and often beat on generic Walmart sodas or at Costco. The best parts are not having to lug stuff home from the market and then recycle all the containers.

[Major Nikon]

15. I never thought it was all that tricky

My dad taught me how to do it as a kid. If you use glass bottles they do explode occasionally, but as long as you keep them in a box the glass is contained. A water tight bottomed box will also contain the mess. PEP bottles almost completely eliminates this problem because they will expand before exploding. Certain types of yeast will also stop fermenting under high pressure.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. I make my own "syrups" and add club soda or sparkling water.

You can make lemon, lime, ginger ale syrup with just water, sugar, and the other ingredient.

Right now, I've run concord grapes through the juicer, making it a concentrate, and add the sparkling water. It's divine!

[Denninmi]

6. I've done this, too

Honestly, the most simple and cost effective way. This is all the soda stream machines do. Club soda can be really cheap if you buy the store house brand on sale.

[shireen]

7. how do you make ginger ale syrup?

I'd like to try that. Lime sounds wonderful too!

[no_hypocrisy]

9. Two recipes

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/homemade_ginger_ale/

http://homecooking.about.com/od/beveragerecipes/r/blbev7.htm


The taste is so different from Canada Dry, no high fructose corn syrup, and b/c of the ginger, you get heat while drinking ice cold soda.

[shireen]

10. thank you so much!

I assume you've tried them, based on your comments.

This is exciting! I can make my own and save a lot of money.

[no_hypocrisy]

11. You're welcome. Hope you prefer your own brand to store-bought.

[jackbenimble]

13. Ginger syrup

I didn't check out the recipes but I just wanted to comment that making a simple ginger syrup is about one of the easiest things in the world, and you can freeze it. I like ginger syrup in my coffee or tea. I discovered how easy it was to make a syrup when I was making candied ginger awhile back (very yummy). If you just slice up some ginger pieces and boil until you have a tea of sorts then add sugar or honey to taste and cook until fully dissolved. Store in a jar in the fridge. Depending on the amount of sugar used it will keep for quite awhile. You can freeze it as well if you want to make a large batch. If you make it sugar free I would freeze it in cubes and just take out what you need because without the sugar it wont last as long.

[shireen]

21. exactly what i need!

Thanks.

[shireen]

8. thanks everyone, those are great ideas.

i'll check into them. Soda stream sounds great but seems a bit pricey. But definitely worth considering ....

Again, thanks so much!

[NMDemDist2]

12. there's a work around for the expense of the CO2

there was a thread in hints forum a while back

http://www.democraticunderground.com/109398

[Major Nikon]

16. If you wanted to go that route there's no need to buy the sodastream at all

You can get a CO2 bottle and special caps that can adapt it to any bottle that takes 2 liter pop bottle caps. You can get everything you need from northern brewing supply and fill you tanks locally at home brew shops. That's what I do. The adapter kit is good if you already have a sodastream and want to keep using it for whatever reason.

[shireen]

20. oh great ....

now you've given me more homework to do.
Thanks, I'll check out that site.

[Major Nikon]

24. Here's what you'll need

Typical bottle sizes are 5, 10, 15, 20 lbs. I have a 20 lb bottle which lasts for a very long time even though I make a lot. You'll need a regulator, dual gauge with a valve preferably. Mine goes to 40 psi. I wish it went a bit higher, but 40 is fine. You'll need a hose and a ball lock connector. Other than tephlon tape and a wrench, that's it. You can google these things and you might find them cheaper. I don't recommend buying a used tank because you don't know what's been in it and they need to be inspected every 5 years (I think), or you can't get them filled. Used regulators are OK. You might find the tank and regulator locally cheaper. Check with gas companies, welding supply shops, and home brew supply shops. You may want more than one carbonator cap. I have 3. There are videos on YouTube which show how to charge your bottles. Make sure you remove the plastic ring from used PEP bottles or you wont get a good seal. This same setup can be used to charge home brew beer kegs. You can also carbonate home brew in 2 liter bottles the same way as soda. If you buy commercial soda in PEP bottles, you can recharge leftovers and they don't go flat.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/kegging/tubing/tubing-kits/gas-connector-kit-bl-ball-lock-version.html
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/co2-cylinder-10-empty.html
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/dual-gauge-regulator-w-1-4mfl-backcheck-outlet.html
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/the-carbonator.html

[shireen]

19. but getting CO2 from a welding company is not food grade CO2.

