postmix rootbeer

[BigWilley]

I am thinking about setting up a post mix system to serve house rootbeer. Has anyone done this on their own? It seems simple enough, buy a carbonator set up ($300) a cold plate and postmix dispensing faucet, hook up your CO2 and water and serve (syrup in the keg) Am I missing something? I'd like some suggestions from those who do it currently. It seems like the relatively small investment would easily pay for itself in terms of time saved using pre-mix.

[Jeff Lockhart]

When you say "house rootbeer", I assume that you mean your own brew, not bought from someone (i.e. Pepsi/Coke)? If this is the case, you're better off kegging (premix). It would take alot of trial and error to get the syrup to the right consistency so that when you brix the mix, everything tastes right. Plus you need two special tools for this task, a Brix cup and syrup seperator made for the type valve you use. You can easily make either. Brix is typically 5:1 water:syrup so all you need there is a 2 oz. tube and a 10 oz. tube taped together and marked half way up (1 oz and 5oz). I'll stop there, I seem to have gotten off the mark. Ok, can't help m'self. Syrup seperator is 1/8 id 's' tube with a rubber sleeve on one end that fits over the tip of the diffuser inside the nozzle.

If you are buying your rootbeer, it is definately easier and more cost effective to use BIB (bag in box) rather than premix. You pay more up front but you get alot more product in the end.

Hope this helps.
Jeff Lockhart

[BigWilley]

I guess I figured if you could hit the right mix you would change one keg of post mix to every 5 kegs of pre-mix and the work saved would be worth it. We have all the measuring stuff for the coke machines already in place. Also it seems that there is a fair amount of adjustment built into the postmix dispenser to regulate both syrup and water output. Once your dialed in if you are consistent with your syrup concentration you wouldnt have to mess with it much. Just my thoughts though I havent done it yet. Another benefit would be that with postmix you wouldnt have to cool the product until serving where it would hit the plate chiller. Do you have to chill premix to keep the carbonation right?

[bndooley]

I don't have any experience with this personally, but if you search the archive, there has been a lot of discussion on this topic.

It seems alot of places do a postmix setup.

[Jeff Lockhart]

Since you have the tools on hand, I say go for it. As long as you are consistent (and I'm sure you are), you won't have any problems. You will definately save time. As far as cooling premix, no. I have yet to see cold pre-mix tanks. As long as you keep CO2 pressure on em they hold up.

Slàinte,
Jeff