The easiest soft drink that I make

[xiphias]

So, I brew soft drinks sometimes. Well, I guess technically, they're "small beers" -- beer-like beverages with only trivial amounts of alcohol, too little to get you drunk in any practical way. The carbonation, though, is from fermentation, rather than whatever the thing is that they do to most soft drinks and seltzer.

So, I've got this one recipe which doesn't even deserve the name "recipe" it's so easy.

Costco sells these bottles of ruby red grapefruit juice -- "Apple and Eve" brand, "Made in the Shade Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice Cocktail." Notice the "cocktail" bit there -- they've got a whole BUNCH of high fructose corn syrup added, making it too sweet for my tastes. Lis likes it that sweet, though.

When you buy it from Costco, you get two 96-ounce (three quarts, about 2.85 liter) bottles. I leave one unmodified for Lis, take the other one, open it, drink one glass of juice from it (that's not strictly necessary, but it adds a little airspace to the top of the bottle, which can be useful), and sprinkle a pinch of bread yeast in.

Then I seal it up, put it on the counter, and wait. Yesterday was a heat wave, so it was nearly ready today. Usually, it takes longer.

The longer you leave it to ferment, the less sweet it gets. The yeast will eat all the sugar, leaving it tasting like fizzy unsweetened grapefruit juice. Or you can drink it at any point before then.

And that's the easiest soft drink I make.

Comments

[kelfstein.livejournal.com]

My grandmother used to make root beer at home with Hires extract, sugar, water and yeast. I loved it. After reading this I found extract on the internet here:
http://shop.zatarains.com/zatarains%AE-root-beer-extract-p-1586.html

[(Anonymous)]

My grandfather used to make root beer also. He had a tendency to put in a little extra suger, perhads to get a little alchohol, and experiences blow ups from time to time, sometimes initiating a chain reaction if ajacent bottle were also overpressurized. Made the cellar smell wonderful.
Duzzy