Provident Gourmet: Sodas

[ebonypearl]

My First Raspberry
Originally uploaded by nodigio

Home made sodas are delicious and much simpler than people think. Like baking, you will need a few pieces of specialized equipment, some ingredients, a bit of creativity, a bit of time, and the results are beverages that are tasty with ingredients you can trust. They are often less sweet, and if you want to play with yeast-based carbonation, more nutritious, too. You can customize home made sodas in ways you could never get from commercial sodas.

Before we discuss equipment, let’s talk about the different types of sodas you can easily make and some of the methods for making them.

Still Sodas. These are non-carbonated fruit or herb based beverages, like ades and orgeats and still meads. These are simple, uncarbonated, non-sparkling beverages.

Sparkling or Carbonated Sodas. These fizz and foam and bubble. There are several methods to getting a carbonated soda: 1. through lacto-fermentation (the cheapest, healthiest, and tastiest, but most time-consuming), 2. through forced carbonation with carbon dioxide, 3. through the use of carbonation powders, and 4. by adding flavored syrups to seltzer water.

Lemonade is probably the most familiar still “soda” we know. Cool-ades are another form of still soda. These are quick to make and can also be converted easily to our more familiar fizzy sodas by adding the syrups to seltzer water or by force carbonating with a carbonation machine.

You’re probably more interested in the bubbly sodas and how to make them.

My personal preferred method is through lacto-fermentation – using yeast to create a natural carbonation in the drink. There is a trick to fermenting the beverage so it lacks alcohol (feeding sugar to yeast creates alcohol), a matter of timing more than anything. Both under and over-fermentation can lead to a measurable alcohol content, but that will still be less than the alcohol in any of the so-called “alcohol-free” beers like O’Doul’s. In the event of an apocalypse and the end of the world as we know it or a complete breakdown of society, this may be the only viable method of creating carbonated, fizzy beverages.

Lacto-fermentation involves using champagne or ale yeast ad stopping the fermentation after it carbonates and before it creates alcohol. The method is very similar to brewing except for the timing, and you’ll use much the same equipment.

Equipment

You’ll need bottles. You can recycle and use plastic soda bottles. At events and parties where 2 liter bottles of soda or club soda are used, collect the empty bottles, sterilize them, and you’re good to go. Don’t get plastic bottles out of recycle bins – they may be contaminated and some contaminants don’t wash out. Be sure the only thing they contained was soda and that they were placed in a bin with no other trash. These 2 liter soda bottles will last a longer time than the caps, so replace the caps periodically. When the soda bottles are wrinkled and worn and won’t hold a seal anymore, put them in a recycling bin. Plastic bottles are safer to use when you’re first getting started because over-carbonation can cause the soda bottles to explode – and exploding plastic, while messy, won’t hurt you the way an exploding glass bottle could. Once you’ve got the knack of carbonating, you can switch to glass bottles.

If you use glass bottles, use beer or wine bottles – either recycled or new from a beer supply store. These bottles are designed to withstand the fermenting pressures of carbonation and are less likely to break. Don’t get the screw cap ones, get the crown capped ones or the flipper topped bottles. If you get the crown-capped bottles, you’ll need a bottle capper. I prefer the bench capper because I can exert more leverage in capping the bottles. Hand cappers require a bit more hand strength than I have. Get the one you like best.

You’ll also need:
a primary fermenter bucket,
a siphon kit,
measuring spoons,
funnels,
a large 5 gallon stock pot (non-reactive),
cheesecloth,
a non-reactive spoon large enough for the stockpot,
Straight A Cleanser or chlorine bleach for sterilizing your equipment,
a bottle brush,
candy thermometer, and
labels. That’s the equipment list.

You’ll need ingredients: mostly fruits and herbs, but you can also make the ever-popular celery soda, or other vegetable or grain good sodas, yeast (champagne and ale yeasts dissolve well and don’t clump, plus they’ll carbonate your sodas without over-carbonating or turning to alcohol too fast), and sweetener.

When you make your own sodas, you can experiment around with sweeteners and flavor combinations. Consider honey, molasses, and even stevia for sweetening. You can make “diet” sodas with stevia and sugar. You need real sugar or honey to feed the yeast to produce carbonation, so the trick to making diet sodas is to use just enough real sweetener to feed the yeast without using so much you get a non-diet product. Try half real sweetener and half low-cal/no cal sweetener.

