Looking to clone Not Your Father's Root Beer (Small Town Brewery)

Here is my take on cloning this recipe from the email you got.

I can tell you we use all natural ingredients and never an extract… That’s what makes it so good… J

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To clone it you'll need to gather standard root beer ingredients and attempt to match the flavor in that mix. I'd start with making small root beer batches until you get the taste right. If you have a carb cap and a co2 tank you should be able to test a few small batches in a day. I would add this at the end of fermentation, after killing off the yeast. I wouldn't trust my root beer flavor to stay true through fermentation.

Plus I get my Honey from Switzerland…

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I would think that if they go to the trouble to use honey, they would use it where it could be noticed. So as the main component of the root beer, which I would add after fermentation. I would probably make a gallon of a traditional rootbeer, and then add enough additional sugar (some as honey, maybe all?) for a five gallon batch of rootbeer. That should hopefully make it sweet enough to get the level you want in the final beer-root-beer. Again I would experiment at small volumes before proceeding to full size.

The Barley comes from the USA… As well as the hops…

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Relatively useless, but at the least you know which varieties to avoid.


Seems like you would want to brew a dark beer that matched the color, mouthfeel and ABV you want, kill the yeast, and then back sweeten with enough extra sweet rootbeer to achieve the sugar level, and flavor you want.

Sounds like a fun challenge to clone. Good luck!

antiteam said:

Oh man am I ever jealous! Where did you buy it at?

I'm in Chicago this week for work. I may have to go track some of this stuff down...

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Picked it up at DiCarlos in Mundelein. Binnys doesnt carry it anymore for some reason. Had to pay a full $100 deposit on the keg. Apparently lots of out of towners were getting kegs, shipping them home full to enjoy, then never returning the kegs so they had to up the deposit on the keg.

Anyone had success in making this? I have someone who would like to help me brew it (HA!) and need to come up with a Partial Grain Recipe.

We sell Small Town Root beer kegs @WOB Naperville. I can get the 10% and the 19.5% Rootbeer, their Apple Cider and they make a decent chocolate porter occasionally. Pretty good pumpkin beer too.....

WOB Naperville
630-955-0399
Ask for Dale of Dakota for pricing and availability

dalelewis1 said:

We sell Small Town Root beer kegs @WOB Naperville. I can get the 10% and the 19.5% Rootbeer, their Apple Cider and they make a decent chocolate porter occasionally. Pretty good pumpkin beer too.....

WOB Naperville
630-955-0399
Ask for Dale of Dakota for pricing and availability

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Sounds great but unless your willing to ship (not sure if you are even allowed too) some of us are still out of luck.

Sorry for the delay. This was my first all grain brew and it came out quite biter. So far my other brews have came out successfully and I am learning what I did wrong. I will retry this recipe however i will make it in 1 gallon batches until I feel i have a "handle on it." I will update everyone if something changes.

--Zim

Former Beer Buyer for TBM Bolingbrook here. One of my regular customers got a chance to talk to Tim at a festival. Tim said that the recipe was 6-row and caramel malt along with the regular root beer spices in the boil. 3rd hand advice here so take it how you will.

Small Town just started bottling the "Not Your Father's Root Beer". Hard to find though. I have only been able to pick up two bottles so far.

The Binny's in Plainfield has tons of it if you are still looking. I would say probably 4 or 5 boxes full. I just saw it there two days ago while getting my Surly Darkness.

Has anyone found bottles? Anyone willing to maybe do a beer trade? Can I get anything here you would like?

antiteam said:

I had this beer at a multitap outside of Chicago. It's pretty impressive. The reviews are spot on - it tastes exactly like root beer, very sweet, no alcohol taste or burn. Look and smell are just like root beer as well.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24798/86622

I'm trying to figure out a clone. It's a small brewery, so not having a lot of luck finding anyone that has tried already.

Here's what I'm thinking may go into this:

1. Pretty basic grain bill to produce a 10% beer. Low bitterness is key.
2. Use one of those root beer flavorings sold by brewing stores for making your own pop. Add before fermentation.
3. Either backsweeten with aspertame (guessing this is how the brewery does it, based on the taste) or filter and backstreet with sugar

I'm planning on reaching out to the brewer to see if he can provide any feedback or direction. Haven't had time lately, as I'm in the middle of a move to Kansas City. In the meantime, would love thoughts from anyone that has tried something similar. Thanks!

