Bottles won't get hard.

The bottles have been sitting at room temperature for about 27 hours. THey just are not getting hard.

I mixed together the a TBLS of extract, Gallon of warm water, 2 cups organic cane sugar, 1/4 tsp. of yeast. I mixed well and then funneled into the bottles.]

I squeezed the soda to the top of the threads and capped. Although on a couple the soda did not quite make it to the top of the threads. I used 30 oz pet bottles. The only thing I can think of is that I did not get adequate yeast in each bottle. I did not rehydrate either. THe yeast was Safale ale yeast.

Any thoughts?

How long between mixing in the yeast and funneling into the bottles?

Are all of the bottles not getting hard? If the time to fill the bottles was a few minutes, the last of your bottles would have enough yeast to start the process.

I squeezed the soda to the top of the threads and capped. Although on a couple the soda did not quite make it to the top of the threads.

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Does this mean you removed as much air from the bottles as you could by depressing the sides until the soda reached the top? I ask because I had not done this before. What you might be seeing is the lag time for the yeast to produce enough CO2 to refill the air you pushed out as well as carbing the soda.

I would give them another day before worrying too much.

One way to check if the carbing process has started is to look for debris collecting on the bottom of the bottles. This would indicate everything is fine.

One last thought: What kind of yeast are you using? I have noticed that baker's yeast reacts faster than wine yeast. I had to rewarm the wine yeast version and carb an extra day. This might be an issue as well.

Keep an eye on the bottom though.

I'm curious about the why's on squeezing the soda to the top of the threads before capping? I am extremely new to soda making, only one batch that tastes more like a wine spritzer than grape soda lol, and I did not do this so am interested in the pros and cons.

Cali

Cali said:

I'm curious about the why's on squeezing the soda to the top of the threads before capping? I am extremely new to soda making, only one batch that tastes more like a wine spritzer than grape soda lol, and I did not do this so am interested in the pros and cons.

Cali

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nevermind - oops

jfrizzell said:

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Beat me to the punch!

Well I drank some of the root beer while camping this weekend I was very dissapointed. Most of the bottles got hard but when tasted they were very flat and some even tasted like water. A couple of the bottles were ok, just very flat. I am not fond of the root beer it produced so far, I think it tastes like wintergreen chewing tobacco. The bottles were not hard as rocks, but I was not sure if I should let them sit longer or not. Anyways, I think I have narrowed down the problems.

I did not mix long enough. I did not wait before I funneled into bottles, I used an organic cane sugar that may have made the root beer taste funny, I don't know. Its a really light crystally type sugar. I am going to try another batch and mix very well with rehydrated yeast. Then I will let it sit 5 minutes and then bottle.

Also, can this type of recipe be cooked? Wouldn't that make mixing easier?

Another quick question, I stored my unused yeast in the packaging it came in with a clip in the fridge. Should I do something else to it to make sure it stays viable?

It sounds like you described your root beer accurately.

Going by your description, I am curious if this recipe is too weak.

I mixed together the a TBLS of extract, Gallon of warm water, 2 cups organic cane sugar, 1/4 tsp. of yeast. I mixed well and then funneled into the bottles.]

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When I make mine using McCormicks Root Beer Extract, I use 1 Tbl extract to 2L of water with 2 cups of sugar. For a 1 gallon recipe, I would have to add 2 Tbl extract with 4 cups of sugar. 1 gallon is roughly equal to 4 liters.

Check your extract recommendations. This may explain why you are getting the watery flavor. It MIGHT explain the carbing issue as well.

Answers to your questions:

1. I have never cooked my root beer mixes. I don't think it is needed. It might add odd burnt flavors to the extract. Not a good thing. Plus you would have to go through a cooling process to pitch your yeast. Pain in the tail.

2. Being that your cane sugar is organic, it is fine for the yeast. It is natural and not synthetic. If it is really fine in texture, this will make it easier to mix in the water. I have used corn syrup, brown sugar, white sugar and honey. The only one that made it taste funny was the honey. I wouldn't recommend it.

3. I store my yeast in the fridge as you do, and it seems to be lasting months. There are several posts on HBT about washing, storing, and reusing yeast. Most, it seems store in the fridge and some even freeze it.

Again check your extract recommendations and try doubling the ingredients to 1 gallon of water.

I agree with the above poster, but I have a few suggestions. I've never heard of squeezing all the air out before capping- that seems like you'd reduce your headspace, and co2 is usually produced and in the headspace until it's chilled, when it dissolves more readily into the liquid. I've never squeezed any bottles (beer or soda) and had good results.

My experiences with saving dry yeast haven't been that great- it seems like once a package is opened that it goes bad kind of fast, even with refridgeration. Champagne yeast is cheap- about 79 cents, so I use that and dont' save it more than a couple of weeks.

I heat up some of the water, and dissolve the sugar in it. Then cool to slightly warmer than room temperature and mix up everything else, including the yeast.

Patience Padwan, whether you are making soda or beer, you are STILL dealing with live yeasts here, and they have their own timeframe...most online resources for soda making I just looked up via teh googelz say cap tightly and wait 4-6 days.

So if after 6 days no fizzy, THEN we can diagnose a problem...but it's useless to do so unless you actually know there IS a problem.

So until then, pretend you are making beer and;

My $0.02

The bottles need to sit at room temp until they are hard to squeeze, usually 4-6 days. You won't notice much change in pressure in the first 24-36 hours. Once the bottles are hard (yeah, yeah, ha ha), refridgerate them immediately. My LHBS owner said to leave them in the fridge for at least 2 weeks before drinking, but I think you should leave them for at leat 4-5 weeks. My root beer tasted much better as it "aged". When I moved a couple of weekends ago, I still had some root beer that was made in early April and it tasted great.


Edit: I used Cooper's dry yeast, not bread yeast.