Homemade Golden Ginger Ale

Question

I recently made some homemade ginger ale. It was good, but it really tasted more like ginger beer. I was hoping for a flavor that tasted a bit more like golden ginger ale, sort of like Red Rock. It has a strong ginger flavor and a bite. What could I add (or how much more ginger should I add) to or what should I change in homemade ginger ale to get this "bite" and stronger ginger flavor?

Asked by jandjorgensen

Answer

If you want a stronger flavor, and more bite, add more ginger. I make a dark, spicy ginger beer. I do not use yeast, but rather force carbonate. I don't know the exact quantities of ingredients used, I just make to taste each time.

Below is my ingredient list:

• Fresh grated ginger
• Peppercorns
• Molasses
• Cane sugar
• Fresh squeezed lemon (added after the mixture has cooled)

Molasses: Give the brew a thicker taste and darker caramel color, leave it out if you want it milder.

Ginger: Fresh ginger is key, don't use the powdered stuff. The more ginger you add, the spicier and more bitter it will be. You may need to increase the sugar content a bit too.

Lemon: This adds a nice zing.

Peppercorns: It may sound a little bit odd, but the peppercorns go very nicely with the ginger and lemon. Just add these to taste when you throw in the ginger.

I've also experimented with different types of sugars like Maple Syrup and Palm Sugar. Those each impart different flavors and may be worth trying too.

Answered by rhooligan

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What is club soda and how do I make it?

Question

After many searches on the Google, I still can't find out how to make club soda. So, I have to ask the question - what is club soda exactly?

I bought a iSi Soda Siphon and have figured out how to make carbonated water (finally).

Now what do I have to do to make club soda? How about seltzer?

Asked by mikebmassey

Answer

Seltzer and club soda are the same thing - they're just carbonated water. "Seltzer" comes from German:

The term seltzer water is a genericized trademark that derives from the German town Selters, which is renowned for its mineral springs. Naturally carbonated water has been commercially bottled and shipped from this town since the 18th century or earlier. Generally, seltzer water has no added sodium salts, while club soda still retains the sodium salts.

So, the primary difference is that seltzer has no added ingredients, but club soda does:

Sodium bicarbonate, sodium chloride, sodium phosphate and sodium citrate are added to club soda...

Here's a decent review of the ingredients list and taste of various types of fizzy water.

So to answer your question directly, you can make seltzer just by carbonating regular tap water, and you can make club soda by adding potassium bicarbonate, potassium sulfate, or baking soda to water and carbonating it.

Answered by Laura

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Club soda recipe?

Question

After many searches on the Google, I still can't find out how to make club soda. So, I have to ask the question - what is club soda exactly?

I bought a iSi Soda Siphon and have figured out how to make carbonated water (finally).

Now what do I have to do to make club soda? How about seltzer?

Asked by mikebmassey

Answer

Seltzer and club soda are the same thing - they're just carbonated water. "Seltzer" comes from German:

The term seltzer water is a genericized trademark that derives from the German town Selters, which is renowned for its mineral springs. Naturally carbonated water has been commercially bottled and shipped from this town since the 18th century or earlier. Generally, seltzer water has no added sodium salts, while club soda still retains the sodium salts.

So, the primary difference is that seltzer has no added ingredients, but club soda does:

Sodium bicarbonate, sodium chloride, sodium phosphate and sodium citrate are added to club soda...

Here's a decent review of the ingredients list and taste of various types of fizzy water.

So to answer your question directly, you can make seltzer just by carbonating regular tap water, and you can make club soda by adding potassium bicarbonate, potassium sulfate, or baking soda to water and carbonating it.

Answered by Laura

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Exploding or alcoholic soda

Question

Well, I tried to follow a very simple recipe from "Cooking for Geeks" for Ginger Lemon Soda.

I made a simple ginger syrup by cooking ~200g of chopped ginger together with 2 cups of sugar, then I used half of that syrup together with 1/2 a teaspoon of yeast (from the local home-brew store), and topped off with 900 ml of water.

The recipe says: Let rest at room temperature for two days, then refrigerate and drink.

Well, for the first batch, I had so much pressure that when I opened it, it came out like champagne and I lost half of the soda.