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Moving to KC from the Windy City? My thoughts are don't do it!

Raising this post from the dead....

Recently had this amazing beer and will be making several 1 gallon attempts to get a decent, high ABV root beer with carbonation. My question is on the methods to achieving the three balancing factors (apart from the fourth: flavor) of ABV, sweetness, and carbonation. I see the potential for two radically different recipes to achieve the sweetness and was wondering what everyone thought would be best.

I feel like carbonation is a non-issue if kegging. But I read somewhere (this thread?) that it's wise to dedicate a tap to root beer alone due to associated residual spices and flavor that remain in the line despite cleaning. Is there any truth to that? I'd think there would be no need to alter a recipe for sweetness if this was the case and would eliminate the variables of yeast attenuation in a high alcohol environment and serve better control over the level of carbonation.

I would think if you that bottle condition you could approach the recipe in two significantly different ways.

1. Manipulate the recipe for residual sugars (high mash ~158, add significant lacotose) to get a high O.G. ~1.090 and a high/sweet final F.G. 1.030. Ex. OG of 1.110 to FG of 1.030 gives 10.5% Adding simple sugar to bottling may carbonate unless the yeast is stressed by which you could add more yeast at bottling. My initial thought when I had NYFRB, was that this was a low mash but I've made some failed RISs that were fairly sweet while lacking a thick body/mouthfeel.

2. Create a recipe, prime as usual and halt the secondary fermentation in bottling. I know a lot of root beer recipes that call for this and I think this leaves more variability in the carbonation process not mention the potential for bombs. Perhaps crack them open every 3-4 days to test carbonation and fridge once the level is close to liking.

I know backsweetening with an artifical sweetner is an option and has been mentioned before but I am not a fan of the taste and prefer to have something a little more natural.

What does everyone think would be a better way of carbonating while keeping the sweetness that's left in the beer? If I come across something even remotely worthwhile I'll post. Until then I'll be looking for suggestions/recipes/techniques.

So after making an attempt at a high gravity root beer, I've found a bit of success and an unfortunate answer to the carbonation issue.

Made a personal recipe that turned out decent and well balanced with the spices. Starting OG of 1.124 and FG of 1.038. Wanted that to be sweet enough to mask some of the EtOH. It was not. I added an additional 1 cup per gallon and it turned out very, very good, IMO. Did not take an FG after adding the sugar. It was added to taste, not any specifications.

I don't see any way around carbonating this to the sweetness of NYFRB without force carbonation and back sweetening. I'm VERY happy with the way mine turned out but still need to carbonate via the carbonator (cap attachment). Bottled a 1 gallon batch into 6 20oz bottles that are currently in the fridge. May give another impression after its carbed.

How did this work out? I am trying to reproduce it as well.

Kidagora have a recipe to share?

Regarding tap lines, just buy another piece of tubing, it's not that expensive and it's good to replace them periodically anyway.

I'll post a detailed recipe within the week. There are some adjustments I will do in the future. Second batch was not as impressive but I strayed quite a bit in experimentation.


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Here's the initial recipe I came up with that produced decent results. Had issues with conversion and attenuation that resulted in too much backsweetening...BUT...still gave a wonderful root beer flavor. The body/FG was just too big r/t added sugar. Better attenuation and altered grist % could contribute to a FG closer to ~1.008 which I think would be ideal for sweetening, body, and flavor. BTW, this is a 1 gallon batch. I use small batches for experimentation. Upscale accordingly.

Grain
---------
2-Row @ 3lb 6oz
Caramalt 120 @ 4oz
Flaked Oats @ 4oz
Roasted Barley 1oz
Lactose @ 4oz
Molasses @ 2oz

Yeast
--------
SafAle 04

Hops
-----------------
Mount Hood 0.1oz @ 60min for ~6IBU
Mount Hood 0.1oz @ 15min for ~3.5IBU

Spices Added @ 10 min
-----------------------------
Ground Star Anise 1/2tsp
Ground Ginger 1/4tsp
Ground Cinnamon 1/4tsp
Juniper Berries 1/8tsp
Peppercorn 1/8 tsp
Ground Sassafras (Gumbo File) 1/2 tsp
Wintergreen Leaf 1oz

