jwyz1960

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Anyone got a good from scratch rootbeer recipe for a birthday coming up soon.

theonetrueruss

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I'd like to find a good from scratch root beer recipe as well. I tried extracts and they just aren't very good.

dregus

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I would like to find a root beer from scratch recipe too. Can you make it from scratch, realistically, in the home?

NWMOBrewer

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I thought the ingredients were just too difficult to find. Sassafrass?

Edit: I looked it up, they use wintergreen now, sassafrass (sp?) is illegal in the US.

__________________
Million Krone Brewery. Est. 2010
Drinking: Amber (bottled), AHS Pilsner (Kegged), 80 Schilling (Kegged), and Dunkelweizen (Bottled).
A few that are gone. I miss them....

xokeman

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77bawls

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From what I understand it's illegal for a company to use it but it's not illegal for personal consumption. That said I haven't looked for it. IIRC you can get it in extract form.

Here's a traditional Root Beer Recipe.

1/4 ounce dried sassafras root bark
1 gal water
2 cups sugar

Place the pieces of root bark into a large pot. Add 1 gallon water and all the sugar. Simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. Still covered remove from heat and let cool for another 25 minutes. Strain into the keg.

That makes about one gallon, multiply x5 for a carboy size container or keg. You will need to use a little less than 5 gallons water to make room for the sugar.

I have several more Root Beer Recipes if you want a more modern recipe.

dregus

Recipes 

I would love another more modern recipe. I have found some fairly complex recipes and I really like the simplicity of the one you posted.

I am assuming it turns out good? Do you worry about the sassafras root being harmful at all?

Does this recipe give a fairly pronounced rootbeer bite or flavor?

Hoodweisen

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sassafras root has a chemical (safrole) in it that has been found to to cause permenant damage to the liver in lab animals.
But, the old timers my grandfather included drank sassafras tea in the winter time when they were feeling down. It was a cure all.
Also the american indians used diff. parts of the plant for many things i believe its the leaves that have a hallucegenic quality.
This all being said I believe if lab animals are given toxic doses of anything they are going to develop something
If you still want to make sassaparilla you can still buy the sassafras over the internet or even better reasearch what the tree looks like and go dig the root yourself.
Too prepare the root just skin it like a sweet potato and boil it long and slow until it makes a dark red tea.

mobilecabinworks

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All with what 77bawls and Hoodweisen were saying. My friend did a bunch of research to find a from scratch rootbeer recipe and found out that sassafras root, while able to be found growing in the wild, is an extreme carcinogen and outlawed for food use by the FDA. Thus all rootbeers at least use a sassafras extract. So I guess it a personal choice at this point. I know it can be found in east texas anyway.

jwyz1960

Recipes 

I would love a modern recipe if your sharing.