Soda Issues

The two biggest problems with home made sodas are too fizzy and not fizzy enough. For not fizzy enough, you can let the soda ferment a bit longer, or you can “feed” it with a pinch of sugar and yeast and let it eat a bit to release carbon and make it fizzier. Use a livelier yeast on the next batch. Baking yeast can carbonate a soda, but it tends to be a slow carbonator. Champagne and ale yeasts, meant for fizziness over alcohol content. Nutritional yeast is a dead yeast, it won’t produce carbonation at all.

Too fizzy can lead to exploding bottles. Store unopened bottles in the refrigerator to halt fermentation and reduce fizziness. Open the bottles slowly to release carbonation pressure. On the next batch, use less yeast or switch types of yeast. Lager yeasts will always over-carbonate. If you’re storing your sodas in a warm environment, consider halving the yeast. Warmth makes yeast go crazy with carbonation.

Let’s Get Fizzy

If you choose not to use commercial yeasts, you can make your own soda starter:

Create a Soda Culture with Commercial Yeast

Dissolve 1/8 teaspoon of yeast (champagne or ale yeast) in a coffee cup of warm water for about 5 minutes. The yeast should be fresh and the water should be wrist warm (98-106º F). Too little yeast will not yield enough carbonation, too much will give the soda a "yeasty" taste and might burst your soda bottles. Water too hot or too cold will have the same effect as not enough yeast because in cold water it will stay dormant or even die if the water’s too cold and yeast dies quickly in hot water.

Then mix 2 ¼ cups of white sugar, 1 cup filtered water and the dissolved yeast. Let it stand until bubbly – this can happen very quickly, so don’t expect it to be hours and walk off and leave it. Over-bubbled yeast dies, and you’ll have to start over again.

Diet Soda Culture

Use 5 tablespoons of real sugar and the equivalent of 2 cups of sugar substitute (I don’t do artificial sugar substitutes; you’re on your own here.) The yeast will consume the real sugar when fermentation is complete so white sugar is just as good a choice as anything else. The flavor of the soda and its sweetness isn’t affected by the sugars converted to carbonation. It’s the unconsumed sugars that sweeten and flavor the soda, and that’s where you ca get picky about

Create Your Own Wild Captured Soda Culture

To do so you will need:

A 2 to 3 inch piece of ginger root, grated or chopped
About a half a cup of sugar (white sugar is fine or you can use maple syrup or honey…)
Filtered water
Quart sized mason jar
Fill the mason jar 3/4 full with filtered or de-chlorinated water
Add 1 tablespoon of grated or chopped ginger and 2 teaspoons of sugar.
Stir well.

Cover it with cheese cloth fastened on with a rubber band and allow it to sit out for 24 hours. Each morning, add 2 teaspoons of ginger and 2 teaspoons of sugar and stir well. If possible stir 2 or 3 times per day.

After a week, it should become slightly bubbly and pleasant smelling. At this point it is ready to be used in your soda making. If you are not going to use it all right away, you can cap it and keep it in your refrigerator until you are ready to use it. It should stay usable for a month. When you go to use it again, warm it up and feed it for a day before using – remove ½ cup of water and replace it with fresh filtered water, then add 1 teaspoon of ginger and 1/3 teaspoon of sugar and leave it out, covered with cheesecloth, for 24 hours or until it gets bubbly again.

It’s kind of like creating a sourdough culture, except you’ll use this one for sodas. You can use up the entire quart of culture – that’s 4 gallons of soda – or use part and keep the rest as a starter for the next batch. Each time you make soda, replace the water in the starter and feed it – 1 teaspoon of ginger and 1/3 teaspoon of sugar/honey per cup of filtered water.

Use this culture in place of champagne or ale yeast when carbonating your sodas. You’ll use 1 cup of soda culture per gallon of soda.

