I need a rootbeer recipe and a supplier

[inchrisin]

Hi,

I've got a pretty good handle on steeping and brewing but I've never done root beer. I've done a lot of searching on google and most of the recipes are extracts. I'd like to try my hand at something a little more homemade. I'm not against using sasparilla, wintergreen, or any other ingredient. I just want it to taste great.

I don't want to spend a whole lot of money on rare ingredients, but I'm assuming I'll need to get online for some of this stuff. Indianapolis doesn't have much here.

Please help me make a recipe, and offer suggestions for online venders that supply such ingredients.

 

[Garrett]

Hi,

I've got a pretty good handle on steeping and brewing but I've never done root beer. I've done a lot of searching on google and most of the recipes are extracts. I'd like to try my hand at something a little more homemade. I'm not against using sasparilla, wintergreen, or any other ingredient. I just want it to taste great.

I don't want to spend a whole lot of money on rare ingredients, but I'm assuming I'll need to get online for some of this stuff. Indianapolis doesn't have much here.

Please help me make a recipe, and offer suggestions for online venders that supply such ingredients.

Heres the recipe I use and it turns out great every time!

Start with 4.5 quarts of water and put all ingredients in pot besides sugar and molasses, bring to a boil. Once boiling put lid on and simmer on medium low heat for 15-20 min. Cool down and put in a 2 liter with yeast to carb over the next few days or use a carbonator cab for instant carbonation.

1 tbsp. Licorice Root
4 crushed Star Anise Pods
1 Cinnamon stick (approx. 4 inches)
1 Vanilla Bean(approx. 6 inches)
1tbsp. dried Wintergreen Leaves
1/4 tsp. ground Nutmeg
5 pieces of whole Allspice
2 cups of Cane Sugar
1 tbsp Brown sugar
1-1.5 tbsp. Blackstrap Molasses
1 tbsp Honey

 

[Garrett]

all ingredients can be found here: www.annapolishomebrew.com

 

[Crazy8]

Here is the recipe I have been developing and right now its great. I may make some minor changes but it is good where it stands right now.


Ingredients:
8 Qts. Water
24 oz. Honey
3 Star Anise
1/4 tsp. Salt (try without)
1/4 cp. Sarsaparilla
1/4 cp. Sassafras
1 1/2 cp. Brown Sugar (try dark)
2 Vanilla Bean (Split and scraped)
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1/4 cp. Chopped Raisins
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 oz. Juniper Berries (50)
1/4 tsp. Champagne Yeast (1/8tsp/ gal)

MAKES 2 GALLONS

Instructions:
1. In a large deep pot, put in 4 quarts of water.
2. While water is heating up, place all ingredients into pot except brown sugar.
3. Let boil for 30 minutes.
4. Add brown sugar toward end of boiling time
5. Add the remaining 4 quarts of water. Turn off heat and let steep to 60-95 degrees F (70-75 degrees may be optimal). Any hotter and yeast will not survive.

- If bottling
a. Pour liquid through fine mesh funnel into Ale Pale
b. Once target temp has been reached, add yeast and stir thoroughly and fill bottles

- If putting into jug(s)
c. Pour liquid through fine mesh funnel into jug
d. Once jug has been filled add 1/4 tsp. champagne yeast

6. Let sit for 3 days then put into fridge for another 3 days to chill and slow down yeast activity.
7. ENJOY

The place where I have been getting my supplies and have great prices is www.herbco.com

Good luck and lets us know how it all turns out for you.

 

[inchrisin]

Here is the recipe I have been developing and right now its great. I may make some minor changes but it is good where it stands right now.


