Sparkling fruit juice

If you've ever had Izze, it is just fruit juice (possibly concentrate) with sparkling water.

If you were to make some and force carb in a keg, how would you keep it from spoiling?

Maybe citric acid...pasteurization?

I've never made soda, but I'm really into a soft drink without added sugar. If it were fermented, it would no longer be suitable for the kids...so I don't get it.

I'm not sure about spoilage but I just use 4 cans of 100 % juice concentrate to five gallons or water in a sanitized keg and carb up and serve. I like my juice watered down. Never had any spoilage. It's all sanitized and under co2 pressure with no exposure to heat light or 02....... Have some white grape raspberry on tap right now.

I wondered if just being in a keg under pressure would help fight spoilage. Sounds like you've had good results.

ya Im not sure. I've only done it once but have half of a keg of sparkling juice in right now that has been in there for about 3 weeks and is just as fresh as the day i made it. you could always just do small batches as you don't have to fill the whole keg. it's not like it really uses anymore co2 to just fill empty space.

Cruzn, are you keeping it on tap in a kegerator or keezer?

40watt,
You would probably want to do at least something to keep spoilage to a minimum.
There's already citric acid in the juice, so adding anymore I don't think will help, plus it will make it really tart.
I'd recommend refrigeration, a preservative, or pasteurization.

If you want to keep it at room temp for some reason, and you don't want to rig up a pasteurizer, you may be ok with a hot fill: put the concentrate into the keg, use 190°F water to fill then seal it and put it on gas. Make sure you have silicone seals all around, as Buna-N(Nitrile) is not as stable with heat.

MrFoodScientist said:

Cruzn, are you keeping it on tap in a kegerator or keezer?

40watt,
You would probably want to do at least something to keep spoilage to a minimum.
There's already citric acid in the juice, so adding anymore I don't think will help, plus it will make it really tart.
I'd recommend refrigeration, a preservative, or pasteurization.

If you want to keep it at room temp for some reason, and you don't want to rig up a pasteurizer, you may be ok with a hot fill: put the concentrate into the keg, use 190°F water to fill then seal it and put it on gas. Make sure you have silicone seals all around, as Buna-N(Nitrile) is not as stable with heat.

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Good stuff. Yeah, the aim would be to have a tap on a kegerator with something for the kids that's not so sugar laden and using real fruit juice. I like the hot fill idea.

MrFoodScientist said:

Cruzn, are you keeping it on tap in a kegerator or keezer?

40watt,
You would probably want to do at least something to keep spoilage to a minimum.
There's already citric acid in the juice, so adding anymore I don't think will help, plus it will make it really tart.
I'd recommend refrigeration, a preservative, or pasteurization.

If you want to keep it at room temp for some reason, and you don't want to rig up a pasteurizer, you may be ok with a hot fill: put the concentrate into the keg, use 190°F water to fill then seal it and put it on gas. Make sure you have silicone seals all around, as Buna-N(Nitrile) is not as stable with heat.

Click to expand...

Yes i have it on tap on my kegerator. when i made it up i just made sure it was all sanitized like i do with my beer but honestly was not thinking of spoilage. without oxygen is spoilage really all that big of a worry?
I'm now re-thinking how good of an idea making a five gallon batch was.

also on another note for anyone wanting fizzy juice or water on tap in there kegerator or keezer make sure to pickup some one way check valves for your gas lines. My last keg of carbonated water was great but about 3/4 of the way through it started picking up a "beer" taste from the other keg i have in my kegerator. my gas lines are split off of one regulator and i do not have check valves installed yet. just a heads up.

If it's refrigerated it should be fine.

Spoilage in fruit juice is going to be from natural yeasts present. So yes, without oxygen, spoilage can still happen. Refrigeration will not prevent it inevitably, but it will slow it down considerably.

Given that you have good sanitation practices already in place, it's always refrigerated, and it's sealed from any more yeasts coming in, I wouldn't worry about it. It will last longer that way than a regular juice would in a jug or bottle in your normal fridge.

Also if you used the shelf stable concentrate (the stuff that comes in a can like soda) rather than the frozen concentrate, you're already ahead of the game.

MrFoodScientist said:

If it's refrigerated it should be fine.

Spoilage in fruit juice is going to be from natural yeasts present. So yes, without oxygen, spoilage can still happen. Refrigeration will not prevent it inevitably, but it will slow it down considerably.

Given that you have good sanitation practices already in place, it's always refrigerated, and it's sealed from any more yeasts coming in, I wouldn't worry about it. It will last longer that way than a regular juice would in a jug or bottle in your normal fridge.

