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DIY Soft Drinks

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Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#101

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

s0rce wrote: post #3

I liked this video about recreating coke https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDkH3EbWTYc&t=176s

Yes, this video (and HN commentary https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46543509 ) are an amazing nerdy deep dive into a taste chemistry subject. And seems to have uncovered new information (to the general public that is, maybe not new to Cola co insiders)

You know it's getting serious when they science it, using a mass spectrometer. And then keep at it for a year through many experiments that did not produce a result. That attitude of "the experiment didn't fail, it successfully eliminated one of the possibilities" is very scientific.

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#102

Post by indigo945 »

peaxkl wrote: post #24

I recently started getting into homemade ClubMate production. The goal was to create a drink that has caffeine, less sugar than regular mate and is still tasty. It took me 4-5 tries to get to a recipe that tastes good. Earlier tries involved cooking the mate, which led to a bitter taste. Cold brewing led to way better results. Here is my current recipe for 5 bottles (á 0,5l): - 60g mate tea leaves (coarse) [1] - 500m…

Late capitalism is when a traditional tea recipe is referred to as "homemade ClubMate (R)".

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#103

Post by user070223 »

mattmaroon wrote: post #22

One pro-tip as I now somehow have a commercial bottling license these days: get pre-hydrated gum Arabic. Much easier to work with. Almost everybody who messes this up will make the mistake at the hydrating the gum Arabic stage. Blend it with any dry ingredients like sugar before using. If you can’t source it, I’m not going to tell you that you SHOULD pretend to be a bottling company and ask a gum provider to send you…

Another fun use for gum arabic is making watercolor paints, you can do it with your kids sourcing the pigment from different soils. pour water and let the heavy big particle fall to the bottom and source the small ones from the top and mix some ingredients

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#104

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

dyauspitr wrote: post #97
tdeck wrote: post #93

I enjoy the flavor of kvass - a Russian / eastern European malt flavored soda - but it's hard to find where I live. The process involves really aggressively toasting some rye bread, boiling it with eaisans and sugar, straining it, and then brewing it with ordinary baking yeast in 2-liter bottles until it reaches your desired carbonation level. The end result is really refreshing.

How does this not become alcoholic?

I understand that Kvass is around 1% alcohol.

By Russian standards, this is "non-alcoholic".

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#105

Post by whackernews »

integralid wrote: post #49
nulld3v wrote: post #21

I've also been dabbling in this recently in an attempt to avoid buying SodaStream syrups (which are on the BDS boycott list). Tips for working on sugar-free recipes: In some countries (like Canada), soft-drink manufacturers are required to disclose the exact amount of each artificial sweetener they use in the drink. So you can easily grab those numbers from Canadian product listings for use in your own recipes. E.g.…

>BDS boycott list Looks like a great initiative. Anyone knows about a similar list, but for companies that support Russia and occupation of Ukraine?

There’s a really simple way that will protect you from any current or future corruptions/profit before people behaviour: don’t buy anything from any large corporations.

If you do this you also benefit from giving your money to real people and not contributing to huge amounts of waste and pollution.

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#106

Post by dzhiurgis »

user070223 wrote: post #103
mattmaroon wrote: post #22

One pro-tip as I now somehow have a commercial bottling license these days: get pre-hydrated gum Arabic. Much easier to work with. Almost everybody who messes this up will make the mistake at the hydrating the gum Arabic stage. Blend it with any dry ingredients like sugar before using. If you can’t source it, I’m not going to tell you that you SHOULD pretend to be a bottling company and ask a gum provider to send you…

Another fun use for gum arabic is making watercolor paints, you can do it with your kids sourcing the pigment from different soils. pour water and let the heavy big particle fall to the bottom and source the small ones from the top and mix some ingredients

Pigment from soils?

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#107

Post by whackernews »

nulld3v wrote: post #21

I've also been dabbling in this recently in an attempt to avoid buying SodaStream syrups (which are on the BDS boycott list). Tips for working on sugar-free recipes: In some countries (like Canada), soft-drink manufacturers are required to disclose the exact amount of each artificial sweetener they use in the drink. So you can easily grab those numbers from Canadian product listings for use in your own recipes. E.g.…

People are always so laser focussed on the latest trendy thing, but why not just boycott all huge corporations/organisations? It’s a much simpler rule that achieves the same thing and you have the added benefit of boycotting companies that haven’t had their corruption uncovered… yet!

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#108

Post by thiago_fm »

mattmaroon wrote: post #45
atentaten wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why did you get a commercial bottling license?

Well after software I wanted a life that involved a lot less computer usage and a lot more being on my feet. So now I sell beverages via a few food trucks and also syrups people can use to make draft sodas/mocktails. We make everything ourselves because we’re all-natural everything, with the lone exception of Coke products because you just can’t get people to drink anything else. I basically went from no real knowled…

You should get your website up and running and start writing and tell others not only how you made it, but also why. What you felt in this change in your life etc.

I guess a big part of this is figuring out how to make money doing that. I wonder how did you get there.

I've always had the desire to make soft drinks and I have a similar concern about how we are sitting the entire day...

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#109

Post by thiago_fm »

peaxkl wrote: post #24

I recently started getting into homemade ClubMate production. The goal was to create a drink that has caffeine, less sugar than regular mate and is still tasty. It took me 4-5 tries to get to a recipe that tastes good. Earlier tries involved cooking the mate, which led to a bitter taste. Cold brewing led to way better results. Here is my current recipe for 5 bottles (á 0,5l): - 60g mate tea leaves (coarse) [1] - 500m…

You can buy mate tea as tea sachets, "Mate leão" has a nice taste blend.

Why not do it with the leaves? This is harder as their taste profile is very uneven.

For the sour taste, add citric acid.

I'm pretty sure that if you toy around with the amount of citric acid, sugar & dillution you'll get a similar taste, or something even more palatable for you.

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#110

Post by gbuk2013 »

tdeck wrote: post #93

I enjoy the flavor of kvass - a Russian / eastern European malt flavored soda - but it's hard to find where I live. The process involves really aggressively toasting some rye bread, boiling it with eaisans and sugar, straining it, and then brewing it with ordinary baking yeast in 2-liter bottles until it reaches your desired carbonation level. The end result is really refreshing.

Me too except I just use rye malt instead of the bread and without making any dough with it. The malt is cheap and easy to get in UK thanks to home brewing suppliers whereas rye bread is super expensive.

My only challenge is controlling the gassiness - it’s so vigorous that the moment I even slightly open the cap the whole thing fizzes up like crazy - opening it normally would result in a kvass fountain shooting up like 30cm. :)

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