Rootbeer day 147

It really hasn’t been 147 days but the root beer sure smelled like it.

Nasty! We tasted it. We will probably die later today.

So, I dumped it out much to the dismay of my children who were disgusted by the rancid smell, and we started over.

Let me give you some history.

Last week we decided to make root beer from scratch using an Amish recipe for homemade soda. Some would argue that it isn’t really from scratch if you don’t actually grow the roots yourself and then fashion them into your own root beer flavoring but they can deal with it. I am using the words ‘from scratch’ because it makes me sound more homemaker-ish; like I slave in the kitchen.
There are only 4 ingredients in this recipe and the time it takes to throw it together is about the time it takes for my 3 year old to go poopy, stuff an entire roll of toilet paper into the toilet, try to clean up the overflow by himself using a new roll of toilet paper, get soaking wet, and rip all of his clothes out of his drawers to find a new outfit.
Approximately 6 minutes.
Easy peasy.
You would think.

The recipe calls for yeast. 2 teaspoons full. I added it to a cup of warm water for it to dissolve. This it did and I was pleased.
After following the recipe and adding the ingredients together I filled the container with enough very hot water to make 2 gallons. Then I set it on the stove top with the oven on 225. I figured the heat would rise and keep the root beer warm for a few hours while it began the fizzing process.

And warm it was! The root beer was kept very warm. So warm, in fact, that the yeast died.
I turned to Google for post accidental yeast murder advice.
“Just add more yeast!” I read. “but it may change the taste of your root beer.” it warned.
I added two more teaspoons of yeast and mixed it up.
This actually worked to create the fizziness of a soda but the root beer developed a foul taste. Plus, it stunk.

That is why, today, I braved the grossness of the smell and dumped the 2 gallons of root beer out to start again. I washed everything with hot, soapy water – even the utensils I was going to use. Then we began again.

I will let you all know how round 2 turns out!

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