La Croix Clone

[AustinTim]

hey all,
since I now have a freezer for a kegerator I thought i'd try to make some sparkling water like La Croix. anyone have any ideas on what to add to make the lemon or lime flavors?

I was able to find links to salt profiles of many world waters but not specifically for la croix. I was thinking if I could find a profile I'd just use J. Palmer's spreadsheet to adjust, like i do for brewing.

 

[MrFoodScientist]

It's been a while since I've had La Croix, but I'd imagine something like 2-4 ozs. lemon or lime juice per gallon would be a good start.
I'm not sure about salt profiles. I'd start by looking at the Nutrition facts panel to see if sodium or other minerals are listed, then calculate from there.
Hope that helps!

 

[AustinTim]

No the Nutrition panel is no help, it only lists Sodium and that's at 0mg!
I'm sure there's some in there in the water...
would you use fresh juice? not citric acid or some other additive?

 

[Chefkeith]

You could always send a sample to the lab to have it analyzed. Don't know if the citrus would throw it off, though. I would imagine you could get a good start that way.

If you didn't want a cloudy water, you could clarify the citrus juice with agar, or just flavor with the zest.

 

[devilishprune]

I was drinking a lime one today, and I noticed that it was a bit bitter. It actually reminded me of the roses lime juice you get for making cocktails.

If you wanted, perhaps you could try some of that in a smaller amount of seltzer from the store? Then you can scale it up to five gallons. Try the same thing with fresh lime juice.

 

[kenc_zymurgy]

Old thread I know, but has anyone come up with some of the La Croix flavorings? I like them and the fact that there is no sugar - but how do you get that flavor? Zest alone (for orange)?

-kenc

 

[barrooze]

I created some damn good grapefruit water a few days ago. Tastes more vibrant than the La Croix grapefruit water, so I like it a bit more and my wife's really happy with it.

All I did was peel 3 grapefruit, carefully cut the pith off the peels, and just tossed them into the water (5 gallons of generic spring water). Cutting the peels so thin released the oils pretty well. If you want to make it with lemons and limes, I recommend just peeling a bunch of the fruit so all you have is the peel, no pith. The oils are much more pungent than just the juice.

 

[friarsmith]

Old thread, I know. But this comes out really close to La Croix Lime for a fraction of the cost:

4.5 gallons R-O or spring water in a keg. Spring water has a little more "pop"

12oz Lemon or Lime concentrate (the green bottles from the supermarket)

1 tsp (or so) of fresh lemon or lime zest

All you do is put the zest and concentrate in the full keg, then chill & charge two days at 40 psi. I usually charge the keg through the "Out" port as it seems to work quicker. Or do the "Keg Hump & Shake Quick-Carb" method at 40 psi.

We rotate a few growlers from the house and detached garage where my kegs are stored. It helps to dispense with at least 10 feet of 3/16" beverage line due to the pressure.

And it's had the added benefit of having a refreshing 0-calorie option for chugging after yard work. 1 pint of La Croix before the first pint of beer

 

[hankinsonk]

Old thread, but it served me well this weekend for a kids-only jockey box. I modified @friarsmith's recipe:

4.5 gallons Kroger spring water
12oz lemon concentrate
1 T of fresh lime zest
juice of large lime (which also provided the 1 T of zest)

For what it's worth, I found the following information:

Sodastream ~3.02 vols
Perrier ~3.32 vols

So, I targeted about 3.32, as well. Served in the kegerator with 10' of 3/16", but it did better in the jockey box.

 

[mashpaddled]

This is easily done by adding citrus fruit peels to make citrus flavors. The commercial manufacturers are undoubtedly using flavoring oils distilled from fruit peels, etc. You can buy them in smaller quantities through cooking/baking shops and of course online. Some are sugar based, some are straight distilled oils and not all are the same quality flavorings.