yeast carbonation vs. carbonated water

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frodawgg

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Hi, all!

I'm sure that this has been covered a million times before, but here goes...

I'm new here and (hopefully soon) new to soda brewing. It sounds really cool and I really wanna try it. So, my question is: how much of a taste/quality difference is there b/w soda carbonated with yeast and soda using carbonated water? Reason being is that I am a teetotaler. Ideally, I would like to go through the whole process of brewing, but I know with yeast comes alcohol. And, though I know that the amount would be minimal and not enough to do any harm, I would like to avoid this as much as possible.

Like I said, ideally, I would prefer to do the whole brewing and bottling thing. I would say that in this method, it is more of your own creation, your own baby. It looks that if you buy one of the carbonated water machines (like SodaStream), it basically seems like a paint-by-numbers thing, as all you have to do is purchase premade syrup or mix or whatever and stir it up; this does not seem as creative and original to me (although, I have to admit, it sounds a heck of a lot easier!).

Any input from anyone would be awesome, especially those who have tried both methods!

Thanks!

Jason
 
I don't make soda with carbonated water, but I carbonate the water myself in kegs...so essentially it's the same thing. I noticed a huge difference in flavor when I used yeast, and it wasn't something I could tolerate. I understand your thinking about the carbonated kits.

I'd get yourself setup with a kegging system and have soda on tap. I make homemade rootbeer (from roots, not syrup or extract) and I love it.
 
Get a Tap-a-Draft as an easy and pretyt cheap way to start out without buying a whole kegging system. You fill up these 6 liter bottles with your soda and put CO2 chargers in the tap and it will be carbonated in a few days.
 
Thanks, guys! I'll try to carbonate my own water then.

1884, do you know if I have a recipe book that calls for yeast carbonation if I can just substitute the carbonated water in that, or do I have to find new recipes?
 
The issue with most recipes requiring carbed water is that they start out as a syrup and the carbonated water dilutes them to the right point. Starting with a recipe that's intended to be fermented will not work since the soda is already diluted. I would look around for recipes that make a syrup.
 
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