Learning how to make soda yourself allows you to save money and eliminate all the artificial ingredients that are usually present in soda. Whether you decide to mix sweet syrup with sparkling water, or start from scratch with the entire fermentation process, know that soda production is simpler than it seems. With just a few ingredients you can make your own delicious fizzy drink that you can keep in the fridge. Read on to learn more.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Quick Preparation
Step 1. Start by making a thick syrup that will be the base of the soda
The simplest and fastest way to produce soda is to create a thick juice to be diluted with a little sparkling water. If you'd rather brew your soda from scratch, skip this method and move on to the next. Starting with a syrup allows you to avoid messes with yeasts; it is the same technique used by the baristas of the past, but also by the current vending machines. In a saucepan, mix these ingredients:
- 100 g of granulated sugar.
- About 110 ml of water.
- 110 ml of fresh fruit juice or two tablespoons of a flavoring extract.
Step 2. Bring the mixture to a boil
Stir vigorously with a whisk to prevent the sugar from burning. It should dissolve completely and form a thick syrup, so bring it to a boil.
Step 3. Reduce the syrup to half its volume
Lower the heat and simmer until half the initial volume of the mixture remains. The syrup should be thick and sweet; it is a very concentrated liquid and therefore it will be perfect when diluted with cold sparkling water.
Step 4. Pour the syrup into a measuring bottle and store it in the refrigerator
Let it cool down before pouring it into a bottle or vial from which it will be easy to dose. It will stay good for a couple of weeks or more.
If you have a sports bottle this is perfect for storing syrup. You can dose two or more puffs in a glass when you want to make the drink and store the rest in the refrigerator door
Step 5. Serve it with ice and cold sparkling water
Fill a glass with ice water and add a splash of syrup, mix with a spoon to dissolve it. Add more syrup if you like, or more water if it's not diluted enough. Cheers!
If you have the option of having a carbonator, you can also add bubbles to the water and make the process even easier by doing everything yourself. Although the carbonator is not cheap, you will be able to make some soda almost for free. If you drink a lot, you will pay off the cost in no time
Method 2 of 3: Preparation from Scratch
Step 1. Prepare all the necessary ingredients and tools
Soda fermentation is much simpler than you think. All you need is sugar, bottles, aromas and a little time. Here is the detail:
- Enough bottles to hold about 4 liters of liquid. You can recycle old plastic soda bottles if you clean them thoroughly. Many "DIY manufacturers" prefer plastic bottles because there is less chance of them breaking when carbon dioxide is added. Glass bottles, however, are eco-sustainable and last much longer. Screw-cap beer bottles are great for storing soda, as long as you check them carefully while adding gas.
- Sweetener. Regular white sugar is fine, but you can also try alternatives like honey or agave nectar if you want to eliminate refined sugars from your diet. You will need about 50g of sugar (or another sweetener), depending on how sweet you want your soda to be.
- Yeast. Commercial yeasts such as champagne yeasts are easily found in grocery stores, organic food stores and breweries and are perfect for our purpose. Do not use yeast for baking.
- Aromas. There is no limit to the flavors and aromas you can add to your homemade soda. You can find fruit or soda extracts in shops that sell beer items, you can use fruit flavorings, ginger or other roots. You can also use fresh ingredients to make your flavorings, for example do you want to know how to make a honey-lemon-ginger soda? Here we explain it to you.
Step 2. Wash and sterilize the bottles
You will need to let the soda with the bubbles rest at room temperature in the bottles for at least 24 hours, so it is imperative that they are clean and sterilized before starting, to be sure you have killed any bacteria that could contaminate the drink.
- If you use plastic bottles, soak them in a mixture of water and bleach (1 teaspoon of bleach in 4 liters of water) for at least 20 minutes. Rinse the bottles thoroughly to remove any traces of bleach that could kill yeast and damage the carbonation process. If you don't want to use bleach, there are natural products that are often used in brewing, do some research online.
- If you use glass bottles, you can follow the same method as plastic ones, or simply boil them for 5-10 minutes to kill the bacteria.
Step 3. Cook the syrup
The basic method consists in cooking the flavored sugar syrup, then adding the active yeast, bottling and letting carbon dioxide form. The combination of flavors depends on what type of soda you want to make, but the classic proportions are two parts of sweetener for every 18 parts of water (i.e. 440 ml of sweetener in 4 liters of water) and two tablespoons of flavoring. This is the basis for a non-carbonated soft drink.
