Gtrfrk182
Well-Known Member
i was thinkin of making something like a root beer porter or even an alcoholic root beer. good idea? any one try this before?
Root beer...beer.
- Thread starter Gtrfrk182
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
snowman2646
Member
I have never done this, but i'm excited to hear the responses because it sound amazing.
I've done it using a wheat as the base. The major problem is back-sweetening, because you have to use a non-fermentable and it takes a heap of it to reach normal root beer sweetness levels. I used a combination of lactose and Splenda. Wasn't happy with it. A brown porter might work better, with lots of caramel malt.
ChshreCat
Well-Known Member
I've read a couple threads from people wanting to do this and the results were never favorable, but that doesn't mean you can't do it and be the one to get it right! 
Never tried myself. The sweetening would be the issue. Depends on whether you are kegging or bottling.
Easy to do with kegging; simple potassium sorbate (wine brew chemical) will kill the yeast. Brew to dryness, kill the yeast, add sugar to sweeten to taste, and keg to carb.
Natural carbing is PITA for this idea. Some "soda" brewers have had success carbing, then pasteurizing the bottle to stop fermentation under pressure but still using sugar for sweetness. There's a post on here somewhere about that, using a canning pressure cooker (explosion container in case of bottle bombs) and heating the bottle into the 150+ range to kill the yeasties.
So, it may be possible to brew to dryness, to get the target ABV, add sugar for required sweetness. Bottle, and in a few days, pasteurize to stop the yeast eating all the sugar.
Alternatively, you can also cool to fridge temps to stop the conversion, but if they warm up, the yeast will go back to work.
Easy to do with kegging; simple potassium sorbate (wine brew chemical) will kill the yeast. Brew to dryness, kill the yeast, add sugar to sweeten to taste, and keg to carb.
Natural carbing is PITA for this idea. Some "soda" brewers have had success carbing, then pasteurizing the bottle to stop fermentation under pressure but still using sugar for sweetness. There's a post on here somewhere about that, using a canning pressure cooker (explosion container in case of bottle bombs) and heating the bottle into the 150+ range to kill the yeasties.
So, it may be possible to brew to dryness, to get the target ABV, add sugar for required sweetness. Bottle, and in a few days, pasteurize to stop the yeast eating all the sugar.
Alternatively, you can also cool to fridge temps to stop the conversion, but if they warm up, the yeast will go back to work.
lunchbox
Well-Known Member
Can you use a yeast stabilizer like in wine?
HotbreakHotel
Well-Known Member
I made hard root beer, and people liked it. I used generous amounts of lactose and then backsweetened with xylitol.
The basic recipe was half wheat/pale dry malt extract and half honey. I steeped some special B and some carafa III. I added a smidgen of molasses to the boil and a little vanilla at flameout. For the water I used tea brewed from sassafrass roots I dug from my yard. I used fuggle hops to get 24 IBU's.
I used US-05, which easily fermented out to 10% abv. When this beer (braggot?) was young it tasted vile but then it aged very nicely. I think if I had not been so aggressive with the abv it would have tasted good sooner.
The basic recipe was half wheat/pale dry malt extract and half honey. I steeped some special B and some carafa III. I added a smidgen of molasses to the boil and a little vanilla at flameout. For the water I used tea brewed from sassafrass roots I dug from my yard. I used fuggle hops to get 24 IBU's.
I used US-05, which easily fermented out to 10% abv. When this beer (braggot?) was young it tasted vile but then it aged very nicely. I think if I had not been so aggressive with the abv it would have tasted good sooner.
OP
OP
Gtrfrk182
Well-Known Member
sounds pretty good! im pretty new to the whole process so you think you could give us a little more detailed recipe? like the amount of each and what for how long? also maybe lower abv, like 5% ish?
thanks!
thanks!
howabouttheiris
Well-Known Member
I did this....
Fermented 3.5kg of dextrose in 20l with Champagne Yeast (L-1118)
Racked to secondary
Used wine accelerator kit with clarifier/stabilizer/etc to clarify
Siphon to keg
Add 1 vial of root beer soda extract (intended to make 20l)
Add 4 cups of Splenda
Force carb
Had no complaints. The rootbeer flavor came thru very well. The "booze water" was not as clean as distilled, but using the wine chemicals did do a fairly good job of removing any remaining off color/taste/smell.
A bit red-neck, but it was really good.
Fermented 3.5kg of dextrose in 20l with Champagne Yeast (L-1118)
Racked to secondary
Used wine accelerator kit with clarifier/stabilizer/etc to clarify
Siphon to keg
Add 1 vial of root beer soda extract (intended to make 20l)
Add 4 cups of Splenda
Force carb
Had no complaints. The rootbeer flavor came thru very well. The "booze water" was not as clean as distilled, but using the wine chemicals did do a fairly good job of removing any remaining off color/taste/smell.
A bit red-neck, but it was really good.
Frank_The_Magic_Hobo
Member
Be careful, commercial makers stopped using sassafras because it contains carcinogens (chemicals known to cause cancer).
Modern rootbeer uses mostly wintergreen, sometimes with some juniper thrown in.
johnnyspade
Well-Known Member
I tried once, as I make root beer from time to time, but the problem I had was with sweetening it. I'm not a fan of back sweeteners so it just didn't taste right.
I can tell you how to make a Dr. Pepper that will give you a buzz. I'm remembering back to college days for this one. Fill a pint glass 3/5 full of a fizzy beer and drop in a shot glass full of Amaretto. Chug what starts to foam up ... quickly.
I can tell you how to make a Dr. Pepper that will give you a buzz. I'm remembering back to college days for this one. Fill a pint glass 3/5 full of a fizzy beer and drop in a shot glass full of Amaretto. Chug what starts to foam up ... quickly.
