Root Beer Soda

If you have upgraded your yeast on a beer kit this is a good way to use the dry yeast packet that comes in the box.

I had some 24 oz PET bottles around the house for recycling and I thought I would try to sanitize them and make a gallon of root beer using some bakers yeast I had.

My guess was that the smaller bottles allowed the yeast to eat all the sugar very quickly. The end result was over carbonation and no sweet taste (almost like diet soda). I will try this again since Root Beer is one of my favorites and next Summer I want to have home made root beer with home made ice cream for my nieces.

My kids love this stuff. I generally make it in 2 gallon batches using about 2/3rds the recommended sugar and about 1/3 bottle of extract. I use the minimum amount of yeast, bottle it and let it sit in the basement for about 4 days. Perfect! Oh, and since I have quite a few 'other' bottles laying around, I use special caps so the kids (and adults) know what they are getting. :)

I do not recommend this. It tastes like the root beer flavored hard candy. I'm about to poor my down the drain. I figure I'll give it a week or so first and see if it tastes any better.

I make rootbeer in kegs by force carbonization (Not by fermentation) its more expensive to get started but results are much more consistant. This is one of 3 types of extract I have used so far it is a good product.

-Using a marked bucket (like this one: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/bottling-bucket-with-spigot.html) mark off the 3 1/2 gallon mark
-Measure 3 gallons of water into the bucket.
-Add 5 1/2 cups sugar.
-Fill with water to the 3 1/2 gallon mark & stir.
-Keg as you normally would and force-carbonate.

I'm no expert, but when I made it this way the very first time (and every time since) and watched those over 50 close their eyes and smile, then tell me "THIS is the root beer I remember" I think I did something right!

I made this a few times for my kids and they love it. Once we were making a batch and we set them next to a window duing an eclipse and the kids had fun pretending it had magically powers.

This stuff was fun and easy to make. Made 1 gallon batches and bottled in PET bottles. Takes 2 weeks to carbonate. Tasted very good but wished it had more of a head. Maybe kegging comes out better.

Its good. Better than Zatarans that has way too much -wintergreen-mint type flavor. This is a good one but I always use light brown sugar instead of cane, then use 1 1/2 times more extract than called for. I'd say make only 3 gallons out of the mix, and still use all the sugar. Ultimately, I think Gnome has a better flavor, but I will use this again as well for change of pace.

Read the directions before you start, I forgot to add sugar DOH! it smelled fantastic but tasted like club soda. I ordered another batch so I could try and do it right the second time. I will update when it's done.