Any soda makers out there?

[glycerine]

Just wondering if any of you guys (or gals) make your own soda. It's something I'd like to try, so just looking for any experience. I know there are homebrew forums out there, but I'd like to hear from fellow IAP members. I love orange cream soda, that's my final goal...

 

[Haynie]

I was on my way to trying root beer. I got everything I needed and the gal I got the recipe from called and said something was wrong with the recipe because ALL of her bottles exploded. I put the idea on the back burner and never got back to it. Now that my boys are older we are planning to make some. Root beer is our goal.

 

[Turned Around]

i mainly brew my own beer. but recently did a couple batches of soda. root beer and cream soda. both turned out great. the root beer was bottles and put into my kegerator, so it's like a fountain drink

 

[glycerine]

I was on my way to trying root beer. I got everything I needed and the gal I got the recipe from called and said something was wrong with the recipe because ALL of her bottles exploded. I put the idea on the back burner and never got back to it. Now that my boys are older we are planning to make some. Root beer is our goal.

Ha ha! I've read warnings about using glass bottles... and putting it in the fridge soon enough to stop the "carbonating" so that doesn't happen. Think she just let them sit too long?
So what supplies do you have and where did you get them? Did you do research online or books or both or what?

 

[cwolfs69]

we make our own at home but use the "Sodastream" system. use CO2 cylinder to carbonate bottles and then add syrup. Love it. cheaper, large variety of regular and diet, (im diabetic). easy to make, lasts well and we each get our own type.

 

[glycerine]

What's the best way to carbonate water for making soda: using yeast or getting a CO2 tank? (I've also seen someone mix vinegar and baking soda in a seperate container with a hose attached to the main bottle of water. Not sure how well that works because I don't hear of alot of people doing that)

 

[Haynie]

Ha ha! I've read warnings about using glass bottles... and putting it in the fridge soon enough to stop the "carbonating" so that doesn't happen. Think she just let them sit too long?
So what supplies do you have and where did you get them? Did you do research online or books or both or what?

I don't know. I don't think she knew either. She just said the family was sitting in the living room watching TV when they heard popping and glass breaking. She said it was in her pantry so maybe that was the issue. I had very little ones at the time and figured if one got nailed by a flying bottle top momma would not be impressed. And when Momma ain't happy, no body is happy.

I got the bottles from a friend who stopped brewing his own beer. She got her bottles from him too. I did not keep them. I thought it might be the cheap bottles. The yeast and extract from a brew shop. It looked like it was going to be easy enough. Now the boys are 9 and 6. A perfect age for food chemistry and how fermentation works. I am going to look into cwolf69's soda stream system too.

 

[glycerine]

we make our own at home but use the "Sodastream" system. use CO2 cylinder to carbonate bottles and then add syrup. Love it. cheaper, large variety of regular and diet, (im diabetic). easy to make, lasts well and we each get our own type.

I've heard of that, just didn't know exactly how it worked. Do you have to use their syrups or can you mix your own flavors?

 

[cwolfs69]

we make our own at home but use the "Sodastream" system. use CO2 cylinder to carbonate bottles and then add syrup. Love it. cheaper, large variety of regular and diet, (im diabetic). easy to make, lasts well and we each get our own type.

I've heard of that, just didn't know exactly how it worked. Do you have to use their syrups or can you mix your own flavors?

you could put any type of syrup that you like in them. the machine just carbonates the water then you manually put in the syrup. its just that theirs is pretty cheap, easy to get and really tastes great. they are available at bed bath and beyond. CO2 bottles are returnable and saves a bundle on replacement CO2. it's really a pretty neat deal. bottles are plastic, and come in quart and pint. The wife and i love it.