Ooooh just what I requested Shazam I'm going to make this, they have a pineapple strawberry mountain dew they just came out with that is AMAZING, they also have a bomb pop flavored mountain dew that's yummy as well but they are alot of sugar
geez im desperate for a full sugar cola? cos of feb 2024 soda sugar tax in uk? And i cannot stand the aftertaste now of sugar free? but wow to many ingredients to make your own?
cool channel i just found thank you ! Some could tell plz for what to use caffeine ? what does it give? and ) how to understand like oil that you use is safe for food or may be all the oil is safe ?
I'm going to try this tomorrow as a base. I've been experimenting with your syrups for about a month now and I"m really happy with the results. I got a bunch of the oils I see you using, lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, neroli, and created a nice blend in everclear. I like how you separated the lime and lemon in this though, I'm going to get a set of bottles and mix them separately so I can tweak my recipe better. Mountain dew is actually what I've been trying to crack since I started, and I didn't at all think it would be this simple. I'm skeptical, not going to lie, and no matter what I'll end up tweaking it for my own taste, but I'm glad you did this video. However it turns out, I honest to god can't believe how superior these syrups are compared to the shelf versions. I mean, I've just abandoned trying to mimic store bought soda altogether and just am going crazy with juices and essences, and the results are more than I could have ever hoped for. I bought a masticating juicer and have just been tossing in whole fruits with whole limes and lemons instead of using water, and the flavor is incredible. Juicing the citrus with the peels on gives it the tonic water taste without having to soak peels or buy tonic. I'm a big diet drinker so I usually follow your recipe but cut the sugar down to 1/4 cup and make the rest up with sucralose powder to taste, and the small amount of sugar really masks the sucralose flavor. For this recipe I'll use fresh orange juice instead of concentrate and water, and maybe even less sugar depending on how sweet the juice comes out. What's your favorite essence? I think Neroli is really nice but kinda overpowering at times.
I have made this streamers syrups before and have replaced sugar with sucralose and they come out great. I recommend using SOME sugar though, maybe just 1/4 cup, and the rest splenda or sucralose powder. For sucralose powder, start with small amounts, you can add more if needed, like 1/4 of a teaspoon of sucralose powder for what he's making in the video, and 1/4 cup sugar. You can actually make yourself sick if you put a whole teaspoon of sucralose powder in there, I made that mistake when I started out. If you're using granulated splenda in the big bag, it's 1:1 with sugar. Do try it with just a little sugar though, even just a tablespoon, it takes away the artificial taste.
A friend of mine came over a few years ago and made orange juice from those little frozen concentrated orange juice tubes and I felt like I had time traveled. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw one of those and thought they were just an 80s 90s thing. I was legitimately blown away and my friend looked at me like I was crazy and told me how these were everywhere. Sure enough I went to the grocery store and I saw them in the frozen fruit section. I get frozen strawberries from time to time and I swear to god I have never seen them there till that day. Now I see them every time I go in frozen fruit. It’s like quantum orange concentrate. It only existed once I observed it willed it into existence and it still weirds me out. I bet you that you will find it now that you know they do still exist. I found this at Walmart in the frozen fruit section on the bottom shelves.
@@VintageAmericanCocktails OK - I had recently noticed their absence but I was looking in the orange juice area near the dairy section. Now I know where to look. I just assumed they were no longer available. Your vids make me want to make my own sodas w/o to modern chemicals. Thanks.
@@Spearhead-lz1oq thank you! I’m glad you feel that way. They taste noticeably better than store bought sodas but there are a few items to buy upfront. The oils can cost a bit upfront but they last for forever.
Yeah it’s just sprite with concentrated orange juice. The flavor is identical to Mountain Dew but it doesn’t taste like it’s made with corn syrup or has sat in a plastic bottle for months
I tried making this cherry syrup recipe twice and I can’t get it to thin down like this. It’s too thick and won’t mix. It might be because the tart cherry concentrate I used has some sugar in it, not a whole lot, but I think next time I’ll cut back on the sugar. Edit: I thinned it down a little bit with some water while it was still warm. It seemed to help. I don’t think it’s gonna affect the flavor too much, still has a strong cherry flavor.
