Home Made Root Beer- how to do it?

Cafe Society
1

I see those little bottles of root beer concentrate in wine/beer making stores here. I am curious about trying it (I have no equpment).

Has anyone ever used this stuff. How easy/hard is it to do, and does the end result contain alcohol (what percentage)?

Plus any other usefull info you feel I might need to know…

Thanks
FML

2

Home-made root beer is very simple. Get the extract and follow the directions. The alcohol produced during carbonation is minimal. The secret to top-notch root beer is to mix root beer extract with cream soda extract 3:1. If you use 2 liter pop bottles, you can feel how solid the carbonation is.

3

Not sure if this is the same product, but on past trips to New Orleans, I bought little brown glass bottles of Zatarain’s Root Beer Extract, and followed the instructions. I just added a small amount to a quart of seltzer water and dumped in a bunch of sugar (no recollection of the exact proportions), and it tasted like pretty damn good root beer once it was all mixed. No brewing involved, and I’m pretty damn sure no alcohol would have been produced.

Ah, this is the exact stuff, and you can order it online: http://www.zatarain.com/products/product.php/55/Root_Beer_Extract/Root_Beer_Extract

4

How do you carbonate it the stuff?

-FrL-

5

One way (which I 've personally witnessed) is to pour a bag of sugar and a bottle of the extract into a porcelain serving crock 2/3 full of water, the drop in a big chunk of dry ice.

6

Two ways to carbonate, dry ice as Dr. Rieux mentioned, and fermentation.

I have never tried the latter.

I always get the 5 gallon size:

  • 1 bottle extract
  • 5 gal water
  • 5 lb sugar
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla

Mix and let sit in container for at least 30 min to get cold and carbonated.

Ideally you would have a closed container with some sort of vent to aid in CO2 incorporation while venting before a dry ice bomb detonates. I use the 5 gal ‘Gatoraid’ style cooler. the lid goes on rather tight and (mine at least) has a small vent in the lid. I have heard that a metal milk can with a tight lid is perfect–just pound on the lid and wait for it to blow off (YMMV).

The vanilla is my secret ingredient.

7

Never tried it myself, but the way I heard is fermentation with yeast, same as brewing beer. If you bottle it and refrigerate it in a timely manner, you get a good buildup of CO2 but not much alcohol. I think they say 5 days at room temp.

8

My grandfather used to make his own, and not from concentrate. Made it in a (clean, unused-before) steel trash can… I remember whole spices and orange peelings floating on the surface, and the whole mess bubbling and putting off steam. Circa 1968, I’d guess, when I stayed the summer with them.

I asked my Dad but he has no idea how he did it or has recipe or anything.

9

Unless you get the sassafras yourself you’re not getting real root beer.