alcoholic root beer
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You might check Joy of Homebrewing/Papazian. Pg 212 has a recipe for Kumdis Island Spruce Beer. Papazian claims it tastes like Pepsi Cola. You might use that recipe as a starting point and substitute the spruce tips with. . .sasparilla/ginger/sassafras?
Someone may have a finished recipe but my guess is this one will take some 2.5 gallon experimental batches. Sounds interesting and If you can nail it - might be a fun picnic beer
Someone may have a finished recipe but my guess is this one will take some 2.5 gallon experimental batches. Sounds interesting and If you can nail it - might be a fun picnic beer
I know this is an old post but I'm trying to find a good old fashioned alcoholic root beer recipe myself..I've found this recipe and haven't tried it but maybe someone out there can post if they come across it and have any experience..
http://byo.com/stories/recipeindex/article/recipes/111-soda-pop/1329-real-root-beer
http://byo.com/stories/recipeindex/article/recipes/111-soda-pop/1329-real-root-beer
acidrain23
Well-Known Member
Keep us posted if you try this! I have a plan for a "root beer stout" in the works as well.
william_shakes_beer
Well-Known Member
I made a batch of root beer once. The recipie is 5 gallons water, 5 pounds sugar and 1.5 OZ bottle McCormick root beer extract. Basically, the recipie minumizes the alcohol content by bottling the same day its mixed and recommending it be consumed within 10 days. I'm quite sure you could ger reasonable alcohol from 5 lbs sugar by letting it ferment out and then priming for carbonation. Google McCormick and you can get the extract and the recipie as a starting point.
If you've got a source of bulk herbs, you can go hog-wild with root-beer-style homebrew! Somewhere between 2 to 4 oz of some combo of the following, in a 5-gallon batch, will get the job done:
Sarsaparilla, wintergreen, licorice root, dandelion root, burdock root; optionally add smaller quantities of cinnamon, star anise, lemon and/or lime zest, fresh ginger root (a couple quarter-sized slices, it can easily overwhelm), and sassafras (people say it's carcinogenic, but the studies based on that are really quite flawed and based on vastly higher doses of safrole than one would ever encounter in a traditional root beer; still, you can find de-safroled sassafras teas out there). You can also add black pepper, sichuan peony root, birch bark, spruce tips, nettles...heck, go wild! Don't be shy, as long as you don't use more than 2-4 oz dried, it's pretty hard to screw it up. I just brewed a root beer porter with sarsaparilla, dandelion, burdock, and licorice root...the unfermented wort was delicious, could use a bit of wintergreen to get it more in the root beer side of things, but it's definitely going to be tasty.
I recommend adding some molasses, maple syrup, brown sugar, and/or raw sugar. Go light on the hops, just enough to add some bitterness and a nice "bite" (I used Willamette). Couldn't tell you much about the malt, as I brew gluten-free, but aim for something between a porter and a brown ale and you should be fine. A bit of raw honey at flameout will help add some residual sweetness, or you can use stevia or lactose.
And remind yourself: if people could do this in the 1800s, how hard could it be?
Sarsaparilla, wintergreen, licorice root, dandelion root, burdock root; optionally add smaller quantities of cinnamon, star anise, lemon and/or lime zest, fresh ginger root (a couple quarter-sized slices, it can easily overwhelm), and sassafras (people say it's carcinogenic, but the studies based on that are really quite flawed and based on vastly higher doses of safrole than one would ever encounter in a traditional root beer; still, you can find de-safroled sassafras teas out there). You can also add black pepper, sichuan peony root, birch bark, spruce tips, nettles...heck, go wild! Don't be shy, as long as you don't use more than 2-4 oz dried, it's pretty hard to screw it up. I just brewed a root beer porter with sarsaparilla, dandelion, burdock, and licorice root...the unfermented wort was delicious, could use a bit of wintergreen to get it more in the root beer side of things, but it's definitely going to be tasty.
I recommend adding some molasses, maple syrup, brown sugar, and/or raw sugar. Go light on the hops, just enough to add some bitterness and a nice "bite" (I used Willamette). Couldn't tell you much about the malt, as I brew gluten-free, but aim for something between a porter and a brown ale and you should be fine. A bit of raw honey at flameout will help add some residual sweetness, or you can use stevia or lactose.
And remind yourself: if people could do this in the 1800s, how hard could it be?
SouthBay said:
If you still want it sweet, that's the best bet. If you keg it would be easy to pre mix it in the keg an serve. Make sure it is well labeled or it could turn ugly.
Just be aware that most soda extracts have something in them to kill yeast pretty quickly. Their typical process is to have you mix the soda to normal drinking sweetness, which yeast would normally go crazy with. they have you bottle right away, and so the yeast need to survive just long enough to carbonate but not long enough to make bottle bombs.
The roommates and I had an ill fated experiment many years back wherein we had a tub of non-fermenting root beer, much to our disappointment. Note that root beer extract really soaks into plastic, and our next few batches smelled strongly of root beer.
If you're making your own root beer from scratch, you should be fine. I'm very curious about the byo recipe, myself.
The roommates and I had an ill fated experiment many years back wherein we had a tub of non-fermenting root beer, much to our disappointment. Note that root beer extract really soaks into plastic, and our next few batches smelled strongly of root beer.
If you're making your own root beer from scratch, you should be fine. I'm very curious about the byo recipe, myself.
flyingfinbar
Well-Known Member
I love the idea of a rootbeer beer! Back in my party days we used to buy bottles of rootbeer schnapps....it was delicious straight or mixed with rootbeer/cola. I'd love to see how some of these recipes come out.
I was at my hometown summer fest yesterday an had this.
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24798/86621. It is brewed by a company here in this town. They have a 10% that has very few reviews, but rates a 93 on Beer Advocate. Yet also have a 19.5%. I had the 5%. It was delicious. swmbo loved it too
Has anyone successfully put something like this together on here?
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24798/86621. It is brewed by a company here in this town. They have a 10% that has very few reviews, but rates a 93 on Beer Advocate. Yet also have a 19.5%. I had the 5%. It was delicious. swmbo loved it too
Has anyone successfully put something like this together on here?
tommyguner03
Well-Known Member
That is one tasty and dangerous beer..
