making hard soda

[joshesmusica]

Hi everybody. I recently started getting into homebrewing soda. It's quite fun, and a good treat to have around for those that don't like alcohol, and of course the natural ingredients is very appealing.
I recently made a batch of Christmas soda (a very popular thing in norway, although the flavors do not make an outsider think of christmas), and i accidentally made too much than my bottle held, so i decided to see what would happen if i fermented out the rest. it's still fermenting so i'm not sure what it's going to taste like.
But it got me thinking. In norway alcohol is ridiculously expensive. My mom is coming to visit us in a couple of months, but she doesn't drink beer. The malts aren't very nice to her. So i was telling her that if she wants some wine while she's here, she's gonna need to bring some from the US. but now i'm wondering if anyone has any experience making homebrewed hard sodas without making it a malt base. my best guess from reading around is that it would almost just be like a mead. but it seems that you let those sit for many months? my fermenters will be clear for just enough time for it to ferment for 3 weeks and bottle condition for 3 weeks.
thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

I make wine cooler-y hooch-y type carbonated beverages all the time. I usually just use frozen concentrate juice and champagne yeast. Ferment to dry and backsweeten with something non fermentable, then batch prime with corn sugar and bottle.

Stuff usually is a hit where ever I bring it. YMMV.

 

[daft]

Just chuck cheap bread yeast into a store bought plastic jug of pasturized fruit juice... recap and when it gets a bit hard after half a day, pop it in the fridge. Will get more alcoholic the longer you keep it, but pretty tempting to finish it quick. I have a topic or two about it here.

Can you buy lingonberry or cloudberry juice there? I find cranberry works best here, which is a lot like lingonberry (all my ancestors are norwegian).

 

[joshesmusica]

I guess I was looking for it to turn to alcohol. not just carbonated juice.

 

[joshesmusica]

Ferment to dry and backsweeten with something non fermentable, then batch prime with corn sugar and bottle.

what do you use to back-sweeten that won't ferment out?

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

what do you use to back-sweeten that won't ferment out?

I use splenda but I think any artificial sweetener should work. I don't add enough to taste it, not really enough to call it super sweet but enough to take away the dryness and make it delicious!

 

[daft]

I guess I was looking for it to turn to alcohol. not just carbonated juice.

So aren't you talking about cider? There is a large special section of this forum devoted to the varieties of that.

 

[BowAholic]

I use a 2L soda bottle or the actual 2 quart juice bottle to make a sparkling wine...just remove enough juice to add 2 cups of sugar and 1/8 teaspoon of champagne yeast. Mix thoroughly by shaking. Leave 2-3" of head-space. I have made lids that allow extra CO2 to escape but a balloon might work too. It only takes about 10 days at room temperature to have a 10% plus ABV tasty drink...put it in the fridge once it's fermented and enjoy.

 

[joshesmusica]

I use a 2L soda bottle or the actual 2 quart juice bottle to make a sparkling wine...just remove enough juice to add 2 cups of sugar and 1/8 teaspoon of champagne yeast. Mix thoroughly by shaking. Leave 2-3" of head-space. I have made lids that allow extra CO2 to escape but a balloon might work too. It only takes about 10 days at room temperature to have a 10% plus ABV tasty drink...put it in the fridge once it's fermented and enjoy.

as in grape juice?

 

[BowAholic]

yes...as in ANY 100% juice... apple is great too.

 

[Nogud247]

I would check this forum post out. The author is smart and knows wine. It's cheap and easy and tastes pretty good. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=203987

 

[joshesmusica]

I would check this forum post out. The author is smart and knows wine. It's cheap and easy and tastes pretty good. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=203987

nothing came up. just brought me back to the homepage. what's the title of the post and the author?

 

[Nogud247]

Welch's Grape Juice Wine, Yooper is the author.

 

[joshesmusica]

Nice. She would be the author!

 

[Nogud247]

Nice. She would be the author!

Yes @Yooper authors most of the wine posts I actually read.

You can make a drinkable wine in not very long. That thread is a great place to start.

 

[JayDubWill]

Check out Skeeter Pee. I made 5 gallons of this last year, and keep getting requests to make more from friends and my wife almost monthly. For the long term, you really can't go wrong investing in a quality wine kit, 30 bottles of wine for around $5 each is a steal.

 

[Craw3773]

So to take this a step further, any soda (Let's say Coca-Cola) is full of sugar.

If I dump a yeast into a bottle of soda, let it ferment, and then recarb, what would it taste like? It would be the same concept as a ginger ale, but what if I tried to hit a higher ABV?

Are the sugars in most sodas fermentable? I am assuming the preservatives in a standard coke would not allow fermentation, but what if I made a homemade cola, or found one without a preservative? (Organic?)

Has anybody tried this?

 

[JayDubWill]

I think the main preservatives in coke are the phosphoric acid and sugar. You could probably ferment it but it would taste horrible since the yeast will eat all the sugar. I guess you could add enough sugar to exceed the alcohol tolerance of the yeast, essentially killing it and leaving the rest to sweeten the hard soda. You might have a better chance adding sugar to coke zero and fermenting that, but there's no telling what changes the flavor will go through during the fermentation process. If you decide to do it, keep us posted. It's an interesting experiment.

 

[BBBF]

Hi everybody. I recently started getting into homebrewing soda. It's quite fun, and a good treat to have around for those that don't like alcohol, and of course the natural ingredients is very appealing.
I recently made a batch of Christmas soda (a very popular thing in norway, although the flavors do not make an outsider think of christmas), and i accidentally made too much than my bottle held, so i decided to see what would happen if i fermented out the rest. it's still fermenting so i'm not sure what it's going to taste like.
But it got me thinking. In norway alcohol is ridiculously expensive. My mom is coming to visit us in a couple of months, but she doesn't drink beer. The malts aren't very nice to her. So i was telling her that if she wants some wine while she's here, she's gonna need to bring some from the US. but now i'm wondering if anyone has any experience making homebrewed hard sodas without making it a malt base. my best guess from reading around is that it would almost just be like a mead. but it seems that you let those sit for many months? my fermenters will be clear for just enough time for it to ferment for 3 weeks and bottle condition for 3 weeks.
thanks in advance for any advice!

I would like to hear more about the Christmas soda recipe. I liked the julemust that I tried in Sweden.