Ingredients:
8 Qts. Water
24 oz. Honey
3 Star Anise
1/4 tsp. Salt (try without)
1/4 cp. Sarsaparilla
1/4 cp. Sassafras
1 1/2 cp. Brown Sugar (try dark)
2 Vanilla Bean (Split and scraped)
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1/4 cp. Chopped Raisins
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 oz. Juniper Berries (50)
1/4 tsp. Champagne Yeast (1/8tsp/ gal)

MAKES 2 GALLONS

Instructions:
1. In a large deep pot, put in 4 quarts of water.
2. While water is heating up, place all ingredients into pot except brown sugar.
3. Let boil for 30 minutes.
4. Add brown sugar toward end of boiling time
5. Add the remaining 4 quarts of water. Turn off heat and let steep to 60-95 degrees F (70-75 degrees may be optimal). Any hotter and yeast will not survive.

- If bottling
a. Pour liquid through fine mesh funnel into Ale Pale
b. Once target temp has been reached, add yeast and stir thoroughly and fill bottles

- If putting into jug(s)
c. Pour liquid through fine mesh funnel into jug
d. Once jug has been filled add 1/4 tsp. champagne yeast

6. Let sit for 3 days then put into fridge for another 3 days to chill and slow down yeast activity.
7. ENJOY

The place where I have been getting my supplies and have great prices is www.herbco.com

Good luck and lets us know how it all turns out for you.

This looks like a really solid recipe. Thank you!

 

[duanedargis]

I am looking for supplies also for homemade root beer. If you think Indianapolis doesn't have much, you should come live here. I'm from Cleveland and we could always find some sources there. I also have a difficult time locating wine yeasts and extracts. Usually have to source out of the U.K. Anyone have any ideas for Ireland sources ?

Hi,

I've got a pretty good handle on steeping and brewing but I've never done root beer. I've done a lot of searching on google and most of the recipes are extracts. I'd like to try my hand at something a little more homemade. I'm not against using sasparilla, wintergreen, or any other ingredient. I just want it to taste great.

I don't want to spend a whole lot of money on rare ingredients, but I'm assuming I'll need to get online for some of this stuff. Indianapolis doesn't have much here.

Please help me make a recipe, and offer suggestions for online venders that supply such ingredients.

 

[Airplanedoc]

I can't help you with a recipe, but last month I was in a LHBS (not local to me) they had Zatarains Root beer extract, so I picked up a bottle. Everyone that has tried it thinks its the best root beer they have tried in a long time, so much so that I bought a case of bottles on amazon the other day.

 

[Dynachrome]

...and you will notice a feature of this board. A list of Root-beer recipe threads has started appearing at the bottom of this page.

 

[nickw85]

Here is the recipe I have been developing and right now its great. I may make some minor changes but it is good where it stands right now.


Ingredients:
8 Qts. Water
24 oz. Honey
3 Star Anise
1/4 tsp. Salt (try without)
1/4 cp. Sarsaparilla
1/4 cp. Sassafras
1 1/2 cp. Brown Sugar (try dark)
2 Vanilla Bean (Split and scraped)
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1/4 cp. Chopped Raisins
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 oz. Juniper Berries (50)
1/4 tsp. Champagne Yeast (1/8tsp/ gal)

MAKES 2 GALLONS

Instructions:
1. In a large deep pot, put in 4 quarts of water.
2. While water is heating up, place all ingredients into pot except brown sugar.
3. Let boil for 30 minutes.
4. Add brown sugar toward end of boiling time
5. Add the remaining 4 quarts of water. Turn off heat and let steep to 60-95 degrees F (70-75 degrees may be optimal). Any hotter and yeast will not survive.

- If bottling
a. Pour liquid through fine mesh funnel into Ale Pale
b. Once target temp has been reached, add yeast and stir thoroughly and fill bottles

- If putting into jug(s)
c. Pour liquid through fine mesh funnel into jug
d. Once jug has been filled add 1/4 tsp. champagne yeast

6. Let sit for 3 days then put into fridge for another 3 days to chill and slow down yeast activity.
7. ENJOY

The place where I have been getting my supplies and have great prices is www.herbco.com

Good luck and lets us know how it all turns out for you.

Ordering these ingredients right now plush a metric sh** ton of tea.

 

[gondzur]

Here is the recipe I have been developing and right now its great. I may make some minor changes but it is good where it stands right now.


