Root Beer Milk Stout

[NYShooterGuy]

The wife really likes Not Your Father's Root Beer. I don't really care for it. I seem to hear this a lot when it comes to this style of beer. It's been popular for last couple of months with the females, but I can’t imagine drinking more than one in a sitting.

This homebrewer doesn't drink root beer, let alone Not Your Father's Root Beer, however the SWMBO really does enjoy both. I purchased a clone kit of Not Your Father's Root Beer from Northern Brewer appropriately named Bastard Stepson. A cream stout recipe with a packet of “sweetener” and root beer extract to be added into the secondary according to their instructions. I have heard complaints that the root beer extract will contaminate any plastic that is in contact with it and any subsequent patches will then have the root beer flavor leeched into them. I purchased this recipe kit along with a bottling bucket, spigot, and bottling cane to dedicate this equipment for root beer only recipes that may potentially leave this root beer flavor adhered to the equipment. I will use a permanent marker to write big capital letters “RB” on the equipment so as not to confuse it with any others.

My question is if the ingredients call for the root beer and sweetener to be added into the secondary approximately one week before bottling, could that just be added at bottling time? It's not that I don't want to spend another $20 on a secondary fermentor in order to add these ingredients, but I just don't understand why extract and sweetener need a week in the secondary. Thank you for any help with this concern.

 

[dmcman73]

You really don't need to secondary (racking it to another vessel). If you're really into doing a secondary then, fermenting in the primary in your standard equipment should be fine then rack into the dedicated pail you got for the Root beer since your adding the root beer and flavoring then, not in primary.

 

[NYShooterGuy]

You really don't need to secondary (racking it to another vessel). If you're really into doing a secondary then, fermenting in the primary in your standard equipment should be fine then rack into the dedicated pail you got for the Root beer since your adding the root beer and flavoring then, not in primary.

My concern wasn't about using a secondary, it was about when to add the root beer extract due to concerns of flavor leeching into the plastic.

Can I get away with adding the root beer extract to the bottling bucket only, or do I been to add it several days prior to the fermenter?

 

[DurtyChemist]

I think you'd be fine putting it in before bottling just like any fruit flavor extract.