Also if you used the shelf stable concentrate (the stuff that comes in a can like soda) rather than the frozen concentrate, you're already ahead of the game.

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Sweet, thank you for the info.

Cruzn4aBrewzn said:

also on another note for anyone wanting fizzy juice or water on tap in there kegerator or keezer make sure to pickup some one way check valves for your gas lines. My last keg of carbonated water was great but about 3/4 of the way through it started picking up a "beer" taste from the other keg i have in my kegerator. my gas lines are split off of one regulator and i do not have check valves installed yet. just a heads up.

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So, you use a check valve on each line? I get it. I'm just building my keezer right now. Perfect timing!

My niece gets these as her "soda", I shared one with her and it was pretty good

http://www.juicyjuice.com/products/Sparkling-Fruit-Juice.aspx

spazzy said:

My niece gets these as her "soda", I shared one with her and it was pretty good

http://www.juicyjuice.com/products/Sparkling-Fruit-Juice.aspx

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Ya, that's basically what I make in the keg. Also an update. It's been at least a month if not longer and the keg is about to kick with no off favors or spoilage that I can tell and it still tastes amazing!

m1k3 said:

So, you use a check valve on each line? I get it. I'm just building my keezer right now. Perfect timing!

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Yes check valves would be a good thing to have so as not to have any "sharing" of gas. I don't have them installed in my system yet so I just disconnect the juice untill it's time for the kids to have some "soda"

Hi, I've always been a non-registering lurker, but I finally had to log-in and say thank you because the advice in this thread (and many others) has been helpful. I've been recently experimenting in carbonated juice and flavored water (which is basically juice in a very low concentration).

So what if a person wants to go the preservative route, for whatever reason, are there any people here have used? To try different flavored waters I've been aiming to make clear beverages so that means using low amounts of fruit flavor alongside a very mild simple syrup concoction --I'm worried I've created a petri dish in my corny keg, especially if I bottle it. Is there any additive people have tried?

Bobak said:

Hi, I've always been a non-registering lurker, but I finally had to log-in and say thank you because the advice in this thread (and many others) has been helpful. I've been recently experimenting in carbonated juice and flavored water (which is basically juice in a very low concentration).

So what if a person wants to go the preservative route, for whatever reason, are there any people here have used? To try different flavored waters I've been aiming to make clear beverages so that means using low amounts of fruit flavor alongside a very mild simple syrup concoction --I'm worried I've created a petri dish in my corny keg, especially if I bottle it. Is there any additive people have tried?

Click to expand...

Hey sorry I've been away from the inter-webs for a while but I've been successfully making "bubbly juice" and soda water for quite a while now and always have a keg of each going and have never had any hint of spoilage problems without adding anything as far as a preservative other than a few squeezes of lime juice.

hi 2day i have started my 1st trail brew b4 i use my real kit but am having alot of problems i am brewing a cheep alki pop using 3 oranges 1, 5ltr bottle of still water 1/2 lb of sugar beer yeast yeast nutraints and will b adding orange concintrate wen and if it flements

1st problem or mistake i made was just putting in nutraints but added yeast 10mins ltr wen realized it didnt have yeast in

then the amount of yeast i added was a sachet for 22.5 ltrs wen the batch is only 5ltrs

now 2 the stupid part wer i think i have messed it all up completly. i noticed the sugar was all stuck at bottom so i tightned cap turned upside down and shoock 2 get it 2 fall 2 top it worked and only small amount went back 2 bottom but now no yeast sedaments r floating at top will this still flement ? should i do anythingels i do not want to add anymore yeast as it already has way more than it should have.

any advice will b greatfuly welcomed as this is my 1st time brewing anything

(hope i have posted this in right place)

Cruzn4aBrewzn said:

Hey sorry I've been away from the inter-webs for a while but I've been successfully making "bubbly juice" and soda water for quite a while now and always have a keg of each going and have never had any hint of spoilage problems without adding anything as far as a preservative other than a few squeezes of lime juice.

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And here I finally log back in--just wanted to say thanks. I ended up trying a bit of citric acid (which is basically the same thing) and it worked great. I've been doing some shelf-life bottle tests and the citric acid bottles are still looking clear.

Bobak said:

And here I finally log back in--just wanted to say thanks. I ended up trying a bit of citric acid (which is basically the same thing) and it worked great. I've been doing some shelf-life bottle tests and the citric acid bottles are still looking clear.

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Nice! glad to hear it's work'n out for ya.

I just made up 5gal of green tea with a touch of honey and kegged that up.