Homemade Root Beer

Root beer is a carbonated and sweet beverage which was originally made in the American colonies, using roots or the barks of the sassafras plant. It is similar to beer but with very low alcohol content. Though root beer is brewed in many countries, it is not popular by the same name, apart from countries like US, Canada and UK. In Australia, root beer is called sarsaparilla. Today, root beer comes in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic or soft drink forms. There are numerous brands of root beer in the US and there is no one standard recipe for making root beer. Today, artificial sassafras flavoring is used for making root beer, along with various natural flavors and extracts.

Homemade Root Beer Extract

As I said earlier, there is no standard beer recipe. Making root beer at home is all about learning some basic steps and then experimenting with your favorite herbs and favorite flavors. Root beer is prepared using ready-made beer extract made of sassafras roots, which is combined with several other flavors like wintergreen, vanilla, liquorice root, acacia, cherry tree bark, sarsaparilla root extract, nutmeg, anise, cinnamon, honey, ginger, molasses, clove, birch beer extract, red spruce, black spruce, burdock, dandelion, etc. If you wish to prepare beer, then all you need to do is to bring home a root beet extract, which you can easily find in any nearby grocery store.

Homemade Root Beer Recipe

Making root beer is extremely easy. It is a huge hit at any occasion and family gatherings. There are four basic steps of making beer, which are - sweetening, flavoring, carbonating and bottling. Here are some simple instructions for you to make root beer from scratch.

Ingredients

• Water, 5 quarts
• Dried burdock root, ½ oz
• Dried sarsaparilla root, ½ oz
• Dried yellow dock root, ½ oz
• Dried spikenard root, ½ oz
• Dried sassafras root, ½ oz
• Hops, ¼ oz
• Table sugar, 1 ½ cups
• Granulated yeast, 1/8 teaspoon
• One bottle with tight lid
• One funnel

Procedure

Heat water in a pan and add all the above mentioned herbs into it. Stir well and let the herbs simmer for about half an hour. When perfectly simmered, add sugar and stir until it gets dissolved in the herb mixture. Let that herb mixture get to lukewarm temperature and add granulated yeast into it. Stir it well for the last time and cover well. Let your beer sit for an hour before you pour it in a bottle with the help of a funnel. Your beer is ready!

Those of you who find this recipe hard, can always make the beer using another simple method by using dry ice, seltzer water, root beer extract and vanilla extract. To make this beer, completely dissolve ¾ cup of sugar in ¾ cup of hot water. Afterwards, add vanilla and root beer extract into it and let the whole mixture cool down. When it gets to room temperature, combine it with cold seltzer water and enjoy. If you want to store it for later, make sure you do so by bottling it with a tight lid.

Sassafras root extract which is used for making beer, contains safrole, a carcinogenic substance which is barred by the USFDA. Hence, when you want to make beer, make it a point to use its synthetic alternatives.