Soda newbie

[SodaCoastie]

Ok, so I have always been interested in home brewing, however don't like beer, so I decided to try creating my own soda instead. All I have attempted so far is a cream soda which turned out tasting like a slightly vanilla-ie tasting sugar beer... So I took to the internet in search of better recipes and help and came across this site. The recipe was really simple and I have no idea where I went wrong.
Recipe: (for one 500ml bottle)
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract
1/16th teaspoon of dry yeast
Tap water until about an inch from the top
Shake together and let sit until bottle becomes hard (took about 24 hours), then refrigerate for another 24-48 hours.

Any assistance would be appreciated, as I just want to be able to make some good tasting soda and not end up with... well, beer. Thanks!

 

[MrFoodScientist]

When using yeast, you're always going to have a yeasty flavor. Some yeasts do tend to have a cleaner flavor depending on yeast and the ingredients in the soda, but in my experience it's never not there at all.

One thing you can try is adding a yeast nutrient like fermaid and see if that helps for your recipe. That seems to kind of tone down the yeasty flavor a bit for me.

 

[SodaCoastie]

Would a brewers yeast help? The yeast I used was just fleischmans active dry yeast. Also, is there another way to get the carbonation? I keep hearing about force carbonation but have no clue what that means or how it's done.

 

[Roadie]

I keep hearing about force carbonation but have no clue what that means or how it's done.

Force carbonation is done with a kegging system. Most commonly a 5 gallon stainless steel "cornelius keg" hooked up to CO2.

 

[Nogud247]

A champagne yeast should help with the flavor some. It's more neutral than bread yeast.

 

[daft]

Would a brewers yeast help? The yeast I used was just fleischmans active dry yeast. Also, is there another way to get the carbonation? I keep hearing about force carbonation but have no clue what that means or how it's done.

There can be very simple answers to your questions. But the more experienced folks here seem to jump to conclusions and make it complicated. Maybe because they enjoy the process and it's embellishments, rather than seeing it as a means to an end that should be pragmatic and minimized.

1) Yeast! Aarrgh...you didn't complain about a yeasty taste but a beery one. Didn't MrF jump to a conclusion that you were complaining specifically about yeast? Yeast type is one of the most boring obsessions on this board that should simply wait as a fine tuning issue after you have bigger things under control. One of the most decorated brewers in the world said in a lecture that choice of yeast gets less and less important as the brewing time decreases (like for soda). I use an expired econo tub of bread yeast, and no dainty partial teaspoons but rather enough to choke a rhino.

B) Force carbonation! Aargh, they jump immediately to the massive clunky keg approach with it's 30 feet of tubing dedicated to one flavor alone so the rootbeer doesn't foam. As if we all lived in mc-mansions with infinite space. You can just devote a half square foot counter space to a home soda maker like sodastream. You don't have to use their expensive source of CO2 but can fit in a cheap paintball tank with adapter. Make your own syrups rather than their expensive mediocre ones.

iii) Vanilla extract! That recipe was nicely simple, but seems doomed to failure on so many other aspects other than yeast. Have you tasted that (or almost any other such extract) in plain or bubbly water? Yech, it's really not meant to stand alone but rather highlight and play with other flavors that mask it's off tastes. Sugary tap water! That sounds like a gamble of introducing other organisms that compete with the yeast... I think you would normally heat and cool it first. The reason why famous cheeses smell like feet or armpits is that the bugs responsible for that are swirling around the kitchen air and get into anything exposed to it. Another reason to use a lot of bread yeast to overpower the bad yeasts. Tartness! Maybe cream soda is an exception, but most sodas benefit from a strong duet of sweetness and tartness.

Cream soda is maybe too delicate for beginners... not enough assertive taste to cover mistakes. What I do is force carb using frozen canned concentrates or use rootbeer extract plus agave syrup. Just now I am shoving yeast into fruit juice containers, all pasteurized from the factory. I recap until the bottle gets bloated in a few hours, refrigerate, then open for the most delicious and healthy bubbly drink. I recently found I should not let the bottle get too pressurized or the yeast is supressed or killed... better to keep the pressure low and it will renew (gentle foamy rather than sparkley) bubbles as you pour and recap for days.

 

[MrFoodScientist]

There can be very simple answers to your questions. But the more experienced folks here seem to jump to conclusions and make it complicated. Maybe because they enjoy the process and it's embellishments, rather than seeing it as a means to an end that should be pragmatic and minimized.

