Off Topic (Soda Pop)

[dhaas66]

My son just approached me and asked if we can make root beer?

I stuttered and said I would find out.

Root beer being non alchoholic...

Can you guys and gals direct me to some infor..

Thanks..

 

[NYeric]

Your LHBS will have Root Beer extract. To this sugar and water are added, with some yeast. You can do it right in 2 liter soda bottles.

 

[2nd Street Brewery]

Most all HBS have soda mixes. It's as easy as boiling sugar and water then adding the flavoring, cooling and add the yeast then bottle. A box of the flavoring makes about 4gals. I'm drinking a Sasperilla I made back around Christmas.

 

[dhaas66]

I did see some with Champaine yeast? Does this have alchohol in it?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

If all you do is carbonate with yeast, the alcohol content is pretty negligible (easily less than 1% ABV). Usually you crash cool the mixture as soon as it is carbonated to your liking, that way the yeast will go dormant.

Does anyone have any homemade (non-extract) soda recipes?

 

[NYeric]

According to the stuff I have it says ~Makes No Alchohol~Just Natural Co2

 

[Yuri_Rage]

According to the stuff I have it says ~Makes No Alchohol~Just Natural Co2

That's a white lie. If it's yeast, it will produce alcohol. It makes no significant alcohol.

 

[the_bird]

I'm changing the title of this thread to try and get some more interest in the topic. One of the reasons I was able to convince SWMBO that she should let me start kegging was that we'd be able to make some fairly natural, no-high-fructose-corn-syrup soda, ideally some stuff that's not as sickly sweet as what's in the store. I've promised her one cornie will be dedicated to pop.

So, anybody have any experience here they can share?

 

[olllllo]

If you keg, Ginger Ale is fairly easy. Boil real Ginger, Lemon and and Brown sugar to make a syrup. You can wing it.

You can adult them up in a Moscow Mule. See my siggy.

Carb it all up @ 30+psi

 

[david_42]

I've made birch beer & root beer using the extracts. I like about 1/3 the normal amount of sugar in my sodas and my GI tract does not like HFCS!

Since you keg, you can use campden tablets to kill the yeast and force carb. This is the safe route and if you start with cold water or water & ice cubes, it's ready to drink in an hour or so. Just shake it hard. For more kid participation, lay the keg down on a piece of broom handle and your son can rock it.

Or carbonate naturally and chill. It's a good idea to get a pressure gage in the latter case, so you know when it hits 30 psi.

If you carbonate naturally, the ABV will be 0.25-0.5%, which qualifies as non-alcoholic (except maybe in Utah). And any keg used for soda will need new o-rings and maybe poppet valves before using with beer.

I buy concentrates these days and just maintain a keg of soda water.

 

[Dude]

I'm changing the title of this thread to try and get some more interest in the topic. One of the reasons I was able to convince SWMBO that she should let me start kegging was that we'd be able to make some fairly natural, no-high-fructose-corn-syrup soda, ideally some stuff that's not as sickly sweet as what's in the store. I've promised her one cornie will be dedicated to pop.

So, anybody have any experience here they can share?

One thing about soda...whether you dedicate a keg to it or not....dedicate a beer line as well. You can't go back and forth--the soda will completely flavor the beer line as well--FOREVER.

I did a Sprecher Cream Soda extract last summer when my kids were with us. They had a blast force carbing it. They rolled a keg back and forth across the kitchen floor for about 2 hours. LOL.

 

[NYeric]

When my wife was a kid, her dad decided to run koolaid through in addition to tapped beer in his home made kegerator...Just like soda and lots more flavors

 

[the_bird]

I am planning on having one "soda only" keg, with a dedicated cobra tap.

David, do you do anything special with your soda water? I drink a ton of seltzer, it would be cost effective for me to make that, as well. You add any flavorings or anything to it?

I'm assuming that if I'm force-carbing soda/soda water, I want a higher PSI; how much higher?

 

[david_42]

30 psi is good, some people like 35. Nothing special on the soda water. I actually have two kegs, one carbonating and one in the kegger. I buy soda concentrates from sodaclub (when their freaking site works!). Half a capful in a pint (1:23). I've also made concentrates from extracts just by adding sugar and storing it in the refer.

 

[Jetsers]

I'm changing the title of this thread to try and get some more interest in the topic. One of the reasons I was able to convince SWMBO that she should let me start kegging was that we'd be able to make some fairly natural, no-high-fructose-corn-syrup soda, ideally some stuff that's not as sickly sweet as what's in the store. I've promised her one cornie will be dedicated to pop.

So, anybody have any experience here they can share?

