Making root beer is simple.  Just mix water, sugar, and root beer flavoring.  However, the resulting liquid will be flat (have no carbonation).  Getting carbonation into root beer & soda is the difficult part.  So, to better understand the problem, here is a brief explanation of how carbonation works:

You can introduce carbonation into a liquid (water, beer, root beer, etc.) by chilling it, applying carbon dioxide (CO2) gas under pressure, and forcing the CO2 to dissolve in the liquid.  This is called “forced carbonation.”  If you have a kegging system, this is very easy to do.  You mix the root beer flavor or soda flavoring, sugar, and water, chill the keg, and force-carbonate by rocking or shaking the keg under about 30 lbs. of pressure until you reach the desired carbonation level.  You can also do this with “soda siphons” marketed for making your own carbonated water at home using small CO2 cartridges.

Natural carbonation is a process where the action of yeast “eating” sugars produces CO2 (and alcohol).  Bread rises because the yeast creates CO2 bubbles in the dough. Beer is carbonated in the same way.  Bread contains only enough sugar for the yeast to make the dough rise the proper amount.  The yeast uses up almost all the sugar in beer, producing a lot of alcohol and CO2 (which is allowed to escape).  When beer is carbonated by homebrewers in the bottle (called bottle conditioning), all of the initial sugars have been used up, and the beer is flat, so a tiny bit more sugar is added - just enough to cause the correct amount of CO2 to be formed in the bottle.  Since the bottle is now capped, the CO2 cannot escape and carbonates the beer.

Now on to root beer & soda problems: If you can’t force carbonate the root beer (with a kegging system or soda siphon), then you’ll need to carbonate the root beer or soda in the bottle.  The problem lies in the fact that we want a lot of sugar to remain in the root beer & soda (most of it).  But left to its own devices, the yeast will eat all the sugar.  This will not only take the sweetness out of the root beer or soda but also create an alcoholic beverage and lots of CO2.  If you put the normal amount of sugar in your root beer or soda, add yeast, bottle it, and then keep the bottles warm so the yeast can eat all the sugar, enough pressure will build up inside the bottle until it eventually explodes.  These bottle grenades are at the least extremely messy but could cause serious bodily injury and even death.

So how do we solve the problem?  The good news is that standard ale yeast stops working at cold temperatures.  So, we let the bottles sit at room temperature for a day or two to let the yeast eat some of the sugar and carbonate the root beer or soda, then we chill the bottles to 45^oF or lower to stop the yeast.  Note that some root beer or soda instructions call for Champagne yeast.  This is a holdover from the days in which dry ale yeast didn’t exist.  The problem is that Champagne yeast still works at low temperatures.  So, the trick is to use ale yeast.  This works fine, but you need enough refrigerator space to store all the 

bottles, and if you make a five-gallon batch, that’s 53 twelve-ounce bottles.  The good news is that you don’t have to make the entire batch at once.  You can also make “diet” root beer by using a sugar substitute such as aspartame.  Since aspartame is unfermentable, it solves the problem, but don't forget to add 1/2 cup of regular table sugar so the yeast can produce some carbon dioxide. 

Making the Root Beer: These instructions assume you’re making the entire 5 gallons of root beer with one bottle of Root Beer #1 or #3 or two bottles of Root Beer #2.  If you’re making less, scale back the recipe appropriately (for example, if you use just one bottle of Root Beer #2, use ½ the amount of sugar, yeast, and water).  When measuring smaller amounts of the root beer flavor, it might help you to know that 1 tablespoon equals ½ oz.  You’ll need a container that holds the full batch with some headspace for stirring, a long-handled spoon, enough bottles, caps, and a capper, ordinary table sugar, 10 to 15 grams of ale yeast (not bread or wine yeast), and the root beer extract.  Start by adding 5 gallons of lukewarm water to the container.  Stir in 4 lbs. of sugar (use less or more to taste).  Add the bottle of root beer flavor and stir in thoroughly.  Sprinkle in the yeast and stir in thoroughly—bottle and cap.  Now keep the root beer at room temperature for 24 hours.  Open a bottle.  If you get a nice hiss, cool all remaining bottles immediately.  If there’s no hiss, wait another twelve hours and check again.  Repeat until you get a hiss.  Don't worry if the root beer isn’t very fizzy at this stage.  The CO2 will dissolve in the root beer after a few days in the fridge.

Making Cream Soda or Dr. Cherry: Our 2oz containers will make 4-5 gallons depending on how strong you like your soda. Follow the same instructions for making root beer.

Options: You can use clean 2-liter (or any size) PET soda bottles to bottle your root beer instead of glass bottles and caps.  This is safer than glass and lets you easily release pressure if the bottles get over-carbonated.  You can also tell when the carbonation is right by waiting for the bottle to get hard.  If you have a kegging system, the Carbonator is a great little device for making up a small amount of root beer.  You can make diet root beer by sweetening with aspartame and then using 1/2 cup of regular table sugar for carbonation.  Since aspartame is unfermentable, you won’t have to chill the whole batch at once. 

Questions or problems?  Give us a call on our advice line: (209) 217-8482 or visit our website at www.homemadesodacompany.com to find useful advice,