Making root beer question

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I need to make root beer for an assignment in my microbiology course.

Following a few recipes around the internet I bought a bottle of root beer concentrate, a package of active dry yeast (should I consider another kind of yeast?), sugar and a 2L plastic soda bottle.

What would be the best route to take to limit any harm/explosion/etc?

I will need to bing in the bottle to my class for a little end of the semester "fermentation party" on the 28th of April.

Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
Follow the instructions on the bottle of concentrate. After adding the yeast and bottling, wait a few days until the 2l bottle feels like pressure has built up inside. It should be hard to squeeze. Nice and firm, just like one right off the shelf at the grocery store. Next, put in refrigerator, chill for a few days. Longer is better, but as soon as it is chilled you will have cold root beer. chilling in the refrigerator will stop the yeast from doing what they do best, which is good, otherwise if you leave the bottle out for several weeks it could explode if too much pressure developed.

Good luck and have fun.
 
Follow the instructions on the bottle of concentrate. After adding the yeast and bottling, wait a few days until the 2l bottle feels like pressure has built up inside. It should be hard to squeeze. Nice and firm, just like one right off the shelf at the grocery store. Next, put in refrigerator, chill for a few days. Longer is better, but as soon as it is chilled you will have cold root beer. chilling in the refrigerator will stop the yeast from doing what they do best, which is good, otherwise if you leave the bottle out for several weeks it could explode if too much pressure developed.

Good luck and have fun.

Thank-you for your reply.

So if I refrigerate it for a fay or two before class I shouldn't have a problem with it exploding during class? (I leave for school about 12:30 and the "party" will probably be close to 4-5pm)

Also is this type of yeast good: Fleischmann's ActiveDry yeast original

Or should I consider a different type of yeast?
 
Your yeast will be fine. After the root beer has carbed up, i.e. the bottles are hard to squeeze, put them in the refrigerator. After a few days chilled, you shouldn't have any issue taking them to class.
 
I have one more quick question. About the water I should use. If I use tap water should I leave it sitting out over night or something like boiling it to remove chlorine (would chlorine have an affect on the yeast?)
 
Boiling, then letting cool would work. I use filtered water for all of my fermented beverages. If you don't have access to filtered water, you could just purchase "spring water" by the gallon at the store.
 
if you leave the bottle out for several weeks it could explode if too much pressure developed.
I want to add that it could take days. It's very unpredictable. I had a cider out for a few days and it exploded (glass!) all over my kitchen last year. Thankfully it was in the middle of the night. I won't ever make that mistake again, we were finding pieces of glass for many, many months in the strangest places.
 
It also will depend how much yeast is used. There is no way I could make it "weeks" before my bottles would explode. I have had a 1 gallon carboy explode in hours (maybe 4-5 hours) by accidentally doubling the yeast. When I use the correct amount of yeast the other 99.999999% of the time, my bottle sit for 2 days and have perfect carbonation.
 
Wow, that's crazy. Lesson here is - if you have yeast and sugar in there, don't let it out of the fridge. Period. Open and drink. Period.
 
Well actually...I ferment my root beer at room temp. Once proper carbonation has been reached, I then will move to the fridge. The fridge does slow down fermentation, but does not stop it. So you will be able to keep it in the fridge a bit longer, but if in there long enough, even if it s a real long time, could/will still blow up. The one guarantee to prevent bottle bombs from happening is pasteurizing, which is a quick and easy process. :) 1 gallon bottle bombs at 3am, are not fun, especially when you're still asleep when your cleaning it up...lol
 
So should i bring it into the fridge as soon as I cannot squeeze the bottle? It was hard to squeeze (ie it felt very hard) only about 20 hours after starting. Or should I leave it out or at least 3 days?
 
If it's hard as a rock, which is what mine get like, I'd get it to the fridge now. Let it sit in there for a few hours and then try to open. I'd open it over the sink though and very slowly. The fact that it's carbed that much already makes me wonder if it's going to fizz all over the place. :/
 
Okay so even if the directions on a recipe says let it ferment for 3-4 days that the time varies?