Ingredients:
8 Qts. Water
24 oz. Honey
3 Star Anise
1/4 tsp. Salt (try without)
1/4 cp. Sarsaparilla
1/4 cp. Sassafras
1 1/2 cp. Brown Sugar (try dark)
2 Vanilla Bean (Split and scraped)
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1/4 cp. Chopped Raisins
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 oz. Juniper Berries (50)
1/4 tsp. Champagne Yeast (1/8tsp/ gal)

MAKES 2 GALLONS

Instructions:
1. In a large deep pot, put in 4 quarts of water.
2. While water is heating up, place all ingredients into pot except brown sugar.
3. Let boil for 30 minutes.
4. Add brown sugar toward end of boiling time
5. Add the remaining 4 quarts of water. Turn off heat and let steep to 60-95 degrees F (70-75 degrees may be optimal). Any hotter and yeast will not survive.

- If bottling
a. Pour liquid through fine mesh funnel into Ale Pale
b. Once target temp has been reached, add yeast and stir thoroughly and fill bottles

- If putting into jug(s)
c. Pour liquid through fine mesh funnel into jug
d. Once jug has been filled add 1/4 tsp. champagne yeast

6. Let sit for 3 days then put into fridge for another 3 days to chill and slow down yeast activity.
7. ENJOY

The place where I have been getting my supplies and have great prices is www.herbco.com

Good luck and lets us know how it all turns out for you.

Regarding your recipe...is the sassafras and sarsaparilla in powder form?

 

[Crazy8]

No it is not. I use every one of the ingredients in a "non-powder" form. I would imagine that not only is it easier clean up but also keeps the root beer itself cleaner.

 

[gondzur]

Thanks for the reply...I'll give it a shot!

 

[Crazy8]

Well let me know how it goes. Id love to hear the results.

 

[gondzur]

No it is not. I use every one of the ingredients in a "non-powder" form. I would imagine that not only is it easier clean up but also keeps the root beer itself cleaner.

I'm guessing the nutmeg is ground though???

As for everything else, I placed an order with herbco.com today. I had to order 1/4# of most things...hopefully I can get a couple batches out of what I've ordered.

Any idea how this recipe will taste if kegged? I'm thinking for my first shot at this I'll bottle on yeast, but I'd much rather keg and then bottle after it's carbonated. I've been brewing beer for just over a year now but I've only made rootbeer once, and that was with an extract. For some reason, it took over a week for the bottles to carb up using champagne yeast. I also forgot to shake the extract bottle before pouring into the bucket (I only used 1/2 the bottle)...I don't think that helped the flavor at all. I'm hoping to avoid both of these same issues with this recipe.

 

[Crazy8]

The nutmeg is ground. I'm not sure how it tastes when its keged. Hopefully good because I think eventually I would like to do the same. I also created a video last night of me making my root beer so if you think it might help I can post a link here for you once I have it on my yahoo channel.

 

[gondzur]

Certainly...I would love to see it.

Thanks!!!

 

[Crazy8]

Will do. I just need to edit it and upload it. I will do that tonight and post up the link for you, and anyone else who might be interested.

 

[Crazy8]

Well I am doing my videos on an old Pentium4 based gaming system and this morning I noticed the video was not rendered because I ran out of space. I am reeling it as I type this and will be sure to post that link as soon as i have it uploaded. My system is so old now that its taking about 9+ hours to render a 45 minute video. Think I'm do for a new system...lol

 

[Crazy8]

Here is the link to the video I made. You might notice that the video doesn't show anything about the yeast so I have put up that info under the video in the description section. Hope this helps.

[ame]http://youtu.be/n2jnZeu7Y3A[/ame]

 

[gondzur]

Thanks for the video! I just finished watching it, and have a couple questions...

Is the recipe you posted more refined than what you use in the video as far as quantities/ingredients go? I know you made a 3 gal batch in the video, but used double the star anise that your 2 gal recipe calls for, so I just want to check.