Yeah the cherry juice I used was not concentrated if you’re using a concentrate like grape juice or orange concentrate I would dilute it to try and get a 1:1 of concentrate to sugar water ratio. So if it’s 12 oz of concentrate then add 5 oz of water and 1 cup of sugar. Also weighing everything helps, I provide volume measurements and they should be accurate but measuring by weight is the only real way to be exact. I’m so glad you are making this! Cherry Vanilla Coke is the most complicated soda recipe I have ever made but it is good. Nice thing is the cherry syrup can be used for anything. Good luck!
I love watching your videos, they are so calming and informative! 😌 I was wondering if you could make a video on the soda called Big Red. It is a very popular soda in Texas!
Yeah that was a fun one to learn about. I found in an agricultural periodical from 1918 an article about how this new method of concentrating and evaporating foods at room temperature was making new food possible. By putting an item in a vacuumed chamber and lowing the atmospheric pressure they could get water to boil at ambient temperatures. The article mentioned how new food coming out of this were grape syrup, condensed milk, instant powdered foods and drinks, and that Heinz started using it to improve the taste of their ketchup.
out of curiosity, why not make a simple syrup as opposed to just adding hot water? I understand that this is the recipe you're following, but have you ever tried cooking it down to improve the flavor and texture? Most people I know make the syrup, I'm wondering if there are any advantages to not reducing it like you do. Cheers.
Good Question. I don't continue cooking the syrup because I want it to be a specific 3:2 ratio. I can see cooking it to caramelize the sugars, but there is so much else going on in this syrup that it doesn't matter. the 3 primary simple syrup ratios I can think of are 1:1, 3:2, and 2:1. the 3:2 is the syrup ratio that most pharmacists preferred by the late 1800s and using the scale to weigh it out gets me to that exact ratio. It's also the ratio still used by Coke. A 3:2 will get you 40g of sugar in a 12oz soda and the label on a 12oz mexican coke has 39g of sugar. so it's close enough. If I cooked it any longer I would get some nice flavors but I would lose the sugar concentration. 1:1 is fine. the sugar won't precipitate out but it spoils faster and you need to use more of it. the 2:1 is nice and strong, it won't freeze solid but sugar crystals will come out of the solution at room temperature, but it does last much longer and you don't need to use too much of it. Pharmacists eventually settled on a 3:2 ratio because it had the benefits of both without the downsides of either. The sugar won't crystalize out, even when refrigerated, it lasts almost as long as a 2:1, and it will not solidify at freezing temperatures. I know this is a long-winded explanation for why I did 600g sugar and 400g water, but that's why lol.
@@VintageAmericanCocktails This is what I wanted to know actually, I like the idea of just stirring it in simply because it's faster and easier, and I have a ton of gum powder for thickening anyways. I'm presently experimenting with a mountain dew base that is 1:3 sugar to sucralose for my sodas and am following the oil/everclear method you show in your video. Not trying to crack the recipe exactly, but mostly just trying to find my own thing using those flavors. If you haven't discovered it yet, there's a product called Kaffn8 that is pure liquid caffeine and it's mostly flavorless other than a tiny bit of bitterness. I got it in last week and it's waaaay stronger than it says it is. Maybe my body just needs to adjust to it, but I'm using 1/8th of the recommended amount in a 20 oz Mt. Dew and getting totally zooted out lol. It's good stuff.
Yeah it was the easiest soda syrup I’ve made. I found a cool industrial agriculture article from 1918 talking about how amazing vacuum chamber evaporation is. It talked about how they have never been able to make a good preserved grape juice but using hersheys technique they can make good long lasting concentrates. The article ended with saying how the process is being used to concentrate all sorts of stuff like orange juice, instant coffee, evaporated milk, and it how Heinz started using the technique to improve their ketchup recipe.
Hopefully it’s insane in a good way lol. Yeah just approach it like cheese making by adding those two cheap ingredients and you can make gallons of this stuff fast.
