sparkling water,?

Zambi

Well-Known Member
Trial Member
Established Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2019
Messages
4,742
Reaction score
11,010
Points
113
I haven't been able to get sparkling water or soda water for a while, so I thought:
What if I just take water and give it some yeast and sugar (same amount as I give at bottling)?
Would that work?
Maybe add a little lime or lemon juice or tamarind?
Anyone tried?
I'll be re-using my soda water bottles, so I am not scared of bottle breakages
 
Not tried it. Not sure what ABV you'll end up with, pretty low I'd guess. The various flavours will be interesting as most brewers yeast don't like eating just sugar. It's so little, so not sure it'll be that bad, but those flavourings might be needed.

Got to be worth the experiment.

SA still looking too problematic to go shopping for some sort of C02 setup? I think me and the wife get more use out of the soda water from our kegerator than the three beer taps.
 
Ditto. Five gallons of seltzer (in a keg), perhaps with a bit of lemon or other juice, is really inexpensive and lasts maybe 2 weeks here.
 
I imagine it would work, whats the worst case outcome? You dump it.

I fill kegs too and just carbonate them then add whatever I want after I pour it.
 
But considering that your CO2 supply is, err, limited, then just pretend you are bottling fermented wort, add your carbonation sugar and a bit of yeast and let it go. Same exact process, but remember typical commercial seltzer is highly carbonated, 4 volumes or more. Normal ale carbonation, say 2.5 volumes, will be more like Perrier, fizzy but not a lot. Alcohol will be minimal.
 
Yeah with the amount of fermentation you're after to just carbonate water I wouldn't even count the alcohol content.
 
Not looking at alcohol, there may be a bit but that will be minimal.

No idea what seltzer is....
The idea is to do some trials (sample ize of 1) with different amount of sugar per bottle.
I'll be using kveik as the pack is open and will be used for cider.
I think, first the carbonation, then to play with a bit of flavour.
The tamarinds are in season :)

And no, no trip to South Africa planned! 2 land borders, multiple corona rules, despite having been vaccinated, car insurance, car clearance and no money...
Too much of a hassle. If I get anything from there it will be when friends are going again for family visit
 
Right, we are on the way!
I used previously boiled water.
1 litre per bottle
About 1/16 tsp vos kveik
2, 3, 4 and 5 x 1/4 tsp of sugar
I forgot I only had brown sugar, so it got a real interesting colour :oops:
 
Color doesn't really change the taste.
 
after 24 hours:
The bottle with 2.5 teaspoon of sugar is almost hard to squeeze;)
I hope the bottles can withstand the pressure :eek:
The bottle with 1 teaspoon is still very flexible
 
I suspect that your 1/16th tsp would have been enough for a couple dozen bottles. With nothing but water you're going to taste some nasty yeast flavor. You'll probably be adding some fruit juice or something to cover that up.
 
Guess what...
A double post again :oops:
 
Update
Bit late
No success
Plenty bubbles, but plenty bad yeasty smell (as I was warned about, above)
On the positive side: the bottles can handle pressure quite well, even 2.5 teaspoon of sugar on a litre is no problem
Till now I often used about 1...
So now I have increased sugar on my cider as I like the bubbles
Remainder of sparkling water stays in fridge to maybe re-use the yeast
 

Back
Top