Make Homemade Root Beer Using Force Carbonation Method

I wanted to share my experiences with making root beer using corny kegs and force carbonation. So far I have made only two batches so I’m no Root Beer expert at all, however based upon my experiences I have already formulated some best practices. To back up a bit, while there are many root beer extracts available, I chose this brand because it’s locally available to me.

Home brew Root Beer Extract

If you can’t find it in your area, you may always purchase it online at Northern Brewer here. My notes are specific to this particular brand of root beer extract but I’m sure can be applied to other brands that I have not tried.

My First Batch – The Wrong Way
1. carbonate 3 gallons of cold water at 30 pounds psi for 24 hours
2. add 8 cups of sugar dissolved in one gallon of water
3. add full bottle of root beer extract.
4. close corny shake and roll well
5. add additional C02 pressure
6. serve cold

The above method was based upon what I was told at my LHBS suggesting that root beer can be made the day of serving after only about 24 hours of carbonating the 3 gallons of water.

My results – YUCK! Following the recipe exactly and using 4 gallons of water, a full bottle of extract and 8 cups of sugar the taste was just too strong on day one. It had a funny after taste so strong that not even the children wanted a second cup. I believe this was because the root beer extract didn’t have enough time to diffuse throughout the soda water.

My Second Batch – The Right Way

I feel pretty confident the bad flavors were from a lack of mixing of the extract through the soda water. The extract is so strong and it’s hard to get it to fully difuse throughout the soda water in a limited amount of time. I noticed as the days went on the root beer went from bad, to not bad, to pretty good, to rockin’! At about day seven and onward it was pretty great.

To solve the issues with extract difussion here is my adjusted method I used on the second batch.

1. add 3 gallons of ice cold water to corny
2. add full bottle of root beer extract
3. seal corney and shake and roll
4. add 30 pounds of C02 pressure shaking to get gas to dissolve in
5. place in corny in fridge and leave it rest for 3 days
6. on day 3 add 6 to 8 cups of sugar fully dissolved in 1 gallon of water

Warning – Add the mixture in slowly! I just dumped it in and got a big foam up.
7. shake and roll
8. bring the corny back up to 30 pounds and put back into refrigeration
9. on day 7 enjoy.
Okay, so that’s my modified recipe. It fits my way of doing things where I have more free time on the weekend – so it’s a 7 day method. Can you trim it down? I don’t see why not. I think the point i’m trying to stress is to add the extract to the water at time of carbonation to give it as much time as possible to diffuse throughout.

Additional Comments
1. The extract is strong – I don’t see why a 5 gallon batch couldn’t be done. At four it still has a strong root beer taste which I love but others have found it to be a bit much.
2. Adding less sugar – My second batch I actually only added 6 cups. Okay, so I ran out and was forced to experiment. The results were surprisingly good and at a 4 gallon recipie I will use 6 from now on. I’m not a diet person/anti-sugar head. It just tasted better.
Okay, so those are my notes. I’ll adjust this as I go forward. I hope this helps you.
3. Keep in mind that soda pop made with sugar will taste much sweeter than commercial soda which is sweetened with corn syrup. You might want to back off on the sugar a bit to perhaps 6 cups to experiment.