For the second batch, I put it in the fridge after one day. Now the level of carbonation is just right, but it's still a bit alcoholic. I had half a glass and I can definitely tell that there was some alcohol involved.

I wonder: What is the way to go to get nice sparkling soda that isn't also high in alcohol?

Asked by Lagerbaer

Answer

This recipe is listed under the section for fermentation, together with beer, wine and mead. The section starts with the sentence "Wine, beer and traditional sodas all depend on yeast to ferment sugar into alcohol and generate carbonation".

I don't know enough about the history of soda to know if early sodas were alcoholic. Or rather, I am quite sure that there were alcoholic, fermented, carbonated drinks long before what we call "soda" today existed, but I don't know if they were called soda.

Whatever the language problem is, this recipe is definitely intended to produce a low-alcohol beverage, comparable to beer. If you want carbonated syrup, you should buy a carbonating machine. These take a bullet full of CO2 and press it into the drink base you have selected.

As for the too-strong carbonation, this is probably due to the vague term "room temperature". Yeast growth speed depends on temperature. Because it is an exponential growth, even small changes in temperature can lead to vastly different results. If you want to repeat the experiment despite the alcohol production, try better controlling for the temperature. As I don't brew, I can't tell you the temperature for optimal carbonation after two days, you will have to find it out by yourself.

Answered by rumtscho

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How do you make peach soda?

Question

I was at a local brewpub and they had made a peach soda. I have 5 gallon kegs to carbonate with, but how do you make peach soda?

Answer

Torani Peach Syrup!

It's readily available online or at coffee shop supply outlets. Amazon link

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How long does unopened, room temperature pop last?

Question

How long does a can of coca-cola last? Like a case of them, sitting in a room-temperature room. There is a date on the bottom (MAR1411), but what does that mean?

I have a can with the World Cup on it, and I just became really curious.

Answer

It lasts indefinitely. The date you are seeing should be viewed as a "best before" date. Over time the soda can become flat and the flavor will degrade, but it will still be drinkable as long as the can was not compromised.

Based on looking at some Coke I recently purchased, it appears that the date is likely 1 year in the future from when it was canned. The cans in my fridge have a date of JUN1711; I bought these in late July.

Plastic bottles. on the other hand, have a much shorter "best before" window. This is because the plastic bottle leaks the carbonation much quicker than an aluminum can does. I don't have any bottles on hand, but if I recall correctly they typically have a date only 3 months out.

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How should I prepare kola nuts for creating a soft drink?

Question

I have recently gotten into making my own soft drinks, and I would like to attempt making a cola. I found an online spice retailer that sells Kola Nut and bought some, but I have no real idea how to prepare them for use. I also don't know how much I should use for a liter or two of soda, but I can figure that out via experimentation if I have to.

But what should I do with the kola nuts? Do they need to be ground before I boil them in a simple syrup, or should the pieces just be dropped in as-is? How much time does it take to extract the flavor from them?

Edit: I have made my own ginger ale using fresh ginger and my own berry soda using a bag of frozen berries, and I am a homebrewer and have a kegging system and a carbonator cap for soda bottles. I really just want to know if there are special considerations for how to treat kola nuts.

Answer

There are several cola recipes on this site. Recipe 2.6 references a kola extract recipe from the following book: Food Flavourings, by Joseph Merory, AVI Publishing Company, 1960.

I'd assume that the kola nuts are added as in pieces, similar to how they are consumed - Kola nuts are consumed by breaking them open and into pieces.

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Freezing temp of carbonated beverages

Question

I sometimes put bottles of soda in the freezer for 20-30 minutes to get them near frozen (taste SO much better that way).

If I time it just right I'll pull the bottle out and the liquid will appear completely liquid until I loosen the cap - the liquid will then spontaneously turn into slush.

Can anyone explain why that happens?

(this being my first post on the cooking stack exchange I apologize in advance if it's deemed unsuitable)

Answer

Obligatory mythbusters: Instant Frozen Beer

It's an instance of Supercooling. The liquid is chilled to below its nominal freezing point, but it doesn't transition to solid, largely because there isn't any growth catalyst for ice crystals. But agitate it, or open it, and the disruption jumpstarts crystal formation, and it freezes solid in seconds.

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