A Thank You Card

This came home from school with my oldest son this past week:

If you missed it, here's the post from about 10 days ago that shows the process of making a BIG batch of homemade root beer for my sons' school's "Pioneer Day."

Large Batch of Homemade Root Beer

Earlier today, I helped at my sons' school for "Pioneer Day." The kids dress up like pioneers and do all kinds of fun things related to that: play pioneer games, pretend to learn in a 1-room schoolhouse, etc. I helped out (with a few other parents and grandparents) by making homemade root beer next to school for the 4th, 5th, and 8th graders to try. Here was our process:

I picked up 10 lbs of "dry ice nuggets" from a local beverage place for $15 (including tax).

Two problems: "the big H" is slang for heroin, and "picnics" is spelled wrong. 

One bottle is good for 3 gallons. We made 10 gallons with 3 bottles.

Also, notice I'm wearing gloves in those last 2 photos. The dry ice was very cold (obviously), and even carrying that small 10 lb bundle wrapped in butcher paper for 30 seconds out to my car made my hands painfully cold. Don't mess around with that stuff!

We poured a little dry ice (SLOWLY as to not clump) into the water, sugar, and extract mixture 3 different times to show different classes the "exciting" part. It steams up like witches brew! We just had to stir for 30 minutes straight after that to keep the dry ice nuggets broken up, and to let them dissolve. (The nuggets looked like the size of those styrofoam packing peanuts that look like Cheetos Puffs.)

After adding about 2 lbs of dry ice to our mixture.

Now about 6-8 lbs of our 10 lbs had been added. LOTS OF FOAM!

The rest of the dry ice had been added, and things started to simmer down.
But notice we had some overflow - not too much, but just enough to be dramatic.  :)

Notice how low the root beer is - ALL THAT SPACE was
foam and dry ice "steam" in those photos above!

The principal came out to observe. (Also, we moved into the sun to help
warm it a little as we still had a few big chunks of icy root beer to break up.)

Our first class of kids! It went over REALLY well.

Serving lots of root beer.

Waiting for the next class to arrive.

We saved the water jugs and filled them up with extra at the end.

We went around and topped off cups if kids wanted seconds, and we still had nearly 4 gallons left over. Everyone loved it, and it was quite a show with the dry ice. It was pretty flat as we made so much that we had to stir and stir to get the frozen chunks dealt with. 

And now that I know where to get dry ice locally, I might have to do this on a smaller scale at home sometime! I think stirring it a LOT less and then just fishing out any left over chunks would lead to better carbonation. But there still needs to be plenty of stirring to get the dry ice mixed up, so it's a fine line.

Final Homemade Bottle of Root Beer from our First Batch

I promised that I'd post an update about the 4th and final bottle of homemade root beer:

If you remember, we made this batch about 6 weeks ago (see all the photos in this post). The first bottle wasn't carbonated at all because I refrigerated it too soon. The 2nd and 3rd bottles were better, but still not fantastic root beer - they were quite sweet and sugary.

This bottle went in the fridge the same time as the 3rd bottle, and just sat there for over a month. I opened this bottle a few weeks ago, and it was OK.

Then it sat and sat.

I cracked back into a few days ago, and it had gotten better. I was afraid it was going to taste too "sharp" because too much alcohol had built up, but that wasn't a problem (I don't think that will happen in the fridge). I took a few drinks and it had a "deeper" flavor that any of the other bottles. Then I put the cap back on and gentle shook it up because there was a little "yeast sludge" that had settled on the bottom. When I opened it back up again, it actually spewed foam everywhere! It had a great head!

So it still was far from the best root beer I'd ever had, but it got a lot better just sitting for longer, letting the yeast do it's thing.

I have ingredients for 1 more batch, and I might try adding some different flavorings to each bottle. Or letting 1 bottle stay out and ferment for twice as long as they say. Or other experiments like that. Any ideas for me to try? Leave a comment.

First Trip to "Cold Front" Soda Fountain / Ice Cream Shop

Last week, my boys and I checked out "Cold Front," which was the business that took over the space that had "Lynden's Soda Fountain" in it near Hamline and Randolph.

Lots of ice cream in the front.

Different cone sizes: the tiny cones on the left are from the "snowball FLIGHT" of mini cones.

Waffle cones and waffle cone maker.

I did what any Dad would do at 10 in the morning on a cold winter's day: I got my son some ice cream. Here's Henry enjoying some of their strawberry ice cream (I didn't even get to try it because he wolfed it down) as Steve from Cold Front made my "flight" of sodas in the background:

They still have the old soda fountain from Lynden's!
(Click that link if you want to see Henry at Lynden's over 2 years ago - cute toddler!)

