How to naturally carbonate soft drinks?

[Tamar_brewer]

Hi - does anyone have experience brewing naturally carbonated soft drinks that have good shelf life out of the fridge? There are a number of soft drink companies that brew shelf stable naturally carbonated soft drinks and I was wanting to know how it was done without either forced gassing at the point of bottling or having the drink fermented to dryness (alcoholic....that sits in a different section of my pantry ) or needing refrigeration. Any help appreciated.

 

[MaggieO]

Any sugar you add the yeast will try to consume which will lead to bottle bombs if you want something sweet.

You can add sugar and let them carbonate to the level you want then put them in a cold fridge to at least slow the yeast down. You want stable outside the fridge though.

You can let them carbonate to where you want them then heat pasteurize them to kill the yeast. I've read of people doing it with cider, never soda. Got to be sure you leave them in long enough to kill the yeast though.

About the only safe option you have to do it naturally is to use an artificial sweetener for sweetening and add enough sugar to just carbonate. Xylitol and erythritol work but have a laxative effect in quantity. Really, sugar alcohols, aren't that "artificial".

 

[Danscraftbeer]

I make Water Kefir in a 6lt keg. Its fantastic but it is probiotic delicious softdrink. I did bottling experiments first but the keg is done and self carbonated in 2-3 days. Then kept in fridge cold it still seems to self pressurize to serve from a click on tap. That is a bonus since I use no bottled co2 to consume it.

 

[Vini2ton]

So much stuff we buy is pasteurised. Practically everything in a jar, beer, cider, soft-drinks. I pasteurised some mead and cider once. Once. What is wrong with the good old force carbed soda thingo with the little tubes of gas. Or have all the trippers consumed them. Just drink beer.

 

[MHB]

If you are going to Pasteurise its a good idea to get all the yeast out first, pretty easy on a commercial packaging line, not so easy for a home brewer.
Probably filter the shite out of you product, leave just enough yeast to condition and don't heat any more than necessary to kill the yeast, ideally not to cook it - vegemite city if you do.
Mark