Does less time sitting out to ferment alter the taste of the final product?
 
Despite what the recipe says, think of it this way. You have something fermenting in a closed bottle, producing enough CO2 in a 20 hour period that the bottle is almost impossible to squeeze. By letting that sit out for another 2-3 days I feel is a bottle bomb in the making and a large mess. To give some perspective: I use 1/8 tsp of yeast per gallon. I let my brew sit for 2-3 days and I always have at least 1 2-liter bottle and use that as my gauge for carbonation. When the bottle becomes impossible to squeeze, then I call it done. I start my pasteurization process right away, assuming I used my 16oz bail-top bottles. The one gallon jugs I sit in the fridge and drink from those first. Before I started pasteurizing, I would place directly into the fridge, but I would drink my batch within the week.

On a side note, I don't know how much yeast you're using, but I would consider using less. I am not sure if the flavors are noticeably altered much by letting the root beer ferment for less or more time. I do know that the type of yeast that is used will determine some of the flavor profile. For instance, when I first started I had read that I could go to the grocery store and pick up a packet. Well I tried a packet and I tried some from a jar. Both of them produced very "yeasty" flavors making everything taste like bread/beer. I might add I hate beer because of that flavor, so this was obviously not appealing to me.

I then learned that champagne yeast may be the way to go. I tried it, and it's all I use now. The bubbles are very small and it's virtually flavorless. Very clean. It allows the flavors of the other ingredients to shine through. The other possibility of your fast fermentation could be the type of yeast. I don't know for sure if that matters, but I suppose it could be possible. I would look at your quantity in comparison to what I use.

Hope this helps. :)
 
I decided to redo it. Here what I did:

1 2L bottle soda bottle
1 cup of sugar
1/4 tsp of ActiveDry yeast
3-4 bottles of cold water (filled to a inch of full)
1 tablespoon of root beer extract

References:
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/cheese/rootbeer_jn0.htm
http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1782912
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/

I started on 4/21 at 6pm pdt

On 4/22 at 8am pdt the bottle feels a little hard but I can still press onto the top. I feel resistance I can still make a little dent.

How long can I leave it in the fridge before opening?

I need to bring this to class next tuesday.
 
One the bottle becomes so hard you cant squeeze it, that's when you want to put it into the fridge. You can skip the fridge if you're wanting to drink it right away, but colder is better. If you place the bottle in the fridge, you can leave it there long enough to get cold, or leave it in their for a few days.
 
One the bottle becomes so hard you cant squeeze it, that's when you want to put it into the fridge. You can skip the fridge if you're wanting to drink it right away, but colder is better. If you place the bottle in the fridge, you can leave it there long enough to get cold, or leave it in their for a few days.

Right now I can barley squeeze the bottle, but like at the top I can press down on and feel a lot of resistance but still make a little dent (422 at 3pm pdt)

I'll check it tonight and if its hardden then right now I'll put it in the fridge. Once in the fridge will the yeast stop or just slow down?

I'll need to bring in the bottle on Tuesday 4/28 at 1pm. Should I open it before that?
 
The yeast will slow down...like a lot, but they are still very much alive. Its hard to say how long a bottle like that will last in the fridge. I would think you'd be fine, but there's no guarantee. I would also make sure that you have a sink or bucket or something for when you open it just in case it decides to fizz all over the place. If there is a way to submerge that in a pot of water at 140 degrees for 10 minutes, that will kill the yeast for sure. Not sure how well that will work, but that would do it. If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing in class with this? :)
 
The yeast will slow down...like a lot, but they are still very much alive. Its hard to say how long a bottle like that will last in the fridge. I would think you'd be fine, but there's no guarantee. I would also make sure that you have a sink or bucket or something for when you open it just in case it decides to fizz all over the place. If there is a way to submerge that in a pot of water at 140 degrees for 10 minutes, that will kill the yeast for sure. Not sure how well that will work, but that would do it. If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing in class with this? :)

Its like a end of semester party and we are being graded on it.

So submerge in pot of 140 F water for ten minutes and put back in fridge? I assume I don't open to let CO2 out?
 
