root beer

I am going to make root beer from extract the recipe calls for yeast I am wondering if it would be a better idea to use an airlock or like they say in the recipe to just cap the bottle?

You are using the yeast to carbonate the bottles. It must be capped to trap the CO2. It is very important to only let them sit out at room temp for a couple of days before refrigerating. Once refrigerated, drink them in the next couple of weeks. Even at those temps, the yeast will continue fermenting, resulting in bottle explosions if you wait too long.

I am planning to use a jug for the root beer also I have 1/2 a packet of champagne yeast can I use that and just scale down the recipe?

You can use a plastic jug but definitely not glass! There is no way to really control the carbonation and one way to tell when it's carbonated it to squeeze the plastic bottle. When it's rock hard, it's carbonated and should be put in the fridge right away.

I'd have to see your recipe to tell you if it can be scaled- 1/2 package of champagne yeast is a LOT. Here's my son's recipe:

1 gallon Root beer
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp Malto-dextrine
1 TBSP root beer extract
1/4 tsp yeast
1 gallon water

Fill gallon container and remove 1 cup water and discard. Heat 4 cups water from the container- add sugar and dissolve. Turn off heat. Add extract and remaining water. Add maltodextrine and stir well. Cool. When cool, add yeast and stir very well. Fill bottles. Check carbonation in 4-7 days (daily until carbed), then refrigerate.

He didn't like the brown sugar, so he's been using white sugar in place of it. It's really good, by the way!

My rootbeer recipe.

Ingredients

1 clean 2 liter soda bottle
1.5 cups sugar
1 tablespoon of extract
1/4 teaspoon of yeast (bakers or brewers/champagne they all work)

Add sugar and extract to bottle and fill with hot, straight from tap, water to about 1.5-2 inches from neck of the bottle (about the height that an unopened bottle has). Shake it up to dissolve sugars. Let cool to below 80-90 degrees and add yeast. Invert a few times to get yeast unstuck from walls of bottle. Make sure its capped tightly and let sit.

I find when using extract it takes about 4 days for it to carbonate the way I want. And I like to use plastic bottles because I can feel how hard the bottle is getting and judge carbonation that way. Remember when you're making it you want to have it slightly sweeter than what you want to drink because the yeast takes some of the sweetness out.

Another trick is to add a couple of raisins to the mix when capping. They'll float when its carbonated. Also once its carbed keep it cold in the fridge to slow down the yeast.



edit: wow yooper u type fast.

Combine 1 cake yeast, 2 oz. Watkins Root Beer Flavor, 3 gallons of water and 4 lbs. of sugar. Then…bottle the mixture leaving 2 inches at top of bottle. Let set 3 weeks. The mixture "works" so it must be bottled with a cap.

BigNick do you bottle yours into smaller bottles??

It seems like Nick said he bottles his in a 2 liter bottle, and my son bottles his in 19 ounce brown bottles, like these pictured in the kit: http://www.leeners.com/sodapop.html#bottles

I am going to be doing that soon myself. Nice.

Jennifer

Vermicous said:

You are using the yeast to carbonate the bottles. It must be capped to trap the CO2. It is very important to only let them sit out at room temp for a couple of days before refrigerating. Once refrigerated, drink them in the next couple of weeks. Even at those temps, the yeast will continue fermenting, resulting in bottle explosions if you wait too long.

Click to expand...

Is this true... that even after you refrigerate the Root Beer, you must drink quickly because of the continuous fermentation? I was going to save a few bottles because my son was going to use this for his science project (yay!)

Also... I am using plastic bottles, but clear and not brown. Will this affect the taste like it would beer?

Yes the fermentation continues slowly even after refrigeration. No color makes no difference with root beer, it's the hops in the beer that's effected by light.

if its slightly alcoholic, does it make it taste bad? thinking about making some for my dad.

I have tried three recipes. One was Mr.RootBeer kit that we got for my son as a Xmas gift. It turned out great. The next two were using the Rainbow extract from the LHBS. Both batches had an overwhelming unpleasant aftertaste. I took a bottle to the LHBS and they confirmed that the taste was yeast flavor from the dry yeast (champagne in one and american ale in the other).
Part of the reason for not force carbonating the stuff was for my son to learn about the process. Great for learning. Awful for drinking.

Anyone else have this problem?

I made some root beer today for the first time. Did quite a bit of Googleing and read several times not to use chanpagne yeast, and that you should use an ale yeast.
I ended up using this guys recipe minus the bread yeast & I did use the Zatarains extract.

I did a 2L soda bottle and a gallon apple juice jug, for some reason I had 10 of them in the garage

sorry but i do prefer focre carbing

four gallon recipe
2 oz rainbow extract
4 lbs sugar
4 gal distilled water


add 2 gal water to cornie with all sugar cap and shake vigorously to dissolve sugar
add remainder of water and extract recap and put on the gas and shake for 5 min to mix the solution.
place cornie in kegerator at 35-40lbs pressure for two days. back off pressure to 23lbs and bleed off excess gas and serve.