My flight of homemade sodas: Chai Vanilla, Grape, and Cola.

They had 6 "classic" sodas like grape, orange, and cherry, and then they had 5 "signature" sodas like strawberry balsamic, lemongrass sass, and chai vanilla. Next time, I want to try the lemongrass sass and maybe the blood orange and beetroot.

Flight in progress.

Henry had about half of my grape soda.

A photo I Instagrammed: "Morning sugar rush: strawberry ice cream and a homemade grape soda at @coldfrontmsp."

This flight is over.

So here's a mini-review of my Minni-Soda Flight:


Cola: Steve told me that this was John Lyden's recipe that came from something that was published in the 1970s. It was Coca-Cola's original recipe (minus the cocaine, unfortunately). This was sharp and crisp (as most "fresh" sodas are). There was a great bite of lime, but not too much. Deep, rich flavor unlike what you get from a can of Coke or Pepsi.  Score: 8 out of 10. 

Grape: Steve asked me about this one after I had a sip to 2. He said he's still working to perfect it. It was very "grape JUICEy" as you can maybe tell from the froth on top in the first photo of the flight. Steve said he's using a mix of a grape juice syrup along with freshly pressed concord grape juice, but he's working to get it all right. It was good, but tasted a bit closer to "juice" than it did "soda." Actually, I'm excited to try this one again and again to see how it changes, even though it was my least favorite of the day.  Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Chai Vanilla: This was smooth and subtle. The vanilla was a nice touch. It tasted a bit like a subtly-flavored vanilla root beer, so you KNOW I liked it. It was better than I thought it would be. It's a unique flavor, and hard to fully describe. Just go in and try it.  Score: 8 out of 10.


I'll be back to try more of their sodas in their "Minni-Soda Flight" for sure. I still need to try their root beer.  Check out Cold Front on Facebook or Twitter.

p.s.  I love the idea of a flight of sodas. I don't need a lot of each flavor, and this way I get to try more. Steve told me that it was one of the last things they decided to add to the menu before they opened on Valentine's Day, and it was by far the biggest hit of the opening night. Great idea! Can't wait for more.

Mr. Root Beer - Homemade Root Beer from a Kit

For Christmas, my wife got me a "Mr. Root Beer" kit so my son and I could make our own root beer.  There are enough ingredients to make two 1-gallon batches, so we made our first batch about 2 weeks ago, and we still have 1.5 (out of 4) bottles still in the fridge.  Here's the process shown through a bunch of photos:

The full kit (the size of a large shoebox).  It says "naturally carbonated" because there's no carbonated water or weird
chemicals to add the carbonation/head.  The carbonation is added naturally through the yeast.

The 5 instructions.  There were "official" instructions on a pamphlet inside, but it was basically this easy.
Step 3 is the most work.

The opened kit.

The contents: four 32 oz bottles, labels, instructions, a funnel, and a bag with ingredients and caps.

The caps with the "pressure valves" installed.

Using the "no-rinse cleaner" to clean out our milk jug.  (Sorry, my son doesn't wear pants too often…)

Cleaning our utensils.  The instructions warned that any contamination will add a funky taste to our root beer.

Adding ingredients (this was the maltodextrin).  After this, we added a LOT of sugar.

It was dark and oily.  It took a lot of stirring to dissolve all the sugar and brown sugar.

The wine yeast measured out and sprinkled on top.

1 gallon of mixed root beer (totally flat - now the yeast needs to do its work).

My son and the root beer.

Helping me bottle the root beer.

Ready to sit in the back corner of our dining room for 1-3 days as it ferments and becomes carbonated.  The timing of
this is the most critical: too short and you have tasty flat root beer, and too long and you have carbonated crap.

My son licking up any reside in the bowl.  It's SUPER sweet because (my understand of this is that) a lot
of the sugar will be consumed by the yeast to make the carbonation.

The directions said to find a dark place with a consistent temp between 68-75. Our house is
cooler than that in the winter, but this location was consistently 67-68 degrees.

By the next morning (12 hours after bottling), the caps were showing signs of pressure. The "pressure valves"
are simply small dense foam disks with a little slit cut in the middle where too much pressure can escape.

