Brewing Alcoholic Soda

First, I should say that I've never brewed soda before, I've only brewed some basic mead and wine, but I got curious when I started talking to this guy on another forum who kept mentioning that he brews alcoholic soda using the soda that he buys from the store, yeast, sugar and all that.

I tried asking him how he does it, what recipe he follows, he was just vague about it and told me to look up yeast brands, etc. He said he brewed alcoholic Mountain Dew and some hard cream soda, that's about all I know.

Does anyone here have any knowledge about how to do this? I tried Googling a bit, but couldn't find any real, solid information.

Most commercial soda will have lots of yeast stoppers in it. Mountain Dew for sure.

You could adapt a homemade soda for your purposes. I brew a ginger ale that's about 5 % abv

Yeah, due to his vague replies, I'm gonna call BS on that one. Seems like a lot of work to get alcohol into your mountain dew, not to mention the possible changes to flavor that could occur.

In theory, it's possible. But I'd guess it's really not at all practical. A strong enough yeast starter could possibly overcome the preservatives, but you'd probably have to gradually add the commercial soda to the starter.

Go with Unferth's advice by adapting a recipe. With a soda recipe, you capture all the co2 from the beginning of fermentation so it carbonates right away before much alcohol is produced. Instead, throw the recipe in a carboy and let it bulk up the alcohol like you would with beer, then backsweeten with something unfermentable like splenda.

It will likely take some trial and error to get the flavor right, though. I had a soda go for too long on the fermentation and it started to smell like soy sauce and was on the verge of bursting the bottle long before much alcohol was produced.

There are also lots of sodas out these days without preservatives. Will they work?

Mountain Dew + Vodka = alcoholic soda

Trippel-A said:

There are also lots of sodas out these days without preservatives. Will they work?

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Yep. If there are no preservatives (other than ascorbic acid or vitamin C) and it has fermentable sugar in it, it will ferment. Those little buggers are pricey though. It would be way cheaper, and potentially much better, to make your own soda recipe and adjust it for ethanol production.

If you post the kind of Soda you want to turn into booze, somebody might be able to help come up with a recipe

This may be off the topic but there is a brewery close to me that makes a hard rootbee that is 10% abv. I swear to god above this stuff tastes like regular soda, my buddies often make floats with this. I have looked high and low and can't fine a recipe for hard rootbeer. I would love to make some. Any one have any clue how to do this.

Bithead said:

Mountain Dew + Vodka = alcoholic soda

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That was my first thought based on the title; just toss in some alcohol of preference.

christopherrburns said:

This may be off the topic but there is a brewery close to me that makes a hard rootbeer that is 10% abv. I swear to god above this stuff tastes like regular soda, my buddies often make floats with this. I have looked high and low and can't fine a recipe for hard rootbeer. I would love to make some. Any one have any clue how to do this.

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Now you have my attention.

christopherrburns said:

This may be off the topic but there is a brewery close to me that makes a hard rootbee that is 10% abv. I swear to god above this stuff tastes like regular soda, my buddies often make floats with this. I have looked high and low and can't fine a recipe for hard rootbeer. I would love to make some. Any one have any clue how to do this.

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Not at all.

I would love to help with this, but I've never brewed a regular rootbeer.

There's some good ones on this forum, they just require 10 lbs of ingredients not available at the grocery store or LHBS.

I did a root beer with my kids that was good but I have no idea how to ferment it to 10% without it tasting hot and boozy. I will have to check some of the existing forums. Did not come across any when ive looked in the past, did not really look that hard.

christopherrburns said:

I did a root beer with my kids that was good but I have no idea how to ferment it to 10% without it tasting hot and boozy. I will have to check some of the existing forums. Did not come across any when ive looked in the past, did not really look that hard.

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10% is too much IMHO. Traditionally rootbeer and ginger beer were 'small beers', low ABV (<4%) drinks to nourish ppl and keep scurvy away.

I've got an alchoholic ginger ale that is at 3% and great. By itself it is really hot and spicy, so adults like it, but ill mix it 1 to 3 with tonic water or sprite and my kid likes it.

The hard root beer I'm attempting to replicate is 10% and taste like it 0%. I have no intention of sharing it with the kids a 10 8 and 7 year old sucking down a 10% drink seems like a good reason for child protection to make a visit.

christopherrburns said:

The hard root beer I'm attempting to replicate is 10% and taste like it 0%. I have no intention of sharing it with the kids a 10 8 and 7 year old sucking down a 10% drink seems like a good reason for child protection to make a visit.

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Haha, yeah probably so.

What's the name of the rootbeer? It would take a thick malty base to cover up 10%.

Maybe it is sort of like a Malta, with vanilla and sarsaparilla? I could see a malt soda hiding some high ABV stuff.

Not your dad's root beer by small town brewing in wadsworth Illinois.

Try this do a water and sugar solution at 2.5 gal with champagne yeast keep slowly adding sugar when it gets low gravity untill you kill the yeast. That souls be 20% alcohol. Add sulfates. Wait 2 weeks than add extract and back sweeten it. Then keg. That's how I do it

Oh god, I hope that is not small town brewery's mode of operation. That sounds utterly horrid.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24798/86622


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/looking-clone-not-your-fathers-root-beer-small-town-brewery-402386/

10% ABV that tastes like 0% = lots of sugar IMHO
Sugar/sweetness hides alcohol better than anything else.

Malt background, the lack of esters, and age blend alcohol into something not only palate able but delicious!

Sugar just takes your mind off the Booze long enough to get you drunk.