The Yeasty Method of Making Fizzy Sodas With Flavor Extracts

I don’t recommend using flavor extracts for a huge variety of reasons, but if you like them, go for it. You’ll want 4 teaspoons of flavoring extract per gallon of filtered water. Always use filtered, de-chlorinated water for yeast carbonated sodas because the chlorine kills the yeast and you’ll get a cloudy, nasty fluid instead of a sparkly delicious soda.

Pour the soda culture (1 cup per gallon of finished soda) and the flavor extract in a gallon jug and top it off with filtered water. Shake to mix and pour into 2 liter plastic bottles. Cap tightly. Wait 4 – 6 days for the yeast to make carbonation. Squeeze the bottles a couple of times a day to check on them. If they get too firm, slowly open the cap to release a little pressure. Once they are nicely carbonated, store them in the refrigerator so they don’t continue to eat up your sugars and get over-carbonated.

The Yeasty Method of Making Fizzy Sodas with Home Made Syrups

Here is where your creativity can shine. Make syrups of fruits, vegetables, herbs, or grains and mix and match to make sodas for meals and pleasure sipping.

Pour 1 cup of the soda culture into a gallon jar, add your combination of home made syrups (not to exceed 2/3 of the gallon jar – any more and the flavor will be too strong), top with filtered water, cover lightly with cheesecloth, and let the jar sit out for 3 – 7 days, stirring 2 or 3 times a day. The less time it sits, the sweeter the final soda will be.

Once the soda reaches your preferred degree of sweetness, it’s time to bottle it up. Siphon the soda into plastic 2 liter bottles, leaving any cloudy dregs behind, cap tightly, and let it sit for another 3 – 7 days, checking for carbonation by squeezing the bottles. If the bottles get too firm, release the pressure by slowly opening the bottles. When it reaches the degree of carbonation you want, refrigerate the soda to slow the carbonation process. It’s drinkable as soon as you decide the carbonation is done.

Commercial Carbonators

If you want a faster method that requires available technology, the fastest way to create awesome and delicious sodas is through forced carbonation. You can invest in a carbonation machine like Soda Club, Soda Stream, the Penguin Carbonator, or similar carbonators. These carbonators are pricey to begin with, but if you make a lot of sodas, over time they become economical. I don’t recommend using their soda flavorings simply because they use far too much sugar and HFCS. They also have very limited flavors. You can make your own syrups for flavoring your sodas and have a better quality soda – and that’s the point of making your own, isn’t it.

Follow their directions for making your sodas, using either commercial syrups like Torani or home made concentrated syrups.

Build Your Own Carbonator

You can also build your own Carbonator. Since Richard went to so much trouble to create this lovely detailed site, I’ll link to it. My own experience is similar, but he has photos! And he gets wonderfully technical! This is far less expensive that the commercial carbonators even if it is a bit time-consuming and requires some skills to make yourself. I think it’s worth the effort if you prefer forced carbonation over lacto-fermentation.

Once you’ve built your carbonator, you can use either commercial or home made syrups to make your sodas.

Powdered Carbonation

To be honest with you, I have never used the powdered carbonation method. Alka-Seltzer tablets leaves the beverage too salty and with poor carbonation. I suppose if you’re desperate, you could do this, but I’d rather drink the beverage without carbonation than adulterate it with Alka-Seltzer. On the other hand, if you’re taking Alka-Seltzer anyway, why not jazz up the flavor with soda ingredients?

Using Commercial Carbonation

The final method is by far the easiest method of all, and the most expensive. Seltzer water, carbonated water, fizzy mineral water, club soda, etc. all cost about $2.00 (currently) for a 2 liter bottle, then when you add in your flavored syrups, it costs even more. But – it’s really fast and if you’re away from home, you can make your own sodas in a pinch – if you make your own carbonated water from a carbonator at home and run out when you’re at work or away from home, for example. And if you have children, teaching them to make their own sodas this way will help them make healthier beverage choices, especially if you pack containers of syrups for them to use.

You can use either commercial syrups like Torani or make your own concentrated syrup.


