How to Brew Root Beer at Home

One brand of homemade all natural root beer.

Brewing your own root beer at home has a couple of advantages. First of all, when you brew your own root beer you don't add as much refined sugar as companies that make and sell root beer commercially. You get all the healthful aspects of any herbs and spices that you use when you brew root beer at home. This is not the case with commercially made root beer that uses chemical imitations rather than natural ingredients. Finally, when you make your own root beer at home, you use yeast, and yeast is a good source of B vitamins.

Things You'll Need

• A large stockpot
• Water
• Sugar
• Root beer extract
• Champagne yeast
• A funnel
• 1 gallon plastic bottle
• Labels
• 2 liter plastic bottles
• Unsulfured molasses
• Hops flowers
• Ginger
• Ground licorice root
• Ground burdock root
• Star anise
• Ale yeast
• A strainer

Instructions

Regular Root Beer

1. Put 1 gallon of water in your stockpot and heat it to 100 to 110 degrees.

2. Using your funnel, pour 2 cups of sugar and 2 tablespoons of root beer extract into your plastic bottle.

3. Pour half of the warm water into the plastic bottle with the sugar and the root beer extract.

4. Add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoons of Champagne yeast to the plastic bottle.

5. Put the cap on your plastic bottle and then shake it well.

6. Pour the other half of your warm water into the plastic bottle and then shake it well again.

7. Pour your homemade root beer into 2 liter plastic bottles and put their caps on them.

8. Write the date you made the root beer on labels and stick them to your 2 liter bottles.

9. Put your 2 liter bottles in a warm dry place, preferably somewhere that is always at room temperature, for two or three days.

10. Refrigerate your homemade root beer. This makes a gallon of homemade root beer.

Licorice Root Beer

1. Add 1 gallon of water to your large stockpot.

2. Add 1 1/3 cup of sugar and 1 tablespoon unsulfured molasses to the water in your stockpot and bring it to a boil.

3. Grate a thumb-sized piece of ginger and add it to the boiling mixture.

4. Add 1 cup of hops flowers to the boiling mixture.

5. Add 1 tbsp. ground licorice root to the boiling mixture.

6. Add 2 tbsp. ground burdock root to the boiling mixture.

7. Add three or four pieces of star anise to the boiling mixture.

8. Keep the water and its ingredients boiling at a low boil for 45 minutes.

9. Allow the mixture to cool down and then add 1/2 tsp. of ale yeast.

10. Allow the soda to stand at room temperature for 24 hours.

11. Taking a funnel and a strainer, pour the soda into 2 liter bottles, and put the caps on.

12. Make labels and write the date you made the soda on them before sticking the labels on the 2 liter bottles you just poured your homemade licorice root beer into.

13. Put the 2 liter bottles filled with soda in a warm, and dry place that is at room temperature for another 24 hours.

14. After 24 hours has passed, refrigerate the soda for at least another day or two before drinking it.

Tips & Warnings

• When storing your bottles at room temperature, try to find a spot where there are no drafts, otherwise the temperature can fluctuate and could alter the taste of your root beer.

• Make sure you leave 1 or 2 inches at the top of each of the 2 liter bottles you are pouring your soda into before capping them. Because there is yeast in there, there is a danger of the bottle exploding if you don't.

Resources

• Root beer extract
• Root Beer Making Kits