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Make Your Own Soda Pop
If you’ve worked concessions at a movie theater, you know how to make soda fizzy: Run a tube from a CO2 canister to your container of cola syrup and turn it on, and the gas creates bubbles in the cola. Most commercial soda companies use this “forced carbonation,” as do bars and fast-food restaurants.
The other two ways of carbonating, both forms of natural fermentation, use yeasts. In the first method, packaged yeast is added to your other soda ingredients. Then you bottle the soda and allow the yeast to consume the sugar. The yeast releases gasses in the form of bubbles. There is a risk of your bottles exploding if you add too much yeast. We have measured out exactly how much you need for our root beer recipe.
You can also ferment using only naturally occurring yeasts found in the air, as we did in our ginger beer recipe. As strange as it may sound, you simply expose your base sugar water to the air, and allow yeasts to battle for dominance. Eventually one strain wins, and that’s your yeast. You add the resulting bug, a frothy liquid that’s sort of like a sourdough starter, to the rest of your ingredients and bottle the mixture. Of the three methods, this produces the lightest carbonation, so there’s little risk of your bottles exploding.
Are there any poisonous or dangerous yeasts that could get into your drink? No, says Tucker Madey, of San Francisco Brewcraft, a home brewing supply store in San Francisco.
“There’s no natural yeast that will hurt you, as far as I know,” says Madey. “I’ve never heard of anything.” Bacterial contamination is a possibility, but not any more so than when you’re making any kind of food.
To stop fermentation, all you need to do is refrigerate your bottles. Yeast goes dormant in cold temperatures.
-Lessley Anderson
Unfortunately, ohbejoyful, that is one of the limitations of sodastream - only supports carbonating water. With the Fizz Giz, that is not an issue. With sodastream, you hook a bottle to their apparatus and press button to inject co2. The problem is that you then have to unscrew the bottle while the contents are still in the process of reaching equilibrium. they've not yet had time to settle. You...+READ
Unfortunately, ohbejoyful, that is one of the limitations of sodastream - only supports carbonating water. With the Fizz Giz, that is not an issue. With sodastream, you hook a bottle to their apparatus and press button to inject co2. The problem is that you then have to unscrew the bottle while the contents are still in the process of reaching equilibrium. they've not yet had time to settle. You know what happens if you shake up a can of coca cola & hand it to someone to open. But if you shake it up, then sit it in the fridge overnight and open it the next day, you don't get the volcano. Time will allow the agitated state to stabilize. With the fizz giz, ya don't have to unscrew the cap immediately. You can carbonate a 6-pak or a 12-pak & sit it in the fridge for later consumption. Piece-o-cake.-COLLAPSE
With the FizzGiz you can use standard food grade CO2 cartridges which are readily available locally. Their site has more information on how to find food grade cartidges: http://www.sodamaker.biz
I like making soda by carbonating water at home (Sodastream or Fizzgiz) and making or buying syrups for soda pop (pittsburgh soda pop). With the Steel City Cola from Pgh Soda, I can add grenadine, or Hershey's chocolate syrup to liven it up.
I have my own SodaStream and I love using it, but it has its limitations. You cannot inject a juice or any other pre-sweetened liquid with carbonation - you'll end up with a volcanic overflow. Yes, you can make your own syrups, but there is a difference between soda water flavoured with homemade blackberry syrup, and carbonated blackberry juice, and it's nice to know how to make the latter.
I honestly like to make my own soda with a soda maker. It's pretty simple, the only thing is you have to get refills on the carbonators.
They have both the SodaStream and the ISI Soda Siphons at http://makeyourownsoda.org
I disagree with some of the comments made about bottles exploding because of too much yeast added at first. I have made root beer for years and rarely have I had a bottle explode. Yeast grows on sugar. Putting in less yeast at the start just means it takes longer for the soda to brew. But, from personal experience, each single bottle can end up with probably the equivalent of a package of yeast...+READ
I disagree with some of the comments made about bottles exploding because of too much yeast added at first. I have made root beer for years and rarely have I had a bottle explode. Yeast grows on sugar. Putting in less yeast at the start just means it takes longer for the soda to brew. But, from personal experience, each single bottle can end up with probably the equivalent of a package of yeast at the bottom when done. Yes, yeast does go dormant in a refrigerator. But, it also stops growing as the soda becomes more alcoholic and carbonated...which acidifies the soda. To prevent exploding bottles, either use plastic bottles or glass bottles of a returnable nature. The disposable glass bottles are of thinner glass. Then, put the bottle in the cooler after 2-3 days. Pasteurize sealed bottles of soda? In my opinion that WOULD be a good way to make the explode, because the warmer the soda is, the less gas it can hold.-COLLAPSE
its much better to use on of those home soda makers
Very easy to use and beats having to always drive down to the store to buy soda.
I got mine using a $10 discount coupon and free delivery thru http://makeyoursoda.com
Of course, my instructions were meant for bottles that had already been property carbonated before you pasteurize.
Bill
davis... is correct; over carbonated bottles can explode. I can't think of any reason for not using plastic bottles; they, too, will explode if pressure gets high enough, but I think they can probably take more pressure and I'm pretty sure that risk of injury will be less. Alternatively, if you want to go to all the trouble, is to pasteurize your sealed bottles -- the heat will actually kill the...+READ
davis... is correct; over carbonated bottles can explode. I can't think of any reason for not using plastic bottles; they, too, will explode if pressure gets high enough, but I think they can probably take more pressure and I'm pretty sure that risk of injury will be less. Alternatively, if you want to go to all the trouble, is to pasteurize your sealed bottles -- the heat will actually kill the yeast. I've never done this because I don't make soda, but I would suppose that even soaking the bottles for awhile in very hot water -- even just 160F -- so long as the contents of the bottle get that hot and stay at that temp for maybe an hour -- would most likely kill all of the yeast so that you'd never need to worry about bottle bombs.
Cheers.
Bill Velek-COLLAPSE
Please, for the sake of safety and your eyes, do not follow these instructions. You may succeed once or twice, but you WILL eventually get a bottle explosion. Search the Google Groups newsgroup archives and you will see hundreds of threads on this topic. Bottle explosions are not fun. At the minimum you'll have a big mess of slushy glass shards to clean up, and if your luck is not so good you'll...+READ
Please, for the sake of safety and your eyes, do not follow these instructions. You may succeed once or twice, but you WILL eventually get a bottle explosion. Search the Google Groups newsgroup archives and you will see hundreds of threads on this topic. Bottle explosions are not fun. At the minimum you'll have a big mess of slushy glass shards to clean up, and if your luck is not so good you'll have a trip to the emergency room for glass removal from your eyes or some other part of your body.
Refrigeration does -NOT- stop fermentation!! It merely slows it down. And putting in less yeast is certainly not going to make more or less carbonation--yeast, like other organisms, can do this neat little trick called reproduction. This type of carbonation is unpredictable and dangerous; depending on the exact temperature, wort composition, and mood of the yeast (age, vigor, etc) it may take 20 days for an explosion, or it may take 12 hours.
You have no way of knowing what's going to happen if you try this method, so instead go out and buy some good quality locally made craft soda. Or get a CO2 tank and a carbonation cap and carbonate your own that way. This will lead to much better control over your carbonation levels, a much safer process, and you'll be sipping your soda in minutes instead of days.-COLLAPSE
Wicked. My 6 yr old loves root beer, so this will be perfect for a brew day w/him!
San Francisco brewcraft is a fantastic place to go to pick up supplies for the first time brewer. The staff there will gladly get you started and guide you throw all steps of the brewing process.
Awesome. =)