Good question and no, not necessarily. Cream would mean like “cream of the crop” or be an actual cream syrup made from heavy cream. There is no single definition or flavor profile for cream. In this case it means it is a more complex flavorful drink than just regular vanilla on its own. In many cream sodas, like orange cream or strawberry and cream, the cream part was just the vanilla. Some vanilla creams would have cinnamon or clove too, but I just went with nutmeg and lemon since they are also some of the flavors used to add extra flavor to vanilla cream sodas and I thought they sounded good.
@@VintageAmericanCocktails Love the recipes! Ordered a lot of stuff online to try making my own sarsaparilla & root beer. Also love your attention to the recipes’ details and historical background
Hey there , Here is my Honest feedback: I must appreciate the great content on your channel, it's different and interesting to watch and learn , videos and also clean and crisp. However it would be great if you invest on Good B Role background music instead of the Current music, I assure you it will make your videos more impactful !
Thank you! Music has always been my biggest struggle. In my head I image some studio ghibli-esk music but never find it. And copyright strikes hit you SO fast for using music. Even if you think it’s in the public domain. And licensing is a pain too, because the license is valid only as long as you continue to keep paying for it monthly. I agree with you and it’s definitely the area I feel the videos are the weakest. I’m just going to have to spend a few days and try and work something better out. I need to befriend a pianist lol.
Exactly like coke. It’s crazy that such a small diluted amount of oil can carry so much flavor but it does. Unfortunately now I have a ton of coke flavoring I don’t know what to do with. Sometimes I’ll add 2 or 3 drops to soda water to make a flavored soda water. Thank you! Glad you liked it.
I thought that too before I started making homemade soda syrups but it’s amazingly full flavor. I’ve read a bunch of old soda books from the 1800s and everyone had their own methods and style. There are many similarities but also many differences. The method I’ve settled on and prefer is the one John Pemberton used of making 5% flavoring solutions and adding 1.5 ml per kg of syrup. That has resulted in the most consistently and pleasant tasting sodas to me. I believe it’s based on some pharmaceuticals practices during the 1800s but it makes great sodas. But to and your question this has the same level of flavor as a soda you would get from a bottle, but fresher.
I love your soda videos. I bought a 5lb Co2 tank months ago and have been making my own sodas on a daily basis. I'm not trying to crack the codes of any popular brands, but I really enjoy learning how you mix and dilute the oils and make the syrups. I bought 2 gallons of generic mountain dew syrup when I got my tank, and just this week I'll be using the last of it. I use it primarily for a base and sugar/caffeine source, but I add several other flavorings on top of it when I mix a soda. I drink a 1:4 sugar - sucralose drink as I am careful with my sugar content but don't like the taste of pure splenda drinks. Some of the Mio syrups are pretty good so I just usually buy those and mix them depending on the mood. I recently discovered a brand called Skinny Syrups, which are mostly meant for cocktails and are sucralose based but are great in soda. I also always have fresh lemons and limes for acidity and flavor. Panax Ginseng extract adds a nice kick of energy, if you've never used it I would definitely try it. I've heard american ginseng has the opposite effect and is more calming, but have yet to buy some. Would be nice for an end of night drink though. After watching your videos I'm definitely going in a whole new direction. A few questions first...where do you get everclear? I was going to make some thc tincture years ago and went to like four state stores and nobody had it, I ended up using vodka and wasn't happy with the results. Also, can you recommend any places online to buy oils and extracts? What's the brass measuring thing you use? I'm probably going to start small with my oil/essence collection...so if you were a citrusy mountain dew person, and had to choose 3 of your favorites, which would you choose? Also any other advice would be welcome! Cheers
