It's Time To Start Brewing Homemade Soda In The Comfort Of Your Kitchen

Soda is a bubbly treat at any time, an effervescent escape from whatever the day is throwing your way. It's quick and convenient to pop open your favorite can of soda, and these days, there are plenty of varieties to choose from, including prebiotic sodas that have been popping up everywhere. Unfortunately, store-bought sodas tend to be very sugary, with diet sodas even proving to be detrimental to consumer health. While you could turn to healthy alternatives of canned sodas for a convenient and refreshing sip, making your own at home allows you to really control what's going into your body.

When you brew homemade soda, you get to control the amount of sugar that goes into each ounce, as well as whether you use additives like dyes, artificial sweeteners, and flavorings. Once you understand the process of crafting your own soft drink, you can make your own soda for a lot cheaper than you can buy it at the store. It takes 24 to 48 hours to make a batch of homemade soda, depending on the temperature and humidity levels of the storage area, and it'll last about two weeks in the fridge. That is if you don't drink all of it within a few days, of course.

Homebrew soda is as complicated as you make it. You could use a couple of 2-liter plastic soda bottles to hold your brewing soda or opt for a larger container like North Mountain Supply's 1 Gallon Glass Fermenting Jug with a burping mechanism on the lid. Either way, you're combining ingredients into containers that will sit for at least 24 hours until they've fermented enough to create a bubbly, pleasant soda. Create flavors like strawberry kiwi, combine caramel and cinnamon to mimic classic cola, or add green and black tea for a soda-iced tea combination. If you're feeling especially adventurous, you can even try recreating the flavor of one of your favorite discontinued sodas that are likely gone for good.

The process hinges on yeast, which is essential in carbonating the base water. However, you'll start by experimenting to create a flavored syrup. Choose a classic ginger ale flavor with lemon and lime, try for a delicious orange soda, or mimic one of the 12 best new soda flavors that popped up in 2024. You'll add your flavored syrup to the plastic bottles or glass jug with some filtered water and yeast. Store your soda in a dark place at around 70 degrees Fahrenheit as it ferments, checking it every day until it achieves the carbonation level you want, leaving it for a maximum of about 48 hours.