Kalifornian
Member
Hello, long time browser, first time poster. LOL
I bought some sarsaparilla and wild cherry soda base bottles from Columbia Soda Works in Columbia, Ca. The ingredients are water, citric acid, alcohol, artificial flavor and color, with less than 1% sodium benzoate and it's a 2 oz. bottle. The instructions say to make a syrup with 2lbs honey, 4.5c water and the soda base and store in a cool location... then add 2-3 tbsp of that to club soda to make a single glass of soda.
I want to do all of this, but bottled with natural carbonation.
I figure honey ounces (liquid) to be 1.5x the weight= 2lbs= 32oz x 1.5= 48 liquid oz of honey added to;
4.5c water= 36 liquid oz of water
So the syrup will be 36 + 48 + 2 (extract)= 86 oz = 172 TBSP
To find out how much water per batch- 172 TBSP/ (2.5 TBSP/drink)= 68.8 drinks x (8 oz water/drink)= 550 oz of water/batch.
So they want me to mix 86 oz of syrup with 550 oz of carbonated water to make a full 5 gallon batch of soda.
Can I simply mix everything up in my brew kettle, boil it, cool it, pitch it with some ale yeast, bottle it in glass bottles, monitor carbonation with 1 plastic bottle, then refrigerate or stove top pasteurize?
I have some limited homebrew experience with kits, and have done about 15 of them without a failure or bottle bomb yet... but I am new to bottling a sweet drink, such as a soda.
I bought some sarsaparilla and wild cherry soda base bottles from Columbia Soda Works in Columbia, Ca. The ingredients are water, citric acid, alcohol, artificial flavor and color, with less than 1% sodium benzoate and it's a 2 oz. bottle. The instructions say to make a syrup with 2lbs honey, 4.5c water and the soda base and store in a cool location... then add 2-3 tbsp of that to club soda to make a single glass of soda.
I want to do all of this, but bottled with natural carbonation.
I figure honey ounces (liquid) to be 1.5x the weight= 2lbs= 32oz x 1.5= 48 liquid oz of honey added to;
4.5c water= 36 liquid oz of water
So the syrup will be 36 + 48 + 2 (extract)= 86 oz = 172 TBSP
To find out how much water per batch- 172 TBSP/ (2.5 TBSP/drink)= 68.8 drinks x (8 oz water/drink)= 550 oz of water/batch.
So they want me to mix 86 oz of syrup with 550 oz of carbonated water to make a full 5 gallon batch of soda.
Can I simply mix everything up in my brew kettle, boil it, cool it, pitch it with some ale yeast, bottle it in glass bottles, monitor carbonation with 1 plastic bottle, then refrigerate or stove top pasteurize?
I have some limited homebrew experience with kits, and have done about 15 of them without a failure or bottle bomb yet... but I am new to bottling a sweet drink, such as a soda.
