Newest Threads

HH60gunner · 04-01-2010, 04:13 AM

I noticed that most people seem to use the 2 liter bottles when making soda. Just out of curiosity would there be any downside to just making them in my bottling bucket and then just bottling them in glass bottles? The wife thinks it would be funner if in the glass bottles. Also I've never done a soda yet, can anyone give me a rough idea of what's in the process of say a root beer? Also would there be any reason to not use the same equipment that I use to make beer to make sodas? Still looking forward for my first batch of beer to finish

philrose · 04-01-2010, 04:37 AM

rootbeer gets carbed to a higher pressure than most glass bottles should handle. Hence the usefulness of PET.

Soda process is ridiculously easy compared to beer, usually the kits instructions are much better than a beer kits instructions as well.

**luvhopps** · 04-01-2010, 04:51 AM

Use separate equipment, the root beer smell will get into your equipment and not come out. It is fairly easy to make soda, buy one of the soda extracts, add sugar, water, and yeast, mix and cool that's it.
The reason people use 2L bottles is so they can tell if it is carbonated enough, so they know to put it in the fridge to keep it from exploding. You run the risk of the glass bottles exploding if you are not careful. If you want to put it in glass bottles you will have to force carb your soda and then put it in the bottles, that is not an easy process, getting the soda in the bottles and maintaining the carbonation level is quite a challenge. I have been trying to figure it out, but it is still a work in progress. Making soda is not hard, bottling it is a different story, at least for me it is.

**funkadelicturkey** · 04-03-2010, 03:32 AM

i'm in process of my first batch of birch beer. I bottled all but one bottle in glass. One bottle is a 20 oz plastic coke bottle, which i am using to gauge the level of carbonation. It has almost been two weeks and they still haven't carbed up. The instructions which I followed specified 2-3 days for carbonation. My beers usually take 3-4 weeks to carb. up nicely I am not sure why it'd be shorter for soda but I am still playing the waiting game. 8 cups of sugar was added and I cultured yeast out of the bottle so I know it is viable...

***Yooper*** · 04-03-2010, 01:52 PM

I've had root beer and ginger ale carb up in less than 24 hours.

The reason you don't use glass bottles is just to prevent bottle bombs. What happens with soda is that you're not allowing fermentation to finish like you do with beer. You add tons of sugar, and yeast, and only allow the yeast to ferment enough of the sugar to carb up, but not ferment all of the sugar. That's why you use plastic bottles- so you can stick the bottles in the fridge immediately when the bottles get hard. It could be from 24 hours to three days, but usually not any longer than that.

If you want to use glass bottles, keep them cold as soon as one is carbed up. Keep them somewhere safe, and don't allow children to open them. Soda in glass bottles is a bad idea, in my opinion. Sure, it's old fashioned and charming, but plastic soda bottles are safer.

saxarocks · 04-04-2010, 08:31 PM

Although a lot of the people here will warn you about bottle bombs, they are mostly used to brewing beverages that will be around for a lot longer than soda. soda should not be kept for longer than two weeks, any longer and it starts to go bad. Only the first few hours are spent out of the fridge, this is the time when most of the carbonation will happen.

In order to make sure my glass soda bottles do not explode, I check them once after an hour or so. I use Grolsch swing tops so they can be resealed. after things start to carbonate , I let some pressure build. Depending on the temperature, acidity, and yeast used this can take between an hour and a day. When I think they are done, I put them in the fridge.

They should be nowhere near the amount of pressure that it would take to burst a bottle. If they gush, you left them out too long.

PET bottles are not necessary as long as you plan on spending some extra time on safety.

**funkadelicturkey** · 04-04-2010, 08:52 PM

thinking i might see if one of the root beers I made two weeks ago (bottled in glass) survives the summer in my shed or blows up. They still haven't carbed to a satisfactory level...70+ F for two weeks...

Chuck_Swillery · 04-07-2010, 10:25 PM

Just put some root beer and raspberry soda into PET bottles today. First time I've tried it but, in typical Type-A fashion, I read up on it far more than I really needed to. 99.9% of everything I read warned of the probability of bottle bombs if bottled in glass. People, kids especially, have been killed by exploding glass bottles. I, personally, will not be taking the chance. Cool, yes, dangerous, yes, huge difference between PET and glass in the end product, not enough to make it worth the effort in my opinion.

Sybil · 04-11-2010, 12:46 AM

I don't like to make soda in the large 2L bottles either, but... even the remote possibility of loosing my vision in a glass explosion is worth using PET bottles. (I remember when I was a kid my father made wine and some glass bottles exploded in the basement. No one was hurt.)

I'll mix my soda recipes in the 2L bottles, then immediately pour them into individual 500ml PET soda bottles, and then let them carbonate. I think those are cool.