Safe For Kids

My niece is here for the weekend. She saw all of the carboys full of fermenting wines and meads and was fascinated by the concept of yeast and how it's alive. She's 14 and loves science type things.

She was begging to make something...So, I took an empty grape juice container, added 1 cups table sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 lemons and some left over Fleischman's yeast from a batch of JAOM, and topped with water.

30 mins later, and it's fermenting like a champ.

I've fermented tons of wines, beers and meads but I've never made a soda or anything kid friendly but I know it's been done.

How long can I let this go and then get it carbed to serve as a soda and not an alcohol drink?

About 5 minutes?

Alcohol is a result of yeast fermenting sugar. If you want to minimize the alcohol content, you put the soda in a plastic bottle and screw the cap on tight. When the bottle is hard (often only 1 day in a warm place), then it's placed in the fridge so that the yeast will go dormant. That usually results in a soda of a negligible amount of alcohol (but certainly more than 0!). I think it's around .25% or so, but I don't remember for sure.

Darn, I'm going on almost 24hrs. Do you think it's too late to cap it and stash it in the fridge? I didn't think to take a gravity reading so I can't even tell what the potential is by now.

jak1010 said:

Darn, I'm going on almost 24hrs. Do you think it's too late to cap it and stash it in the fridge? I didn't think to take a gravity reading so I can't even tell what the potential is by now.

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I have no idea! I've seen beers go from 1.060 to 1.010 overnight in a hot place, but I don't think that's very common. For soda, I just don't know. If you have an airlock on it now, it won't be carbonated.

If its okay with her parents.let her try it.she probably won't like it but who knows. I didn't like wine at 14 but that didn't stop me from getting schmammered on it.

Thanks for the help Yooper...I've never done this before so I stashed it in a room that's been about 73-76 degrees and it's going on 24hrs. That Fleischman's has surprised me before with JAOM so, I'm not going to take any chances. I'm going to let this go dry and start fresh with her tonight on another batch of soda.

I'm not even sure what this will turn out to be or what to do with it.

snowtires said:

If its okay with her parents.let her try it.she probably won't like it but who knows. I didn't like wine at 14 but that didn't stop me from getting schmammered on it.

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They're definitely not the type to let her try it. In fact, they'll probably be upset if there's .25% in the soda...

Times are different. I can remember being 9 or 10 years old and my father gave me the first sip of almost every beer he drank. Oh well...

what the soda flavorings you can get tell you is to cap immediately in a standard soda bottle (no balloon) This prevents the yeast from being able to do much as it immediately carbs (about 2 to 3 days) and the co2 partial preasure prevents the yeast from absorbing to much sugar... In terms, I think 1/8th cup of it is for fermenting and 1 cup is for sweetening on a 2L batch. (based on what they say for making it sugar free)

this is for a root beer flavor - kit makes 4 gallons total. http://www.midwestsupplies.com/root-beer-soda.html

jak1010 said:

I'm not even sure what this will turn out to be

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Prison wine lol

Thanks... I was going to buy this but I didn't see the big deal of a kit that has sugar, champagne yeast and flavorings when I have that stuff here.

I've never made a kid safe drink but it still surprises me that even the kit is being sold as soda for kids. I've been making beer, wine and mead for years and everything I've read on soda making points to alcohol.

jak1010 said:

Thanks... I was going to buy this but I didn't see the big deal of a kit that has sugar, champagne yeast and flavorings when I have that stuff here.

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Well if you keg, you can force carb?

I agree on the whole not buying the kit, if you have the flavorings in other forms, although honestly that is just flavor, you still need to provide sugar, yeast, etc.

I've made these and not tasted alcholic flavors, either they were masked, or they were not signifigant. My rought math gives a change of about 4 to 5 points of gravity (based on 1/8th cup used for carbing).

I don't know how much of this makes for alcohol though. If aerated, some of the sucrose is going to break down to water and co2. But if all 4 points become alcohol, it is like .5% abv

I have a ginger ale recipe posted, if that gives you an idea of making a small batch of soda and using yeast to carbonate.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f171/easy-ginger-ale-208888/

Just checked it out...I've made this before and used an airlock for the first 10 days. Based on gravity readings it was about 7% abv. I then usedcorn sugar to bottle carb and turned out good. I guess if you just cap instead of using an airlock, the production of alcohol is limited.

Thanks Yooper, I've enjoyed making your recipes for the last few years.

jak1010 said:

Just checked it out...I've made this before and used an airlock for the first 10 days. Based on gravity readings it was about 7% abv. I then usedcorn sugar to bottle carb and turned out good. I guess if you just cap instead of using an airlock, the production of alcohol is limited.

Thanks Yooper, I've enjoyed making your recipes for the last few years.

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It's not the capping that controls the alcohol production- it's sticking the soda in the fridge as soon as it's carbed up enough, so that the yeast goes dormant and stops fermenting. If you don't stick it in the fridge, the bottles WILL blow up as the yeast will keep working.

I'm glad you've found a few recipes you like- that's great to hear!

You got me thinking now, I guess if you had kegging equipment you could just pour some grape juice in a keg and force carb it.
Sounds like a good enough excuse to buy kegging stuff anyway lol

snowtires said:

You got me thinking now, I guess if you had kegging equipment you could just pour some grape juice in a keg and force carb it.
Sounds like a good enough excuse to buy kegging stuff anyway lol

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Yep. Or, simply water. Lots of people like carbonated water and add flavors or a slice of lemon.

You can force carb kool-aid or Crystal Light if you want. You can make no-sugar soda, or whatever you want. I did hear about someone carbonating milk for their kids, but that sounded really gross to me!

Talking to somebody at work about this and, they were able to tell me that what I ended up making is something called Sima. I didn't know it because it was just something I threw together in the spur of the moment when my neice was here. I goolgled Sima and was surprisedto see that it's a common May drink in Finland.

I love learning new things in this manner...

Been 15 days and this stuff is still actively fermenting. Not sure what to expect when it's done. Any guesses?

A headache?

snowtires said:

A headache?

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I think you're right. The balloon I had on it just deflated. I'm going to let it sit for a week, let it clear and then siphon it off the lees. See what happens.