Funny what you don’t find even when you’re looking sometimes. Interestingly enough it does not contain any cola nuts that I can see, though I haven’t looked into the details about how the various oils in the recipe are produced. I hope to be able to give this one a try in the next few weeks, with the modification of using yeast for carbonation, of course. I have some concerns about the phosphoric acid killing of the yeast, but I’ll certainly find out then.
Category Archives: Soda Brewing - Page 2
Spring 2004 Update
Posted by Old Blog
on June 1, 2004
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I’ve completely fallen off the wagon as far as keeping this up to date is concerned, so I’ve started to re-title them somewhat more appropriately.
I did however recently do 2 batches of soda, both quite drinkable and one of them is a HUGE success. Absolutely terrific stuff, and so close to perfect that it’s really breathtaking.
And the other one… well, it was a good experiment. 
I tried a new champagne yeast and have confirmed that it’s just something about the Red Star yeast that just DOES NOT WORK for me. Always a good tasting, but incredibly bad smelling batch with the Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast.
The yeast I switched to I HIGHLY recommend. It has now produced 4 great batches and produces a really lovely carbonation and even adds a nice, but slight, yeasty flavor to the batch. Lavlin EC-1118 Champagne is available from Northern Brewer and other sources, usually in the Wine Yeast section.
The first batch in the recent set was a replay of the Red Berries based soda from Icon last fall. The recipe:
2oz TeaSource Red Berries herbal tea blend
1lb Billington’s Demerara sugar
1lb bulk pure granulated organic cane sugar
1/4tsp Lavlin EC-1118 Champagne
2 Gallons purified drinking water
Carbonation time: ~58 hours
The nose is amazingly fruity, and the flavor is bright and fairly sweet while not being sugary. Slight yeast flavor that adds some depth and does not detract from the fruit. Brilliant red color, showed off well in the 16oz/500ml Flint EZ Cap bottles I was able to get most of the batch into (Had to fill a few fairly standard brown longnecks too). Carbonation is thorough and fairly lasting, a plastic cup full on Sunday night in very high humidity was still noticeably carbonated after sitting out for an hour. Almost perfect! I would still like to tone down the sweetness just a touch so the fruit can stand out a bit more on it’s own. I might try cutting the granulated cane sugar down to 1.5 cups for the next batch and see what happens. Hoping to get it done soon as several people are clamoring for more.
The experiment was an attempt to marry a few flavors that I find quite good on their own or in combination with other flavors. It’s basically a ginger soda, though I was aiming more for a ginger beer. The recipe:
2oz TeaSource Honeybush tea (not a blend, 100% honeybush)
6oz fresh ginger root, coarsely chopped
1lb Billington’s Dark Muscovado sugar
1lb Billington’s Light Muscovado sugar
1/4tsp Danstar Nottingham Ale yeast
2 gallons purified drinking water
Carbonation time: 62 hours
I left it go a bit longer carbonating because the Notthingham and related yeasts aren’t quite a quick as the Lavlin Champagne, and I am quite pleased with that result. The bubbles are a bit larger and more playful. However, the sugar I used pretty much trampled on ALL of the other flavors in the batch and so what I ended up with was a somewhat interesting molasses flavored soda with maybe a slight trace of ginger, and hardly any honeybush to be seen. Color is fairly cloudy brown, and the scent is strongly of molasses. There are so many directions to go with this batch, I’m not quite sure where to start:
- I was hoping that 6oz of ginger would be enough to get a nice nose tickle, but even the flavor is mostly not discernable unless you know to look for it. I might try crystallized ginger next time. I would welcome ideas on this.
- I definitely needed to go with just the Light Muskovado sugar, and the drop the Dark entirely and use either a Demerara or the granulated organic cane. That way there will still be some molasses, but not nearly the huge, overbearing, 800lb gorilla it turned out to be. I really thought that the ginger and honeybush would stand up to it a lot more.
- Once the sugar has been tamed, the honeybush should come out quite a bit more. Maybe adding some sarsaparilla to give it some additional spine too.
Anyway, certainly drinkable but not what I was looking for. I used the Dark Muskovado for Birch Beer with the Old Fashioned extract and it was really great. Just need to make sure there is something very potent for it to work against next time.
One more thing while I’m thinking of it, Icon was …
Posted by Old Blog
on October 17, 2003
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One more thing while I’m thinking of it, Icon was quite good. My friend actually invited me up to sit on the homebrewing panel he ran and I think I was able to add to the discussion reasonably well. I think the big problem is that there wasn’t anything for people to hang the information we were putting out onto. Maybe the next panel like it should be done as a demo instead, or at least we should have some examples of equipment and etc.
One of the really cool things was that there was someone at the panel who was there to get information about brewing sodas! We talked for quite awhile in the SuperCon party after the panel, and I’m hoping that I hear from him when he gets a chance to try soda brewing for himself.
Another late update, but better than never.
Posted by Old Blog
on October 17, 2003
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Another late update, but better than never.
Last Monday (10/6/2003) I put down my first real batch of non-extract soda. As previously mentioned, a friend had asked that I bring some soda to Icon for the SuperCon party. I was going to bring the remainders of the Birch Beer I had done on the 30th, and then the majority of this new batch. I figured that I should diversify the flavors, so I did the Red Berries based soda and it turned out pretty good. Recipie:
- 2oz TeaSource Red Berries herbal tea blend.
- 1.75lbs organic pure cane sugar
- 2 gallons purified drinking water
- 1/4 tablespoon RedStar Pastuer Champagne yeast
First things first, the RedStar Pastuer Champagne yeast is obviously not to be used for making sodas. The smell is back, though since I’ve finally figured out cutting back on the yeast is a good thing, it is at least bearable. The taste of the soda on the other hand is almost perfect. The first couple of days it was a bit astringent, but it’s mellowed considerably and, aside from the smell, it’s getting really good reviews from almost all takers. I’m also getting about even responses of “Perfectly sweet” and “Not sweet enough” so I’m pretty close on that. Really pretty successful, though I’ve _got_ to find a different champagne yeast to use for the next batch of what I’m calling Berry Surprise.
This weekend I’m going to use up the last of my extracts and make a 4 gallon batch of Sarsaparilla Root Beer. I picked up some really good sugar at the Wedge this week that will make an excellent addition to the brew. I’ll post more details when I’m done putting down the batch.
Speaking of the wedge, they carry both Sarsaparilla and Sassafras so at this point the only thing that I’m missing for my own mix for a root beer is Red Birch root. I’ll be dropping by Present Moment this week to see what I can find there.
I got a pleasant surprise via email the other day:…
Posted by Old Blog
on October 3, 2003
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I got a pleasant surprise via email the other day: There are people who actually read this! While this wasn’t the first person to mail me, it has been awhile since I’ve heard from anyone and now I feel somewhat bad about not keeping it up to date.
So, here’s the big update:
- Some days I wonder if I actually read anything. Case in point, the extracts that I have got (and have been using) are not the Gnome brand, but are in fact Old Fashioned brand. Assumptions, assumptions. Anyway, I am pretty happy with the Old Fashioned extracts. The one small issue that I have is that there is a slight pickle-like aftertaste that I think is probably associated with using some sort of vinegar (or a derivative) as a preservative. Honestly, the only other person who has been able to taste it is another big time foodie so it’s basically just a nit. And it isn’t even a bad thing, just a thing mostly.
- The batch that I last mentioned here used ~6grams of of the Nottingham ale yeast. On September 6, I produced a batch with the following ingredients:
- 4g Windsor ale yeast
- 2gal distilled bottled water
- 1oz Old Fashioned Birch Root Beer extract (~half bottle)
- 2lbs C&H Dark Brown Sugar
The yeast bloomed very nicely with a rather large head after only 10 minutes. I was going to use Nottingham again, but they were out at Northern Brewer and they said that the Windsor is very similar, which I think was very true. I don’t know if I could tell the difference after brewing which one had been used. After bottling, the batch carbonated decently in only 42 hours! After sampling that bottle, I refrigerated the rest of the batch at ~50 hours and it was _very_ carbonated. To be quite honest, I think this was my first completely successful batch. The flavor was good, the sweetness was almost perfect (though maybe just a touch over sweet), and the carbonation was actually almost too much for me. Taking a sip from the early bottles would get you a mouth full of foam as all the carbonation tried to release as it came into contact with saliva. As several people noted, it was excellent belching soda. However, there was still a bit too much yeast flavor, even after 2 weeks in the fridge. I have 1 bottle remaining that I’ll be opening tonight to see how it’s aged. My notes on the existing bottles indicate that 5 days in the fridge was probably optimum for settling as the yeast flavor dropped precipitously until day 5 when it has remained almost constant ever since.
- On September 30, I put down a new batch, hoping to finally reduce the yeast taste to a better level. This recipe was:
- 3g Nottingham ale yeast
- 2gal purified bottled drinking water
- 1oz Old Fashioned Birch Root Beer extract (~half bottle)
- 2lbs C&H Dark Brown Sugar
It’s been carbonating for 36 hours at this point and I’m planning on tasting one of the bottles tonight before I go to bed. The first try with the yeast didn’t bloom very well (I think the water was too cold) so I had to do another bloom using filtered tap water. I’m a little worried about that, but I think it should come out okay.
- I’ve been playing with ideas for ingredients for a non-extract soda. My first attempt will be either tonight or tomorrow morning using 2oz of TeaSource’s Red Berries herbal tea blend. It’s a really lovely, sweet, and fruity tea that I think will make a fantastic soda if the iced tea I’ve made with it previously is any indication. I don’t think that the C&H Dark Brown sugar is going to work as well with it since I think the molasses flavors will cover up some of the subtlety inherent in the tea, so last night I went to the Seward Co-Op and got a couple of pounds of bulk organic raw cane sugar. I’m still not sure how much I’m going to use for this batch just yet though.
- I’ve been asked to supply some homebrew soda for the Supercon room party at Icon next weekend! The Fan Goh for Icon this year happens to be the new Supercon parties head and he’s having a panel on homebrewing on Friday night of the con. Immediately after the panel, he’s coming down to host the room party and will be showing off several examples of the panel discussion. I’m planning on bringing the Birch Beer batch that I put down this week, and I’m looking to do a ginger beer/ale/soda of some sort to fill out the selection.
- I’m working on formulating my own root beer recipe, and I think I’ve come upon an unusual ingredient that will add a lot of character: African Honeybush. I’ve been drinking it for awhile from various places, and TeaSource has started carrying it as well so I got a few ounces and I’m going to start pairing it up with sassafras, sarsaparilla, vanilla, and anise/star anise to see what I can come up with. One of the places that I’ve been drinking it very regularly is at Midori’s Floating World Cafe just up the street. They have a drink they call African Cloud Tea that is honeybush tea, palm fruit, and something else that is really wonderful. The other ingredient that I’m toying with using might be nutmeg as well, but I think I’ll wait till I’ve played with the other stuff a bit first.
So, that’s the current stuff. Quite a bit, but I’ve been having some fun. Hopefully I’ll remember to post early about the new Birch Beer batch, and the Red Berries batch.
I brought a sample bottle into work and shared it …
Posted by Old Blog
on August 13, 2003
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I brought a sample bottle into work and shared it around a bit. A friend decided to try an experiment and just added more sugar directly to his sample and stirred it up and the result was great!
I still think there’s a bit too much yeast, but sugar is definitely the next problem to work out. My brewing buddy mentioned that doing a combination of the corn sugar we used along with something else might not be a bad idea, and I have to agree, though I think that the next batch I’m just going to double the corn sugar and see where it goes from there.
Of course this lends very well to thinking about not going with regular sugars at all and instead using something like sucralose to keep carbonation from ever getting out of hand as well..
So, the important numbers that I’ve figured out so far:
- 1 cup sugar per gallon for carbonation
- 1 cup sugar per gallon for sweetener
- 60 hours carbonation time
I’m very tempted to do another batch this weekend, but there is the problem that we’re leaving the country on Thursday of that week for 10 days. Or maybe that’s perfect since I won’t be around to fiddle with things at all while the yeast settles and the flavor sets.
I opened up the first bottle at 6pm last night (8/…
Posted by Old Blog
on August 6, 2003
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I opened up the first bottle at 6pm last night (8/5/2003) and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was drinkable! Well, there are some caveats there and this is measured against the past attempts, but is basically a success. Unfortunately, I think I would have to qualify it as “drinkable” at best.
The Nottingham ale yeast adds a really nice bitter note that would be excellent if there was more general flavor or sweetness to play against. Basically I think it needed more. More sugar, and more flavor extract.
As the stuff warms, it starts to produce a bit of a sulfur smell again, but not nearly what we got with the last 2 batches which tells me one of 2 things: It carbonated too long, or there was too much yeast, or a little of both most likely. I think ~60 hours (The early bottle got 66 hours, was very well carbonated, and was markedly less skunky than the rest that got 76 hours and were almost too carbonated [marked by some bubble up when opened, but didn't spill over]) and about 2/3rds as much yeast should produce something very nice indeed.
But it’s drinkable, which in my eyes is a success of sorts, and definitely gives me a direction to go with the next batch. This time I’ll be measuring the yeast much more accurately for example (by weight of course) and with a smaller carbonation time I think it might actually come out something resembling good.
I’m going to keep a few of the bottles for aging data (4 of them? Open at 6 day intervals?), but I think I might try and do another batch this weekend and see how it turns out.
For those who are interested:
Yeast: Nottingham Ale Yeast (Product#Y005) $1.25: The package said 11 grams, and I used ~1/3rd of it by volume since I didn’t bring my scale.
Extract: Old Fashioned Soda – Root Beer extract (Product#5500) $3.95: I used about 1/3rd of the bottle. Should have used half.
Sugar: Bulk Corn Sugar (Product#2200) $4.00: I used 2 cups.
The plastic test bottle was pretty solid this morn…
Posted by Old Blog
on August 5, 2003
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While idly perusing BevNet this afternoon I ran ac…
Posted by Old Blog
on August 4, 2003
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While idly perusing BevNet this afternoon I ran across Grown Up Soda. I think I’ll have to source some of this and give it a try. Certainly sounds interesting.
After another lapse of updates, and any progress, …
Posted by Old Blog
on August 4, 2003
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After another lapse of updates, and any progress, I’m back with some info.
A friend and I had a brew day on Saturday. He did one of his beers, and I did another attempt at a Root Beer. I decided to keep it a bit simpler this time, while trying a different yeast to see if we could get past the damn skunky issue that plagued the last 2 batches. So I used an extract for flavoring, corn sugar for sweetener, and Nottingham Ale Yeast from Northern Brewer. Went with a slightly larger batch as well at 1.5gallons so I could fill all 12 of the grolsch style 16oz bottles that I bought last winter, though we had enough spare to fill one of the friend’s plastic bottles as a carbonation indicator.
We expected that with the ale yeast the carbonation might take a bit longer, but the test bottle as of this morning was pretty tight and only after 42 hours. The color is a deep brown, though still fairly translucent with some sediment, and a bunch of sediment already settled out in several of the bottles.
I’m considering chilling a bottle as early as tonight so I can get an idea of what the carbonation, and smell, is like but I haven’t decided if that rushing things just yet or not.