Crazy8
Well-Known Member
:rockin: That is great news. Im glad everyone enjoyed it and that it all worked out despite your ninja like friends antics...lol Well you now know for sure that you have a solid recipe to build from.
GeorgiaBulldawg said:Hello! I'm interested in making this, but I have a couple questions about the bottling. I've read a lot about exploding bottles with root beer; is this a risk during the 3 days at room temperature, and is there a chance of it blowing up once in the fridge? If the root beer returns to room temp after a few weeks in the fridge, will the yeast continue carbonating?
Thanks for sharing your recipe! I'm excited to try it.
Never bottle with only glass unless you have a flip-top or don't mind recapping once a day to check carbonation. Always have one plastic bottle as a tester and understand that even when you throw them into the fridge the yeast will continue to propagate, producing CO2 and alcohol, until the temp of solution is cold enough for the yeast to flocculate (drop out of solution and compact on the bottom). I've had batches carb up in 8 hours or 72 hours. There's too much risk of bombs in following a guideline of 1 day, 2 days, or 3 days. Always test once a day, always.
Yeast will not die until a looooong period of time has passed. Many months could go by. If you bring it back to temp it will start up it's sugar eating producing CO2.
Thanks for the info guys. I have heard about pasteurizing home brewed soda, but I think I'll just stick with the plastic bottles the first time around. What temps do you use to pasteurize? I've read 190 for 10 minutes, and 160 for 20 minutes. It seems like it's best to do it at as low a temperature as possible to avoid a bottle bursting.
Crazy8 said:Recently I tried pasteurization and it worked amazingly. Once in the fridge the yeast go kind of dormant, but not completely. Pasteurization though will kill the yeast. So if you pasteurize, then you can get the carbonation up to the desired amount, pasteurize, and then you will always have root beer on hand and no bottle bombs.
I haven't searched your threads yet but if you could outline your process I would like to try it too. Does it reduce carbonation? Did you notice a clearly flocculated bottle after a certain period of time at fridge temps. Boil in irish moss ever?
You put the yeast in after bottling? Wouldn't it be easier to put the yeast in the pot right before bottling so you can measure accurately and have a consistent amount of yeast in each bottle?
Do you still use the same method of brewing root beer as you mentioned in this thread? There you say to put the yeast into the pot first, then pour into bottles.
Yeah. I added the yeast to the pot in my batch, and it carbed all the bottles pretty evenly, but I guess I just got lucky. On my next batch I'll add it to the bottles instead.
I'm guessing you just put the yeast in and shake the bottles for a few seconds? How long should it take to be sure it has all dissolved?
Crazy8 said:Flocculation? No I have not noticed anything like that after pasteurizing.
Has anyone here kegged and forced carb this recipe instead of using yeast ? I'm thinking of using gelatin to clarify in a carboy then rack to keg and then force carb.
@Crazy8- how much starsan would you use for a 16.9oz bottle? If I need 1oz per 5gal, then I need 0.025oz, or 0.15tsp (or less than 1/4tsp). Do I just measure half way of a 1/4tsp per bottle and fill the rest with water? It seems like it would be hard to get a spray bottle to coat the inside of the bottles.
Well I don't really know anything like that. I was using the summer/winter info as if you were harvisting it yourself. I always order from Mountain Rose Herbs or Herbco.comI did buy my sassafras online, but the guy digs it up fresh. If I order it in the summer, it will be dug up in the summer. Where do you order it that you know it will be dug up in the winter?
^Its REALLY good stuff!
My only problem has been hunting down sassafras bark. It's unavialable everywhere including amazon right now, everone's out. I just bought 2lbs of fresh dug/cut sassafras on ebay... Anyone have experience with the fresh root? How much to use?
Thanks!
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