You also use wintergreen in the video, but don't mention it in the recipe...which is better?

How did the batch with maltodextrin turn out?

I thought I had another question, but won't remember it until I post this.

Thanks!

 

[Crazy8]

Well the recipe I had posted is still good and accurate. It's something I am still playing with so I am trying different things. As far as the wintergreen goes, it is subtle as far as the taste it has. I use it mostly for head retention but it does add a nice flavor to it. This is something you may want to also play with to see if you like it. But as I said, the flavor it does add is nice and very subtle. The maltodextrin turned out much better this time doing only 4oz/gallon. However I am not sure I like the cane sugar. I have made another 3 gallons tonight and have gone back to brown sugar. I think the brown sugar adds more of a flavor and sweetness I am looking for. If you ever think of that other question, don't be afraid to ask.

 

[gondzur]

The local health food/herb store only has wintergreen in the pure oil form. Would this work or would adding it be too strong?

I see that you are from Minnesota. Have you ever tried Princess Potosa root beer from Potosi Brewing in Wisconsin? Or maybe the root beer from BackPocket Brewing in Iowa? I would love to be able to make something similar...I'm hoping this recipe is just what I'm looking for!!!

 

[Crazy8]

I think i have heard of people using Wintergreen oil, or at least trying to, but i have not seen or heard of anything solid on its uses. I would think it would be very easy to add to much oil and would give it a very strong Wintergreen flavor. I have not tried any root beer from either.of those places. I may need to track them down and see if i can't get some sometime to check it out.

 

[malweth]

The Sassafras is very expensive! Any idea how much 1/4 c. is by weight? How many gallons of Root Beer will 1/4 lb make?

Also, how long does this keep, kegged (and force carbonated)? I was thinking of adding k-sorbate to it for stability.

 

[trent_77590]

So I am looking to make some rootbeer now. I bought a bunch of kegs and ended up with a rootbeer keg. I've read a bunch about how you cannot get that flavor out of the keg and it will effect your beer. So I thought wjy not just make some rootbeer but I have a few questions.... If you can't get the flavor out of the keg how do you get it out of you kettle? Do you use something different to boil the rootbeer? Last, if you keg it do you pour it right out of one of your perlicks?

 

[meich75]

The Sassafras is very expensive! Any idea how much 1/4 c. is by weight? How many gallons of Root Beer will 1/4 lb make?

Also, how long does this keep, kegged (and force carbonated)? I was thinking of adding k-sorbate to it for stability.

It's not expensive at all. Just take a walk in the woods, the stuff grows from Florida to Maine. The leaves are easy to spot and even easier to smell.

 

[Dynachrome]

[ame]http://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1024&bih=653&q=sassafras+leaf&oq=sasafra&gs_l=img.1.7.0i10l10.1026.2891.0.6638.7.7.0.0.0.0.274.1160.1j5j1.7.0...0.0...1ac.1.XXJFNtsBhgc[/ame]

 

[Nightshade]

Well since this thread has been necrotized I would like to ask a few questions.

I am looking to make this in 15-20gal batches and force carb to eliminate the chance of any alcohol content (since this is for a business).

The question is the same as Trents up above, how well does this clean up out of a boil kettle? Will it leave residual taste in anything boiled afterward in the same kettle?

I understand hoses etc. will all have to be dedicated solely to the making of root beer at that point and am working to secure that aspect along with dedicated corny kegs for this, but the kettle is a big consideration I have to account for.

 

[kzimmer0817]

Glad to come upon this thread. Please don't let this message cause you to forget the question posted by Nightshade above.

Several months ago I googled about Root Beer. I remember reading something about one of the ingredients being quite poisonous if not prepared properly. I'm thinking that it was the sassafras root, but I can't remember. What I read had something to do with scraping away a part of the root/bark/whatever prior to using it.

I do have several more threads to review after having searched for "root beer" on the HBT forum, so I may find my answer.

Thanks,
Keith

 

[trent_77590]

Bump for answers......