DIY bag in box syrup

pendragon · 10-13-2009, 04:44 AM

I'm looking at trying to DIY a bag in box syrup like used for coke/pepsi postmix fountains. I have 5 head coke fountain I got cheap on craigslist. Just trying to figure the recipe I'd need right now.

The syrup is made 5:1 water:syrup. 5 gallon bag of syrup makes around 30 gallons. I haven't made soda yet, but from what I've read 1 bottle of extract makes 4 gallons of soda. I figure to make 30 gallons I'd need 7.5 bottles of extract. I'm trying to figure how much sugar I'd need per bottle of extract. Haven't found any info on that just yet. The systems carbonator handles the carbonated water so no yeast needed.

I found some mylar water storage bags that look like they'd work nicely for holding the syrup. http://beprepared.com/product.asp?pn=ZA%20B100&bhcd2=1255405307

Although with buying 8 bottles of extract and several pounds of sugar per flavor. It just might cost as much or more than getting the reg BIB syrups from restaurant supply. At least this way though I'm more certain what is and isn't in the ingredients.

Anyone tried this before or any suggestions?

**Yuri_Rage** · 10-13-2009, 04:49 AM

The only soda extract I have suggests about 1 lb of sugar per gallon of soda.

pendragon · 10-13-2009, 05:05 AM

Sounds good. That was my guess-timate was around 1 #. The problem I see there is that make a 5:1 concentrated syrup that would be 30 #'s of sugar and 7.5 bottles of extract mixed into 5 gallons of water. That seems like way too much material to completely dissolve into that amount of water.

Although being that these bags might be reusable, those proportions could be cut to 1/4th or half and still keep the 5:1 ratio. Cheaper that way too.

**Yuri_Rage** · 10-13-2009, 05:10 AM

You'd be amazed at how much sugar will dissolve into near-boiling water. You can make a syrup of over 1:1 sugar to water (in volume). If I have the math right, 30 lbs of sugar is roughly 3.75 gallons in volume. That should dissolve into 5 gallons just fine.

Bokonon · 10-13-2009, 05:35 AM

I have no idea how those systems work, but couldn't you just figure out a way to hook it right to a smaller container instead of needing a 5 gallon bag of syrup. What about just adapting it so you can hook a 1 gallon jug of sprecher concentrate up. IIRC that needs a 5:1 dilution

**conpewter** · 10-13-2009, 06:19 AM

I have a BIB setup in my house, I use a Wunder-bar instead of a soda fountain though. I am working on making my own syrups but so far I've just bought syrup. I'd suggest going online and buying some of the one gallon BIB syrups and then after you have used those up you can re-use the bag. You'll need different connectors for your syrup pumps depending on if you are using Coke or Pepsi (Pepsi connector also works with all the off-brands). I have two 110v syrup pumps, I like them much more than the Co2 powered ones.