Halal root beer

Gunslinger711 · 03-09-2011, 07:34 PM

Googled around and searched the forums with no luck, I pose a unique (and hopefully answerable) question.

My boss and I both enjoy root beer and we'd like to brew our own. In the process of discovering how to brew root beer I found that some alcohol (granted it's only a little bit) is created in the process. Now I've read (again) that it's only a little bit and it's even safe for kids to try as a project...yadda yadda.

What I'm looking is a way to either brew it without any alcohol or a way to get that alcohol out as my boss is Muslim and is worried any alcohol being in the root beer. Any ideas?

**BrewSpook** · 03-09-2011, 08:08 PM

Sure, just force carbonate it instead of using yeast to carbonate. 2L bottles with a carbonator cap would work well. I use a top with a tire valve and air chuck on a CO2 bottle. put the finished uncarbonated soda in the bottle and chill it. Remove any air in the bottle and tighten down the cap. hit with 30PSI CO2 until the bottle it firm, give it a few good shakes and repeat this process for a few minutes. The results are good and if you want more carbonation just keep shaking it and adding more CO2.

Gunslinger711 · 03-10-2011, 02:44 AM

Ok, so if I don't have all of that equipment is there an inexpensive way to do this?

**weirdboy** · 03-10-2011, 03:08 AM

OK here's the thing. You basically have two choices when carbonating your soda: natural carbonation and forced carbonation. Since natural carbonation appears to be no good for your purposes, you're stuck needing equipment to force carbonate.

I totally understand that buying a CO2 tank just to make halal root beer is kind of a big investment.

HOWEVER you might be able to force carbonate using a similar setup, but with two bottles, each with their own carbonator cap. One with the soda , and another in which you mix baking soda and vinegar to generate the CO2. You'd have to be careful about quantities in order to control the amount of CO2 you generate.

So basically make two carbonator caps using this method:

YouTube

And then connect the bottles together with a hose and shake up the bottle with the vinegar and baking soda in it.

Gunslinger711 · 03-10-2011, 10:40 AM

Interesting video. Has anyone tried the baking soda/vinegar forced carbonation method?

Also (and forgive because I've only done a little research on it) is dry ice/co2 pellets completely out of the question? Even in small amounts?

Gunslinger711 · 03-10-2011, 12:38 PM

Bingo Boingo: http://www.instructables.com/id/Carbonating%3a-The-Cheap-and-Easy-Way/

How about vinegar fumes or an odd taste, anyone run into that?

KevinM · 03-10-2011, 01:40 PM

Search the forums, people have talked about it and the risks involved but it's remotely doable: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f95/carbonating-dry-ice-215075/

**dinnerstick** · 03-10-2011, 02:10 PM

what about instead of vinegar and baking soda, connecting it to a bottle with sugar water and yeast? then leaving it for a week? this has the added bonus of making some prison hooch as a bi-product; yum

Gunslinger711 · 03-10-2011, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinM

Search the forums, people have talked about it and the risks involved but it's remotely doable: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f95/carbonating-dry-ice-215075/

After doing more research on the dry ice method I read about possible contamination issues as far as oil and whatnot contained within the dry ice. Anyone try dry ice method?

**weirdboy** · 03-10-2011, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dinnerstick

what about instead of vinegar and baking soda, connecting it to a bottle with sugar water and yeast? then leaving it for a week? this has the added bonus of making some prison hooch as a bi-product; yum

I like this idea. Although you wouldn't need to just use sugar water, you could use beer or even a different container of root beer which you ferment with yeast, so that you'd end up with one alcoholic and one virgin.