Rootbeer

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

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

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

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.

NWMOBrewer said:

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.

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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.

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?

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.

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.

77bawls said:

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.

Click to expand...

I would love a modern recipe if your sharing.

I found a guy that is making homemade root beer with roots and is not shy about sharing his experiences...check out swagger root beer. I tried the recipe myself after ordering the roots. It worked, but the flavor I produced isn't exactly my style. I think changing some of the amounts and sugars would produce something more to my liking.

jwyz1960 said:

I would love a modern recipe if your sharing.

Click to expand...

If you have some recipes to share please email me a few. [email protected]

mobilecabinworks said:

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.

Click to expand...

So just to clear up some confusion - YES everything stated is correct so far. Safrole is indeed considered a carcinogenic and is considered harmful by the FDA. It is banned in the use of commercial root beers.

To clear up some stuff about sassafras - you can use it! It actually all seems a bit silly to me, since other foods have it in them too (cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper). Not sure why FDA banned it in just one thing and not others. If you actually look into the research, sassafras does not have much safrole in it. You would need to drink (if I remember) a crazy amount of root beer to obtain problematic doses (as in, over 12 bottles a day). In order to induce the effects in rats, they had to REALLY up the doses. Even so, humans still are not the same as rats, just similar enough to INFER research. The rule in medicine is "everything is a cure and a poison, it just depends on the amount". Obviously the amount changes per thing, but just know - everything in moderation. The main concern is its affects on the liver though, so if you know you already have issues (alcoholism, liver disease, take tons of meds for prescribed reasons, or anything that affects your liver), I suggest just playing it on the safe side.

Overall, if you use sassafras, you will be just fine if you don't over-do it. If you choose not to, well - the commercial industry is doing GREAT with sarsaparilla and wintergreen, so you will also have an awesome beverage. Just trying to say you will be fine either way, and this will likely not be a problem if you want to brew a traditional style root beer

Sources: google, wiki, .med, and .org sites (use wiki to get to each, since it really consolidates them all - **just check out their sources for the good ones**)
Also currently a medical student (and doing well ). I'm not a professional, or your doctor, but I would like to believe I made educated choices.

Anyways, enjoy your root beer, regardless of what recipe you guys choose. I would gladly sample either recipe (send me a bottle! :cross. Cheers!