Syrup Recipes:

You can make and use these syrups right away or make them up in advance and process them for later use (say winter, when the fruits aren’t ripe), freeze them, or keep them in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

My Fruit Soda

About 6 cups of fruit (fresh or frozen)
1 gallon of filtered water
1 1/2 cups of sugar (or honey, or maple syrup, or other sweetener equivalent)
a gallon jar and a large pot
Put 1/2 gallon of filtered water in a large pot. Bring the water to a boil. Stir in your sugar or other sweetener.
Remember that the yeast beasties in your soda culture or champagne or ale yeast are going to consume this sugar during the process of fermentation and transform it into carbonation. This is what creates the soda’s fizz, so white sugar is not as bad a choice as it is for non-fermented foods. But if you feel better using honey or some other sweetener, go for it. This is your soda and you get to make it with your ingredients and to your taste.

Add your blueberries to the pot. These can be fresh or frozen – or other kinds of fruit can be substituted for the blueberries – peaches, blackberries, apple slices, either single fruits or your favorite blend of fruits and bring the water back to a boil. Allow them to simmer in the water for about 10 minutes.

Taste what you’ve created. Does it taste fruity enough? If not maybe you want to add more berries or simmer a bit longer. This is not an absolute process and you get to make it taste the way you want it to taste.

Root Beer

The next step is to create your syrup. For this root beer syrup you will need:
2 tablespoons sassafras root
2 teaspoons sarsaparilla root
2 teaspoons burdock root
2 teaspoons licorice root
1 gallon of filtered water
1 1/2 cups of brown sugar
a gallon jar and a large pot

Put 1⁄2 gallon of filtered water in a large pot. Add your roots. Feel free to add different roots or omit any of these you don’t enjoy. This is just a recipe to get you started. I like sticking a vanilla bean into the sugar and letting it sit for a week before using it, it adds a subtle depth to the final root beer. Sarsaparilla and sassafras root are difficult to buy, but possible. Make sure you buy culinary grade root and get the cut and shifted, not the powdered, version. If you buy the whole root (or wildcraft it), you’ll need to be able to mince, chop, or grate the roots.
Bring the water to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and allow it to simmer for about 20 minutes.

Stir in your sugar or other sweetener.

Continue to steep for about 4 hours.

Taste what you’ve created. Does the root beer taste seem strong enough? If not maybe you want to make and add another root decoction or steep bit longer. This is the best part – you can define how you want your root beer to taste. Do you want to add a decoction of birch bark? Would a strong mint tea make your root beer better? How about a strong tea of tarragon or woodruff or thyme? You decide. It’s your soda!

Strain.

Elderberry


1 cup of fresh Elderberries or a half a cup of dried berries.
3 cups of water
1 cup of honey

Place the berries in a saucepan and cover them with the 3 cups of water. Then, bring it to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for a half hour.

Smash up the berries. Then, strain the mixture through a mesh strainer.

Add the honey.

Rosehip

4 cups fresh rosehips or 2 cups dried
2 cups water
1 cup honey

Gather rose hips after they have developed and turned red. Some herbalists recommend waiting until after the first frost for improved flavor. (These fruits are commonly found on bushes well into winter.)

Rinse rose hips well. Remove any stems or flower remnants.

Bring two cups of water to a boil and add four cups of rose hips. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the water has been reduced by half.

Allow to cool slightly and then strain through a jelly bag.

Stir in one cup of honey, or to taste.

Celery I

1 pound Chinese celery, coarse chopped
2 tablespoons crushed but not ground celery seed
½ pound celery root (celeriac), peeled and chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 quart filtered water
2 cups sugar or honey
1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice

Dissolve the sugar in the water over medium heat. Remove from the heat and add the celeries and carrots and step for 2 hours. Strain and add the lemon juice.

Celery II

1 pound Chinese celery, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons crushed but not ground celery seed
1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon fresh dill weed
1 quart filtered water
2 cups sugar or honey

Dissolve the sugar in the water over medium heat. Remove from the heat and add the celery, seeds, cucumber, and dill. Steep for 2 hours. Strain.

Celery III

1 pound Chinese celery, coarsely chopped
1 pound juicy apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 cup fresh parsley
1 quart filtered water
2 cups sugar or honey

Dissolve the sugar in the water over medium heat. Remove from the heat and steep the celery, apples, and parsley for 2 hours. Strain through a cheesecloth. This will be a bit cloudy from the apple pulp. If you don’t want it cloudy, use the well washed apple peels instead.