Anyone ever made a soft drink?

[ADMIRALSTOCKDALE]

My sister was talking about how much she's heard recently about high fructose corn syrup being bad for you. She's been trying to find some more "natural" sodas (and foods in general) but so far her kids don't really like the taste.
I've made beer before and thought, why can't I make soda. I mean, not enough to stock at her house or anything, but just for fun. I figure I'd probably make a cola if I did it....
Just curious.

 

[horngrad03]

I've never made a soda but you might suggest to your sister to try sodas with sugar cane in them. They're making a comeback.

 

[SMDhorn]

You could try root beer...

 

[MGS]

I just bought a case of Mexican coke (glass bottles) at Sam's. They're great.

 

[GuadaHorn]

my grandmother makes root beer. it's very good

 

[judgroybeanbag]

Quite a few different ways:
The Link
The Link

 

[RayDog]

If you carbonate with yeast you will get alcohol. I may have to try that.

 

[general35]

i mix carbonated mineral water with natural fruit juice all the time. not a cola but they still taste good.

 

[bullseye-35]

Admiral,

Izze's are relatively expensive, but they are nothing but fruit juice and soda. According to the label, there's no added sugar -- only natural fructose from the fruit. Some flavors are very good, and my kid loves them. Try them if you don't want to spend the time creating a new drink.

 

[bozo_casanova]

I've made ginger ale

 

[BNB]

That soda club thing looks pretty cool. I might have to buy one of those. I hate lugging soda up to my condo and all the trash it makes.

 

[RayDog]

I've been doing some digging and the soda club thing is a bit of a rip off since they have a proprietary CO2 canister design which they charge too much to refill.

There is a guy hereThe Link
who just uses a CO2 canister with a standard Cornelius keg fitting, and a carbonator cap that fits 2 liter soda bottles.

You can buy the cap here
The Link

In the long run you can save a lot of money with this method. Although, I can't vouch for the safety of filling 2 liter soda bottles to 50 PSI repeatedly.