First batch of RootBeer..... YUCK!!!

Hey all, First post!!!!

So my kids and I made our first batch of RootBeer earlier this week. We used the "Old Fashioned" extracts that I got from the local Brew supplier.

I did everything per the instructions. We bottled into two sanitized 2-liter bottles (Used Star San) and let it sit on the counter for two and a half days. My middle boy and I tasted it before we put it in the fridge.... OMG it is HORRIBLE!!!!! You know that "Bite" with some RootBeers? It's good over all the sweetness? Well this stuff is ALL bite and NO sweetness!

What could I have done wrong?

TIA
William

Check the recipe, any quantity conversion problems?

I make their colas and root beers. It makes for a halfway decent soda and it gets my kids involved with my brewing, taking into account their short attention span.

Add about 25% more (cane) sugar than the instructions ask for. Add 1/4tsp of maltodextrin per gallon of the root beer to improve head retention.

Then I force carbonate using a carbonator cap available from LHBS.

I double checked the recipe. All good there. I went a head and made more sugar syrup and tried to sweeten some up.... Sweeter was NOT better. It was just nasty.

Ill try the cherry and see what happens