StarsNBars8

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I've never made a soda before, so any/all advice is welcome...

I'm planning on doing a Gnome Cream Soda with Slenda, then kegging.

After kegging, do I just charge it like my beer?
Do I need to run it through different lines?
Am I better off bottling, and if so - do I need to use sugar instead of Splenda for the bottling?

Homercidal

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Ok, AFAIK, Splenda will not work if you prime in the bottle.

Also, you could easily keg that soda, then carb with teh CO2 system.

THEN, if you wanted bottles, you could build a simple device to fill bottles from the keg. Look for the DIY beer gun thread.

I made a batch of Birch Beer with the kids and bottled it in thick 8oz Coke bottles. It was pretty good, but I didn't realize that the yeast will keep going and going, and after a week or so I started blowing bottles apart.

You gotta keep the bottles in the fridge after a few days of priming or you will be in trouble. Or, skip the yeast and keg it and carb with CO2.

StarsNBars8

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Cool. That was initial plan; thanks.

BTW, what is AFAIK?

jfrizzell

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I believe it's an acronym...at least as far as I know.

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newell456

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Check out this thread: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/root-beer-kegging-question-55570/?highlight=root+beer+feet

The consensus I have seen in this and other forums is that kegging soda will affect both o-rings and the beverage line. Also, since soda requires much more carbonation than beer, you'll need 15 feet to 20 feet of dedicated line to avoid foaming with that level of carbonation. I haven't experimented and just took the more experienced people at their word. I have 20 feet of line that I just use for soda, (coiled up and with cable ties to take up less room), and I have a set of o-rings I just use for soda. The keg itself can be cleaned out easily enough, but since I just found some kegs on CL for $10 a piece, I'm going to keep a dedicated soda keg or two. As far as how long to carb and at what pressure, I just crash cool the keg, force carb at 40 psi, disonnect, shake the keg, and do this about 4 times, then wait about an hour and check the carbonation level. I don't see overcarbing this way to be as much of a concern as it is with beer.

StarsNBars8

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Thanks... I knew I was going to have to change the o-rings out, but didn't think about additional line length, or even keeping dedicated o-rings for soda.

conpewter

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I believe dedicated O-rings for soda mostly applies to root beer since it is such a strong taste/odor.

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