Says the man who gives the longest most complicated post in the thread.

Please excuse daft, his comments sometimes are a little daft and/or inflammitory.

Of course we enjoy the process. Why else would we be doing it? If we didn't, we'd go to the store and buy soda or beer, because that's easier and faster.

I didn't see anyone recommend in this thread to jump in whole hog and buy a kegging setup or even waste money on a silly little sodastream. Roadie simply offered a straightforward explanation of what force carbonation is and how it's typically accomplished in homebrewing.

Also, I simply offered that maybe a yeast nutrient might help. I never said the yeast type was absolutely the problem. I see Nogud247's suggestion to try a champagne yeast as a simple solution since champagne yeast is so inexpensive and I have definitely seen a difference in yeast strains, even in a short soda fermentation. If you don't believe me, try fermenting straight up grape juice with Red Star Pasteur Champagne versus Red Star Premier Cuvee, then tell me there's no difference. And yes, to a lot of people, a "yeasty" flavor is similar to a "beer" flavor, so that's how I interpreted the question.

SodaCoastie, I apologize if I misinterpreted your description of what you thought was off. But to answer your question, a brewers yeast probably won’t help. I think if the yeast flavor is off putting, then it’s probably not your preferred method of carbonating. You could try making a syrup to add to carbonated water. Use your same recipe, but heat the sugar in a little bit of water to get it to fully dissolve. Put that in the bottle first, then carefully fill with cold seltzer or club soda. Pour it down the side as you fill so it's a more gentle process. You'll keep more of the carbonation that way. The key is to keep it from mixing or sloshing much until you've sealed the bottle back up. Once you've sealed, shake until dissolved and then let it sit and equilibrate for a few minutes before you open it back up again. If that get's you closer to what you expected, then you know your recipe is on the right track. I would agree with daft that you may want to add some tartness, but I disagree that you'll get it from a slug of yeast. Try a touch of lemon juice to see if that helps. It does seem to me that maybe your vanilla extract is too much, but I don't think the extract itself is the issue. I think you'd be ok with half that amount. Cream soda is typically flavored with vanilla extract and you're on the right track using pure vanilla instead of any imitation stuff. For a more complex flavor, you might try light brown sugar instead of white. Good luck to you. I hope it turns out great!

 

[Nogud247]

...And yes, to a lot of people, a "yeasty" flavor is similar to a "beer" flavor, so that's how I interpreted the question.

That's what I was thinking too exactly.

 

[Crazy8]

I dont k ow if this will help you or not SodaCoastie, but I have a cream soda that I make and doesn't use yeast. Go to YouTube and search for KD0RVY. That's my channel name. Hopefully that can give you some ideas. If not, well it was worth a try anyway. Good luck.

 

[SodaCoastie]

Sorry I haven't been on or responded, busy between work and my twin 8 month old daughters. Anyway, thank you all for your input, advice, and insight. I do think I am going to try the "simple syrup" style recipe and add it to some carbonated water, and see how it pans out from there. Honestly, me and my wife have been considering getting a soda stream for a little while, and making my own syrups would give me the opportunity to control the flavor and what actually goes in to my soda. But before we go that far just trying it with the carbonated water will be enough.

 

[SodaCoastie]

Oh and I do think yeast is probably the flavor I was describing, I just don't drink beer so I'm not completely sure.

 

[Nogud247]

..twin 8 month old daughters. Honestly, me and my wife have been considering getting a soda stream for a little while...

Congrats on the little ones. You have your hands full. I have a soda stream and honestly it's not horrible. I like the yeast method but for something's the SS is just easy. Gl. I hope it turns out well.

 

[ericbw]

Someone mentioned some lemon juice and using brown sugar. Those two things will make a marked difference.

Ale or champagne yeast should help, too. But yeast carbonated soda will/should taste a little yeasty. If you don't like that, then force carbonation is the way to go.

 

[Crazy8]

I have never done force carbonation, but if I could, I would. I use champagne yeast for my root beer and the thing I love most about it, there's no beer/yeasty flavors. It's very clean and the bubbles are small and wonderful. If you were to use a yeast, that's what I would recommend. But this is all about playing around and seeing what works and what you like. Hope all goes well. I'd love to know how it works out for you and what you ended up doing.

 

[SodaCoastie]

Well I tried out the simple syrup way of doing it, and it ended up coming out fairly close to what I was looking for. It is a little sweet, but I think the lemon juice and switching to brown sugar should make it more like what I want.