All of my 1 gallon carboys are empty and I'm thinking about taking a run to the lhbs tomorrow and getting some yeast energizer, dme and lactose and giving it a try.
Recipe Type: Extract
Yeast: Nottingham
Batch Size (Gallons): 1
Original Gravity: 1.045
Final Gravity: 1.015
IBU: N/A
Boiling Time (Minutes): 30
Color: Dark
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 7 days 70F
Tasting Notes: Smooth root beer flavor finishing in vanilla and honey.
---Primary---
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1/2 tsp yeast energizer
4 oz brown sugar
4 oz lactose
1 pound light DME
Nottingham Ale Yeast
Boil DME, brown sugar, and lactose with about 4 cups water. Pour in primary. Add nutrient and energizer. Top off. Let cool and pitch yeast. Ferment for 5-7 days. Stabilize (if kegging). Wait another week.
---Before Kegging/bottling---
1 cup sugar boiled in 1 cup water
5 1/2 oz wildflower honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp root beer extract (McCormick)
Boil sugar and add to bottling bucket. Then add honey (warm it so its easier to pour) and the extracts. Let cool and add primary. Pour in Keg or bottle.
Stabilizing would be killing the yeast so that additional sugars could be added without the risk of the yeast eating them. Stabilizing could be done with potassium sorbate, and potassium metabisulfate (campden tablet) The reason people are talking about pasteurization is because you could bottle the root beer, let the yeast carbonate it, and then kill the yeast by heat so that you have residual sugars, and also carbonation. Look in the cider forum about "stove top pasteurization"
You could add more sugar in the primary for a higher abv, fuzzymittenbrewery did this with good results.
