Carbonate My Summer

I have a bad summer habit. When the temperatures soar, I begin to crave icy cold, carbonated drinks. While I normally can resist soft drinks, a 100 degree day can find me at the nearest convenience store picking up a soda to cool off. For some reason, the carbonation seems to quench my thirst better than plain water or even juice.

I've been trying alternatives this summer, such as the cucumber agua fresca made with cucumber juice, lime juice, and agave nectar. I've enjoyed citrus seltzers with orange or grapefruit juice mixed with soda water. I love the bubbles in club soda and will even drink it by itself, although I do prefer some flavor and sugar. The sodas and the seltzer drinks, however, require me to keep buying containers of beverages. I'd like to stop this to minimize the damage to the budget as well as to the environment.

A couple of years ago, I tried my hand at making ginger beer with a recipe Melanie posted on her Beansprouts blog. It was pretty good but I wasn't entirely crazy about the slightly fermented flavor. (I've never liked beer.) This year, I decided to try a different recipe, one that requires less attention each day and uses less ginger and yeast. Back when I was looking up a lot of ginger beer recipes, I came across a list of optional ingredients one could add to give it more zing so I tossed in those spices as well.


The resulting brew came out bubbly and quite spicy, but the clove was somewhat overwhelming. I've modified the recipe to go for a smoother taste but have not brewed up a new batch yet. You can see the recipe I'm going to try at the bottom of this post. This drink does not have the slightly alcoholic taste of my first brewing attempt a couple of years ago.

Ginger beer is not my first choice when it comes to soda, though, so I've been looking through other recipes. I'd love to make root beer but haven't had a chance to look for the ingredients yet. It seems like I could carbonate any flavored sweet beverage, though, using the ale yeast as in the recipe below.


So, this morning, I put together what I hope will turn into a tasty cherry vanilla soda. I simmered a cup of pitted cherries and a 1" piece of vanilla bean in a quart of water with 3/4 cup sugar. After straining out the cherries and vanilla bean, I added the proofed yeast and poured the brew into one of the empty 2 liter club soda bottles. It should be ready to refrigerate by Monday morning. I put the strained cherries and vanilla bean, along with the cherry pits, in a jar with some vodka to make a little cherry liqueur. That will take a couple of weeks, at least, before it might be ready.

Spicy Ginger Beer
- adapted from a recipe in Homemade Root Beer Soda and Pop by Stephen Cresswell

Makes about 8 (16.9 oz) bottles

2 1/2 oz peeled & grated ginger root
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp peppercorns
1/2 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp cardamom seeds
1 tsp cloves
Dash of cayenne pepper
1 tsp cream of tartar (optional)
8 cups water
6 cups cool water
1/8 tsp ale yeast (available at a brewing store)
¼ c lukewarm water

Put grated ginger, juice, sugar, spices, and 2 quarts water into pot.
Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.
Remove from heat, cover, and let steep for half an hour.
Pour 6 cups cool water into a large bowl or gallon jug.
Strain the ginger mixture through a fine sieve and add it to the water. The mixture should be lukewarm. Stir to mix.
Proof ale yeast in 1/4 cup lukewarm water for about 5 minutes.
Add to the ginger-spiced liquid and stir to mix well.
Pour into bottles using a funnel. Cap and set aside for a day and a half for the yeast to carbonate the drink. I prefer using plastic bottles to avoid the chance of burst glass bottles. If your house is cool, it may take up to 3 days for bubbles to appear. With plastic bottles, you can judge the progress of the carbonation by how firm the bottles are. (Also check the bottoms to see if they are bulging slightly.) When bubbles appear and bottles are very firm, refrigerate the soda to slow the carbonation process. If the bottles are bulging too much, open the caps briefly to release some pressure. It will build back up again within a day, even in the refrigerator.
To serve, carefully pour into a glass without disturbing the yeast at the bottom of the bottle.