Dad Goes to Nottingham

[PerryS]

Sorry if this has been done before.

Recently, my lovely wife bought a half-case of Dad's root beer. My son was drinking a bottle, and I asked for a sip. Yow! The words "cloying" and "over-carbonated" came to mind.

OK. We can fix this. I'm a brewer. Hold my beer and watch this.


I survey the yeast farm in the keezer and find my least-aggressive yeast. Forget the Trappist Hi-Gravity. Ditto Rogue Pac-Man. Irish Ale or Notty? Not sure. Anything less-sweet would be better. Let's try Notty.

Blorp about 100ml Notty into a 1-gal jug. Probably over-pitched. Pour five 12-oz bottles of Dad's into the jug. Purge with CO2, just because I can. Airlock. Swirl out all over-carbonation. OG=1.045. Expecting FG=1.008...1012, 4.5%ABV. The Notty was totally cold, so I expect a two-day lag. C'est la vie.

Yeah, I know it's mostly hi-fructose corn syrup, but this is the only way I know to make it palatable.

'way back in high school, a girl friend (not a "girlfriend") called this "rooty beer". We'll see.

 

[PerryS]

Oh frack. The ingredients include sodium benzoate, as well as "pure cane sugar"' (sucrose). My faith in yeast stands firm, especially the 100ml+ blorp of Nottingham added to this heinous brew.

 

[PerryS]

+2hrs. Lag done. Game on. Advantage: Nottingham.

 

[ZebulonBrewer]

This is basically malt liquor with root beer extract added to it. I like the stuff, but it is crazy sweet. I'm not sure what you hope to accomplish with this, but I'm interested to find out.

 

[day_trippr]

Presumably, the OP is employing yeast to knock that sweetness down.

I would have expected Sodium Benzoate to have inhibited yeast replication but apparently the wee beasties have plowed right through.

Cheers! ("Go beasties!" )

 

[PerryS]

Presumably, the OP is employing yeast to knock that sweetness down.

Yes, that's the objective. That, and add a bit of ethanol.

SG=1.044. Not looking good for Team Notty. Team Dad's Benzoate Defense appears to be holding. However, all is not lost. Several fermentation sites have popped up, indicating possible holes that could be exploited by Team Notty before the game is over. The specific gravity reading had a lot of carbonation, indicating that Team Notty may yet prevail.

That's all for now, sports fans. Yeast move at their own primordial pace. Will update tomorrow.

 

[PerryS]

SG=1.042 - 3 points in 5 days. I'm calling it a bust. Sodium Benzoate is a really good preservative.

After their devastating loss, Team Notty is considering filing formal doping charges.