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fermented fizzy lemonade soda

How To Make Sparkling Lemonade From Scratch

5 from 2 votes
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Prep Time 10 minutes
2 days
Total Time 2 days 10 minutes
Course Drinks
Servings 1 pint

Equipment

  • funnel - Must have for narrow bottle necks
  • Fermentation bottles - Grolsch type bottles, canning jars or tight sealing random bottles that are made for pressure.
  • strainer

Ingredients
  

  • 2 tbsp Soda Starter - Choose from water kefir, whey, ginger bug, or dandelion bug.
  • 2 tbsp Organic sweetener (more if you like it sweeter) – You can use Evaporated cane juice, panela sugar, sucanat, or similar cane sugar products. Coconut sugar, Honey or maple syrup would work as well. Table sugar works too, but is not as healthy. A note of caution about honey: young children under 1 year old should not be given honey.
  • 2 tbsp Fresh squeezed lemon juice – Fresh lemon juice is much better than bottled, but I keep a bottle of organic lemon juice on hand for the times when I can’t get fresh organic lemons easily.
  • Filtered water - Enough to top off the bottle. Chlorine in the water can hurt your microbes and you too. It's best to filter the water if you use tap water or let it stand in an open container for 24 hours so the chlorine can evaporate. You could also use bottled water, and well water is fine straight up if it's potable.

Instructions
 

  • Place your funnel into the bottle opening.
  • Add the sugar to the bottle
  • Place the strainer into the funnel
  • Pour the lemon juice through the strainer unless you want the pulp in the bottle too. In that case, skip the strainer and just pick out the seeds (you can plant them, that's what I did!).
  • If you are using water kefir, pour enough to fill the bottle to within 1-2 inches of the top. You can also use less water kefir and add a little water if you don't have enough to fill the whole bottle.
  • In case you are using whey, you can either measure out 2-4 tablespoons of whey starter or use only whey and fill the bottle to within 1-2 inches from the top
  • If you are using any other culture, measure out 2 tablespoons, pour it into the bottle and fill with filtered water to within 1-2 inches from the top.
  • Cap tightly and place in a warm spot, out of direct sunlight, to ferment.
  • Depending on your room temperature and the strength of your starter, it might be done in 24 hours. Most of mine take 48 hours to three days at 70-80℉ room temperature.
  • Release the pressure once or twice a day to keep the bottle from getting over-pressured. This can also help you determine if it’s a good time to refrigerate it. 
  • Once I get a good fizz coming from the bottle when I open it, I leave it for another 12 to 24 hours and then refrigerate it. I like most of my sugars to be eaten by the bacteria, as I don't like super sweet sodas.
  • When you release the pressure, do so very carefully. If you have a lot of pressure in the bottle, you might get a volcano reaction from the contents as they will shoot out of the bottle. So it's a good idea to check over the sink or outside just in case, and be prepared to recap quickly if it starts to do that so you don't lose all your content. Place it into the fridge before you try to open it again to make sure it's cooled way down. That helps tame it a little.
  • Once in the refrigerator, your soda will keep tasty for several weeks. It might get a little less sweet over time as the bacteria are still feeding, although not nearly as much as when it's warm.

Notes

Cautions: 

Making soda is super easy and rewarding. Just be aware of the rare possibility that your bottle might rupture from the pressure. There are two reasons for this. 
One, the bottle might not have been designed for pressure. So be sure to use a bottle that is meant for this like the grolsch bottles that are sold for brewing beer. When you reuse bottles, use ones that had fermented soda such as kombucha in them before. I reuse my old Kevita bottles for this and they seem to hold up very nicely. 
Another reason for over pressure can be that your ferment is super active or you forget to release the pressure. So don't forget to open it once a day for a moment as long as it's out on the counter. Some people stick their bottles into a box while they are fermenting, so in case one of the bottles explodes, the glass won't scatter everywhere. 

Enjoy your awesome homemade Sparkling Lemonade!

You'll be so happy to have this lemonade in the fridge for the next time you or your kids are thirsty on a hot day. It's super refreshing and you can feel good about serving it. While it does contain some sugar, much of what you put in it gets eaten up by the bacteria and turned into lactic acid. So your sugar content is pretty low and the benefits are really high. A great alternative to grocery sodas wouldn't you agree?
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