So I'm a bit nervous about using it. I

[NMDemDist2]

23. crap! now you tell me! we've been using it for 3 years

the one thing we do is own our own tanks and don't allow them to exchange them

[Major Nikon]

26. CO2 is CO2

Food grade CO2 would be like food grade H2O. All CO2 originates from the same source regardless of where you get it. The only hazard you might face at a welding supply shop is cross contamination with other gases, but the risk is low. Even in the off chance that you had acetelyne contamination, you'd be able to smell it. I've been getting oxygen for aviation use from a welding supply shop for years and never had a problem.

[TreasonousBastard]

27. When I was a kid, we has one of these...

They're still around for 50 bucks and up, and the CO2 cartridges seem to be around 10 for 5 bucks.

Google "soda siphon" and see what's out there.

[Major Nikon]

14. I have a pretty good amount of experience doing it

I've done it pretty much every way you can imagine. Each way has advantages and disadvantages.

Making ginger beer is pretty easy. Grind up a piece of fresh ginger about half the size of your thumb with a cheese shredder. Seep with about 5 cups of nearly boiling water until the water returns to room temperature. Do NOT proceed until the water has cooled. Stain the mixture (or don't if you want), and pour into a 2 liter plastic pop bottle along with 6-8 oz of sugar and 1/8 tsp of active baking yeast. Fill with water(preferably filtered), leaving an inch or two of headspace. Cap tightly and leave at room temperature for a couple of days. When the bottle gets too hard to squeeze, it's ready. If you leave it out too long the bottle will eventually explode making one helluva mess not to mention scaring the shit out of everyone because it will sound like a bomb when it goes. I've never had this happen and I think it would take a week or more, but you've been warned. Once it's ready you can refrigerate to slow the fermenting process. After opening, the remaining ginger ale will continue to ferment and make more fizz. The possibility of explosion is still there, but I once forgot about a bottle in the fridge and it stayed there a month without exploding. As with other methods, you can experiment with the amount of ginger and sugar to suit your tastes. This method will produce alcohol as a by product, but in extremely low levels. You can give it to kids without worry. The disadvantages are it takes time and you will wind up with a yeast taste which is unlike commercial ginger ale. You can use other types of yeast available in home brew stores that have less taste.

One of the easiest and most convenient ways to do it is with a seltzer bottle. The disadvantages are cost and the level of fizz you get. You can't put anything besides plain water in a seltzer bottle, so by the time you thin down the seltzer with your syrup and stir, you don't wind up with a lot of fizz. Buying the CO2 chargers in bulk reduces cost, but it's still relatively expensive. You are also volume limited by the size of your seltzer bottle and it takes a little while to cool the bottle and water down in the fridge.

Lots of people use soda stream and similar products. This is also a relatively expensive method because you are somewhat obligated to using their proprietary supplies. There is a way to hook up a CO2 bottle to the soda stream to reduce costs. I've never used their products, so I can't say how well they work.

If you plan on making a lot of soda, it's worth it to buy a CO2 bottle. The only real disadvantage is startup costs. Since I make a lot of seltzer, this is the method I use. If you are interested in this, I can give you more info.

[shireen]

18. thanks, i really like that ginger beer recipe.

it's good stuff. But what's the difference between ginger beer and ginger ale? Is it the ingredients? I've made ginger beer when i was a kid, and didn't care for the yeasty taste from baking yeast. So if i try it again, I'd want to get maybe a wine or beer yeast.

I explored this soda-making stuff last night and decided to get a soda stream. It's expensive and i don't like the way they've made their equipment proprietary, but it's convenient and i'll be making a healthier drink where i can control the amount of sugar. Gus soda makes an awesome ginger ale, with little sugar, and i'd like to be able to mimic something like that.

Thanks for your comments!

[Major Nikon]

25. There's no diffence really

Some products marketed as ginger beer contain no alcohol, and really are just fancy ginger ale. Some may have as much alcohol as regular beer, while some have the alcohol content of near beer. Most I've seen have little to no alcohol content.

[imgbitepolitic]

17. very yummy

i make them once a month in gallon batches all organic ingred.

[shireen]

22. this is one of the reasons i love DU

you've given me such valuable information! THank you all so much!!!