Why the fountain of rootbeer when I open the bottles?

Hey all,

I have tried to make rootbeer twice now. The first time (several years ago) my bottles exploded in my closet.. Yup, one after another at about 3:30 in the morning.. 48 of them... Glass and rootbeer all over my clothes.. It sucked.. It soured me on soda making for many years.. Flash forward to 3 months ago.. I tried again... This time, I was smart and put the bottles out of danger. After 4 days,I cracked one and got a rootbeer fountain that damn near hit the ceiling...

I use brand extract and have follwed the instructions to the letter both times.

For a one gallon batch:

1 tbs extract
2 cups sugar
1/8 tsp ale yeast (coopers) in 8oz warm water

Mixed it all up in a jog, poured it out into bottles (leaving plenty of headspace) and capped them up.. They sit at room temp (68-70)..

So why are they gushers? Too much yeast? Too warm?

I am asking because I made another 1 gallon batch today andI want to try todo it right his time.. The recipe I used today was the same except I cut the sugar back 1.5 cups instead of 2..

bullrider4 said:

Hey all,

I have tried to make rootbeer twice now. The first time (several years ago) my bottles exploded in my closet.. Yup, one after another at about 3:30 in the morning.. 48 of them... Glass and rootbeer all over my clothes.. It sucked.. It soured me on soda making for many years.. Flash forward to 3 months ago.. I tried again... This time, I was smart and put the bottles out of danger. After 4 days,I cracked one and got a rootbeer fountain that damn near hit the ceiling...

I use View attachment 9683 brand extract and have follwed the instructions to the letter both times.

For a one gallon batch:

1 tbs extract
2 cups sugar
1/8 tsp ale yeast (coopers) in 8oz warm water

Mixed it all up in a jog, poured it out into bottles (leaving plenty of headspace) and capped them up.. They sit at room temp (68-70)..

So why are they gushers? Too much yeast? Too warm?

I am asking because I made another 1 gallon batch today andI want to try todo it right his time.. The recipe I used today was the same except I cut the sugar back 1.5 cups instead of 2..

Click to expand...

How long are you letting them sit at room temp?

If they are sitting for more than a week you could be over carbing and creating more bottle bombs.

Just a thought.

They should sit at room temperature only until the bottles feel hard (plastic of course), then put into the fridge and kept there. The yeast will continue to eat the sugar in the soda, and won't stop unless you stick them in the fridge.

YooperBrew said:

They should sit at room temperature only until the bottles feel hard (plastic of course), then put into the fridge and kept there. The yeast will continue to eat the sugar in the soda, and won't stop unless you stick them in the fridge.

Click to expand...

The first batch exploded about two weeks after bottling, the second batch where I got the fountain occured at 4 days at room temp.. I wasnt aware that I need to refrigerate to stop yeast activity... I use glass bottles for bottling the soda.. Should I be using plastic?

I have only made it once, and used 1 litter plastic bottles. When they became firm to the touch, I put them in the fridge.

bullrider4 said:

The first batch exploded about two weeks after bottling, the second batch where I got the fountain occured at 4 days at room temp.. I wasnt aware that I need to refrigerate to stop yeast activity... I use glass bottles for bottling the soda.. Should I be using plastic?

Click to expand...

yes, I seriously think that glass bottles are bombs waiting to happen with root beer. Remember that the yeast will continue to ferment the sugar, as long as it can. It won't stop just because we want it to. So, I bottle in plastic soda bottles, and keep them at room temperature. When they feel hard (usually 48 hours or so, depending on the temperature) they go right into the fridge. If you really want to use glass, maybe use a few "tester" plastic bottles so you know when they're carbed up. I still wouldn't do it though.

If you made it two weeks without an explosion, I'm surprised. I would think that it would happen in less time. You must have some strong glass!

I started kegging a while back, and now I make rootbeer in a 2L bottle and use a carbonator cap. That works great, but I still use plastic because the soda is carbed up over 30 psi. Soda bottles (the plastic store bought bottles) can take it, but I'm not so sure about glass.

I would never bottle soda in glass.

Figure it this way:

Normal carbonation - 1/2 cup of sugar in 5 gallons
You've got 2 cups of sugar in 1 gallon.

That's potentially 20 times as much pressure. The yeast do not know when to stop.