Ok, this is my strange tale of making a most refreshing sugar free soda, for the second tap in my kegerator for those that don't drink beer.

your choice of sweetener, I have used liquid sweet n low, (yuk) and then I used powdered spelnda ( much better )

I used peppermint extract, the kind you can find at the grocery store. ( I used 1/4th of the extract bottle the second time, the first itme I used 1/2 and it was a bit to strong.)

then with water mixed it all up well, ( if using powdered sweetener, dissolve it on the stove top in some water, then put in the keg and fill it up.

put it in the kegerator, let cool, then add the Co2, shake well and keep it going till it is carbonated as much as you like.

and there you go, Raldaths, sugar free mint soda, great for hot hot days.

oh btw i like the psi to be around 20 for soda, not nearly as high as some other people.

 

[dhaas66]

Are the levels save for children or should I be whipped for even thinking... ?

I would really think that any alchohol would be bad..

Thoughts?

 

[the_bird]

If you keg, Ginger Ale is fairly easy. Boil real Ginger, Lemon and and Brown sugar to make a syrup. You can wing it.

You can adult them up in a Moscow Mule. See my siggy.

Carb it all up @ 30+psi

Can you give me any sense of quantities? This sounds like it would be real tasty, and not have to be overly-sweet to be really good.

 

[olllllo]

Can you give me any sense of quantities? This sounds like it would be real tasty, and not have to be overly-sweet to be really good.

I really did it all by taste. I think I had 3 lemons and a large ginger root and planned on a 2.5 gallon boil. I added the sugar to err on the sweet side knowing that I could top off to 5 gallons if necessary.

You should know that 5 gallons is alot of soda.

 

[z987k]

Since you keg, you can use campden tablets to kill the yeast and force carb.

Actually since he's force carbing he could use no yeast.

 

[david_42]

I might add, you will need 12-15 feet of 3/16th line for the soda tap, otherwise it will be foamy & flat.

[Any time you don't want fermentation, using campden tablets is a precaution against wild yeasts]

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I really did it all by taste. I think I had 3 lemons and a large ginger root and planned on a 2.5 gallon boil. I added the sugar to err on the sweet side knowing that I could top off to 5 gallons if necessary.

You should know that 5 gallons is alot of soda.

I just made a very small version of this recipe, and it's fantastic. I'd like to improve upon it - perhaps a bit more ginger and clove flavor would be nice. I may even try scaling it up to several gallons!

Here's the recipe:

1 quart water
1/2 cup sugar
1 chunk of ginger root (~1.25" cube), washed
1/2 lemon, washed
1 whole clove
1-1/2 Tbsp vanilla syrup (the kind you'd use to flavor gourmet coffees)

Put the lemon (peel, seeds, and all), ginger root (unpeeled), and clove into the food processor and pulverize them. Add the sugar, and about 1/2 cup of water to the food processor, and combine well. Pour the slurry into a small sauce pan, add another 1/2 cup of water, and bring to ~180 degrees (just shy of a boil). Steep for 10 minutes. Pour the mixture through a small cheesecloth lined colander full of ice cubes to cool it and strain the pulp. Add the vanilla syrup, top up to 1 quart with ice cold water, and force carbonate.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Are the levels save for children or should I be whipped for even thinking... ?

I would really think that any alchohol would be bad..

Thoughts?

Sorry, didn't see this before. The average dose of cough syrup contains much more alcohol than would be produced in carbonating soda.

 

[dhaas66]

Thanks...

My son will be really happy...

 

[z987k]

Ok, I am thinking I'm going to make some soda, but I have 2 questions.

1, What yeast should I use to carb?
2, Can I bottle these in beer bottles and store at room temp? I would think not since the yeast would start eating all of that sugar and I'd have a lot of shrapnel flying around the room, not to mention that if they didn't explode wouldn't the sugar all go to alcohol? Should I just get some 2 liter soda bottles, drink it and then put my stuff in there so they will fit in the fridge?

 

[freyguy]

I've tried the "Old Fashon" brand and thought the root beer was ok, but alot of people didn't like it because it wasn't like the new plain jane root beers. I also had their ginger ale extract and it was pretty bad. I'll be ordering some online to try. The carbonator cap helps out alot now. Carbing up a 2L is much easer than bottle carbing.

If you want to use glass bottles for natural carb, just do one bottle in plastic. As soon as the plastic bottle gets very hard, throw them all in the fridge. I did a whole batch (4gal) of rootbeer in PET bottles and it took them about 3 weeks before they carbed up. Sometimes you read that 3 days to a week should be enough though, so check them alot.

 

[DeathBrewer]

*bump* been looking for some more interesting root beer recipes and found the following:

PM Recipe

RootBeerWorld.com

Home Brewer's Digest

Good Lookin Recipe

I'm actually looking for a lightly alcoholic root beer, myself. gonna start experimenting soon...