- If you use extracts for flavoring, heat the liquid a lot without boiling it (38-43 ° C) and dissolve the sugar. Add two tablespoons of flavoring and let the mixture cool for some time until the temperature drops.
- If you use fresh ingredients for flavoring, bring 4 liters of water to a boil, add the fresh ingredients, the sugar, and mix vigorously to dissolve it. Let the syrup cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly, so that the aroma dissolves in the water, then remove from the heat and add the yeasts.
Step 4. Add the yeast
At this point you have a flavored but not carbonated drink. When the sugary liquid reaches about 38 ° C (it must be hot enough to activate the yeasts but not too hot to kill them) add about ¼ teaspoon of champagne yeast and mix vigorously to activate it.
- Yeast, depending on its age, strength and climate, is a difficult ingredient to manage. When you use it for the first time, you may get a drink that is too carbonated or too little, depending on the quantities you have added. However, a dose of ¼ - ½ of a teaspoon should be correct. It's always best to go wrong, however, because you can always add more bubbles later.
- Too much carbon dioxide can cause bottles to explode, causing a mess and even a danger, especially if you're using glass bottles. When making soda for the first time, work with low amounts of yeast and then tweak them as you become more experienced to find the recipe that's right for you.
Step 5. Pour the soda into the bottles
Use a sterilized funnel to fill the bottles, which are also hygienically treated, and then close the caps. Let them sit at room temperature for at least 24 hours to complete the gasification process and then store them in the refrigerator.
- If you made the soda from fresh ingredients, it would be best to filter it to remove any sediment or hard pieces of fruit that may be left in the bottom of the pot.
- If the bottles are too hot once filled and closed, their caps may pop or burst. As soon as bubbles have formed at room temperature, put the bottles in the fridge to keep them safe.
Step 6. Take your first taste outdoors
When the soda has rested for 24 hours, grab a bottle and take it out of the house. It may start to fizz uncontrollably and it is better for the mess to happen in the garden than in the kitchen. If you are satisfied with the flavor, put the bottles in the refrigerator and enjoy them in a week or so. After 5 days in the fridge, the soda tends to lose its carbonation and become smooth.
If it isn't as fizzy as you want, you can leave it at room temperature for another day or two to increase the yeast activity. If that doesn't work, try adding a pinch of yeast. If this last method doesn't work either, drink the smooth soda and try another batch
Method 3 of 3: Classic Recipes
Step 1. Try good old root beer
Since sarsaparilla has been outlawed for making beverages, the root beers on the market are made from the extracts. They can usually be found in brewery stores for € 2-4 in enough quantities to make your own root beer. Continuous consumption and home-made production amortize costs in the long run. There are many brands of these extracts and you can try several until you find the one that suits you the most.
- Add two tablespoons of root beer extract to the water boiled with the sweetener before adding the yeast. Try brown sugar instead of white sugar to give the finished product a molasses flavor.
- You can experiment with different varieties of roots to try out new flavors. Licorice extract is commercially available and has a delicious and surprising flavor, especially if you add lemon zest.
Step 2. Try a fruit soda by adding the extracts or juice
Oranges, grapes, lemon and lime, strawberries and even a lemon-papaya mix: there are no limits to creativity! Add a couple of fruit extracts to make a summer-flavored soda.
- Instead of using the extract, the preparation begins with grape juice instead of water to prepare the authentic grape drink. It's definitely different from the weird purple liquid you can buy at the grocery store.
- If you like a citrus-flavored drink, steep the peels of oranges, lemons, or limes in sugar water for several hours. Strain the liquid and add the activated yeast. Thanks to the skins you will get a soda with a strong flavor.
- Consider adding a few drops of food coloring if you want the color of the liquid to "match" the flavor.
Step 3. Try making a Coke
Its flavor is virtually impossible to identify and replicate for one reason only: you don't become the number one soda maker without any reason! However, by adding the right combination of essential oils to the classic soda base, you can try to get closer to the flavor of Coke. Try different mixes to try to remake his taste as precisely as possible; start with a combination of equal parts of these ingredients, to begin with:
- Orange.
- Lime.
- Lemon.
- Nutmeg.
- Coriander.
- Lavender.
Step 4. Make ginger ale
It is the classic, simple, refreshing drink. You can make it from raw ginger root and sweeten it with honey to beat any ginger soda you find on the market. It will be an excellent base for your drinks, or to drink pure with ice. Here's how to do it:
