[HN Gopher] DIY Soft Drinks
___________________________________________________________________
DIY Soft Drinks
Author : _Microft
Score : 699 points
Date : 2026-04-12 16:38 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (blinry.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (blinry.org)
| malfist wrote:
| There's a great book about this if you're interested. Half
| history lesson half recipes. Check out: Fix the Pumps (which the
| book tells you is old soda fountain slag for check out a woman's
| breasts)
| s0rce wrote:
| I liked this video about recreating coke
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDkH3EbWTYc&t=176s
| SideburnsOfDoom wrote:
| Yes, this video (and HN commentary
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46543509 ) are an amazing
| nerdy deep dive into a taste chemistry subject. And seems to
| have uncovered new information (to the general public that is,
| maybe not new to Cola co insiders)
|
| You know it's getting serious when they science it, using a
| mass spectrometer. And then keep at it for a year through many
| experiments that did not produce a result. That attitude of
| "the experiment didn't fail, it successfully eliminated one of
| the possibilities" is very scientific.
| aitchnyu wrote:
| Disappointed there is no carbon dioxide injection. In the 90s
| till date in this corner of India, Mr Butler is a compact pure
| mechanical device which can make nose tickling strong sodas. If I
| were a soda fan, I would have DIYed and rejected the flat mop
| water that most commercial sodas have become.
| _Microft wrote:
| A easy solution might be to mix the concentrate with
| sparkling/carbonated water?
| atombender wrote:
| I made Open Cola once, and hooked it up to CO2 canisters and a
| beer tap (the other tap had home made beer). It's certainly
| better than mixing with soda water or using a SodaStream.
| quobnk wrote:
| The trick to have well carbonated beverages if all you have
| available is a sodastream-like device:
|
| - cook the water to remove any other disolved gasses
|
| - Cool it down to as cold as you can. A sludge of ice and
| water is very close to zero degC
|
| - keep some ice unmelted
|
| - carbonate
|
| This is a bit annoying to do especially step one (I skip it,
| it seems to help bit not to a huge degree) but it helps
| making very carbonated water to mix with the sirup
| atombender wrote:
| Nice, I will have to try that!
| Fnoord wrote:
| Right? In the summer, there's two things I drink. Cold water
| overnight infused with whatever (lemon, cucumber, mint, etc)
| and carbonated water from the store. Both are cheap to make and
| pleasant when it is hot. Neither has added sugar. You can also
| infuse with fruits like strawberries. In the other parts of the
| year (esp. winter) I make a can of tea (nearly 1,5l) with two
| teabags. One cup of tea is about 0,2l so it will last the whole
| day, and it stays hot for 24h. Make in morning and you got
| whole day together (we are two drinking this). Sometimes goes
| to waste cause of being away, too hot weather. There's a lot of
| good fusion brands available (I like Yogi Tea's blends a lot),
| you can also make your own herbal mix. Just be careful with
| some herbs and medication.
|
| The carbonated water and lemon in water make for an acidic
| liquid. This is nice when it is hot, but it is also bad for
| teeth. So I do try to limit these somewhat, never drink it
| right before brushing, brush 2x a week, and floss with those
| special toothpicks. I also drink the acidic stuff with the main
| meal in evening when the teeth already get a blast from the
| meal, regularly at least.
|
| As a former wine drinker (who can also appreciate special beers
| and heavy liquor) I was not able to stick to one beer on friday
| evening, and I recognized the struggle to battle an addiction,
| being an alcoholic in disguise. I've been sober past years,
| approx 4, apart from an occasional mistake due to alcohol in a
| desert or an intentional tiramisu during Christmas.
|
| I also still drink coffee, but with caffeine not so much.
| Mainly in morning/afternoon. As a kid I was a fan of cola, the
| coca cola one (for some reason never liked other ones like
| Aldi's or Pepsi much; there's a lot of choice these days). Club
| Mate is a bit hard to source and the pfand is annoying
| (justified, but...) to send back from NL. But I been able to
| quit that in puberty. So, while I like cheap/bulk, I am not
| sure what I could gain from DIY soda (the carbonated water is
| cheap and we get the groceries at the doorstep, also useful
| since we don't have a car).
| AdmiralAsshat wrote:
| Last time I tried this...it was alot easier to just buy the
| concentrate from Cube-Cola rather than trying to source all of
| the essential oils separately and shear them together.
|
| https://cube-cola.org/
|
| I think you'd end up paying less, too. I paid about 20 bucks for
| the concentrate bottle plus shipping, made 1.75L of it, thought
| it was _fine_ but couldn 't quite replace Coke in my diet, and
| didn't buy again. Had I done it all from scratch, I'm pretty sure
| I would've paid more and had a bunch of essential oil bottles
| leftover, going to waste.
| toast0 wrote:
| 20 bucks for 1.75ml of cola seems like pretty bad value.
| AdmiralAsshat wrote:
| To be clear, it made about 1.75L of _syrup_ , not cola. I
| kept the cola syrup jug in a fridge for like a year, and when
| I wanted a glass of "cola" I'd add about an oz of the syrup
| concentrate to a glass of carbonated water (which I pre-
| carbonated with my DrinkMate), and stirred to combine.
|
| I used like half the amount of sugar the cube-cola recipe
| recommended, because it seemed high. It wasn't Coke sweet but
| it was still plenty sweet for a soft drink, to my palette.
|
| EDIT: Originally said 1.75 ml, meant to say Liters.
| gryfft wrote:
| An oz is ~29.57 ml (mililiters), so I think perhaps you
| meant that you made 1.7 l (liters)?
| IanCal wrote:
| Do you mean L? ml to me would be millilitres and one fluid
| ounce is ~30ml.
| AdmiralAsshat wrote:
| Yes, typo on my side. Thanks for catching!
| pizzafeelsright wrote:
| This is why normal folk use quarts and gallons so there
| is no confusion. An mg vs ng of astrophage is deadly.
| bsder wrote:
| How is the cleanup with DrinkMate? Washing everything was
| my primary problem with SodaStream.
| AdmiralAsshat wrote:
| Not hard? I mean you need a dedicated bottle brush, but
| the bottle itself is the only thing I recall having to
| clean. The DrinkMate advertises itself as being able to
| carbonate other things (juice, flat soda, etc.), but I
| never carbonate anything other than water in the bottle,
| then add my syrups only after decanting. It prevents the
| bottle from getting sticky.
| nchmy wrote:
| I bottled 20 litres of kombucha yesterday with ginger and
| lemongrass. It'll be very fizzy and ready to drink in 3-5 days.
| Costs next to nothing and quite healthy - water, black tea,
| sugar, (gifted and self-reproducing) scoby. The flavourings are
| what costs most, depending on what you use.
| jamiek88 wrote:
| Oooh that sounds good! I've been meaning to add fermented stuff
| to my diet.
| Scoundreller wrote:
| me too, thinking of buying fruit juices and yeasts. These
| taxes are killing me.
| psalaun wrote:
| Maybe try water kefir first then. I've got mine for 5 years
| now at least, making 2 bottles every couple of weeks or so.
|
| Kefir is easier and quicker to make than kombucha, there is
| no caffeine and maybe less sugar. Probably the best intro to
| fermented drinks!
| hattmall wrote:
| what did you bottle it in?
| nchmy wrote:
| Bottles?
| hattmall wrote:
| Looking for specific bottle recommendations and suppliers
| juvvel wrote:
| Kombucha is the best "natural" soft drink for me, too. It's not
| entirely sugar-free, though (even though you can get it to low-
| sugar with longer fermentation).
| nchmy wrote:
| I'm not concerned with sugar-free. I drink maybe 500ml per
| day, and otherwise consume ZERO added sugar. And It's surely
| a small fraction of the sugar in soda, fruit juices etc... I
| also like it sour/highly fermented
| tareqak wrote:
| Perfectly Replicating Coca Cola (It Took Me A Year) - LabCoatz :
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDkH3EbWTYc
|
| This content creator used a mass spectrometer to find the
| flavoring used in Coca-Cola.
| s0rce wrote:
| GCMS is neat, we have a really nice one at work but don't use
| it to reverse engineer soft drinks. Although, if we had a bit
| more time we probably could.
| koalacolawhen wrote:
| It is with utter disappointment that I must inform everyone
| that, after 3 months, there is still a complete lack of "Koala
| Cola" imitators popping up. I want to try one so much.
| oldgregg wrote:
| Jumps through 100 hoops to make coke... doesn't add cocaine?! :)
|
| Add modifinil and peptides and you'll have your latest soylent
| startup.
| BizarroLand wrote:
| bpc-157 soda would sell like hotcakes. Putting the "Heal" in
| "Healthy"
| jolt42 wrote:
| Heh, I knew that Coca-cola didn't still have cocaine, but TIL
| it doesn't have Cola (nut) either! Its name is completely
| ridiculous now.
| nulld3v wrote:
| I've also been dabbling in this recently in an attempt to avoid
| buying SodaStream syrups (which are on the BDS boycott list).
|
| Tips for working on sugar-free recipes: In some countries (like
| Canada), soft-drink manufacturers are required to disclose the
| exact amount of each artificial sweetener they use in the drink.
| So you can easily grab those numbers from Canadian product
| listings for use in your own recipes. E.g. 355ml of Diet Coke
| contains 131 mg aspartame + 15mg ace-K.
|
| Also, aspartame can be difficult/slow to dissolve. It dissolves
| better in solutions with a low pH and a warmer temperature.
| LightBug1 wrote:
| Well done for the BDS attempt ... had to get my Mum to return
| her Sodastream as she had no idea.
|
| But I have to say, this whole thing is enough to turn me off
| soft drinks altogether.
|
| Maybe that's the point?
|
| Those bags full of crystals look like something out of Breaking
| Bad, lol, but I appreciate getting rid of the sugar and
| caffeine.
|
| Some sparkling water and some cordials or dilutes has to be ~
| better!
|
| Thanks for the reminder to switch!
| eek2121 wrote:
| I Googled the BDS Boycott list at a glance...the top link
| (https://bdsmovement.net/Guide-to-BDS-Boycott) mentions a bunch
| of companies, including Sodastream. The immediate issue I see
| is that Sodastream is owned by PepsiCo, Inc. That immediately
| makes them complicit as well. PepsiCo was also facing a lawsuit
| regarding a partnership with Walmart for price fixing
| (https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2026/01/08/walmart-
| peps...) until the Trump administration threw it out
| (https://apnews.com/article/ftc-pepsico-trump-
| walmart-2cd8b42...).
|
| I bring all this up to say that even if everyone boycotts
| sodastream, it won't do diddly to the actual folks responsible.
| I bet the same goes for others on that list. Boycotts also
| don't usually work in general. Most of the time it takes full
| on government intervention, lawsuits, etc. to change things.
| undersuit wrote:
| >Most of the time it takes full on government intervention,
| lawsuits, etc. to change things.
|
| That's the S.
| nulld3v wrote:
| Boycotts definitely have their limitations, but the
| Sodastream boycott seems to have had some sort of effect:
| https://www.timesofisrael.com/victory-for-bds-as-
| sodastreams..., though whether the intended effect was
| achieved is debatable...
| fakedang wrote:
| "West Bank Industrial Zone" lol.
|
| Call it for what it really is (not you, Times Of Israel). A
| factory inside an illegal West Bank settlement.
| LightBug1 wrote:
| We do what we can, where we can, when we can.
|
| Personally, I find it's less about the act (although
| financially depriving companies of my cash does make me feel
| good), it's about the conversation the act starts.
|
| And I've seen it work, or help. Some among us will remember
| the boycott of South African goods during Apartheid.
| integralid wrote:
| >BDS boycott list
|
| Looks like a great initiative. Anyone knows about a similar
| list, but for companies that support Russia and occupation of
| Ukraine?
| culi wrote:
| BDS has been around since 2005 and organizing on a global
| scale.
|
| Russia is under heavy sanctions so I doubt there's much more
| regular consumers can do to boycott if they live in countries
| compliant with those sanctions.
|
| But there's an app that's (unfortunately) named BoyCat that
| currently mainly works for BDS. You scan a product and it
| tells you if it's directly or indirectly tied to a product on
| the BDS list. I heard they are trying to expand functionality
| to allow anyone to make and organize around a list
|
| https://www.boycat.io/
|
| TBH this is an idea I've personally wanted to work on for a
| long time. I think the boycott is an underrated tool for
| social change and tools that can make it easier to organize
| around them can be a really powerful force for good
| whackernews wrote:
| There's a really simple way that will protect you from any
| current or future corruptions/profit before people behaviour:
| don't buy anything from any large corporations.
|
| If you do this you also benefit from giving your money to
| real people and not contributing to huge amounts of waste and
| pollution.
| whackernews wrote:
| People are always so laser focussed on the latest trendy thing,
| but why not just boycott all huge corporations/organisations?
| It's a much simpler rule that achieves the same thing and you
| have the added benefit of boycotting companies that haven't had
| their corruption uncovered... yet!
| LightBug1 wrote:
| I find it more effective to say, I'm avoiding product X for Y
| reason.
|
| This starts a conversation more effectively with contacts
| rather than go full large company avoidance which is
| difficult for people to imagine, let alone act on.
|
| I sympathise with what you're saying though.
| mattmaroon wrote:
| One pro-tip as I now somehow have a commercial bottling license
| these days: get pre-hydrated gum Arabic. Much easier to work
| with. Almost everybody who messes this up will make the mistake
| at the hydrating the gum Arabic stage. Blend it with any dry
| ingredients like sugar before using.
|
| If you can't source it, I'm not going to tell you that you SHOULD
| pretend to be a bottling company and ask a gum provider to send
| you some free samples, but you could and the amount they send you
| will last the rest of your life. TIC gums is pretty awesome and
| if you're into frozen desserts has some incredible gum mixtures
| for ice creams, sorbets, etc.
|
| Also, consider just using water soluble flavor concentrates and
| skipping emulsification all together. That's what most pros do
| and it's why Sprite isn't cloudy like it would be if you used
| oils. My favorite suppliers that sell in consumer and pro-sumer
| qtys are Apex Flavors and Nature's Flavors.
|
| This probably won't work for Cola as I think some of those
| ingredients have all of their flavor molecules in the oils, but
| as a general rule, if you can buy it at the store and it is
| clear, it is made using water soluble. If it is brown it probably
| isn't, hence the caramel color additive.
| detritus wrote:
| Posts like this are why I read HN comments first.
|
| Posts like this remind we how much better it is to be as part
| of a large trading bloc to be able to easily order/sample these
| sort of things, rather than it likely being a pain in the arse
| to get locally.
| cogman10 wrote:
| IDK if it'd apply here, but there are technically laws on the
| books in the US against price and purchase discrimination for
| grocers. It was specifically one of the things Lina Khan was
| investigating on the way out of office and something I
| believe she's going to be using for the NYC grocery stores.
|
| A food seller isn't allowed to cut out a grocer because they
| are too small. However, I believe they get around this today
| by having minimum order sizes that make it impossible for a
| small grocer to handle.
|
| That's effectively how my small hometown grocer was driven
| out of business. The suppliers refused to work with them
| because they wanted them to order huge amounts of product
| that wouldn't work for my hometown with 300 people. So, the
| people running the store ended up just buying products from
| either costco or another grocery store a town over. The price
| hike they had to apply was simply too much for the local folk
| who ultimately also went to the nearby towns to save money
| instead of shopping locally.
| fakedang wrote:
| And I'm guessing, without a local grocery store at the very
| least, your hometown is also a dying entity?
| cogman10 wrote:
| It's mixed. Several people ended up moving back as some
| of the older population died off. One new resident
| retired there and is running a mini-grocery store now as
| both a hobby and for some of the hunters that come
| through the town.
|
| But the town is dying/dead. There's really only 1 major
| business in town and the school. It's surrounded by farm
| land.
|
| In my father's day, it had everything from a hardware
| store, full service garage, a bowling ally, movie
| theater, restaurant, and dance hall. All that is gone
| now.
|
| In my youth the restaurant and grocery store were still
| around. You had to call ahead to the restaurant as they
| would only open in a call ahead fashion.
| xarope wrote:
| can't several small hometown grocers get together to be
| able to make that volume/quantity? Surely that would be
| better than just buying from costco?
| frereubu wrote:
| Parent comment said their hometown had 300 people, which
| I can't imagine would support more than one or, at most,
| two grocery stores.
| tirant wrote:
| That's exactly what small distributors are for.
| robotbikes wrote:
| A lot of small co-op groceries and even food co-ops that
| are more like ordering clubs used to use a company called
| UNFI to put in their orders but I think they focused more
| on organic and other high end items but they were willing
| to service smaller stores so yeah it's probable. There
| was also IGA (independent grocers association) but I
| think most of the stores associated with that
| brand/network locally have closed down so not sure if
| it's a thing anymore. Many of the independent convenience
| stores here stock almost all of their groceries at Aldi.
| projektfu wrote:
| I lived in a town with only IGA and Piggly-Wiggly. (And
| Dollar General, of course). IGA was the best. I really
| appreciate what they were doing. It appears to still
| exist.
|
| https://www.iga.com/about
| eru wrote:
| It seems entirely reasonable to me to quote larger prices
| per item, even much larger prices, for smaller quantities.
| Or even outright refuse to sell in small quantities.
|
| I mean, my grocer doesn't sell individual beans either. So
| why should wholesalers be forced?
| lores wrote:
| They don't? I'm in London, and my local grocer will
| happily sell me one bean if I want. I've bought 1 bird
| chilli several times.
| AlBugdy wrote:
| Sure, if the chili peppers or the beans are not packaged,
| you could buy as little as you want. Sometimes you might
| get funny looks, sometimes they'll give you the bean for
| free as it's not worth the hassle to sell an individual
| bean.
|
| But what about prepackaged beans, like 500 gram pack? You
| can't open the package and expect to pay for part of it.
| Sometimes the beans are packaged by the grocery store
| with their branding. That's the same as not letting you
| buy an individual bean.
| eru wrote:
| And it's great that lores found a grocer that caters to
| their needs. Even less of a reason to make a law to force
| everyone to do so.
| bryceacc wrote:
| Greatly detailed here:
|
| https://youtu.be/odhVF_xLIQA?t=338
|
| In this case, Pepsi has reduced promotions and increased
| wholesale cost for "small groceries" which in this case was
| a regional grocer with ~1000 of stores across 10 states. If
| Pepsi is strong arming regional giants like that, imagine
| how the ant of a real local grocer feels. They are
| algorithmically getting destroyed
| atentaten wrote:
| Why did you get a commercial bottling license?
| mattmaroon wrote:
| Well after software I wanted a life that involved a lot less
| computer usage and a lot more being on my feet. So now I sell
| beverages via a few food trucks and also syrups people can
| use to make draft sodas/mocktails. We make everything
| ourselves because we're all-natural everything, with the lone
| exception of Coke products because you just can't get people
| to drink anything else.
|
| I basically went from no real knowledge to being able to
| develop commercial-scale beverages and walk them through all
| phases of production.
|
| The money's not as good as software (but decent) and being
| active rather than sedentary with most of my time has done
| wonders for my health and mood. Man was not meant to sit in
| one place for long hours daily and I'm just not a gym rat no
| matter how many times I tried so I just reengineered my life.
| parallel wrote:
| That's a really inspiring story to me. Do you have any more
| info about your business e.g website or blog? (I realise
| these are computer things and exactly what you were moving
| away from.)
| com2kid wrote:
| Seconded that I'd love to hear more.
|
| A couple years back I bought a "cooking from your garden"
| book that introduced my family to shrubs, and since then
| we've been making a lot of home made drinks. We mostly do
| different types of shrubs and tepeches. I've found that
| doing better than store bought isn't very hard, but I have
| no desire to try and scale any of my recipes.
|
| The other thing I used to do before I had a kid was make
| really fancy alcoholic snacks. Super labor intensive, but
| really good. For example I made a jello pina colada. I'd
| sweeten canned coconut cream with some white sugar on the
| stove, add gelatin, and some rum. let it cool a bit. Drain
| a can of pineapples and keep the juice, use the juice to
| make pineapple jello again mixed with rum, with a piece of
| pineapple in the middle. Join the two jellos when they are
| both half set. (I used silicone molds.)
|
| Tada! Bougie pina colada jello shots.
|
| With a kid now I am limiting my creativity to non-alcoholic
| drinks. 90% of the shrub recipes online are absurdly basic.
| Honestly doing "better than average" is easy because the
| bar is so damn low.
| thiago_fm wrote:
| You should get your website up and running and start
| writing and tell others not only how you made it, but also
| why. What you felt in this change in your life etc.
|
| I guess a big part of this is figuring out how to make
| money doing that. I wonder how did you get there.
|
| I've always had the desire to make soft drinks and I have a
| similar concern about how we are sitting the entire day...
| bryanrasmussen wrote:
| >with the lone exception of Coke products because you just
| can't get people to drink anything else.
|
| gotta say I don't like Pepsi, but I love Jarritos Cola and
| Fritz-Kola, they're both bitter enough. Most other Colas
| I've had in the U.S are too darn sweet.
| eru wrote:
| Fritz-Kola used to be even more bitter, until they
| dropped the caffeine content to sane levels.
| kleiba2 wrote:
| _> Well after software I wanted a life that involved a lot
| less computer usage and a lot more being on my feet._
|
| Oh man, that's so me at this stage of my life. But I cannot
| easily get out of the rat race, with family
| responsibilities and mortgages and all...
| freedomben wrote:
| Same here. Despite having intentions of not improving
| lifestyle with income (so I could be FIRE), it happened
| anyway with kids. I love my kids (of course) but they are
| so much more expensive than I ever could have imagined.
| Cost of living has just skyrocketed in the past 6 or 7
| years (cue the 11 year old saying "Siiiiiixxxxx
| Seeeevvvvvennnn") and wages haven't changed much. Unless
| something radically changes, I'm chained to this desk for
| at least then next 10 years.
| joshmn wrote:
| What are your, um, favorite gum providers?
| mattmaroon wrote:
| Small scale: modernist pantry. Commercial scale: Ingredion's
| TIC gums. Their pre-hydrated gum arabic is great.
| valarauko wrote:
| Is the Modernist Pantry gum arabic pre hydrated?
| pseingatl wrote:
| All gum arabica comes from Sudan. When the US imposed
| sanctions on Sudan, this product was exempted.
| mattmaroon wrote:
| Ha yeah. That whole thing is kind of crazy.
| hattmall wrote:
| What do you use to bottle things in, like what bottles?
| pseingatl wrote:
| Perrier bottles can be emptied and resealed. I didn't see
| anything in the article about carbonation.
| HeyLaughingBoy wrote:
| Bottles are easy to find. I homebrew my own ginger ale and
| use Grolsch-style sealing caps to withstand the pressure. Buy
| them on Amazon.
| user070223 wrote:
| Another fun use for gum arabic is making watercolor paints, you
| can do it with your kids sourcing the pigment from different
| soils. pour water and let the heavy big particle fall to the
| bottom and source the small ones from the top and mix some
| ingredients
| dzhiurgis wrote:
| Pigment from soils?
| krisoft wrote:
| Not sure what you are asking. The stone age way of making
| paint is to find some place where the ground has a weird
| colour, dig it up, clean it and you have a pigment.
|
| Even to this day many of our paint pigments are mined this
| way. Red/yellow ochre, umber, sienna.
|
| If what you are asking is the dirt in question geologically
| speaking a soil? Sometimes, sometimes not. It can be a
| sediment or a regolith too. But in the more general laymen
| sense callig any dirt from the ground a soil is not too
| mistaken.
| dzhiurgis wrote:
| Yeah I'll probably stick with coca cola corporation
| azepoi wrote:
| Ochre is from a type of clay
| mattmaroon wrote:
| Oh! I knew they sold it for art but not why.
| sourcegrift wrote:
| Thank you for helping contribute to reduced trust in the
| society. Fuck them big dudes, amirite?
| prodigycorp wrote:
| He's contributed to improving trust on this forum. And idk if
| you've ever gotten commercial samples before but he's right,
| the amount they give you is immaterial to hurting them and
| can be material to you.
|
| Also, he said that he's somehow stumbled into somehow having
| a commercial bottling license. If him, why not us?
| diceduckmonk wrote:
| > the amount they give you is immaterial to hurting them
| and can be material to you.
|
| It's immaterial to Apple if I stole an iPhone from the
| Apple Store too.
|
| > Also, he said that he's somehow stumbled into somehow
| having a commercial bottling license. If him, why not us?
|
| Because he is a commercial bottler who is sampling from
| different supplier that he intends to source from for his
| business.
| helsinkiandrew wrote:
| > Blend it with any dry ingredients like sugar before using.
|
| That's the key.
|
| I'm not an expert - and have only experience making/mixing
| liquids for cocktails - but Gum Arabic (often used to add a
| thicker mouthfeel in sugar syrups) isn't a great emulsifier but
| needs to be full homogenised with the oils before adding to
| more liquid - exceptionally high speed, aggressive blending for
| longer than it looks like is needed, to create tiny droplets
| which the gum arabic then stabilises, or the oil will end up
| separating after a few hours/days.
|
| Sucros Esters, Propylene Glycol, or Polysorbate 80 (which I
| haven't used) probably do a better job but only Sucros Esters
| could be considered 'natural'
| jfengel wrote:
| I wonder how they pulled off Crystal Pepsi.
|
| A neat trick, even if nobody cared.
| lagniappe wrote:
| The 90's were a magical place. Best we can do now is Clear
| Pepsi.
| jolt42 wrote:
| Why? Is it just not put caramel coloring in it? It didn't
| taste like actual Pepsi to me, which I suppose might be more
| difficult?
| jfengel wrote:
| The OP said (in the last paragraph) that the ingredients
| that go into colas are the kind that make the drink cloudy.
| Crystal Pepsi was clear, even without the coloring.
|
| Presumably it's because they changed to use flavors that
| are completely water-soluble. That would explain a
| difference in taste.
|
| (I know they tasted different with my eyes open, but I
| never did a blind taste test between the two. It would be
| interesting to know how close they really got to the
| original flavor.)
| subscribed wrote:
| Nile Red recreated "cola" drink close enough to the good
| stuff and of course published the recipe. Might want to try
| that :)
| qmr wrote:
| What's the use in ice cream?
|
| My ice cream is just ... ice cream. Cream, milk, sugar.
| hutattedonmyarm wrote:
| As an emulsifier, allowing the fats and the water to mix
| better. I _think_ it also might help to trap air bubbles. It
| helps you turn on the creaminess-knob
| roryirvine wrote:
| Egg yolk is the usual emulsifier, in the UK at least - ice
| cream is essentially a frozen whipped custard.
| hutattedonmyarm wrote:
| That's also an option. I usually make mine without due to
| friends with egg allergies and vegan friends
| mattmaroon wrote:
| Several reasons. Texture and freeze-thaw stability are the
| main reasons. The latter being an issue for home use mainly.
|
| Your freezer's self-defrost works by getting a little warm
| and then cold again. That causes ice crystals to melt and re-
| freeze, which is the opposite of what you want. Gums help
| with that and that's why it's in most of the ones you see at
| the grocery store.
|
| They also can be used to give body to things that don't have
| as much protein, like sorbets.
| anang wrote:
| If I may ask a question...
|
| Nature's flavors sells both extracts and concentrates that are
| water soluble. For a brown soda, like rootbeer, is an alcohol
| based extract preferred or should I go the concentrate route?
|
| I've been toying with the idea of making commercial style
| rootbeer at home, and making soda from roots just doesn't cut
| it (even if it's pretty good). I've been eying Nature's flavors
| for a while, but since I'm not in the US it will be VERY
| expensive.
|
| There are no domestics providers of food safe wintergreen or
| sassafras.
|
| Thanks, and cool career switch!
| mattmaroon wrote:
| That's a good question and it probably depends on the
| ingredient. Most of what we call flavors are a mix of
| volatile aromatic compounds. Some of those are fat soluble.
| Some water soluble.
|
| Alcohol is great for extracting as it can pull out both.
|
| The flavor extracted depends on what you're extracting with
| and even the concentration.
|
| So really, you'd have to buy it and try. I've only ever made
| root beer a couple times for my own experimentation with oil.
|
| Nature's Flavors is awesome though and you might ask them.
| peaxkl wrote:
| I recently started getting into homemade ClubMate production. The
| goal was to create a drink that has caffeine, less sugar than
| regular mate and is still tasty.
|
| It took me 4-5 tries to get to a recipe that tastes good. Earlier
| tries involved cooking the mate, which led to a bitter taste.
| Cold brewing led to way better results.
|
| Here is my current recipe for 5 bottles (a 0,5l):
| - 60g mate tea leaves (coarse) [1] - 500ml water -
| 65g cane sugar - 1 squeezed lemon - soda water
| 1. Add 60g of mate to a 500ml bottle and fill up the rest with
| water 2. Let it sit in the fridge for 12-24h 3. Then
| strain the mate from the liquid 4. Use a filter cloth or a
| tea towel (soak with water first) to filter out the remaining
| suspended solids 5. Put sugar and the lemon juice together
| into a pot and start caramelizing the sugar 6. Then add the
| filtered mate tea and take the pot from the stove 7. Now
| distribute it equally on the 5 bottles and fill up the rest with
| soda
|
| The mate tastes less sweet than the original mate, but is still a
| great drink to keep you awake.
|
| [1] Mate tea that I'm using: https://www.amazon.com/Playadito-
| Traditional-Colonia-Liebig-...
| BoredPositron wrote:
| I've never found the right tea leaves. Most of them were to
| bitter and some had just a totally different profile than the
| original clubmate. How close are the ones you are using?
| peaxkl wrote:
| For me using the cold brew method instead of cooking the
| leaves had the biggest effect on the bitterness.
|
| The taste goes in the direction of ClubMate, but has a
| stronger tea taste than the original ClubMate. I think
| reasons for that are the reduced amount of sugar and the fact
| that ClubMate uses natural flavor in their tea extract.
| lopis wrote:
| Buying different brands will change the taste even more.
| whywhywhywhy wrote:
| Isn't this a tannins issue? I've not done mate before but
| with black tea my understanding is brewed tea cooled down
| is bitter while tea just left in cold water in the fridge
| is smooth because brewing it releases tannins.
| IAmBroom wrote:
| Water-soluble taste compounds all dissolve with similar
| time profiles (all other things being equal), which are
| exponential curves that asymptote at zero and saturation.
| The time constant and the saturation level are the true
| variables, and saturation is "chosen" by the molecule
| itself, but when you superimpose exponential curves, a
| slower-dissolving "bad" taste can be minimized by finding
| the right balance point between "enough" of the good
| solutes before the unwanted solute rises much.
|
| "All things being equal" = that time constant is itself a
| function of temperature, so lower temperatures slow down
| (spread out) the process, allowing a broader "balance
| point" at which to stop the process.
|
| IOW, if you're brewing a hot cup of tea, leaving the bag
| in an extra few minutes can really increase the
| bitterness without making it much "darker", but even a
| few extra hours in the fridge-brewed tea is no big deal.
| askl wrote:
| Maybe try contacting Meta Mate [1] for recommendations. AFAIK
| they are supplying mate leaves to multiple mate soft drink
| manufacturers.
|
| [1] https://www.metamateberlin.de/
| plomme wrote:
| Love that you made homemade Club Mate! My favorite soda by far.
| I didn't realize it was just tea before now. They have made a
| sugar free version now as well, but that not as cool as making
| your own
| whywhywhywhy wrote:
| The sugar free Club Mate is probably the only soda where I'm
| not satisfied with it instead of the sugar version.
| Somethings just missing in the mix of it, doesn't have the
| bite that makes the sugar version satisfying.
| flobosg wrote:
| > They have made a sugar free version now as well, but that
| not as cool as making your own
|
| That version (Club Mate Zero) is hard to get in supermarkets
| as well, at least where I'm living in Germany. I usually
| order it online.
| indigo945 wrote:
| Late capitalism is when a traditional tea recipe is referred to
| as "homemade ClubMate (R)".
| peaxkl wrote:
| That's my approach to recreate a soft drink (ClubMate), like
| OP is trying to recreate Coke (etc.). Would love to also
| learn something about the traditional recipe
| KeplerBoy wrote:
| sure, but what makes it ClubMate instead of just Mate Tea?
| Either way, thanks for the recipe. I might try that.
| peaxkl wrote:
| I would say drinking it cold, carbonated, with
| caramelized sugar and lemon juice, out of a bottle
| instead of brewed as a tea from a calabaza.
| flobosg wrote:
| Club Mate has a different taste than traditionally brewed
| yerba mate. It's carbonated as well.
| thiago_fm wrote:
| You can buy mate tea as tea sachets, "Mate leao" has a nice
| taste blend.
|
| Why not do it with the leaves? This is harder as their taste
| profile is very uneven.
|
| For the sour taste, add citric acid.
|
| I'm pretty sure that if you toy around with the amount of
| citric acid, sugar & dillution you'll get a similar taste, or
| something even more palatable for you.
| peaxkl wrote:
| Thanks for the tips! Will try!
| flobosg wrote:
| > mate tea as tea sachets
|
| Look for "mate cocido". La Tranquera is the brand I use.
| lopis wrote:
| 65 grams of sugar for 500ml is "less sugar"?How, if a 500ml
| bottle of club mate only has 25 grams? Did you mean 6.5 grams
| perhaps?
|
| Edit: My bad, I didn't realise that was for 5 bottles. Carry
| on.
| kakacik wrote:
| Still not great if consumed regularly, sugar is one of the
| worst thing we pump our bodies. Its basically a slow acting
| poison that kills our organs. Complex carbs are better, but
| stuff in drinks is same as eating spoonfulls of it directly
| hackerInnen wrote:
| To be honest, I don't have that much fun in playing around with
| the recipe, but I found this one and it just works for me:
| https://github.com/xil-se/FreeMate
|
| But nowadays I just drink plain yerba mate with a splash of
| lemon juice, no added sugar. I do the FreeMate in summer a bit.
|
| Edit: Btw, if anyone of you bought yerba mate before and
| thought it didn't taste great, for me personally there are huge
| differences between them. I like the milder ones a lot more
| that don't have much powder. If you have been disappointed
| before maybe try again with a different brand and don't forget
| the splash of lemon juice, that makes a crazy big difference
| flobosg wrote:
| Terere is also a milder alternative:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terer%C3%A9
| dendrite9 wrote:
| You can also buy mate with mint mixed in. I accidentally
| bought a kilo of it a while ago and I've been working through
| it slowly.
| lizzard wrote:
| I just made some this morning, and it came out delicious even
| with only 6 hours of cold brewing in the fridge! Thanks for the
| idea!
| varispeed wrote:
| I thought this would be for people who cannot drink commercially
| available drinks due to mandated addition of sweeteners.
|
| I stopped consuming these, any that I tried was leaving awful
| chemical aftertaste that I just cannot get used to.
|
| So instead I was DIY drinks by mixing concentrated fruit juice
| (with no added sweeteners) with sparkling water.
|
| Also be careful if drink says "natural flavourings" - it's a
| loophole to add sweetener that is not classified as sweetener, so
| they don't have to put it on the label, but still tastes awful.
| SamDc73 wrote:
| I switched to zero sugar about a year ago, but all the zero sugar
| sodas use aspartame (yeah yeah not proven to cause cancer, but
| still not a great sweetener)
|
| for now (out of laziness), I just grab plain sparkling water and
| add Stur drops
|
| Also didn't expect to be pulling recipes off GitHub, but I'll
| take that any day over those paywalled sites
|
| Definitely want to give this a try!
| rootusrootus wrote:
| > aspartame (yeah yeah not proven to cause cancer, but still
| not a great sweetener)
|
| Compared to what? Aspartame is almost certainly the most
| studied artificial sweetener in existence, and the safety
| profile looks very good.
| dlcarrier wrote:
| I presume the comment was referring to the lack of greatness
| in the flavor. Sucralose tastes much better, for one.
| rootusrootus wrote:
| Aspartame tastes fine to me. I think it's one of those
| things that some people can taste and others cannot.
| amelius wrote:
| Yes, I wish aspartame was used more.
|
| I hate those stupid sugar alcohols, and stevia as well. Yuck.
| littlexsparkee wrote:
| I've found the taste of Monk Fruit to be preferable.
| DonHopkins wrote:
| It's almost impossible to get root beer syrup or extract in the
| Netherlands, but I found the solution (ha ha) in Darcy O'Neil's
| "Art of Drink" videos. He wrote a book about soda fountain
| history, "Fix the Pumps: The History of the American Soda
| Fountain" (which malfist recommended in the sibling comment), and
| he gets into the science and history and culture behind drink
| flavoring.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@Artofdrink
|
| First of all you need to make quality carbonated water (de-aerate
| water by boiling it, carbonate it when ice cold, use heavy cold
| glasses, don't use ice):
|
| Carbonating Water: The 2 Most Important Things To Do
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBNJ7yzIvtw
|
| Here's his root beer forumula:
|
| How to Make Root Beer
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIUMFkDV4FE
|
| >Making root beer is really quite simple and anyone can do it in
| about 20 minutes. The core flavour is wintergreen oil and then
| there are additional complementary flavours that give the root
| beer its character.
|
| He has several videos about formulating cola and many other
| flavors too:
|
| How Coca-Cola Gets Its Iconic Taste
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi8o06qv7m8
|
| The Origin of the Coca Cola Flavour
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-1tGNobqi0
|
| How to Make Cola, like Coca-Cola or Pepsi
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2yLvseG5UM
|
| What Coke and Pepsi Don't Tell You About Caramel
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7CFZAw3dkA
|
| And if you want old school Coke flavor, here's one on how to
| simulate the smell of cocaine:
|
| Coca leaf and Cocaine Aroma Used in Coca-Cola
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMcaYtOIbes
|
| >Cocaine, or at least the aroma compounds in coca-leaf is an
| important flavour component of Coca-Cola today and possibly other
| colas, historically. So the question you might ask is "what does
| cocaine smell like?" And here is the answer. If you've ever
| thought about making your own version of Coca-Cola and thought
| something was missing, this might be that piece to the puzzle.
|
| You use the same stuff they train drug sniffing dogs with (methyl
| benzoate and methyl cinnamate). Also there's another ingredient,
| truxilic acid, that's extremely hard to get, and is much more
| expensive ($300/gram) than real cocaine.
| xp84 wrote:
| The bit about dogs just gives me nightmares. I picture a few
| puffs of the dust from that dispersing in my kitchen during
| that experiment, and then every item then in the vicinity
| becoming a beacon for drug dogs for the rest of my life :D
| dlcarrier wrote:
| I often carbonate my tap water and drink it straight, and have
| never thought the taste was any different from commercial
| seltzers. Then again, my tap water is just as good as or better
| than commercial bottled water, likely because it is mostly from
| mountain spring and snow melt, that travels down rocky high-
| flow streams.
|
| There's a Nile Red video where Nigel carbonated water with
| carbon from diamonds, and when he tasted it, he complained that
| it tasted like his local tap water, which wasn't very good.
|
| What's the water like in the Netherlands?
| pseingatl wrote:
| The Stepan company in New Jersey is the only entity legally
| allowed to import coca leaves (aside from the DEA, ICE, the FBI
| and a few others that buy and sell all the time) and extract
| the illegal methyl benzoyl ecgonine (C17H21NO4) leaving the
| flavor compounds. Query whether they would sell the de-
| cocainized product to a soft drink hobbyist. Friends in
| Colombia report that Sek Cola sold there has the ecgonine
| ingredient. Not sure how close the recipe replicates the
| original Atlanta beverage.
| frugalmail wrote:
| I was completely expecting a self-carbonation solution. It's not
| disappointing, just got a different cool thing :)
| amarant wrote:
| Somewhat surprised to learn that cola recipes don't actually
| contain any kola-nut!
| znpy wrote:
| Reminds me a lot of this video where the authors claim to have
| essentially replicated the true coca-cola flavor:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDkH3EbWTYc
| miguel_martin wrote:
| I highly recommend art of drink: https://www.artofdrink.com/
| calmbonsai wrote:
| Yes! Also his book "Fix the Pumps" https://a.co/d/0intXOn1
| which has a bizarre title and cover art, but is right up there
| with "Liquid Intelligence" for traditional sodas.
| jackdawed wrote:
| I went down this rabbit hole last year after buying a carbonator.
| Rather than mixing a bunch of oils together, I bought my flavors
| from Bakto Flavors (based in NJ, USA) which is founded by Dr.
| Daphna Havkin Frenkel who did her research in food sciences and
| biotechnology, focusing on vanilla. The cola flavor is really
| good, and I add acetic acid (Vitamin C) + electrolytes to it. If
| I'm feeling it, I'll add in vanilla, cherry, or lime flavors to
| it.
|
| Sad to hear she passed away recently this month.
|
| Highly recommend Bakto's natural flavors.
| Scoundreller wrote:
| > acetic acid (Vitamin C)
|
| _ascorbic_ acid!
| userbinator wrote:
| Acetic acid is vinegar. Not something I'd like to taste in
| any soft drink.
| riffraff wrote:
| I don't like vinegar much either, but vinegar in drinks
| does have a certain tradition e.g.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posca
| tdeck wrote:
| Or more recently Switchel, which was popular in 19th
| century America.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switchel
|
| I think the ready availability or citrus fruits caused
| their decline.
| DonHopkins wrote:
| I'm hoping Irn-Bru will come out with Fish-n-Chips Soda
| with a strong vinegar finish!
|
| In the mean time, does anyone know the formula for
| traditional Irn-Bru? How do you get the girders to dissolve
| into the syrup?
|
| RARE Irn-Bru Advertising Poster/Calendar 1992 Demand Going
| to be Wee Bit Heavier
|
| https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/374619031624
|
| Irn Bru - "Made in Scotland from Girders" - Drilled Hole
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoVfy_q9IFc
|
| Irn Bru Advert - "Made in Scotland from Girders" - Steam
| Roller
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD3LippIN40
|
| Irn Bru Advert: Shipyard
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBjYfe-QIBg
|
| IRN-BRU Snowman Advert
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yZOab5gl-4
|
| IRN-BRU Snowman - The Sequel
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8WBStu4STY
|
| ROYALS: The Queen and Prince William visit the Irn-Bru
| factory | 5 News
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU-0n1m-2OE
|
| At 1:08 they hold up a precious bottle of pure secret Irn-
| Bru Essence. How can I get me some of that?
| williape wrote:
| Soadly is getting popular in Australia as an alternative to
| sugar / artificial sweeteners soadas. Most use vinegar:
| https://www.remedydrinks.com/collections/sodaly
| BizarroLand wrote:
| Are there any reasonably priced water carbonation systems that
| aren't sodastream adjacent?
|
| I know there are hacks for the older sodastreams where you can
| buy a large tank from a foodgas company, but what I really want
| is a machine in my house that I can bring a cup to and fill
| with soda without it costing me ~$1,000.
| delgaudm wrote:
| This is really interesting. I have been making my own "instant
| cola" with several large dashes of angostura bitters and a can of
| seltzer in a pint glass. The liquid should be very pink/orange.
| and, if I want sweetness a drop of liquid sucralose sweetner is
| all I need, just sweet enough for me without aftertaste. This mix
| scratches my cola itch very well and can be made in about 20
| seconds.
| kasey_junk wrote:
| Try walnut or cherry bitters sometimes for a similar but
| different enough to be interesting flavor.
| mauvehaus wrote:
| Fun fact: Angostura bitters has gentian root extract in it,
| which is also in the northeastern US's favorite regional soda
| specialty: Moxie! If you like that, you'll probably also like
| Moxie.
|
| It's also a great way to taste bitters, generally, and a pretty
| decent substitute for a drink if you're trying to cut back.
| rconti wrote:
| wait, are those the only ingredients?
| ChuckMcM wrote:
| If I could figure out diet dr. pepper this could be life changing
| :-)
| viccis wrote:
| Same but for Diet Coke. Would make ridiculous amounts of it
| foresto wrote:
| If you want to carbonate water but don't want to buy a countertop
| carbonator or its overpriced CO2 refills, you can get a ball lock
| valve cap that screws onto 1L or 2L soda bottles for around
| $8-16.
|
| That valve will attach to a standard female fitting, which you
| can put on the end of a hose coming from a pressure regulator,
| which will attach to a full-size CO2 cylinder available from a
| brewing or gas supply shop. CO2 refills are a _lot_ cheaper this
| way.
|
| Put cold water in the bottle with some extra space at the top.
| Squeeze out the air and attach the valve cap. Set the pressure
| regulator, connect it to the bottle, open the regulator's output
| valve, and watch the bottle that was slightly crushed by your
| squeezing expand back to its normal shape. Slosh the water around
| with pressure applied for maybe 10-30 seconds. Close the output
| valve and disconnect.
|
| Voila. Carbonated water.
|
| IIRC, PETE soda bottles are pressurized to about 50 psi for
| retail shelves. I don't think they're likely to burst until well
| beyond 100 psi, and they'll deform before they burst, so if
| you're careful, you can go a little higher than 50 and make
| fizzier water than what you can buy in the store. I have used 70
| psi many times.
|
| Read up on precautions for handling pressurized gas before doing
| any of this. Wear eye protection. Don't turn your bottle or gas
| cylinder into an unguided missile. :)
|
| Sadly, I don't have any info on microplastics released by this
| process. (Nor by countertop carbonators and their rigid plastic
| flasks.) I wish I knew of a suitable steel bottle to use instead.
| rootusrootus wrote:
| FWIW the counter carbonators aren't too bad if you use a third-
| party refill instead of the expensive branded ones. Also, you
| can just use dry ice to refill the bottles rather than swapping
| for new ones. If you don't want to geek out on a complete DIY
| setup, the countertop models are definitely a little more
| convenient.
| collin128 wrote:
| I bought an Aarke (soda stream comp) and a CO2 hose. Now I use
| one of the 5lb tanks. It's great.
| gorgonical wrote:
| What do you mean? You use the 5lb tank via the Aarke instead
| of the CO2 cylinders? Or you refill somehow the CO2
| cylinders? If it's the first one this sounds like the best of
| both worlds with the convenience of the countertop device and
| the cost-efficiency of the bulk CO2. It would be great if you
| elaborated some more!
| tass wrote:
| I've done this for years and never ruptured a bottle, I set the
| regulator to 60psi.
|
| I'd like a metal bottle too but haven't found one - I presume
| spraying some co2 into it would be enough to get the plain air
| out since you obviously can't squeeze the air out.
| truetraveller wrote:
| Could you do the math for the raw material cost of 355ml?
| dlcarrier wrote:
| I found it cheaper and much, much more convenient to get an
| adapter to refill the countertop carbonator's CO2 cylinders
| from a standard 20 lb CO2 cylendar. That way, you can carbonate
| from the much smaller and easier to use countertop unit, you
| can service multiple countertop carbonators from a single
| larger tank, and you can leave the larger tank shut off and
| away from living areas so that a leak doesn't pose a hazard.
| foresto wrote:
| > I found it cheaper and much, much more convenient
|
| Cheaper? I don't see how. We're filling from the same CO2
| cylinders, and my total hardware cost was less than that of a
| midrange SodaStream _without_ the adapter you describe.
|
| More convenient? Maybe, depending on environment and use.
|
| But mine has advantages, too: More fizz, no counter space
| required, fewer fragile plastic parts, standard components
| that are easily serviced/replaced, and the ability to
| carbonate liquids other than water without worry of backspray
| gumming up a countertop machine's internal components. (Your
| unit's instructions probably tell you to use only water, for
| this reason.)
|
| > you can leave the larger tank shut off and away from living
| areas so that a leak doesn't pose a hazard.
|
| I close my cylinder's main valve when it's not in use, and
| the two additional valves downstream of it (at the regulator
| and ball lock fitting) also work, so I think a leak is very
| unlikely. Even if there was one, I would expect it to be
| noticed quickly or else too slow for the released CO2 to
| cause harm.
| dlcarrier wrote:
| SodaStream carbonators are super common at all the thrift
| stores near me, so they're like $5 to $10. There's one on
| eBay right now for $25 with free shipping. The refill
| adapter was $10 on AliExpress, but the cheapest regulator
| alone cost more than my entire setup.
| wongarsu wrote:
| One advantage of standard tabletop carbonators is that you
| can get versions with glass bottles. I quite like the 0.7l
| glass sodastream bottles.
|
| You could probably get them to work on a DIY setup with the
| right pressure regulator settings and the right adapter.
| But I'd like to avoid the flying glass shards if I get it
| wrong
| genericuser256 wrote:
| Do you mind my asking which ones you use? The only ones
| I've been able to find (Canada) don't work with the
| standard soda stream
| wongarsu wrote:
| I use SodaStream Crystal. There is the older Crystal 2.0
| that uses the old generic screw-type CO2 cylinders, and
| the newer Crystal 3.0 which uses the patented quick-
| connect cylinders.
|
| Looking at the Canadian website, neither is sold in
| Canada (1 for a link on the German website). There is the
| SodaStream Duo which supports a different type of glas
| bottle. Might be easier to source locally, but exists
| only with the quick-connect cylinders and is a bit
| expensive for what it is, at least if you buy it new
|
| [1]: https://sodastream.de/products/crystal-3-0?variant=4
| 04654832...
| michael1999 wrote:
| How's the durability of the Crystal? I had two of the
| original Penguin systems, and the seals broke down and
| the frame stretched. I'd prefer to go back to the glass
| bottles.
| wongarsu wrote:
| No issues with the Crystal so far. It's pretty sturdy.
| But that's the old 2.0 model, looking at the reviews the
| new 3.0 is a downgrade in terms of quality, in addition
| to the downgrade of being forced into the proprietary
| cylinders
| Nexxxeh wrote:
| Before the plague shut down the place I got my larger bottle
| refilled, I got a mid-size standard CO2 to SodaStream adapter
| from Ali Express. Saved me a fortune hooked up direct to the
| SodaStream, especially as sparkling water was intermittently
| surprisingly difficult to get hold of during those times. I
| should contact the gas supplier, see where the nearest point
| is now.
| zdragnar wrote:
| As a kid I built a pneumatic musket with both 20 oz and 2 liter
| bottles and filled them up to 80 psi repeatedly, and never had
| one pop.
|
| I wouldn't recommend going that high for a carbonated drink
| though, unless you like to live dangerously while opening your
| soda.
| manwe150 wrote:
| Here you go: https://www.kegoutlet.com/carbonating-kits.html
| foresto wrote:
| Hmm... Those steel growlers look appealing, if a little
| pricey, but their 45 psi relief valves would prevent
| carbonating with as much fizz as I like. I wonder if the PRV
| could be swapped with a different one that holds more like 75
| psi.
|
| Thanks for the link. This gives me a direction worth
| investigating, at least.
| mazeraero wrote:
| Pro-tip: cold water.
| pseingatl wrote:
| Use Perrier glass bottles. They're designed for low-level
| carbonation and can be resealed.
| wink wrote:
| I guess the definition of "overpriced" varies, but I pay 7 or 8
| EUR for one bottle of CO2 and it lasts like 3-4 weeks for 2
| people, just to put it into perspective.
| foresto wrote:
| I paid about 20-25 USD for my last 5 lb refill. That was a
| few years ago, and it's still providing. My prior fill lasted
| more than 5 years (maybe 6 or 7) serving one fizzy water fan
| and occasional guests.
| analog31 wrote:
| One thing I noticed was: Where's the phosphoric acid? Does the
| use of gum arabic eliminate the need?
| dlcarrier wrote:
| The recipe is using citric acid, instead. The tastes are
| slightly different, but citric acid is easier to get.
| culi wrote:
| So at some point I went on a loose leaf herbal tea buying spree
| and bought (and almost immediately forgot about) something called
| "catuaba". I tried making it into a tea and it was... an acquired
| taste. In my efforts to make the product more digestible I mixed
| it with some sparkling water.
|
| The result tasted shockingly similar to coca cola.
|
| So I did some research and it turns out that what's labelled as
| "catuaba bark" actually refer to a couple different unrelated
| herbs. But ONE of the sources of "catuaba bark" is Erythroxylum
| vaccinifolium. Erythroxylum is the coca genus. I have no idea if
| this specific species contains cocaine but what I CAN confirm is
| that there are sellers within the US that grow and sell this
| "herb". Which means you don't have to worry about customs
| intercepting your order at the border.
| koolba wrote:
| > Made a second batch of cola syrup without caramel color. It's
| much weirder to drink than I expected.
|
| Indeed the 90s were an interesting time:
| https://youtu.be/2za2IK8FQoM
| acomjean wrote:
| I thought of those. I remember drinking some. It tastes like
| cola but somehow different.
|
| But then again I liked new coke. And that wierd "ok soda" that
| doesn't exist anymore.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_Soda
| rconti wrote:
| I wonder if we'd have the same reaction if cola had never been
| darkened. We wouldn't, right?
| the__alchemist wrote:
| It is wild seeing someone _drink_ something labeled with the
| irritant, health hazard, and environmental hazard warnings. It
| also begs the question of disposal regarding the environmental
| hazard one. I know it 's safe due to the doses, but made me pause
| in horror briefly. (Reality check: Many drugs have the health
| hazard, or even the skull-and-crossbones. But anecdotally, many
| of the health-hazard-marked substances I've come across are
| carcinogenic/reproductive harm)
| mattkrause wrote:
| The dose (often) makes the poison.
|
| Citrus fruit itself is generally regarded as fine to eat.
| Concentrating the oils can make them irritating (and flammable,
| etc) but that's essentially undone by diluting them into a
| syrup and then diluting the syrup into an actual drink.
| dlcarrier wrote:
| If those kinds of warnings were required on naturally occurring
| products, pretty much everything in your pantry would need
| them.
|
| A 28-oz cylinder of table salt, that can be easily had for $1
| at a grocery store, could kill eight healthy adult men, if they
| each consumed a third of a cup in one sitting.
|
| A five-gallon carafe of water used in most water coolers holds
| enough water to kill two adult men, if they drank it as fast as
| they could.
|
| There's a bunch of foods that are poisonous if prepared wrong.
| I can't find the lethal dose, but a bag of raw kidney beans
| could kill multiple people. A cassava/tapioca root can kill you
| too. Eating a bottle nutmeg probably won't kill you, but it
| might make you wish it did.
|
| Of course, it would be difficult to consume enough of any of
| these things to hurt yourself, (except for the beans) because
| we're able to sense when we are consuming dangerous quantities
| or types of foods, but it's not flawless, hence the need for
| tradition to pass down how to cook, or warning labels for foods
| that aren't prepared in traditional ways.
| BizarroLand wrote:
| Everything in the universe, given the correct proportion and
| duration, is lethal to human beings.
| tdeck wrote:
| I enjoy the flavor of kvass - a Russian / eastern European malt
| flavored soda - but it's hard to find where I live. The process
| involves really aggressively toasting some rye bread, boiling it
| with eaisans and sugar, straining it, and then brewing it with
| ordinary baking yeast in 2-liter bottles until it reaches your
| desired carbonation level. The end result is really refreshing.
| dyauspitr wrote:
| How does this not become alcoholic?
| SideburnsOfDoom wrote:
| I understand that Kvass is around 1% alcohol.
|
| By Russian standards, this is "non-alcoholic".
| mrguyorama wrote:
| I once got a Root Beer brewing kit as a gift. It noted that
| a trivial amount of alcohol would be produced by the
| process (no included or added yeast either!) and it wasn't
| a big deal.
| ymolodtsov wrote:
| Usually they remove the alcohol later. The taste is similar
| to a alcohol-free Guinness (but sweeter).
| ideasarecool wrote:
| It is usually alcoholic. 0.5-2%. Here stores sell most
| commonly 0.5% one which is regulated to be sold like a non-
| alcoholic drink.
| t-3 wrote:
| Short brewing time. Finnish sima is similar - sugar, lemon,
| water, yeast, ferment for a couple of days. Alcoholic drinks
| are usually fermented much longer, aged, and processed much
| more intensively.
| gbuk2013 wrote:
| Me too except I just use rye malt instead of the bread and
| without making any dough with it. The malt is cheap and easy to
| get in UK thanks to home brewing suppliers whereas rye bread is
| super expensive.
|
| My only challenge is controlling the gassiness - it's so
| vigorous that the moment I even slightly open the cap the whole
| thing fizzes up like crazy - opening it normally would result
| in a kvass fountain shooting up like 30cm. :)
| GetTheFacts wrote:
| If you can get it where you are, have you considered trying
| malta[0][1]?
|
| [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta_(soft_drink)
|
| [1] https://www.findmeabrewery.com/blog/malta/
| tdeck wrote:
| I have tried malta, and I like it. But it's a bit sweeter. I
| think it's a worthwhile substitute if you don't want the fun
| of trying to make something that might go wrong.
| tiveriny wrote:
| This is surprisingly close to how commercial soda flavor bases
| are described in old patents -- especially the oil + gum arabic
| emulsion part.
|
| What I find really interesting is how little actual oil is needed
| for such a large volume. Makes you realize how much of "cola
| taste" is just perception tricks rather than bulk ingredients.
|
| Have you tried measuring how stable the emulsion is over time?
| I'd be curious how long it stays homogeneous without separation.
| henrikn wrote:
| Recipe and accompanying video here:
| https://www.tastinghistory.com/recipes/switchel
|
| Tried making it. Certainly interesting! But not something I'll
| make again.
| brikym wrote:
| I knew before clicking it would be a German.
| Fnoord wrote:
| But did you know the fingernails were clipped perfectly? What a
| delight to see in these photos.
| hybirdss wrote:
| the look on the cashier's face when you ask for one bean is half
| the product
| malloryerik wrote:
| I'd be interested in soft drinks that were unsweetened altogether
| and not just sugar free. Sometimes I have sparkling water + apple
| cider vinegar + lemon/lime juice and it's wonderful when well
| mixed.
| bombcar wrote:
| Sparkling iced tea would likely hit a spot.
| redblacktree wrote:
| The problem is that carbonic acid is bitter, and if you have
| a carbonated beverage, you have carbonic acid. Usually, this
| bitterness is balanced by sweeteners.
| jerf wrote:
| I've got a couple of sweetener-free recipes I use with my soda
| maker, though I should warn you nobody else I've given them to
| likes them. But I like them well enough.
|
| One is a couple of squirts of vanilla, a couple of squirts of
| lemon juice, and a bit of salt. Salt is probably an
| underappreciated drink ingredient for this sort of thing. It
| turns out it isn't in your soft drinks _just_ to make you want
| to drink more. This makes something that is related to cream
| soda, except for the aspects of cream soda that come from being
| crammed full of sugar, which I can 't do much about.
|
| I also have a mix I keep around made out of 3 tablespoons salt,
| 1 cup vanilla, 1/2 cup lemon juice, 1/2 cup lime juice, and
| about 1/3rd cup almond extract. I measure it all (except the
| salt which I just put in directly) into a single 2 cup Pyrex
| dish and just sort of eyeball the last 1/3rd cup of almond
| extract, then funnel it in to a holder. I use McCormick 32 oz
| vanilla and almond extract for this and order bulk RealLemon
| and RealLime juice for this from Amazon, and mix it into one of
| the leftover bottles and keep it around refrigerated. 3 squirts
| and "whatever dribbles in" as I'm removing the bottle is what I
| used for one DrinkMate bottle. To taste, as all of this is, of
| course. If nothing else this is pretty cheap per drink.
|
| You can also mix unsweetened electrolytes in, but you have to
| wait until after you dilute the mixture with water or it'll
| react with the lemon & lime juice. Salt you can keep in the mix
| but not electrolytes in general. It adds a certain body to the
| mix even if you're not interested in the electrolytes _per se_
| , and a single packet of them lasts a long time.
|
| You're not going to go into business selling this stuff, but if
| you're already drinking unsweetened apple cider vinegar &
| lemon/lime juice as a beverage flavoring we might just have
| some compatible tastes here. Carbonation is required, though,
| otherwise the vanilla and the almond extract don't come through
| at all.
| juvvel wrote:
| Ah, good old Dragonspice.de, they have provided me with supplies
| for many of my experiments as well. I have many of the essential
| oils already, I might try this! Thank you for posting your
| recipe.
| benjaminoakes wrote:
| I love this idea. However, I found the article difficult to read
| because the images are far too large in terms of file size.
| kfk wrote:
| Can you make chinotto?
| projektfu wrote:
| I love the saccharin/cyclamate combo, but it's actually illegal
| in the USA. I use ZeroCal from Brazil. If you ever see it in a
| market in the USA, enjoy the tiny act of civil disobedience.
|
| Saccharin was almost made illegal in the USA, until Teddy
| Roosevelt stepped in. He liked it in his tea.
|
| The soda industry generally prefers aspartame/acesulfame
| potassium, as it has the right aftertaste profile to replace
| sugar.
| atombender wrote:
| Cyclamate is used in some parts of Europe (like Germany)
| together with aspartame and acesulfame-K. I find the cyclamate
| smoothens the somewhat bitter aftertaste.
|
| Cyclamate is banned in the US based on a flawed 1969 study that
| supposedly showed it to be carcinogenic. It's legal in most of
| the world, including the EU.
| freedom_dev wrote:
| Shout out to those who love manga/anime: there's an anime called
| "Dr Stone" that's quite appealing to us nerds as it showcases
| real life chemistry and physics. In one episode, the protagonist
| shares the recipe for making natural "cola" (called "Senku Cola"
| if you want to look it up) and it's actually apparently very
| close to the real thing
| apparent wrote:
| > I like my drinks really sour, so I might add another... 10 g of
| citric acid to this batch.
|
| IIRC it's not a great idea to drink carbonated beverages with
| lots of sugar or acid. Each of these elements weakens your teeth,
| and in combination the effect is much greater.
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