Thats awesome! I just need to get a large co2 tank to make my own soda water. I go through enough of it now and my go-to drink at night is a highball. I got the stuff to make Mountain Dew and plan on making a video of that next. So it depends on where you live and the liquor laws for each state. some states don't allow 95% ABV alcohol to be sold at all. I found this link for states where Everclear is legal. culinarysolvent.com/blogs/ethanol101/where-is-everclear-illegal I'm surprised to see Nevada on this list because I live in Nevada and can get it here. seems there are also some loopholes to selling it for non-beverage purposes, but sounds like you really put the effort in already with no luck. See if there is a way to get in your state for non beverage purposes? yeah unfortunately 40% vodka is no able to dissolve anywhere near the same amount of oil as 95%. 95% ABV can dissolve around 5% oil but 40% ABV can only hold around 0.5% oil and 75% ABV can hold around 3% oil. For the ratios to work it needs to be 95% and if you can only get 75% then increase the flavoring by 1.5x. 40% ABV would require like 2 tsp. The little gold measuring cup is called a jigger. they make a few different types but the main ones are american, japanese and bell. the one i use is a bell, japanese style ones are really good, and the american style jiggers stink. the purpose of them is to measure out oz. mine is a 1 and 2 oz but 1.5 and 0.5 is popular one. also 1.5 and 2 is common. cocktails are measured out in oz so its the main measuring tool for mixing cocktails. like i said i will make a mountain dew video soon but mountain dew is sprite flavor with caffeine and frozen concentrated orange juice. As far as the oils go here is a copy pasted response i gave to someone on my website when they asked who to buy from. "Ah, a very good and simple question with a not very clear or simple answer. The problem is there is no one perfect supplier. There are many good essential oil suppliers but there are some crumby ones, and there are some cheap ones and some expensive ones. Fortunately, if an oil says it’s steam distilled or cold pressed and undiluted, then it probably is and I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Most oils are not too expensive so a bottle of cold-pressed lemon oil for 15-25 bucks is fine and most likely very high quality. Some though are very expensive. A 10 ml bottle of neroli or rose will never be less than 100 - 150 dollars. If you find a bottle of Neroli for less than that, it is for sure cut with other oils, but it will most likely say it is cut with other oils. In addition, there is no regulatory body overseeing essential oils. There are groups, such as the Essential Oil University, that will perform GCMS testing on oils and certify an oil’s level of purity, but submitting to groups like this is voluntary. The 2 main things to look for when buying oils are: 1). Only use cold press or steam-distilled oils. 2). Only use 100% pure oils. Never use oils cut with other oils. If you want to cover yourself find manufacturers that provide their GCMS oil test results. companies like Eden’s Garden and others do this, but those oils tend to come at a premium. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Lime or lemon oil for 15- 20 bucks is reasonable, but rose oil for 15-20 bucks? Impossible. You can find these oils online and 10-30 ml of pure essential oil will last you a long, long time. 10ml of an oil can fully flavor almost 2000 drinks. That’s over 5 years if you make 1 soda a day. Just to put the cost into perspective. By making your own syrups and sodas think of all the preservatives you are avoiding, but if buying oil stuff is a bit worrisome you can also make a homemade extract with the actual spices and peels. The essence recipes are 5% solutions but a standard extract will be 0.5%. just 10x each flavor for an extract replacing an essence. Instead of 0.5ml, use 5ml. just soak some nutmeg or lemon peels in vodka, add a teaspoon of each infusion, and call it a day. I hope this helps. Again it’s not a simple question to answer."
People are seeing you pour two 1oz jiggers of 95% alcohol and thinking "wow I can't drive if I drink this homemade Sprite, Coke, or Pepsi" Not figuring the delusion of less than 1ml each of alcohol essence to over 400ml of syrup, then only 40ml (10%) of that syrup to 300ml of soda water There's probably more alcohol when I add pure vanilla extract into my store bought coke?
Exactly! I get that comment quite often. “What!? And it’s alcoholic too?” Each drink is only 0.05% ABV and anything under 0.1 is considered nonalcoholic. Store bought juice has more alcohol from natural fermentation. Thanks for seeing that. I imagine it’s for religious reasons sometimes, but even the big manufacturers use it. They just don’t have to list it because it can be hidden in the natural flavors label.
Cocaine (and opium) solutions used to be sold over-the-counter. Sigmund Freud used cocaine to hook his clients to make sure they came back for another creep session.