Help! Making root beer for the first time...

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Jensen · #1 Post by **Jensen** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 12:15 am

I am making some root beer this weekend for the kids at a family party. Already made a couple of kegs (sans the root) for the big kids. I picked up a little bottle of extract (Homebrew brand, the little brown and yellow package you see everywhere, says it makes 4 gallons) from Bacchus & Barleycorn. I am going to keg and force carbonate at this stage. Should I boil all four gallons and sugar and extract and then dump into keg and force carbonate? Any ideas on the best type of sugar to use? Any helpful hints are gladly appreciated. I have never done this before and would hate to recreate the wheel all over again.

Thanks

Snowman · #2 Post by **Snowman** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:20 am

No experience with root beer from extract but from my reading I think it's very straightforward as you discribed. I don't however think boiling the whole 4 gallons is required just enough say a gallon of it to get the regular table sugar into solution.
I have a book on making homemade rootbeer and many other nonalcoholic drinks but again haven't taken the time to make any yet. I can tell you that you might be a little shocked to see the color of "white" table sugar when disolved in water...Nasty looking stuff! Best of luck.

Jarrell

Greenblood · #3 Post by **Greenblood** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 8:43 am

Hey Jeff,
I made some of this not too far back and it came out pretty good, but realy strong. I would recommend making 5 gal with it. Or make 4, taste it before carbonating, and add water if needed. I used turbinado sugar, and was pleased with the results. You can also add a little honey. I plan on making some more soon using a blend of turbinado sugar, muscavado sugar, and buckwheat honey. Mmmmmmm! I did not boil anything. I just heated a gallon or two of water enough to disolve the sugars, then added the rest of the watter to the keg.

Cheers!

John

philip · #4 Post by **philip** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 10:12 am

You also might want to consider not using the full amount of sugar up front. I usually put in about 75% of the amount called for and then after everything is mixed up adjust the sugar level to taste. To my taste buds the recommended amount of sugar is high.

The sugar blend sounds good, I may have to try that next time.

cyburai · #5 Post by **cyburai** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 11:09 am

Sort of on topic; I just picked up some real grape juice from Costco (about 3.5 gals) added a gallon of water to thin it a bit, hit it with the carb and viola! almost 5 gals of grape pop for the kids..

Tried this with concentrate also, and it worked out great. Thanks to John M for giving me some pointers on this.

I also tried it with crystal light lemonade, it worked pretty well. I think the combination of co2 and lemon made it a bit to acidic, something to remember for next time.

I haven't boiled anything yet. I figure the co2 is going to inhibit anything from growing. I still start with a clean sanitized keg.

Greenblood · #6 Post by **Greenblood** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 12:07 pm

Carbed up juices are still one of my favorite summer treats. They are an awesome soda replacement! As Sean mentioned, you should deffinately dillute them frist. Peach Juicy Juice is still my favorite.

John

Snowman · #7 Post by **Snowman** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 2:51 pm

What a fantastic ides...what type of shelf life do you get from a natural juice when it's carbed up?
Kinda on the subject in an adult verison, Anyone ever make somethink like Mikes Hard Lemonaid? I need to crank somethinf like that out for the 4th...Suggestions please. Sorry to hi-jack the thread send me a PM if you have advice.

Thanks!

Jensen · #8 Post by **Jensen** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:29 pm

Many thanks for all the suggestions. I think a variety of sugar and honey with just enough water heated to get into solution. All sanitized of course. Looks like fun, I?ll be sure to let you all know how it turns out.

Jeff

Greenblood · #9 Post by **Greenblood** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 9:08 am

Snowman wrote:What a fantastic ides...what type of shelf life do you get from a natural juice when it's carbed up?
Kinda on the subject in an adult verison, Anyone ever make somethink like Mikes Hard Lemonaid? I need to crank somethinf like that out for the 4th...Suggestions please. Sorry to hi-jack the thread send me a PM if you have advice.

Thanks!

Hard Lemonade Recipe from Gotmead.com

http://www.gotmead.com/component/option ... pic,1066.0

I have not tried making this myself, but I have heard good things. You could also try just mixing up a hard lemonade drink with rum or vodka and lemonade, and just throw it in a keg and carb up.

Cheers!

John

Jensen · #10 Post by **Jensen** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 1:33 am

Just wanted to let you know the root beer turned out fine. I replaced one cup of sugar for one cup of honey from what the directions said. Next time I?ll use more honey and maybe an extra cup too. The kids all loved it-- said maybe it could be a little sweeter (I thought it was just fine.) About force carbonation, it ain?t like beer, there ain?t no carbonation in the product whatsoever at the start when you put it in the keg. Left it in for 3 days at 25 PSI just sitting in the fridge. Not up to soda pop standards. Three hours before the party I turned the pressure up to 40 psi, and every time I walked by (about 20 times) I shook the hell out of it! Turned out fine (actually bigger bubbles than micro-fine). Next time I will start a WEEK early with the pressure set to 40 psi and shake casually at my leisure. I don?t think you can over carbonate root beer?meaning enough time to build micro bubbles. Thanks for all the responses. Ginger ale is next on the list, but this one is just for me, and anyone who might stop by?.