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DIY Soft Drinks

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Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#241

Post by littlexsparkee »

flobosg wrote: post #176
hackerInnen wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest, I don't have that much fun in playing around with the recipe, but I found this one and it just works for me: https://github.com/xil-se/FreeMate But nowadays I just drink plain yerba mate with a splash of lemon juice, no added sugar. I do the FreeMate in summer a bit. Edit: Btw, if anyone of you bought yerba mate before and thought it didn't taste great, for me personally there are huge differences betwe…

Tereré is also a milder alternative: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terer%C3%A9

I love terere - note you will get less caffeine and antioxidants from cold brewing.

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#242

Post by riffraff »

tdeck wrote: post #94
riffraff wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't like vinegar much either, but vinegar in drinks does have a certain tradition e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posca

Or more recently Switchel, which was popular in 19th century America. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switchel I think the ready availability or citrus fruits caused their decline.

ah yes, I remember that one from some episode of Tasting History, but I could not remember the name!

Also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrub_(drink)

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#243

Post by steve-atx-7600 »

varispeed wrote: post #25

I thought this would be for people who cannot drink commercially available drinks due to mandated addition of sweeteners. I stopped consuming these, any that I tried was leaving awful chemical aftertaste that I just cannot get used to. So instead I was DIY drinks by mixing concentrated fruit juice (with no added sweeteners) with sparkling water. Also be careful if drink says "natural flavourings" - it's a loophole to…

I heavily carbonate my water from a soda steam and find that the carbonation alone makes the water taste sweet enough to skip any additional sweeteners. I refill the co2 bottles myself to keep it less expensive.

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#244

Post by steve-atx-7600 »

delgaudm wrote: post #39

This is really interesting. I have been making my own "instant cola" with several large dashes of angostura bitters and a can of seltzer in a pint glass. The liquid should be very pink/orange. and, if I want sweetness a drop of liquid sucralose sweetner is all I need, just sweet enough for me without aftertaste. This mix scratches my cola itch very well and can be made in about 20 seconds.

I started out there but really love the bitters from these guys https://allthebitter.com/ vs using the agnostura bitters I had from a liquor store. Zero alcohol in them also.

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#245

Post by DonHopkins »

jfengel wrote: post #159
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…

I wonder how they pulled off Crystal Pepsi. A neat trick, even if nobody cared.

Darcy O'Neil's "Art of Drink" videos cover this:

The Science Behind Crystal Pepsi: Microemulsion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppufxi1pHu8

>If you've ever asked the question: How do they make Crystal Pepsi clear? Here is your answer. The method is surprisingly simple and uses a technique to make a microemulsion where the droplet size of the flavour oil is around 1 micron. This method comes directly from Pepsi, via a patent they filed in 1989, providing a detailed method for producing oil-in-water microemulsions for beverages. The patent specifically discusses clear colas and methods for producing the same.

>This video is an introduction to creating microemulsions and provides a process for doing it at home with simple equipment and easily available ingredients.

Also:

Emulsion FAQ (Beverages)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRf4ehRPpok

Stable Flavour Emulsion for Soda Syrups and Non Alcoholic Drinks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYToDpVAeMU

Caramel Colouring, Flavouring and Emulsifying Syrup

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7OvogWyMDo

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#246

Post by culi »

littlexsparkee wrote: post #240
culi wrote: post #59

So at some point I went on a loose leaf herbal tea buying spree and bought (and almost immediately forgot about) something called "catuaba". I tried making it into a tea and it was... an acquired taste. In my efforts to make the product more digestible I mixed it with some sparkling water. The result tasted shockingly similar to coca cola. So I did some research and it turns out that what's labelled as "catuaba bark"…

Fun fact - erythroxylum vaccinifolium makes for a potent aphrodisiac.

I see that it's marketed that way. I don't know if I experienced that. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#247

Post by mattmaroon »

hattmall wrote: post #89
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…

What do you use to bottle things in, like what bottles?

Depends what I’m bottling and if it needs to be shelf stable. There’s actually just as much work in the packaging of a beverage as the product sometimes.

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#248

Post by mattmaroon »

valarauko wrote: post #213
mattmaroon wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Small scale: modernist pantry. Commercial scale: Ingredion’s TIC gums. Their pre-hydrated gum arabic is great.

Is the Modernist Pantry gum arabic pre hydrated?

I’m not sure, but they do sell some pre-hydrated gums and usually call them “perfected”. They are largely buying in commercial quantities and re-packaging for restaurant-scale use with their gums because a lot of the bigger ingredient companies that make the best products won’t sell in smaller than 50 lb (or sometimes even much larger) increments.

Pre-hydrated gums are usually just hydrated and then spray dried ones.

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#249

Post by michael1999 »

wongarsu wrote: post #207
michael1999 wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How's the durability of the Crystal? I had two of the original Penguin systems, and the seals broke down and the frame stretched. I'd prefer to go back to the glass bottles.

No issues with the Crystal so far. It's pretty sturdy. But that's the old 2.0 model, looking at the reviews the new 3.0 is a downgrade in terms of quality, in addition to the downgrade of being forced into the proprietary cylinders

Bummer. I loved the glass bottles in the penguin, but I got tired fighting the durability problems. I got as far as researching custom gaskets and shims, and gave up.

Re: DIY Soft Drinks

#250

Post by Vincenius »

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…

Just tried your recipe myself and it really tasty! I also prefer a less sweet version. I'm looking forward to playing around with it and customizing it :D
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