Batch 5 - Light Root Beer

Skinny Tree Root Beer

I decided to try a non-alcoholic brew. This turned out to be a very simple, cheap, and quick process with good results (so far). All you do is boil some water, sugar (or sugar substitute), and soda flavor, and add it to your bucket along with warm water. Prepare and add some ale yeast (just used cheap dry Doric yeast), stir, and bottle. Wait a week and you have a carbonated beverage. Batch cost: $4 for flavor, $.59 for yeast, $2 for sugar substitute.

Ingredients:
Rainbow Root Beer flavor
Doric dry yeast
6.5 cups Sugar Twin sweetner (left a bit of aftertaste, but is worth the reduced calories)
1.5 cups sugar
4 gallons water

Status: ~40 bottles carbonating(?)

Results: Too much sweetner gave this a bit more aftertaste than expected. As of 12/13 this still has no bubbles (bottled 11/27). My guess is that despite what the instructions said, I needed more sugar than 1.5 cups for the entire batch.

Update 8/20/05: Far too much sweetner - tastes barely drinkable. I was wrong about the sugar - I clearly added too much, as they now erupt when opened.