How to Make Your Own Soda Pop

What seems like an eternity ago when I was a youngster my family and I would make root beer together. Not only did making soda pop together make for some great family memories, but it also made some great tasting soda. After the soda pop had sat long enough to carbonate we would crack open a few bottles, make root beer floats and watch a movie from the video rental store.

Whether you want to make soda with your family or you are just a soda addict and want to make some for yourself, it is a really simple process. Here's how to make soda pop.

When I made soda pop with my family we always used glass soda bottles and actually had a little capping machine that would put caps on them. Nowadays, though, glass soda bottles are pretty hard to come by. The good news is that you can actually make soda pop in plastic bottles just as well as in the old fashioned glass bottles. Just save some of your plastic soda bottles or even water bottles from bottled water. You'll need to sanitize your bottles since even a little bit of bacteria can ruin your soda. Try soaking the bottles in a weak bleach and water mixture for about 10 minutes and then rinsing them completely to remove any traces of bleach.

You'll also need a bottle to mix the ingredients together in. The recipe I'll give you here makes a gallon so you can use a gallon size milk jug for mixing. Just be sure to rinse and disinfect it as well.

You can usually find soda flavoring at your grocery store - often times in the baking aisle. It typically comes in root beer, orange, grape, ginger ale or cola flavors. Just pick your favorite flavor. Grab some regular granulated sugar and a package of yeast. You can get all fancy and get yeast that is made for making beer or wine, or you can just use plain old baking yeast. I've always just used regular yeast when I make soda and it does a great job. The ale or champagne yeast won't leave clumps like can sometimes happen with regular yeast, so you may prefer to go that route instead. Whatever type of yeast you choose to use be sure to pick yeast that is active.

The yeast is actually what gives your soda pop the "fizz". When you add the yeast to your recipe it consumes the sugar and releases gasses. These gasses make the fizzy bubbles in your soda. Measuring the yeast carefully is probably the most important part of making soda pop since if you add too much yeast your bottles can explode, and if you don't add enough your soda can be flat.

Along with the flavoring, yeast and sugar you should gather together a large pot (preferably stainless steel), a big spoon, measuring cups and spoons, a thermometer to test the temperature of the water, and a funnel for transferring the liquid into the bottles after you mix it.

Once you have everything gathered together you can start making your soda pop.

To make the soda, you will use 2 cups of sugar, 1.5 tablespoons of flavoring extract and 1/4 teaspoon of yeast.

First, heat up some water in your pot using your thermometer to measure the temperature. You want the water to be right around 100 degrees. Once the water is warm enough, add the sugar and flavoring to your milk jug for mixing, and then fill it about half way with warm water using your funnel. Now add the yeast to this mixture, put the cap on the bottle and shake it until the yeast is dissolved. Take the cap off and add the rest of the water to fill up the bottle. Replace the cap and shake it again to make sure it is all mixed.

Once everything is mixed, pour it into the bottles using the funnel. You will want to be sure to leave 1-2" of space at the top of each bottle, then put the cap on tightly to prevent any air loss.

Now, put the bottles in a warm (not hot) room for 1-2 days to let the yeast go to work on the sugar and start making the fizz. After a day or two transfer the bottles to your refrigerator to stop the carbonation process. Let them sit in the fridge for another day or two for the best taste.

That's it! You now know how to make soda pop. Now go give it a try and enjoy.