The directions said to refrigerate after the bottles become hard from the carbonation, and that it could take 1-3 days. The bottles were definitely "firmer" after 12 hours, and one of the bottles seemed quite hard after 26 hours. So I put that bottle in the fridge. (I was worried about the part in the instructions that talked about having either flat but tasty root beer if you refrigerate too soon, or carbonated crappy root beer if you wait too long and refrigerate too late.) Here's video of my son and I cracking into that first bottle the next afternoon after it spent 18 hours in the fridge:

So yeah, as you could see, it was hardly carbonated. I had already put another bottle in the fridge, but I still had 2 out, and I decided I'd leave those out for the full 3 days. When we tried the first bottle, it tasted a bit like sweet, liquid root beer barrels (remember those candies?). It was too sweet, but I think the yeast just needed to do it's job longer. It seemed to change a bit as it spent more time in the fridge - it developed a "deeper" flavor even after it was opened as I kept drinking it on the 2nd and 3rd days. I think it was still fermenting a bit. It actually got better.

When I opened the 2nd bottle, it had more carbonation (still not a lot).  I was actually able to get a photo of a FEW tiny bubbles still on top of this glass after I poured:

A LITTLE more carbonation in this one!

It got MORE carbonated as it sat in the fridge. The yeast was still doing some work. Again, this got better as it spent a few days once it was opened in the fridge. The 3rd bottle has been the best so far, with a deep flavor and adequate carbonation. I think I just needed to let them all sit a bit longer (in the dining room AND in the fridge).

Well, I guess it's time for a review. This is tricky, because each bottle has tasted a little different (but that's part of the fun). Here's what I think:


Brand: Mr. Root Beer Kit.

Origin: Boxed in Tucson, AZ, and brewed in my kitchen/dining room in St. Paul, MN.

Purchase Place: Amazon.com.

Sweetener: Sugar, Brown Sugar, and Maltodextrin.

Review: Because this is carbonated through a yeast process, the result is slightly alcoholic (around 1%). That gives this "brewed" root beer a very unique flavor that root beer "sodas" don't have. The flavor is rich and deep. Even the later bottles that I let carbonate/ferment for longer still had a little of the "root beer barrel candy" sweetness that I mentioned above, but it wasn't TOO sweet. And it was cut by a deep, vanilla root beer flavor at the end. The first bottle I had I'd probably give a 4 or a 5 because it was just too sugary. But the rest that I let sit longer were better. Still, not even close to the best root beer I've ever had, but still totally worth it because it's a fun DIY project.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.


p.s. I'd like to experiment with my final batch of root beer by adding different flavors to each bottle. I'll make sure to give an update if/when I try that.

A Lunch Deal That Includes a Cheap Soda (Black Cherry Soda at Lynden's Soda Fountain)

"Cheap" meaning "inexpensive." Not meaning "of low quality."

Lynden's Soda Fountain in St. Paul has been advertising a lunch deal that includes 2 hot dogs, some chips, and a homemade soda. So yesterday, my son and I stopped in over the lunch hour.

Henry's first sip of their Black Cherry soda. He loved watching the "soda jerk"
make it at the soda fountain just on the other side of the counter.

SAVE SOME FOR ME, HENRY!

They have a BIG drink menu. This is just their "simple" sodas. They have about 10x more.
And a lot of the other items sound incredibly interesting! I need to KEEP coming back!

With our dogs and chips as Henry still works on the soda.

A big mouthful of  some ICE CREAM
(with Lynden's candy selection in the background).

He had to lick it clean.

An Instagramed photo: "Lunch date with my guy. @LyndensSoda has a great lunch special: 2 dogs,
some chips, and a homemade soda for $4.95. And they even threw in a free cup of ice cream for Henry!
(And we had to get a bag of candy and licorice for Mama for when she gets home from work.)"

Well, I suppose this calls for a quick review of Lynden's Black Cherry soda...


Brand: Lynden's Black Cherry Soda.

Origin: St. Paul, MN.

Purchase Place: Lynden's Soda Fountain, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Unknown.

Review: Like many of the other sodas I've had here, it had a crisp, clean, and sharp flavor. My son wouldn't put it down. It wasn't smooth at all - it was all "sharp." (I'm assuming that's from adding the "fresh" soda water.) The black cherry flavoring was right on. It maybe could be a little smoother, but that's what you get from a soda fountain!

Score: 8 out of 10.


p.s. Here are links to my first 3 trips to Lynden's: checking it out for the first time and getting some Root Beer, going back to try more Root Beer and Sarsaparilla, and trying my first Lime Rickey. I need to make it a point to try to stop back about once a month with my son so we can share/try other great sounding soda-related items on the menu! It had been 6 months since we'd been there!