Ack! Any soda makers / brewers?

[cristeen]

I know we have beer brewers around here at the very least...

I made root beer today, got it boiled, pitched the yeast and bottled it. It didn't taste *quite* right, but I figured I'm still perfecting my recipe so I'd go ahead with it. When I went to clean up I discovered an entire bag of herbs I'd neglected to add to the boil. What do I do? Do I leave it to ferment as is? Do I unbottle, reboil with the herbs, add more yeast and rebottle? The herb I left out is wintergreen, which is the main flavor component in modern-day root beers... man, do I feel dumb. Stupid pregnant brain.

[newbymom05]

Bumping...I would love to make our own soda!

[cinister]

I'm not sure what I would do in that situation. Maybe google and try to find some advice. If it tasted alright when you tried it I might just leave it as it is this time.

I did want to say though if you are bottling in glass bottles be careful. We did rootbeer in glass bottles (but just used a rootbeer extract.. no herbs ect) and after sitting for a month or so they randomly started exploding in the basement! I was scared to go near them. Next time we will be bottling in plastic as after some reading I discovered that was a common problem!

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by cinister

I did want to say though if you are bottling in glass bottles be careful. We did rootbeer in glass bottles (but just used a rootbeer extract.. no herbs ect) and after sitting for a month or so they randomly started exploding in the basement! I was scared to go near them. Next time we will be bottling in plastic as after some reading I discovered that was a common problem!

I did decide to leave it, since it tasted like sarsparilla beer as is... it just wasn't the root beer flavor I was going for. Live and learn.

As for the glass bottles - they have to go into the fridge within a few days of bottling. I never make more than I can refrigerate at one time. The yeast takes roughly 3 days to carbonate, and if you let it go past that at room temp you will eventually get explosions. But pop them into the fridge and you should be good... leave them in there too long and you'll wind up with geysers, but that just means you need to open them in the sink.

I don't use plastic for anything if I can help it... and since we brew beer, I already have the glass sitting here.