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  • Root Beer Questions

    Does anyone make root beer in their breweries? If so, do you go the traditional route and actually brew it and naturally carbonate with yeast or do you go via the pre-made syrup route and carbonate with the existing CO2 system? And if you do offer it, how much is sufficient for initial offerings? Which types of kegs would you use - soda kegs or sanke kegs? 1/6's or 1/2 bbls? How successful is offering handcrafted root beer in a brewpub?

    We're into our 3rd year and we've been successful in our beers and currently produce a little over 8,000 bbls/year. We are a brewpub and offer food as well as an array of soft drinks - except root beer.

    Thanks! All opinions appreciated!

  • #2
    Originally posted by DickieDog View Post
    Does anyone make root beer in their breweries? If so, do you go the traditional route and actually brew it and naturally carbonate with yeast or do you go via the pre-made syrup route and carbonate with the existing CO2 system? And if you do offer it, how much is sufficient for initial offerings? Which types of kegs would you use - soda kegs or sanke kegs? 1/6's or 1/2 bbls? How successful is offering handcrafted root beer in a brewpub?

    We're into our 3rd year and we've been successful in our beers and currently produce a little over 8,000 bbls/year. We are a brewpub and offer food as well as an array of soft drinks - except root beer.

    Thanks! All opinions appreciated!
    Howdy. I'll weigh in even though we do not make our root beer; we buy Sprecher root beer in 1/2 bbl kegs from our local distributor. It's very good. We are not root beer experts and going this route allows us just focus on the beer, while still offering a high quality n/a craft beverage. Someday, I would love to say we make our own and that it's better than Sprecher. But until then, this is a pretty easy route. I'll look forward to reading what others do.

    Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

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    • #3
      Originally posted by DickieDog View Post
      Does anyone make root beer in their breweries? If so, do you go the traditional route and actually brew it and naturally carbonate with yeast or do you go via the pre-made syrup route and carbonate with the existing CO2 system? And if you do offer it, how much is sufficient for initial offerings? Which types of kegs would you use - soda kegs or sanke kegs? 1/6's or 1/2 bbls? How successful is offering handcrafted root beer in a brewpub?

      We're into our 3rd year and we've been successful in our beers and currently produce a little over 8,000 bbls/year. We are a brewpub and offer food as well as an array of soft drinks - except root beer.

      Thanks! All opinions appreciated!
      Never did the root beer for sake of being different, but did a ginger ale, raspberry soda and lemon lime (all made from scratch in the brewery) on a few occasions for a few breweries. Be careful, it is a slippery slope....Just read the history of Thomas Kemper, lol.

      I preferred carbonating with bottled co2 as opposed to yeast for consistency, and time. Also root beer has a tendency to cling, and leave a taste behind if not cleaned extremely well.

      They were always a huge hit, and when we had large parties or festivals kids and DD's would love it. But it is another job, and I try not to introduce them anymore because I like to spend that time on beer. I would suggest at 8000 BBL a year, you are big enough to have issues keeping up demand without spending a lot of "extra" time on it, but it is a very nice offering for the consumer.

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      • #4
        I have been making root beer and other craft soda for decades alongside my array of beers. I dissolve the sugars in my brew kettle and add the other flavor ingredients in the brite tank, no fermenter involved. I carb using the stone for speed and consistency. I strongly encourage you to make some sodas. Not only is the process relatively easy compared to beer, it is fun and profitable. I keg and bottle my root beer and have never had any issue at all with flavor stain in the lines of my racking apparatus or my bottling machine.
        Be bold, give it a shot!

        Prost!
        Dave
        Glacier Brewing Company
        406-883-2595
        info@glacierbrewing.com

        "who said what now?"

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        • #5
          I made it several years ago for about 10 years using Virginia Dare concentrate, mixing in a SS kettle with a motor mixer. We put in bag in a box like the rest of the sodas, that made it easy for wait to change and it came out a fountain gun like the rest of the sodas. It mixes in the gun with carbonated water super simple and tasted great.
          Mike Eme
          Brewmaster

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          • #6
            I used to make Root beer for the pub I worked at. We would mix it up in bung sided 1/2 bbl kegs. The pub had a dedicated tap line for root beer, we never sold that much but dads/kids did love it. We'd do 1-2 1/2 bbls every week.
            Manuel

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            • #7
              Root root beer

              I have a soda company and I made my own root beer from roots. It was probally my favorite to make... Then Vanilla prices sky rocketed. from $60 a gallon to $300 we stopped making it;(.. .
              Butt )) I think we may bring it back once the prices go down again.
              BTW we used real roots and know flavoring Extracts... Fun stuff...

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