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DIY Soft Drinks

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Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#131

Post by ideasarecool »

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?

It is usually alcoholic. 0.5-2%. Here stores sell most commonly 0.5% one which is regulated to be sold like a non-alcoholic drink.

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#133

Post by eru »

cogman10 wrote: post #74
detritus wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Posts like this are why I read HN comments first. Posts like this remind we how much better it is to be as part of a large trading bloc to be able to easily order/sample these sort of things, rather than it likely being a pain in the arse to get locally.

IDK if it'd apply here, but there are technically laws on the books in the US against price and purchase discrimination for grocers. It was specifically one of the things Lina Khan was investigating on the way out of office and something I believe she's going to be using for the NYC grocery stores. A food seller isn't allowed to cut out a grocer because they are too small. However, I believe they get around this toda…

It seems entirely reasonable to me to quote larger prices per item, even much larger prices, for smaller quantities. Or even outright refuse to sell in small quantities.

I mean, my grocer doesn't sell individual beans either. So why should wholesalers be forced?

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#134

Post by eru »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #114
mattmaroon wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>with the lone exception of Coke products because you just can’t get people to drink anything else. gotta say I don't like Pepsi, but I love Jarritos Cola and Fritz-Kola, they're both bitter enough. Most other Colas I've had in the U.S are too darn sweet.

Fritz-Kola used to be even more bitter, until they dropped the caffeine content to sane levels.

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#135

Post by freedomben »

kleiba2 wrote: post #117
mattmaroon wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Well after software I wanted a life that involved a lot less computer usage and a lot more being on my feet. Oh man, that's so me at this stage of my life. But I cannot easily get out of the rat race, with family responsibilities and mortgages and all...

Same here. Despite having intentions of not improving lifestyle with income (so I could be FIRE), it happened anyway with kids. I love my kids (of course) but they are so much more expensive than I ever could have imagined. Cost of living has just skyrocketed in the past 6 or 7 years (cue the 11 year old saying "Siiiiiixxxxx Seeeevvvvvennnn") and wages haven't changed much. Unless something radically changes, I'm chained to this desk for at least then next 10 years.

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#136

Post by t-3 »

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?

Short brewing time. Finnish sima is similar - sugar, lemon, water, yeast, ferment for a couple of days. Alcoholic drinks are usually fermented much longer, aged, and processed much more intensively.

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#137

Post by sourcegrift »

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…

Thank you for helping contribute to reduced trust in the society. Fuck them big dudes, amirite?

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#138

Post by lopis »

peaxkl wrote: post #29
BoredPositron wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never found the right tea leaves. Most of them were to bitter and some had just a totally different profile than the original clubmate. How close are the ones you are using?

For me using the cold brew method instead of cooking the leaves had the biggest effect on the bitterness. The taste goes in the direction of ClubMate, but has a stronger tea taste than the original ClubMate. I think reasons for that are the reduced amount of sugar and the fact that ClubMate uses natural flavor in their tea extract.

Buying different brands will change the taste even more.

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#139

Post by lopis »

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…

65 grams of sugar for 500ml is "less sugar"?How, if a 500ml bottle of club mate only has 25 grams? Did you mean 6.5 grams perhaps?

Edit: My bad, I didn't realise that was for 5 bottles. Carry on.

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#140

Post by helsinkiandrew »

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…

> Blend it with any dry ingredients like sugar before using.

That's the key.

I'm not an expert - and have only experience making/mixing liquids for cocktails - but Gum Arabic (often used to add a thicker mouthfeel in sugar syrups) isn't a great emulsifier but needs to be full homogenised with the oils before adding to more liquid - exceptionally high speed, aggressive blending for longer than it looks like is needed, to create tiny droplets which the gum arabic then stabilises, or the oil will end up separating after a few hours/days.

Sucros Esters, Propylene Glycol, or Polysorbate 80 (which I haven't used) probably do a better job but only Sucros Esters could be considered 'natural'

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