Quick Kegging Recipes

So it's already the weekend before the 4th of July and you need kid friendly kegged beverages for your picnic.  If you're going to make some beverage for your Independence Day bash, there's just enough time to get brewin'!
Here are some easy kegging versions for some of the recipes I've posted.

Key to any good kegged recipe is going to be keeping it as cold as possible.  It carbonates faster and more fully, it stays carbonated better, and it tastes better.

To keep it easy, I always try and do 1 lb sugar per 1 gallon of finished soda.  The only exception has been the homemade cola recipe that worked out so well with less.  (Soon to be posted, I promise).  I prefer to heat it to invert it, which takes a lot longer when you're doing 5 pounds of sugar.

So here are those recipes I mentioned earlier:

Lime in d' Coconut:
2 - 17 oz cans coconut water
1 - 15 oz bottle lime juice.
1 1/2 teaspoons citric acid (substitute one cup lemon juice)

In a large brew kettle or stockpot, heat sugar to invert, add 1 gallon of water, and the coconut water.  This makes sure the sugar isn't too thick and hard to work with.  Pour into keg, add citric acid and lime juice. Top up with water.  Seal the keg and pressurize to 30-35psi to carbonate at 33-35°F. At that temperature and with some occasional shaking, it should take about day or two.

Ginger Ale:
2 Tablespoons Ginger Paste
32 oz Lemon Juice

In a large brew kettle or stockpot, heat sugar to invert, add 1 gallon of water.  See reasons above.  Separately, heat ginger in 1-2 gallons water to just before boiling. Strain ginger pulp out.  Discard pulp and add infused water to keg with sugar and lemon juice.  Top up with water.  Seal the keg and pressurize to 30-35psi to carbonate at 33-35°F.

Sarsparilla:
1 Tablespoon Sarsparilla Root
1 Tablespoon Wintergreen Leaves
2 Tablespoons Molasses
3 oz Vanilla Extract

In a large brew kettle or stockpot, heat sugar to invert, add 1 gallon of water.  See reasons above.  Separately, heat sarsparilla and wintergreen in 2 gallons water to just before boiling. Strain out roots and leaves.  Discard them. Add infused water to keg with sugar and lemon juice.  Top up with water.  Seal the keg and pressurize to 30-35psi to carbonate at 33-35°F.

So there you have it.  15 gallons worth of soda recipes.
I really hope that I didn't leave anything out.  If you feel like these have been overly simplified and you have questions, feel free to ask in the comments or my email has been listed under the About Me profile.  I'd be glad to answer them.

I also would have added pictures, but if you've seen one ball lock keg, well, you've seen them all.

National Ice Cream Soda Day

Nothing like a tasty butterbeer float
to celebrate Ice Cream Soda Day.

Rumor has it that today, June 20th, is National Ice Cream Soda Day.  I'm not sure who declared it as such, and there seems to be some confusion on the web as to whether it's June 20th, June 30th, or Aug. 2nd.  (I've seen a mention of Aug. 2nd being National Ice Cream Sandwich Day, which if you read it too quickly might be confused with ice cream soda.  So I think that's out as the official day.)

I tried finding out where this originated, and all I got was a history of the ice cream soda, and Wikipedia has some interesting alternative names for specific types of ice cream sodas.  I'm not sure I agree with their inclusion of butterbeer, though. 

So, who decides when a day is a Day? (note the capital D)  Anyone, apparently.  There are official federal and religious holidays such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, President's Day, etc.  Those would be days where you get off work.  Then there are federally recognized observances, some are declared by the president and some by congress, such as Flag Day, Father's Day, Mother's Day, etc.  Those days are sometimes celebrated, but not usually as important as "holidays".  Then there are Days.  Nothing official, just a day that someone, somewhere, at some point in time, decided to declare.  Sometimes you'll hear about it on the radio, sometimes you'll see it on a blog, and sometimes you'll see it as a marketing gimmick.  Ice Cream Soda Day is one of those Days in the third category.  So, with that in mind, even though it's not official, I have a keg of root beer and a keg of butterbeer and some ice cream, and we're going to celebrate ice cream soda day anyway. 

So I have no reference to why it's celebrated, or who decided that we even should, but on this day, raise your sticky, frosty, foamy glasses high.  Here's to you Mr. Green, self proclaimed inventor of the ice cream soda!

P.S.

Save some room for Root Beer Float Day, Aug. 6th.