DallasFrog

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Failure #2 Can somebody please answer a few questions for me? I would really appreciate it.

OK, so my daughter accidentally opened my tester plastic bottle. It was getting pretty firm so I figured no big deal. No fuzz at all. I bottled it on the evening of the 9th and it was opened on the morning of the 13th. Should I be worried that there was no fuzz and hardly any "pshhhht" in the bottle after three days of resting? I opened one of the glass bottles to see if it was my plastic bottle that was the problem and the glass bottle didn’t have any fizz either.

Here is what I did.

1) I washed all of the bottles in a tub of water and Clorox solution as per instructions. Then I thoroughly rinsed all of the bottles.

2) I added ¼ teaspoon of champagne yeast (I now know to use brewers yeast) to about a cup of tepid tap water. (I watched the guy take the packet of yeast out of the refrigerator when he sold it to me so I assume it is pretty fresh.)

3) In a stainless steel pot I put two quarts of tepid tap water and then I added the two cups of regular white sugar as per the instructions. To that I added the root beer concentrate stuff (Rainbow) and I mixed it with a rubber coated whisk until all of the sugar was disolved.

4) After about 5 minutes, I added the yeast solution to the pot and then added additional water to make up one gallon.

5) I tasted the mixture to make sure it was good, and it was.

6) Then using a stainless steel ladle and a plastic funnel, I filled all of the bottles, careful to leave 1 ½ to 2 inches of air at the top.

7) Then I closed the bottles and laid them on their side to ensure no leaks.

8) Then I put the bottles in the cardboard box they came in and placed them in my office where the air temperature stays between 70 and 73 degrees F. I live in Dallas, Texas so the altitude is about 800 feet above sea level.

9) I left the plastic bottle out on my desk so I could test for carbonation.

This morning, I thought that the carbonation might be getting close because the bottle was getting pretty firm, though I could still push it in with my thumb with medium pressure. When my daughter opened the bottle by accident I figured that everything would be ok.

Here are my questions:

1) After three days of sitting, should the yeast have already made some carbonation?

2) Based on what you know, would you assume that the rest of the bottles will not carbonate?

3) Should I transfer the contents of a glass bottle into the plastic bottle since they don’t have very much pressure anyway, that way I will still have a relative gauge?

4) Can you think of anything I may have done wrong based on what you know of my process?

Thanks. I am hoping that 3 will be the charm.

Yooper

Recipes 

It's really temperature dependent- in a warm place, it'll carb up faster. When the bottle is rock hard, it's ready. 3 days isn't very long for rootbeer, but for ginger ale it's plenty! Ginger ale seems to make the yeast go crazy, and sometimes carbs up in 24 hours at 75 degrees. But it takes as long as it takes. Five days or longer wouldn't be unheard of in the low 70s.

Champagne yeast is a far better choice than ale yeast- continue to use it as it's the most flavor neutral and best working yeast to use.

__________________
Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

DallasFrog

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Thanks for replying so fast. When you read the procedure I followed, did you notice that I did anything wrong?

Also, should I refill the plastic bottle with root beer from one of my glass bottles so I have a gauge?

Yooper

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No, the procedure looks fine.

I would never, ever, ever, ever, make soda in glass bottles. Especially if the soda is for kids. Bottle bombs are serious business. What if one carbs faster for some reason?

I use plastic soda bottles, and/or those PET bottles sold for beer.

__________________
Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

DallasFrog

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I am going to get some new bottles for the next batch. Thanks

KingPin

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Sorry to bump an older thread.... I've just started making root beer myself and have found the similar as you did. My bottles were quite firm after a few days but the soda inside came up a little bit flat.

From what I understand it has alot to do with temperature or more importantly stable temperature. If there is fluctuation it can "confuse" the yeast and they can stop producing.

FWIW I tossed my first batch that I made with brewers yeast; my daughter loved it because of the high sugar content but the yeast flavor turned me off a bit. I've now done my second batch (which is fermenting as I type) with champagne yeast.

What I did (YMMV)
~15L warmish water
1.5 times the amount of root beer extract
4.4LBS Sugar + some more to make it sweeter
Champagne Yeast
Malto Dextrin (for head retention)

I mixed this up into plastic bottles and will let it sit for 4 or so days ....

Good luck

DallasFrog

Recipes 

I have learned that using a heating blanked under the box of bottles that are carbonating speeds up the process a great deal, like twice as fast.