New Root Beer Batch -- YEASTY

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KingPin

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Greetings, This is my first post here - I've been perusing for a while and have found lots of wonderful information and helpfulness. I'm hoping someone might be able to give me a hand.

I made a batch of rootbeer on Saturday morning (23gal / 5L) using 4.4LBS sugar, water, malto dextrin, brewers yeast, and ROYAL syrup. I bottled this into PETN plastic bottles and capped them. I left them to sit on my counter for about a day and a half. After that I've taken them to the basement (not in cold storage).

As of last night my bottles are still not feeling extremely firm; I cracked my test bottle and it smells very yeasty and tastes like yeasty root beer (malt root beer maybe).

I'm not sure if i just need to wait longer or perhaps I wrecked the batch? any ideas would be helpful.

King

:confused:
 
Generally with naturally carbonating soda, you leave them at room temp until the plastic bottle is hard. Then you move it into a fridge in the 30s or so. This will make the yeast go dormant and stop working. It can take a few days for ALL the yeast to drop out and not taste/smell yeasty.

You can move the bottles back to a warmer location until they are firm, or leave it in the basement. Just keep and eye on them. Once they are firm stick em in the fridge and wait a few days.
 
Thanks for the reply.
So you think I should be okay if I put them into a warmer place for a little while? Perhaps the basement was just a little too chilly for the yeast?
 
I like to make a few extra bottles so I can Taoist them every few days to see how the carb is coming along. I make a lot of root beer and it tends to happen that just because the bottle is hard its not crabbed up all the way. But I will define toy take at least 3-4 day. And yes try to keep them warm, around 70 if you can. I like putting them in the cases and then inside a blah garbage bag, it keeps the lite in and the temp... Also will contain the mess I case the bottles explode. Don't worry I've made 100's of bottles and have never had one blow up. But still better safe than sorry.
 
Well just over a week later and my bottles are quite firm -- as in I wouldnt like to leave them out for much longer. I chilled a bottle down in the freezer (2 hours) then in the fridge for 2 days......It was still very yeasty but also very carbonated.

There appears to be no head and very little mouth and an overwhelming taste of yeast. I did use brewers yeast and this could be my problem.

I wonder tho, because this is my first batch if i'm expecting too much out of my root beer. Am I to expect a yeasty like taste (brew) or should I have a richer creamier flavor closer to what i'd expect out of forced carbonation or a kegged root beer?

Any ideas would be helpful (I know you cant taste or smell it so.....i'll do what i can to explain).

Thanks,
King
 
Yea you gotta play with it. I have mad I bunch off root beer and still am looking for the rite balance. It is going to have a yeasty taste as long as u use yeast to carb it up. I person
Y like the shuttle yeast flavor to it. Try using an ale yeast to carb less or a harsh flavor
 
Thanks - I do not mind the yeasty flavor but this stuff tastes almost like drinking soda that has had bread dough soaking in it.......I think i will try again but the next batch is going to use a champagne yeast. From what I've read champagne yeast yields quite a bit less to the yeast flavor but carbs up real quick.

thanks again for all the support and feedback.
 
Thanks - I do not mind the yeasty flavor but this stuff tastes almost like drinking soda that has had bread dough soaking in it.......I think i will try again but the next batch is going to use a champagne yeast. From what I've read champagne yeast yields quite a bit less to the yeast flavor but carbs up real quick.

thanks again for all the support and feedback.

Make sure you don't use a ton of yeast- using more than about 1 teaspoon of yeast may keep you a very yeasty tasting soda.

I use about 1 teaspoon of yeast for 5 gallons of root beer. Champagne yeast is perfect- very neutral and doesn't taste yeasty.
 
Make sure you don't use a ton of yeast- using more than about 1 teaspoon of yeast may keep you a very yeasty tasting soda.

I use about 1 teaspoon of yeast for 5 gallons of root beer. Champagne yeast is perfect- very neutral and doesn't taste yeasty.

Thanks for this!! I may have used a bit more than I think (yeast). I will be playing a little bit with my next batch. Champagne yeast is a definite yes for the next batch.

Some other Ideas i'm playing with are:
use 1.5 times as much root beer flavoring (syrup)
use 4lbs white sugare
use .5lbs brown sugare
add some vanilla
dont use malto-dex


thats about it -- Any other info would be helpful. YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING! :fro:
 
So i figured out my issue and its a bit of a DERP on my side.....apparently the U.S has 2 different gallon measurements (3.84 and something else). I used the something else which caused my root beer to be flat (watered down) and lacking the root beer taste and not really carbing that well with the mix I put in.

I will be dumping my current batch and re-pitching this weekend with new supplies and a different measurement.
1.1LBS of sugar or 3.8L for 4 gallons so
3.3LBS of Sugar to 11.5 L of water +-
switching to champagne yeast in plastic bottles
and extract for 5 gallons + 1/2 again as much (more kick).

This should be about 11/12 % sugar with a nice rooty kick meaning my kids should like it as much as I do.

any suggestions I'm pretty open here.
 
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