Orange Soda - Preventing Seperation?

[shadeone]

So I have an orange soda recipe that I have gotten to a taste that I like after lots of trials but when I bottle it and let it sit even overnight, the orange juice in it starts to seperate slightly.

The recipe has sugar, orange juice, orange oil, citric acid and water.

previously all of the juice seperated and settled on the bottom and when you would turn the bottle over before opening, it would all mix in good and look just fine.... I bought some acacia gum and added it to the syrup and now, the mixture still seperates but it doesnt rest on the bottom anymore, it more forms what almost looks like darker clouds suspended in the lighter water from the top to the bottom... I use pure 100 percent pulp free orange juice so its not the pulp thats floating around and causing seperation or anything. Ive even tried using less orange juice but still end up with the same appearance...

What can I do to keep the mixture all mixed up properly for longer than a few hours? I make this stuff for friends and family and I hate saying "make sure that you give it a good turnover to mix the ingredients before opening"... I should have to tell them anything. Orange sodas Ive obtained from the store (naural ones, not pure artificial Crush or Fanta) never seperate like this....

Thanks in advance!

 

[aruzinsky]

Do "natural" orange sodas from the store have "orange juice" as a labeled ingredient? If I remember correctly, "pulpless" orange juice is still cloudy but I have never seen a cloudy orange soda. Cloudiness results from components that have not dissolved and can possibly separate.

 

[shadeone]

not the ones from the grocery store actually, there are a few Ive had that are natural that do have juice in them, like Buddy's and a couple others I cant think of the names of right now. Pretty much only found at specialty soda stores etc... They are cloudy too since they use pasturized orange juice. but they stay seperated.
Would there be any sort of orange juice that isnt cloudy? I know I could juice my own oranges, but Im looking to use store bought juices because the taste is consistent no matter what and hand juicing oranges is a pain especially when doing it for soda that will be bottled in bulk

 

[MrFoodScientist]

I spent some time in Italy and I remember that it wasn't uncommon for citrus sodas and juices to have sediment at the bottom.

Have you tried different levels of acacia gum? I typically only use it for emulsifying flavor ils, so I wouldn't know exactly how much to use, but I would expect that if a little bit helped, maybe a little bit more will get you where you want to be.

 

[simwaves1]

You could consider just clarifying the soda from the start. You can keep a lot of the flavor in the suspension after discarding the mixed in solids. Options would be a centrifuge or gel based clarifying agents.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[aruzinsky]

not the ones from the grocery store actually, there are a few Ive had that are natural that do have juice in them, like Buddy's and a couple others I cant think of the names of right now. Pretty much only found at specialty soda stores etc... They are cloudy too since they use pasturized orange juice. but they stay seperated.
Would there be any sort of orange juice that isnt cloudy? I know I could juice my own oranges, but Im looking to use store bought juices because the taste is consistent no matter what and hand juicing oranges is a pain especially when doing it for soda that will be bottled in bulk

http://www.cookingissues.com/2009/07/14/agar-clarification-made-stupid-simple-best-technique-yet/