Almost non-alcoholic drinks - cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board

MikeWaters · 08-01-2011, 08:42 PM

The Mrs. and I were having a discussion about this topic.

When you brew root beer using sugar and yeast, you end up with a very small amount of alcohol in the drink. Something like 0.4%, which I believe is about what near-beer has.

Essentially you are using the yeast to only create carbonation, so the fermentation time is very short. But in just that short time a very modest amount of alcohol is created.

Modern commerical root beers don't use yeast whatsoever. They artificially carbonate using CO2 gas directly.

Many of us have likely had root beer that was made with sugar, concentrate, and dry ice.

I have actually once made root beer from yeast. Back when I was a kid. I got a 2 liter bottle, added root beer concentrate, sugar, and yeast. I let it ferment in the garage for 2 or 3 days. This was in the summer so it was good and warm in that Texas garage. I remember taking it out of our small garage (a 1-car garage, yes they do make them) and standing on the driveway and front yard, eager to take a nice good swig of my root beer. I think when I opened it, a good amount of foam discharged as it was under high pressure. Then I took my deep swig of that frothy goodness.

BLECK!! I chocked and spit it all over the yard. It tasted like a giant glob of wet yeast. It was nasty, nasty, nasty. I dumped it out on the yard and thus ended my hobby of root beer making.

It had never occurred to me that maybe it would have tasted better had I REFRIGERATED it. But two or three days is a long time for a boy to wait to try his tasty beverage.

I don't believe that I have a problem with 0.4% alcohol. Once alcohol is in water, it is virtually impossible to remove it completely, because of the chemical binding/attraction (I took a lot of chem classes at BYU). Having said that, I would prefer to have ZERO alcohol. And is what is ok for me, okay for my kids. Am I okay giving my kids a drink with a very negligible amount of alcohol in it? I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that.

I could make a concentrate and then carbonate with a canister. I haven't ruled that out.

We shall see.

08-01-2011, 08:42 PM	#1
MikeWaters Demiurge Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 36,365	Almost non-alcoholic drinks The Mrs. and I were having a discussion about this topic. When you brew root beer using sugar and yeast, you end up with a very small amount of alcohol in the drink. Something like 0.4%, which I believe is about what near-beer has. Essentially you are using the yeast to only create carbonation, so the fermentation time is very short. But in just that short time a very modest amount of alcohol is created. Modern commerical root beers don't use yeast whatsoever. They artificially carbonate using CO2 gas directly. Many of us have likely had root beer that was made with sugar, concentrate, and dry ice. I have actually once made root beer from yeast. Back when I was a kid. I got a 2 liter bottle, added root beer concentrate, sugar, and yeast. I let it ferment in the garage for 2 or 3 days. This was in the summer so it was good and warm in that Texas garage. I remember taking it out of our small garage (a 1-car garage, yes they do make them) and standing on the driveway and front yard, eager to take a nice good swig of my root beer. I think when I opened it, a good amount of foam discharged as it was under high pressure. Then I took my deep swig of that frothy goodness. BLECK!! I chocked and spit it all over the yard. It tasted like a giant glob of wet yeast. It was nasty, nasty, nasty. I dumped it out on the yard and thus ended my hobby of root beer making. It had never occurred to me that maybe it would have tasted better had I REFRIGERATED it. But two or three days is a long time for a boy to wait to try his tasty beverage. I don't believe that I have a problem with 0.4% alcohol. Once alcohol is in water, it is virtually impossible to remove it completely, because of the chemical binding/attraction (I took a lot of chem classes at BYU). Having said that, I would prefer to have ZERO alcohol. And is what is ok for me, okay for my kids. Am I okay giving my kids a drink with a very negligible amount of alcohol in it? I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that. I could make a concentrate and then carbonate with a canister. I haven't ruled that out. We shall see.