I am assuming that it would ok to place a plastic 2L bottle into a pot like that. I have not tested this, so I don't know if it will work. You could get away with 120 degrees, but I wouldn't go below that.

What I do when I pasteurize, is:
* I get the water up to temp (120-140F)
* place my bottles (glass bail-top bottles is what I use) into pot
* Turn stove off
* place lid on the pot, then let sit for 10 minutes
* After 10 minutes, I take my bottles out of the pot
* let cool
* place in the fridge to chill.

You could place directly into the fridge, I just feel better about letting the bottles cool first.

If you want to try that, you most certainly can, but like I said, I don't know how well the plastic will hold up in that temp since I have not tested that. But to answer your question, yes, you would do this process immediately after you feel there is plenty of carbonation. Do not open the bottle before hand, that will let out all of the CO2. After you have completed pasteurizing then place in the fridge.
 
Thanks for the help.

BTW if I put in the fridge for a day and then open it to release the pressure if I leave it out will the yeast recarbonate it? I want to give it a test taste to see if its working and if it doesn't taste right plan to redo it with least yeast.
 
Once you pasteurize, all the yeast is dead, so no it will not re-carbonate after that. However, if you skip that step and just go directly to the fridge and take it out and leave it out, yes it will re-carbonate a little. It will however take a longer period of time to get back to the level you were originally at since you will have more air space in the bottle to be filled. Also keep in mind that the longer you ferment, the higher the alcohol content. Now, it may take quite sometime to produce enough alcohol to be noticeable, but I would imagine that even smaller amounts can still effect the over all flavor.

If you can feel the bottle stiffen up from the fermentation process, then its working. :) You can give it a taste, but just know that you are releasing that CO2 and that it will take time to re-carbonate to that level again. This is why I make the zise batches I do and bottle the way I do. It gives me options to test and tate it, without a larger amount bottle being effected from my testing and tasting.

This is just a bit of personal input, but being that you're using a root beer concentrate, I don't think I would get to crazy with the experiments. I only say this, and this may be a personal opinion, but root beer concentrates/extracts dont seem to be much more than making Kool-Aid to me. If you were making "real" root beer with real ingredients, this gives you so much more opportunity and ability to play around and experiment with flavors and such. Perhaps that's something that will come later?

Hope it goes well for you and that everything turns out. Those beginning stages can be a real learning experience for people, but however the outcome, don't let it be discouraging. :)
 
Thanks.

One quick question: Would it be better to use less yeast? I currently use 1/4 tsp of ActiveDry yeast. Would it be better to use may be 1/6 or 1/8 tsp?

How would this affect taste? Carbonation?
 
In a 2L bottle? absolutely. I do 1/8 tsp. for an entire gallon. I do about 1/16 tsp for a 2L bottle. That is why yours carbed so quick. It has been my experience that when I have had quick carbing, that led to a fountain when opening. Consider that a warning. ;) May be best to start over now while you still have a few days before you need it.
 
In a 2L bottle? absolutely. I do 1/8 tsp. for an entire gallon. I do about 1/16 tsp for a 2L bottle. That is why yours carbed so quick. It has been my experience that when I have had quick carbing, that led to a fountain when opening. Consider that a warning. ;) May be best to start over now while you still have a few days before you need it.

Thanks I just started a new batch with about 1/16 tsp (~0.3 grams) and about 3/4 cup to 1 cup of sugar.
 
I made my root beer on Tuesday. Tasted it today, Sunday. Really strong yeast taste. Used champagne yeast. Did I do something wrong? How do I get rid of the yeast taste? Ferment longer?
 
I made my root beer on Tuesday. Tasted it today, Sunday. Really strong yeast taste. Used champagne yeast. Did I do something wrong? How do I get rid of the yeast taste? Ferment longer?

Hello, and welcome to Homebrewtalk.com!

Instead of replying to a very old thread from seven years ago, you would get more responses and help from the community if you started your own thread in the appropriate forum area. When you start your thread, please include your recipe and process so others may be able to assist you easier.
 
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