Brew Your Own Soda Pop

Before Pepsi and Coke, how did people get soda? They made their own! Here are procedures which vary from traditional to modern.

Steps

Traditional Symbiotic Bacteria-Yeast Culture

  1. Measure out a quantity of water equal to the amount of soft drink you want to make.
  2. Boil any flavoring herbs or roots (ie, ginger) in the water.
  3. Strain the flavoring ingredients from the liquid.
  4. Dissolve some sugar in the water. Perhaps 1.5 cups/gallon. This sugar may be white or brown, as desired.
  5. 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.
  6. Allow the liquid to cool to body temperature (37°C) or less.
  7. 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.
  8. Add an Make-an-Airlock-for-Wine-and-Beer-Production to the vessel, or some other way to keep intruding oxygen to a minimum.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. Consume the beverage.

Semi-Traditional Yeast Fermentation

  1. Measure out a quantity of water equal to the amount of soft drink you want to make.
  2. Boil any flavoring herbs or roots (ie, ginger) in the water.
  3. Strain the flavoring ingredients from the liquid.
  4. Dissolve some sugar in the water. Perhaps 1.5 cups/gallon. This sugar may be white or brown, as desired.
  5. 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.
  6. Allow the liquid to cool to body temperature (37°C) or less.
  7. 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...
  8. Add an Make-an-Airlock-for-Wine-and-Beer-Production to the vessel, or some other way to keep intruding oxygen to a minimum.
  9. 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.
  10. 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).
  11. 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.
  12. Consume the beverage.

Modern (No Fermentation) Method

  1. Measure out a quantity of water equal to the amount of soft drink you want to make.
  2. Boil any flavoring herbs or roots (ie, ginger) in the water.
  3. Strain the flavoring ingredients from the liquid.
  4. Dissolve some sugar in the water. Perhaps 1.5 cups/gallon. This sugar may be white or brown, as desired.
  5. 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.
  6. Allow the liquid to cool. The cooler the better; refrigerate it if you can.
  7. 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.



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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