Process for making soda?

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jgardner6

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My wife is pregnant and can't drink my home brew so I was thinking about making soda for her. I was just wondering about the process for making soda ex. what to do, how long it should sit, and any other advise you can give. I have a kegging system if that matter also. Thanks
 
Soda is easy, depending on what you want to make. The easiest route is to buy the soda syrup, either a small bottle of extract, like this:
Root Beer Soda :: Midwest Supplies Homebrewing and Winemaking Supplies
and follow the directions. If you like Sprecher sodas, they are available in the big jugs:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/pics/fullsize/sprecher.jpg

What I've been doing, though is making ginger ale. I like it best, and it's easy. I only make 2 liters at a time, but you could make more if you wanted to keg it and keep it on tap. I bought a carbonator cap, and it fits a 2 liter bottle well. You just mix up the ingredients, and then put on the carbonator cap and then hit it with 40 psi or so until it's carbonated.

A couple of things I learned- rootbeer flavor does NOT come out of your beerline, so make sure it's a dedicated beer line. Secondly, soda should be served at a much higher pressure than beer, like 35 psi or so. To not get a ton of foam, you need a super long beer line. I used 30 feet, and found it cheap from mcmaster carr (.10/foot or so). That's one reason I like the 2 liter bottles- no keg/beer line, etc. But I'm the only one who drinks soda, besides my son who made root beer and simply bottled it.

I posted the ginger ale recipe the other day- if you want, I can dig it up. I'm thinking that it would be nice to do a lemon/lime soda for spring but I haven't tried it yet.
 
With a kegging setup, it can be as easy as making up a bunch of liquid that tastes good to you and force carbonating it.

Flavorings are really the easiest way to go, you can even get soda specific flavoring syrups/extracts from your HBS, or you can make your own stuff up as you go.

If you want to make something like Coke, I'd recommend using a pre-made extract or syrup, as they have a bunch of crazy ingredients.
 
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