Extract Added After Primary Fermentation
------------------------------------------------
Wintergreen 0.5ml
Vanilla 0.5ml


Would recommend eliminating lactose and the flaked oats to reduce body. Could go down on the Caramalt # too for sweetness. Maybe 40-60. I think the key to the NYFRB is FG and spices. Molasses added a wonderful backbone to the balance of the spices. Wintergreen was difficult to obtain and a known major factor in the flavor. While I was really impressed with the spice combo I had, the residual sweetness after fermentation was due to my thinking I could "pre-sweeten" prior to fermenting and that high FG would mask the EtOH. That was not the case. So I added more sugar until the EtOH was masked and it just came out too full bodied and sweet. Artifically carbonated and was ok with the result. Will be trying with some adjustments in the future.

OG 1.112
FG 1.038 (prior to added sugar)
ABV 10%

Very interested in this myself. How long did you age before tasting?

This was a 1 gallon batch aged a total of 2 1/2 weeks. After krausen dropped (around 9 days) the extract was added and left for the remaining 8 days. Initial flavor prior to sweetening was moderate EtOH heat with a solid spice compliment. Additional sweetening completely masked it BUT 1 cup of table sugar for the gallon was added and it ended a little cloying.

Could it have benefited from a longer fermentation? Perhaps. But I'm not aware of SafAle 04 doing so well >10%. I saw a slow down in activity and had two consecutive days of static OG and was eager to try it.

I'm pretty sure if my conversion was better (OG of 1.~084), no lactose, and no cara 120 the extra cup of sugar would be less with regards to body/sweetness. I look forward to everyone working on better recipes and improvements. I'd love to get this thing cloned. It's quite popular.

Raising this post... this is now bottled so maybe more people have tried it now!

This is not the same beer...What is being bottled in 12oz and sold as NYFRB is a 5.9% root beer, and the original was 10.7% in bombers or kegs. This version tastes like root beer flavored cough syrup. The original was creamy, sweet, had great flavors, and you could barely tell there was alcohol in it.

What is being sold in 12oz bottles is contract brewed, and from rumors I heard Sprecher was brewing it for them. I have never heard official word on if Sprecher was actually the contract brewer, but I have heard that from a number of people.

I loved the original and could drink it all day, and now I have been fighting to finish the two 6 packs I bought in November.

sub

Haven't touched this in awhile but think it could benefit from a little chocolate malt for that cola taste and color. Think the right combo of caramalt with chocolate would make a difference. May pick up grains for a new batch this week.

formula2fast said:

This is not the same beer...What is being bottled in 12oz and sold as NYFRB is a 5.9% root beer, and the original was 10.7% in bombers or kegs. This version tastes like root beer flavored cough syrup. The original was creamy, sweet, had great flavors, and you could barely tell there was alcohol in it.

What is being sold in 12oz bottles is contract brewed, and from rumors I heard Sprecher was brewing it for them. I have never heard official word on if Sprecher was actually the contract brewer, but I have heard that from a number of people.

I loved the original and could drink it all day, and now I have been fighting to finish the two 6 packs I bought in November.

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Yep. Tastes like root beer cough syrup from a bottle. Late April, early May, the 10.7% bombers and 19.1% bombers come out again. Keep your eyes open. They go fast...

You can also search around to see what bars have it on tap. There's the 10.7% and a whopping 18.something% version (only in keg). I don't remember, but I think you can search on their website to see where it's served and what type.

Good luck!

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1429745627.079800.jpg picked up a four pack of this since I can't get nyfrb here in the middle of Iowa. It's not bad but I can see where it seems overly sweet almost syrupy. I wouldn't drink more than one of these a night. And this is only 5% label says malt beverage artificial flavors caramel color and age in bourbon barrels fwiw.

Had one recently as well. The 5.9% is pretty sweet and does come across artificial.

I am revising another simplified one gallon recipe cooking now and am expecting ~7%. Will post with updates.

Is there any chance some of the alcohol in the original 19% version came from the vanilla extract? Or would it have only come from a high gravity mash?

I live close by to small town and the scuttlebut is that they ran into some trouble with the fed becuase this was more of a fortifed root beer then a "beer" beer. Forbidden Root in chicago makes a root beer beer that is much close to an actual beer.

burnsie8791 said:

I live close by to small town and the scuttlebut is that they ran into some trouble with the fed becuase this was more of a fortifed root beer then a "beer" beer.

