HOW TO MAKE SODA

Carbonated drinks sold commercially come in hundreds of flavors. Some are colorful. Others are colorless. Some are more popular than others. Some are very sweet. Some are not sweet at all. Some are more highly carbonated than others and some contain alcohol. With all these differences, the common thread connecting them all is the presence of dissolved carbon dioxide gas in the mix. CO₂ is what gives carbonated drinks (including beer, sparking wines and champagne) their bubbly effervescence. This article deals with how to make soda and carbonated soft beverages and skips entirely the subject of producing alcoholic beverages.

Kool-Aid® is a flavored drink mix made and distributed by Kraft Foods. It is what is known as a flat drink, meaning non-carbonated. Historically, someone wanting to turn a simple flat drink like Kool-Aid® into a carbonated drink had one answer to the "How to make soda?" question: yeast. Yeast is a living organism that consumes sugar and gives off CO₂ and alcohol as byproducts. Carbonating a soft drink with yeast is a simpler and easier process than using yeast to make bread. One simply puts sugar and yeast into a bottle of water (which may or may not be flavored) and caps it off tightly so the carbon dioxide gas produced will not escape. As more of it is produced, pressure inside the bottle builds up, and gas forces it's way into the liquid, taking up space in the voids between molecules of water. And, voila, in a week - perhaps 3 - you've made soda. The yeast will continue consuming the sugar and producing more CO₂ gas, so much, in fact, that the pressure buildup can rupture the container. Putting a stop to the process is as simple as refrigerating the bottle. Cooling it puts the yeast into a dormant state. The yeast stops consuming sugar and it's production of CO₂ and alcohol ceases.

Commercial production of soft drinks is such that a 7-21 day waiting period for natural carbonation using yeast simply won't do. When rapid carbonation is desired, the recipe for how to make soda changes dramatically. Bottling companies resort to force. It's known as forced carbonation. And it doesn't require yeast - just brute strength. CO₂ is introduced into the liquid under high pressure inside vessels designed to handle it. The CO₂ forces it's way into the liquid and the process of carbonation turns from one occurring over days and weeks to one completed in minutes.

Fortunately, making soda at home doesn't require large, expensive commercial equipment like that used by beverage companies to make the bubbly refreshments. Small hand-held tools like the Fizz Giz CO₂ injector and Fizz Giz valve caps allow anyone to make and carbonate soft drinks. Your Kool-Aid® can now have it's own special kick if you employ force carbonation tools to fizz your drinks up before serving. The technique is as simple as mixing up your own Kool-Aid®, pouring it into a clean used soda bottle, capping it with a Fizz Giz cap and injecting the bubbly gas into the bottle with a Fizz Giz CO₂ dispenser.

So the next time someone asks you how to make soda, tell them that they've got a few choices: a microorganism, industrial equipment, or the Fizz Giz. If they've got a week or two to spare and don't mind the alcohol, yeast might be the way to go. Hat's off to anyone who can throw together their own bottling plant. However if neither of those work for them, and they want full control over their soft drink's ingredients, the Fizz Giz is the only way to go.