several questions about my first brew

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Lunchbox7985

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well not really my first, i did a mr root beer kit once, so i knew the basics.

i decided to make my own root beer from scratch. i saw some anise extract on clearance at kroger and said what the hell. so my recipe was

2 tsp anise extract
1 tsp peppermint extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar

brought it to a boil, let it cool, washed out a 1/2 gallon gatorade bottle, mixed in hot/cold water to get it to what some website described as "blood warm" where it neither felt warm nor cold. attempted to add 1/16 tsp of yeast by eyeballing using my 1/4 tsp, i may have ended up with a little less that 1/16. put the yeast in, screwed the lid on tight, set it in a pot and covered it with a towel just in case it asploded :)

and there it sits since tuesday (about 6 days now)

so on to my list of questions.

first i didnt worry too much about sanitization since the mr root beer kit carbonated in about 12 hours. i washed the bottle well, but i just used dish soap. i wasnt expecting for it to have to sit out for a week. think it will be fine?

this morning the bottle it pretty firm but i can still push my finger into it. i want it to be rock solid right? and the root beer kit, i put them in as soon as i noticed they were rock hard, and it was good, but a it could have carbonated a little more. how long after the bottle gets so firm would you leave it out? i dont want a bomb.

the cinnamon, and possibly the ginger seem to be settling at the bottom, has anyone ever dealt with ground cinnamon in a drink, should i give it a swirl before pouring and drink it? should i let it settle and pour gently? should i have filtered it before bottling and it would have steeped the flavor out?

what else would you have done differently? if this sucks im not out anything but a week of anticipation, so i still feel good about the heat of the moment throwing it together (if it is good, ill feel a sense of accomplishment) but im open to any suggestions.

i hope it tastes good, root beer seems to be any combination of something licorice like, something minty, maybe vanilla, and some spices, and ill admit this was a "whatever i have in the cabinet at the moment" kind of thing.

anyway, thanks for any advice,
-Brandon
 
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It will be interesting to hear how it turns out.

Ground cinnamon has a tendency to get kind of snotty when it sits in a beverage. I'm not saying you should have filtered it out, just fair warning, that's what happens. I wouldn't kick it up before pouring, but that's just me.

Personally, I would have upped the vanilla, but that's just me. Anise is pretty strong, so I hope you like black licorice.

Since it's taken this long to get pretty firm, I think once it's rock solid, you can probably leave it out another 12-24 hours before you refrigerate for another 12-24. If it's pretty firm still once it gets cold, you should have pretty good carbonation.
 
Gatorade bottles aren't meant to hold gaseous liquid...should have used a pop/soda bottle...
 
Gatorade bottles aren't meant to hold gaseous liquid...should have used a pop/soda bottle...

Oh, yeah, totally missed that. Yeah, you should have used something that can hold pressure better. A gatorade bottle might hold a bit, but probably not the level you want for root beer.
 
i got impatient. finally cracked it open last night, it was more or less flat, but I think the bottle hit its limit and started leaking around the lid. peppermint was a little overpowering on the nose, but not so much the taste. I read after I put this together that the wintergreen in root beer is more for head retention, so maybe the peppermint wasn't needed.

all in all, its drinkable, you were right about the cinnamon though, tasted better after kicking it up in there.

this was a cheap, spur of the moment brew, I plan on getting some PET bottles, and not using extracts. I can find raw anise, ginger, licorice, and cinnamon sticks at my local grocery store. and I have a lead on some wintergreen at a shop I haven't been to yet. I think im going to actually stick with bread yeast for my root beer, but when I try other things, there is a homebrew shop very near me that I can get champagne yeast at.

I may stick to vanilla extract given the price, but can you steep a vanilla bean? you wouldn't want a whole bean in even a gallon of soda though would you?

I had a thought about a pineapple clove soda the other day. gonna go for a spicy kinda flavor like a ginger ale that is heavy on the ginger.
 
I wouldn't necessarily say wintergreen is only used for head retention, it does lend to the flavor. Peppermint, probably not so much.

Vanilla extract is fine. Pure vanilla extract is the best. Vanilla bean doesn't steep in water, you have to have alcohol to pull any decent flavor out because it's pretty hydrophobic. A vanilla bean will make more extract than you need for a gallon of soda, but it will take a few months if you're making your own extract.

Pineapple clove sounds pretty awesome. I did a roasted pineapple that was pretty good you're welcome to use as a starting point if that helps.
 
on to brew number 2. got me a mortar and pestle, some whole cloves, cinnamon sticks, and some pineapple juice.

I took some ideas from your post MrFoodScientist, and a recipe for some clove tea I found online to get my amounts.

I put about 1 1/4 cup of pineapple juice,
3 tbsp of whole cloves,
and about half a cinnamon stick,
3/4 cup of sugar,
crushed the cloves in the mortar, steeped them for 20 minutes.

made it in a 2 liter soda bottle this time, and used about 1/8 tsp of yeast. I would have used champagne yeast, but I didn't feel like going out for it, so I stuck with bread yeast since I had it. didn't leave too much space at the top of the bottle this time. that and the added yeast it started to feel firmer by morning, I imagine it will be ready in a day or so.

it definatly smelled good while I was cookin it up, well see if its good, or if theres a reason I cant find a recipe for it online anywhere.

oh and I love all the Psych references, great show.
 
I might try out the champagne yeast on your next excursion. Might lend to a better result. Sounds tasty though.
 
ok, bottle was nice and firm this morning so i chilled it and just tried it. the flavor profile is really close to what i was going for. the level of spice is good, but i think im going to up the pineapple juice and the sugar a little.

its got a taste like a more mellow ginger ale, but with clove instead of ginger, the cinnamon gave it a little bite to it, but i might want a little more. i might try a little lemon juice or something, but ill save that for the third batch (dont want to change too much at once)

anyway, i chilled it in the fridge for a couple hours, then the freezer for about 20 minutes to get it cold enough to drink. when i opened it (slowly) i got the pressure off so i could get the lid off all the way and it just spewed slowly for a minute of two. it was still carbonated rather well, but should i let it chill longer? like does it take time for the co2 to disolve into the liquid? or is that from using more yeast? should i use less yeast, but let it carb at room temp for longer? it was firm after about 36 hours which i feel was relatively quick.
 
Yeah, I would chill it overnight to be sure it's nice and carbonated. 20 minutes isn't much time for excess pressure to dissolve unless you shake it, but probably with yeast you don't want to do that.

Get it ice cold if you can.
 

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