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It is easy to make soda by adding sugar and yeast to a bottle of water and closing it tightly. However, checking different recipes, I did not get what is the best condition for this. I have a couple of tiny questions to find the optimum treatment.

I added 1/2 tsp instant yeast (baking yeast) and 1 tsp sugar to 2 l of water.

  1. Should the bottle left untouched, or it is useful to shake it occasionally?
  2. To keep it warm, is it good to put it in sunshine, or a dark place is better for it?
  3. Leaving air in the bottle or filling it completely?
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  • I would be surprised if you could make anything that tastes decent this way, without any flavorings. Also, the absence of nutrients for the yeast might be a problem if you're just using sugar and water.
    – user5561
    Jul 31, 2013 at 4:12
  • @user5561 I agree with you, the taste i not decent in my experience.
    – Googlebot
    Jul 31, 2013 at 8:19

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I agree with @SAJ14SAJ. What I would add is that

  • yeast does not require sunlight in any way ... but as UV light can be harmful to microorganisms and might inhibit yeast growth I wouldn't brew it in direct sun.

  • for bottling beer it is normally suggested to leave the correct amount (1 - 1 ½ inch) of headspace (air) at the top of the bottle for carbonation and proper pressure. But I am not sure if the same conditions apply for soda - I would think it is not too different.

  • shaking gently occasionally might help to evenly distribute the yeast in the sugar solution, and expose it to more food resources (sugar).

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There are many resources on the web for home brewing soda, which you may wish to google.

Of your specific questions, the only one I was able to find a clear answer to is that the fermentation temperature should be on the order of 70-80 F / 21 - 27 C, per Home Brewing.Org.

There is no mention in any of the articles I have seen of turning or shaking the bottles. Similarly, none of the ones I surveyed mentioned fill depth; common sense would indicate filling to within an inch or so (2 cm) of the shoulder of the bottle, as is typical.

For safety, do not do this with glass bottles. There is a risk of explosion, broken glass, and of course, sticky mess.

Note: The Stack Exchange Home Brewing site has a Soda tag. They may be a better fit for questions like this.

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  • Actually, I explored several recipes, but no mention to the points I raised. Since this is a long process (a few days), I am curious about the right way to conduct the process, because it can have a significant effect on dissolving of the CO2 produced in water.. And thanks for the safety issues, it is of utmost importance. I am using a plastic bottle.
    – Googlebot
    Jul 29, 2013 at 13:40
  • I suggest asking over at the Home Brewing site. They may have better insight.
    – SAJ14SAJ
    Jul 29, 2013 at 13:44
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    Note that in terms of dissolving CO2 in water, the relevant factors are pressure and temperature (and to a lesser extent, time). Shaking would not effect this very much. Contrary to experience dissolving solids in water, most gasses including CO2 actually dissolve in water better as the temperature decreases.
    – SAJ14SAJ
    Jul 29, 2013 at 13:49

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