Anything I publish has to be unique to HBT, so really I'm looking for cool soda brewing stories, techniques and recipes.
Well, I would love to provide one of my recipes and a story... First, the recipe.
MAKES 5 GALLONS
20 Qts Water
60 oz. Honey
10 Star Anise (TRY WITHOUT)
5/8 tsp. Salt
5/8 cp. Sarsaparilla
5/8 cp. Sassafras
5 cp. Pure Cane Sugar (Stick to light brown sugar)
2 1/2 cp Vanilla Flavoring
5/8 cp. Chopped Raisins
5/8 tsp. Nutmeg
1/8 tsp. Champagne Yeast (per gallon)
7 oz. Maltodextrine
Instructions:
1. If using a 12qt pot and making a 3gal (12qt) batch, put in 8qts of water into the pot. Always use only a fraction of the total water, as to leave a portion left for cooling the batch down with.
2. While water is heating up, place all ingredients into pot (either directly or inside a brew bag) except brown sugar and honey.
3. Lightly boil/simmer for 30 minutes.
4. After 30 minutes, stir in the Maltodextrine.
5. After stirring in the Maltodextrine is added, let 15 minutes pass then add the brown sugar and honey.
5a. Take off heat. Continue to stir until sugar is completely dissolved.
6. In your Ale Pail, or similar 5gal bucket, fill with 1gal of fresh cold water and pour the warm brew through a fine mesh funnel, into the Ale Pail.
- If bottling
a. Once target temp has been reached fill each of the bottles.
NOTE: Target temp is important since yeast will die at anything hotter than 95 degrees. Temps 60-95 degrees is acceptable, but I try to go no higher than 75. I like to play it safe.
b. Measure out (or sprinkle) the amount of yeast needed for each bottle. Cap and let sit until carbonated to desired amount.
NOTE: I have measured this a couple ways and think I will get a small scale to do it now. I have taken a 1/8tsp of yeast and divided it 8 ways (since I have 16oz bottles and 1gal/16oz=8). I have also done the light sprinkling method. Both of which have worked for the most part but I am sure there is a much more accurate way of measuring such a small amount.
- If putting into 1 gallon carboys
c. Pour liquid into jug
d. Once jug has been filled to the appropriate level, add 1/8 tsp. champagne yeast
6. Let sit for 3 days then put into fridge for another 3 days to chill and slow down yeast activity.
NOTE: One option would be to pasteurize the bottles after 3 days, assuming they have peak carbonation after 3 days. Let sit longer if needed.
Pasteurization: is done by bringing water to a temp of 160 degrees F and placing the finished carbonated product into the water. Once placed into the water, put a lid over the pot and let sit for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, take bottled product out of the pot and let cool. Repeat as needed.
7. ENJOY
FINAL THOUGHTS:
1. I have noticed that most of my brew takes 3 days to carbonate to the perfect amount.
2. When I make my (big) batches I try to use at least one, usually two, 2 liter bottles with some of my root beer in them. This way I can feel the bottles tighten up when they are carbonating. This allows me to use them as a gauge of sorts on the level of carbonation inside the bottles. When they become almost impossible to squeeze on the top dome part of the bottles, I call it done.
3. 2 liter bottles will use about 1/16tsp of yeast each.
4. Take a lesson learned from me, DO NOT brew late at night and double the quantities of yeast (accidentally of course) in your carboys. You will end up waking up to 1 gallon bottle bombs. Not pleasant.
Story time:
One late evening (about 12:00 am) I decided that it would be a great idea to make some root beer, despite how tired I was. I went through my whole process and then go to the point of adding the yeast. I added the yeast, shook the bottles up as I do to make sure my biceps stay in tip top shape, then put everything in a cupboard.
About 3:00am rolls around and I wake up to my wife shaking me saying she heard a boom and something that sounded like glass. I think she initially thought a bad man came to visit our home uninvited. I got out of bed, crazy tired I might add, and saw my oldest step son heading towards our kitchen. I already assumed my worst nightmare when I saw the mess that lay on the floor. I had precious sticky brew puddled on the floor. I open the cupboard, already heart broken on what I will see. Sure enough glass everywhere. There was a few big pieces and what seemed like millions of much smaller pieces.
Well, this cant stay like this until later on in the morning, so I began to clean. There were even pieces of glass that would have made some horrible slivers if you touched them wrong. Thankfully I came out unscathed. We have a crack in the basement ceiling which has been their since we moved in (5 years ago) that now has a wonderful light brown tint to it as a reminder of this tragic event. I was working on a new recipe that day and if I decide to continue working on it, I will be calling it "Midnight Brew".
Moral of the story: When your recipe calls for 1/8 .tsp of yeast per gallon, doing twice as much is a horrible idea.
