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Sasparilla

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I

ibwahooka

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 7, 2008
158
0
0
Augusta, GA
Hey everyone,
Thought I would post on my newest try at soda! I made a 4 gallon batch of sasparilla this time and this is how I broke it down:
3 Gals. were made with unbleached sugar and tasted extremely smooth. Only about half of this batch naturally carbonated out since I heated it too much. So, I made a 1 gal batch as well. This is how it went.
1 Gal water
1 cup sugar
1 cup Sweet Orange Blossom Honey
1/2 oz of Sasparilla flavoring
1/4 tsp of champange yeast.

I heated the water between 90-105 degrees for about fifteen minutes and added sugar, honey and flavoring. Stirred for about 10 minutes while I waited for the yeast to dissolve in plain water, then added that to the mixture. Stirred for another 10 minutes and then moved on to bottling the mix. Before I set my bottles to carbonate, I tasted the soda and the honey was very strong in the soda, however after about 36 hours the soda was fully carbonated this time and the strong honey taste was much smoother.

So bottom line I was able to make some really good soda this time; the key is the heat. Keep it low! Next batch will be an Orange(1/4)/Cream(3/4) mix that I will be attempting this weekend. I will need a name if it is really good, so help me think of one.

Thanks!
Shawn
 
Last edited:
Very cool. What kind of bottles are you using? How much leeway is there between "full carbonation" and exploding bottles? How long does the soda keep in the fridge?
 
akueck said:
Very cool. What kind of bottles are you using? How much leeway is there between "full carbonation" and exploding bottles? How long does the soda keep in the fridge?
Click to expand...

Currently I am using 20oz pet bottles and also 2 half-gallon glass growler bottle. The leeway between "full carbonation" and exploding bottles is only a matter of hours. I usually have found that my soda reaches full carbonation within 24-36, sometimes longer. The carbonation is really tricky since it sometimes happens more quickly than I want it too. The soda keeps in the fridge for about 2 weeks, if I manage to keep it that long!

*If you do decide to use glass bottles when making soda, be really careful, because if you don't stop the carbonation you get some really cool results! :)

-Shawn
 
Couple of hours? Yikes! :eek:

I think I'll wait until I get a keg setup before I do the soda thing. I'm all for a little creative destruction but don't want to have to clean up that sticky mess.
 
Yeah I'm going to get a keg setup here in a couple of months after I move to Georgia. I'm thinking a 2.5 gal corny keg, so I can put it into my regular fridge. After a while though I'm thinking of getting a dedicated mini-fridge and putting in 2 5gal corny kegs that will allow us to have both beer and soda on tap.
 
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