Monday, February 4, 2013

Root Beer

My son has liked to drink root beer for some time.  Thinking back, I cannot pinpoint when he developed an interest in it, other than his love for soda of all types (and how it makes him burp).  The interest in root beer is reinforced, probably, by seeing the amount of time I spend with the homebrewing hobby, and the fact that giving the kids soda is a relatively rare occurrence at our house.  So, when root beer was first offered at one of our local brewing companies, Beer Hound Brewery, my son's immediate question was "Dad, when can we make some?"

Admittedly, I was not immediately supportive of the idea.  The most significant reason was related to space in the kegerator, as my son imagined having a tap for root beer, just like they do at the brewery.  This would make managing beer production more difficult.  Additionally, root beer's aroma has an incredible ability to permeate plastic hoses and gaskets and I have even heard stories of the aroma migrating through shared CO2 lines to alter kegs of beer nearby.  This would require separate gas lines and taps in the kegerator, making the idea even less appealing.    Finally, there was the problem of having 5 gallons of soda on hand and the kids asking for it all the time and all of the parenting headaches this would cause.  But, my son prevailed on me and I think I figured a way around all of those issues.

The root beer soda extract I purchased from my local homebrewing store has a recipe to make just a gallon of soda at a time.  It recommended mixing a tablespoon of extract along with 2 cups of sugar and a gallon of water.  This solution is stirred until the sugar is dissolved and 1/8 teaspoon of brewers yeast is added to the mixture (a fraction of a package).  The root beer is then split into two separate 2-liter soda bottles that have been cleaned and sanitized.  The bottles are left at room temperature to bottle condition for a week or so, until the plastic is firm with carbonation, then they are kept in the fridge until consumed.  Squeezing the plastic bottles gives an excellent gauge of carbonation and prevents over-carbonation into bottle bombs, a big problem with homemade soda.  The goal is just a tiny bit of fermentation to carbonate, but to leave almost all of the sugar remaining.  If left to its own devices, the yeast would ferment until all the sugar is gone, massively over-carbonating the beverage and making glass bottles very dangerous to handle.

We are still waiting for the bottles to firm up before putting them in the fridge, but they are almost there now. If the experiment proves tasty, I am sure we will try other homemade sodas, or even trying to make root beer out of actual roots.  A friend of mine at work has done that and is willing to loan me a few books that his son and he used to research root beer, its history, and manufacture.  The sky is the limit and I can certainly say we have had fun so far.

Let us know if you have ever made soda at home or have any advice on the subject.

Cheers,

TW

3 comments:

  1. Dawson and I tried the kit that you are doing with your son. It was a lot of fun. He was super excited to have root beer that he made! Results were...ok...He didn't care though. The best part was that he made it, just like daddy, and getting to share it with his grandparents made it even more fun.
    Keep me posted how it turns out. I might try using a little bit more of the extract next time.

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  2. Jeff,

    We just put the bottles in the fridge this morning as they seemed hard enough for solid carbonation. I am sure we will try it tomorrow after they are cold and I will report back. Thanks for leaving a comment.

    Cheers,

    TW

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  3. The root beer has been exceptionally flat so far. I may not have ratchetted down the plastic bottle caps enough. I have a carbonator cap that has not been used in some time. I am going to give that a try and see if that might be the way to go, instead of trying to do bottle conditioning.

    TW

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