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Is this the reason why there seems to be a delay in the bombers being distributed? The six packs are friggin' everywhere... but they suck! Lol!

I've been anticipating the bombers coming out for weeks now, but there's no info from the local distributor as to what is happening...

I think they paid a bunch of additional taxes to settle. Bombers are hard to get i assume becuase the 6 ers are in high demand and most of the prodution time is taken making that stuff. It's a pretty small place. It's a boozy pop in my opinion. more then 5 oz and i end up with a case of the beetus

Sorry, I'm an idiot...what do you mean by EtOH? I'm looking to do this for Halloween, any updates or recommendations?

espyusmc said:

Sorry, I'm an idiot...what do you mean by EtOH? I'm looking to do this for Halloween, any updates or recommendations?

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Comment above directed at Kidagora. Thanks.

EtOH is shorthand for ethanol, which is the alcohol you are drinking in beer.

All,

I've looked at all the posts and I'm going to attempt this as soon as I get the ingredients. Wanted to get your thoughts on the following recipe. I used Kidagora's recipe as a starting point and incorporated his lessons learned to attempt to improve on the recipe.

1 Gallon batch(7.0% ABV):
----------------
2.5lbs - 2 Row (80%)
2.5 oz - Caramel 60 (5%)
2.5 oz - Caramel 75 (5%)
1.5 oz - Flaked Oats (3.2%)
.8 oz - Chocolate Malt (1.5%)
.8 oz - Special B Malt (1.5%)
1.5 oz - Molasses (3.2%)

Yeast Fermentis US-05

I'm keeping the bitterness ratio the same as Kidagora's recipe and I'm keeping the spice additions and extract additions the same.

My thoughts regarding the grist adjustments are as follows.
-Caramel 60 & 75 to try and get a mix of the sweet caramel notes from the 60 and the more "roasted" sugar notes from the 75. I realize this may be very subtle but thought I'd give it a shot.
-I want a full ferment with no stalling issues so I choose US-05 (my "goto" strain). To retain the mouthfeel I've elected to keep the flaked oats.
-Chocolate malt is included to help get the SRM up to "root beer" type levels with a minimal affect on the flavor.
-Added Special B to try and give a hint of the raisin notes sometimes found in root beer. Tough call whether to use 120 or special B, thought I'd try something different.

Again, I'll be brewing this test batch in the next week or so. Once the recipe is figured out I plan on doing a 10 gal batch for Halloween. We'll see. Please let me know what you guys think. I really want to retain the sweetness of the root beer quality without needed to add sugar, thus I've tried to keep the bittering very low.

Hate to be a downer, but recent reviews of the where this is actually brewed leads to the conclusion that this would be an extremely hard taste to clone. It is most likely not brewed in the traditional manner but the alcohol is infused in a similar manner to the way Mike's Hard products are, with a pre-made base product and unflavored alcohol added for the alcohol content. That being said, if anyone finds a way of even fitting as close as Coney Island, I'm game!

The process for making this stuff is actually pretty simple. Basically you take a ton of dextrose or similar sugar, boil it with lots of DAP and other yeast nutrients to around 1.100, then ferment it with turbo yeast or another alcohol tolerant wine yeast. You end up with around 18-22% abv. It is then filtered with carbon to remove color and some off flavors and then is blended with water down to abv spec. Rootbeer flavoring, caramel color, and high fructose corn syrup is added.

It is illegal to add straight alcohol to a beverage base, so most of your malt beverages are made this way.

Not sure that is exactly a simple process for the home brewer. The key is to remove the harsh alcohol flavor from the high concentration. That involves multiple runs through a charcoal-based filtration system. Without a good pumping mechanism, the process is very long. Even with a good pumping system, the optimal performance requires a multi-stage filtration system which becomes very expensive. Or you could go Mythbusters style and run it through a Britta jug, for hours at a time...

Any updates on brew attempts?

I am not sure it is worth brewing this anymore. There are pallets of it in every single store and they are almost giving it away now. Probably not worth the time and money unless you are doing it just to say you can do it.

Where are they practically giving it away now? It's still $10/6 around here.