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lowriderdog37 · 03-16-2009, 12:49 AM

I have been brewing beers for several years now, but I got a hold of some great root beer in the store. I have an open tap and want some real root beer. I have been finding tons of recipes with just table sugar and RB extract. I would prefer to make it in more of a traditional fashion. Does anybody know where I can get ingredients and a recipe, or even a good kit?

Lefty · 03-16-2009, 01:43 AM

Midwest Supplies have the soda kits, but I have not tried them. I wanted to try the Orange soda.

Joos · 03-16-2009, 04:25 PM

Go dig up some sasafrass roots boil em then carb

Weazel · 03-19-2009, 12:23 AM

I have only tried this recipe once and it failed due to contamination. The one bottle that wasn't contaminated tasted great.

Root Beer - Search - CHOW

The best place to look for the ingredients would be a local health food store that has herbs, roots and those sort of things in bulk. Sorry I can't help you any further with this.

david_42 · 03-19-2009, 02:28 PM

I've always been happy with the extracts, but here's a base recipe.

talenos · 03-19-2009, 11:18 PM

I think sassafras has been known to cause cancer so they use wintergreen now. So you might not want to go that route, just because it's probably much harder to find, even if you love the idea of getting cancer.

LousyRock · 03-20-2009, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by talenos

I think sassafras has been known to cause cancer so they use wintergreen now. So you might not want to go that route, just because it's probably much harder to find, even if you love the idea of getting cancer.

From Wikipedia:

The roots of Sassafras can be steeped to make tea and were used in the flavoring of root beer until being banned by the FDA. Laboratory animals that were given oral doses of sassafras tea or sassafras oil that contained safrole developed permanent liver damage or various types of cancer. In humans liver damage can take years to develop and it may not have obvious signs.

In 1960, the FDA banned the use of sassafras oil and safrole in foods and drugs based on the animal studies and human case reports. Subsequently, both Canada and the United States have passed laws against the sale of any consumable products (beverages, foods, cosmetics, health products such as toothpaste, and others) that contain more than specific small amounts of safrole.

sterling214 · 03-21-2009, 01:18 AM

I would stay away from using molasses. From my experience its taste and aroma overpowers everything else. I found that plain table sugar was the best sweetener.

EoinMag · 03-21-2009, 01:25 AM

Safrole contains one of the main base chemicals from which MDMA is extracted, that's probably why the FDA have banned it.

Buying safrole to manufacture MDMA ( Ectsasy )

This isn't meant as a tutorial, just a heads up.

**GroosBrewz** · 03-24-2009, 04:02 AM

This recipe was posted by Flyweed several weeks ago.. I cant remember which forum I copied it from.. Been wanting to try it..

Quote:

Originally Posted by flyweed
Sure, I'll share mine if other people do as well. Mine is pretty easy really, and for the most part, is the "base" recipe for just about all "from scratch" brewers.

Makes 2 gallons:

2 oz of Sarsaparilla (optional because of FDA ban)
2 oz. of Sassafrass
1/2 oz. of Licorice root
2 oz. wintergreen leaves
1 pound of sugar (plain old cane sugar)
1 1/2 pounds of honey (clover or wildflower)
2 gallons of water

Bring water to a boil (use spring water if possible). Add all roots and spices in a grain/steeping bag and simmer for 30 minutes. Add sugar and honey and stir in to mix..shut off heat and allow to cool. Then once at room temp..you can either pitch a yeast and bottle, or force carb and keg. I usually just double this recipe and make 4 gallons and force carb in a corny keg.

Dan

Not sure if he used extract or dried herbs....