Root Beer

So I finally made root beer this past week end. Making a non extract root beer has been a longstanding project and I'm glad to have finally tackled it " you know your a homebrewer when making root beer is the most exciting beer you can recall brewingl".







I ended up using Sean Paxton's recipe omitting only the red ginsing since I couldn't find it. The root beer is pretty good but needs some tweaks, while not sweet I find the flavor of the molassas cloying and overpowering I might switch from black strap to a lighter variety, the sassafras could be bumped up a bit too. All in all this is a great recipe that provides a base from which I can tweak flavors.

Paxton's Rootbeer

25 Gram Sassafras Root, Indian

8 Gram Sassafras Root, Jamaican

10 Gram Licorice Root

8 Gram Kava Kava

5 Gram Star Anise

5 Gram Birch Bark

5 Gram Dried Sweet Orange Peel

3 Gram Cloves

1 Gram Angelica Root

½ Teaspoon Sea Salt

¼ Teaspoon Wormwood

1 Ounce Vanilla Extract

2 Vials Red Ginseng (available at Asian Markets)

2 Cup Organic Brown Sugar

1 Cup Organic Molasses

1 Cup Blackberry Honey

5 Gallon Filtered Water

To Make:

In a large pot, add all the herbs and spices with a gallon of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for at least 2 hours.

Add Brown Sugar and Molasses and simmer another 30 minutes. Add the honey the last 2 minutes of cooking, bringing to a boil and then remove from heat.

Using a large fine strainer, strain the mixture into a sanitized keg or large bowl. Use remaining water pouring through the herbs and spices, to rinse them of any more flavor/sugar. Add the vanilla Extract and Ginseng to the keg, check the volume to make sure you have 5 gallons.

Force carbonate with 20 pounds of pressure for 2 days at 40 degrees. Keep this keg cold, as there is no yeast added to this soda recipe. This rootbeer will last about 3 weeks, without spoiling, if everything is kept clean and sanitized.