Homemade root beer is earthy, bold, and sweet all at the same time.
Ingredients
1 gallon filtered water, divided
1 tablespoon sarsaparilla root bark (see notes)
1 tablespoon sassafras root bark (see notes)
1 tablespoon birch bark (see notes)
4 sprigs chocolate mint (see notes)
3 star anise pods
1/2 teaspoon crushed ginger
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup molasses
1/8 teaspoon ale yeast
Directions
Combine 2 quarts water, sassafras, sarsaparilla, birch, mint, star anise, ginger, and vanilla in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes. Remove pot from heat, cover, and let steep for 2 hours.
Strain liquid through a fine-mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth into a large pot. Add remaining 2 quarts water along with brown sugar and molasses. Stir until mixture is integrated, then cover.
Let cool to 75°F (24°C), then stir in yeast and let it sit for 15 minutes. Fill plastic bottles with mixture, leaving 2 inches of space at top. Screw on caps. Keep bottles at room temperature for 36 hours, then open a bottle slowly and carefully to see if it is carbonated enough. If it is, then go on to step 4. If not, reseal the bottle and let rest for another 12 to 24 hours until desired carbonation is reached.
Place bottles in the refrigerator for 2 days before drinking. You can store refrigerated root beer for about 1 month.
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I hope to some day be described as "earthy, bold, and sweet all at the same time".
I most likely won't ever spend time making my own root beet, I massively appreciate your post and the straight forward nature of the information! This is the type of stuff that makes me enjoy lemmy.
So interesting that it's ale yeast causing the carbonation. Makes sense given the history, but I somehow assumed we always just used syrup and carbonated water