My favourite soft drink is Aldi's Tropical Blast Zero. It's pineapple and grapefruit flavour and quite sour.
I bought two 2ltr bottles of the stuff and cut a hole in the caps to fit airlocks (bubble counters) which I made airtight with sealant. I ordered a glass hydrometer to test the specific gravity.
I added a pinch of diammonium phosphate to feed the yeast and 3 pinches of bicarbonate of soda to raise the pH. This stops the sodium benzoate preservative from being effective. At a low pH, sodium benzoate prevents yeast from multiplying due to the formation of benzoic acid. I used bread yeast in one bottle and EC-1118 champagne yeast in the other to compare flavours.
Next, I tested the specific gravity, then I added 300g of sugar and tested again. It took the bread yeast a week to brew, but the champagne yeast finished in 3 days. This yeilded 7.5% ABV.
They tasted amazing. There wasn't a difference in taste between the two. Hooching them made a unique flavour that wouldn't be achieved by just adding vodka to the drink.
I gave them away as I can't drink alcohol due to ill health, but it was a fun experiment.
I bought two 2ltr bottles of the stuff and cut a hole in the caps to fit airlocks (bubble counters) which I made airtight with sealant. I ordered a glass hydrometer to test the specific gravity.
I added a pinch of diammonium phosphate to feed the yeast and 3 pinches of bicarbonate of soda to raise the pH. This stops the sodium benzoate preservative from being effective. At a low pH, sodium benzoate prevents yeast from multiplying due to the formation of benzoic acid. I used bread yeast in one bottle and EC-1118 champagne yeast in the other to compare flavours.
Next, I tested the specific gravity, then I added 300g of sugar and tested again. It took the bread yeast a week to brew, but the champagne yeast finished in 3 days. This yeilded 7.5% ABV.
They tasted amazing. There wasn't a difference in taste between the two. Hooching them made a unique flavour that wouldn't be achieved by just adding vodka to the drink.
I gave them away as I can't drink alcohol due to ill health, but it was a fun experiment.
