I Like Cackling Like A Witch While I Brew
Jun. 24th, 2015 10:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bloodyrosemccoyGot me a new batch of bottle caps the other day and ... I may have gone a little overboard with the sodas. Since getting the new caps I've made:
-Hibiscus Basil Lemonade
-Spruce Beer (from extract)
-Black Lemonade*
-Rose Lime Ginger Ale
That last one is the first I've ever tried making with a ginger bug, which I learned about at an herbal soda class at the local botanical garden,** instead of champagne yeast. It's still fermenting on the counter, so we'll see if it's strong enough to fizz up.
That may be complicated by the fact that the test bottle I'm using might be defective. If I make a gallon of soda, I use ten glass bottles and one plastic water bottle as a tester for pressure. When the plastic bottle is rock hard, I know it's time to put the soda in the fridge. Only when I made the spruce beer it took like a week and the bottle never hardened. So I decided to dump the batch--and when I opened the first glass bottle, FOOM! It bushed. So the Fiji bottle wasn't working. And I think I may have mixed that defective bottle in with the others, so ... well, we'll find out.
And yes, I put the rest of the overpressurized spruce beer in the fridge. I AM LIVING DANGEROUSLY, Y'ALL.
*A recipe from one of my books that sounds like it was invented by Dr. Insano: it contains lemon zest, lemon juice, cloves, nutmeg, sage, chili flakes, and for some reason browning sauce. It sounds awful but by god it's one of my favorites.
**Herbalism is frustrating for me because it's really hard to separate the science from the nonsense. Herbs do have effects on the body, but a lot of bullshit has accumulated as well. I like lore, but I also like to know which parts of lore are true and which are not.
-Hibiscus Basil Lemonade
-Spruce Beer (from extract)
-Black Lemonade*
-Rose Lime Ginger Ale
That last one is the first I've ever tried making with a ginger bug, which I learned about at an herbal soda class at the local botanical garden,** instead of champagne yeast. It's still fermenting on the counter, so we'll see if it's strong enough to fizz up.
That may be complicated by the fact that the test bottle I'm using might be defective. If I make a gallon of soda, I use ten glass bottles and one plastic water bottle as a tester for pressure. When the plastic bottle is rock hard, I know it's time to put the soda in the fridge. Only when I made the spruce beer it took like a week and the bottle never hardened. So I decided to dump the batch--and when I opened the first glass bottle, FOOM! It bushed. So the Fiji bottle wasn't working. And I think I may have mixed that defective bottle in with the others, so ... well, we'll find out.
And yes, I put the rest of the overpressurized spruce beer in the fridge. I AM LIVING DANGEROUSLY, Y'ALL.
*A recipe from one of my books that sounds like it was invented by Dr. Insano: it contains lemon zest, lemon juice, cloves, nutmeg, sage, chili flakes, and for some reason browning sauce. It sounds awful but by god it's one of my favorites.
**Herbalism is frustrating for me because it's really hard to separate the science from the nonsense. Herbs do have effects on the body, but a lot of bullshit has accumulated as well. I like lore, but I also like to know which parts of lore are true and which are not.
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no subject
Date: 2015-06-25 10:10 am (UTC)I do want to have fewer harmful chemicals in my house. The problem is figuring out which ones are actually harmful and which ones people have demonized for no good reason!
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From:no subject
Date: 2015-06-25 01:49 pm (UTC)I don't have the nous to make my own soda, so I'm just trying all the fun sodas I find in stores. And for some reason the shops in Vällingby (where I live) has more fun flavours than any store I visited when I was in Florida. :P Right now I'm drinking this fancy French grapefruit lemonade. Nom!
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