Making your own soda pop is a really fun process. Once you have the few supplies you need for carbonation, the flavor possibilities are endless. Many brewery supply stores and even some specialty grocery stores sell “ready to mix” soda syrups or flavorings which are convenient, but making your own flavors from scratch are so easy, even a beginner can do it.
This is a basic recipe for Spicy Ginger Ale. Once you taste the flavor of this pop, it will be hard to go back to the store bought varieties, I promise. This pop has a kick to it! It’s intensely gingery and it leaves a good amount of heat in the back of your throat that I rather like. You can tone it down by diluting the liquid with water.
Most of the supplies needed to make homemade soda pop can be found at home brewery supply stores or On-Line.
You will need:
CO2 tank
Attachment hose
Carbonator Cap (or the like)
Clean, recycled, plastic 2 liter pop bottle
Ginger root
Sugar
Water
Because ginger is such an odd shape and comes in different sizes and weights there is a rough conversion for the amount of ingredients you will need.
For every 4 oz of ginger you will need 6 cups of water and 6 oz sugar
To Begin:
Peel and slice the ginger into thin disks.
Add the ginger to the water and simmer for about 20 minutes.
Strain out the ginger and keep (You can make Crystallized Ginger with the boiled ginger slices, click here for the recipe)
Add the sugar, to the warm liquid, stir until the sugar is dissolved.Â
Let cool to room temperature and pour into a clean plastic pop bottle. Leave some head space in the container. Refrigerate over night or until the liquid is quite cool. Cold liquids carbonate better than warm.
When the ginger liquid has cooled, crunch the plastic down as to get as much extra air out of the bottle as possible. Â
Screw on the Carbonator Cap and attach the hose from the CO2 tank, we have a quick-disconnect fitting that fit’s on to the Carbonator Cap. Fill the bottle with 35 psi of CO2, the will plastic re-expand and become very firm.  Â
Shake to distribute the carbonation. Let it set still until the bubbles dissipate a bit, the bottle may soften a slightly because the liquid has absorbed some of the CO2. And repeat until desired carbonation is achieved. We usually do it twice. Â
And enjoy!
To read more about farming, gardening and fun recipes visit our farm blog at Iron Oak Farm.
