Home Brew Root Beer

Fermentation vs. Sodastream, round 1

2012-01-29T12:26:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, I bought a Sodastream for instant carbonation. I've mostly used it for straight club soda with a splash of lime juice, but with this last batch of ginger ale, I thought I'd carbonate a bottle with the Sodastream to compare to the fermented brew. I used Safale S-04, which the company's website calls "A well known English ale strain noted for its fast fermentation and rapid settling." It left quite a lot of sediment, which the carbonation instantly stirs up when I open a bottle. It's also really heavy on the diacetyl, which runs over the rest of the flavors in the fermented ginger ale. I've previously used champagne yeast in a number of batches, which, as you'd expect, doesn't give a butterish diacetyl flavor. I think I used Safale S-05 in my one birch beer experiment, and in that context, I liked a bit of butteriness. Fermentis, though, says that their S-05 has "low diacetyl and a very crisp end palate" which sounds better, at least for ginger ale. The fermented ginger ale is also pretty dry, which I like, but might not seem sweet enough for most people's expectation of soda.

The Sodastream-carbonated version is sweeter, with no sugar turning into alcohol. It's much more floral, especially to the nose. The cardamom, juniper, and especially yarrow make it flavorful, even though the ginger isn't very spicy. Pretty nice, though I might add a bit of lemon juice, not just dry lemon zest, to both versions. Because of the particular yeast, the fermented ale is, well, a bit too aley. So I think the Sodastream wins this round. Next time, I'll have to compare it to a champagne yeast or the S-05, and see if the crisper flavor wins out.

Back in Business

2012-01-22T17:12:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, my dad made me a new temperature controller to replace the one that melted. So I've finally whipped up a batch of ginger ale using my standard recipe, hopefully with slightly spicier ginger this time. Before pitching the yeast, I put a liter of the wort in a SodaStream bottle. Once it's cooled, I'll try carbonating it the modern cheating way and see how it compares to the true-brewed stuff.

Equipment and instructions

2010-12-21T13:33:00.000-08:00

I've been posting my recipes without explicit instructions, since my methods haven't changed much since the beginning. But let me go into a little more detail for those who've been asking.

Essentially, I boil water, throw in the dry ingredients, let them simmer for half an hour, and remove the wort from the heat. I've started adding the sugar at that point so I don't get sticky splatters all over the stove. Usually I only simmer the ingredients in half the water. Once it's cooled a little, I strain the wort and pour it into a gallon jug with the rest of the cool water. When it's down to 100 degrees (or the temp suggested on the yeast package), I pour a little into a dish and add the yeast to proof for 15 minutes and then pour that back into the wort. I've found that I get more evenly carbonated bottles if the yeast is totally dissolved (and thus evenly distributed.) I cap and shake the jug a bit to mix and aerate.

Then it goes into the bottles and capped. I use a powdered sanitizer to get everything clean, though I don't think it's as crucial as it is with beer, since it's only fermenting for a few days.

As far as equipment goes, you ought to be able to make do with what's in a regular kitchen and some used plastic soda bottles. (And I've had people highly recommend not using glass, since it will explode if you let it ferment too long with so much sugar.) I have managed to collect a few semi-specialized tools though.

I think this is all the equipment I use to make a batch:

pot for simmering

measuring cup and spoons

stirring spoon

bowl for proofing yeast

strainer and finer splatter guard to strain

funnel

jug

bottles

bottle caps and capper

Ginger Ale #5

2010-12-17T19:41:00.000-08:00

Throwing together a batch with dry lemon zest and a bit more ginger than last time for the holidays.

2 1/2 oz fresh ginger

8 cardamom pods

1/4 cup yarrow

2 Tbsp juniper berries

1 tsp white pine bark

1 tsp dry lemon rind

1/2 tsp citric acid

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1 2/3 cups sugar

1/4 tsp champagne yeast

1 gal water

Fermented for 72 hours, mostly at 72 degrees. It got up to 80 with the oven light and no thermostat one evening, so I cracked the oven door overnight. Down to the low 60s in the morning.

When I tasted the wort, I was worried: it didn't seem to have any ginger bite to it. I picked up the ginger at an Asian market in Daly City, and biting into some leftover root, I didn't find much spice. Perhaps it was grown fast and wet? The spiciest ginger ale I've made was basically the same recipe, but with young ginger with very thin skin from Rainbow.

Once it had fermented, though, it came out quite nice. It doesn't really have any bite, but it is gingery nonetheless. The yarrow is quite pronounced and it tastes more like the standard canned ginger ale. With some rye whiskey, it makes a really good highball.

Meltdown

2010-11-13T11:57:00.000-08:00

Before the birch beer, it'd been a while since I'd brewed anything because I lost my temperature control. After I came back from summer vacation, I put my thermostatically controlled lightbulb and fan in the oven to raise bread without taping over the oven knob and my roommate turned on the oven. I came home to a really stinky smoke-filled apartment one night and opened the oven to see this:

Not a pretty sight.

Birch Beer #1

2010-11-07T13:59:00.001-08:00

I spent a small fortune on birch syrup to flavor and sweeten my brews. It's really molassesy. I want to keep the first experiment simple, but I can't resist a couple of other ingredients besides the birch. For a half gallon batch I'm going to try...

2 Tbsp course birch bark

1 Tbsp paper birch bark

1 Tbsp birch syrup

1 Tbsp wintergreen

1 tsp sassafras root

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 gal water

1/8 tsp ale yeast

At 65-68 degrees, this fermented for 5 1/2 days, giving it good carbonation, but not to the point of much head. It's pretty tasty. The test bottle seemed molassesy after 3 days, but with more carbonation and diacetyl from the fermentation, it's at a good level. It's quite sweet and buttery--with a less complex flavors than the 8-tree ale. Maybe a touch more sassafras wouldn't hurt, or some pine. This might be a good base recipe to compare the flavor of ale yeast vs. champagne yeast.

Ice cream for floats

2010-04-18T18:40:00.001-07:00

Since we were having a party, I thought root beer floats would be a good idea. Here's my refined recipe for vanilla ice cream with a light custardy flavor. Perfect for floats.

4 cups half and half

1 3/4 cups white sugar

2 Tbsp corn starch

2 more cups half and half

2 cups heavy cream

2 tsp vanilla extract

Bring 2 cups half and half to scalding (200 degrees) and while it's heating up mix in the sugar.

Add the corn starch mixed in a bit of cold half and half.

Whisk to thicken slightly, being careful not to boil.

Remove from heat, cool a bit, and add the remaining half and half, cream, and vanilla.

Chill to near freezing and churn; then move to freezer to firm up.

Ginger Ale #4

2010-04-10T16:22:00.000-07:00

For our Sunday spring brunch, I thought I should brew up some soda. There's nothing particularly new here, but I'm trying for 11 bottles, even though that won't fit in the gallon glass jug I've been brewing in. Bigger portions on the ingredients to make a more concentrated base, and then a little extra water mixed in some how or another.

3 1/4 oz fresh ginger

11 cardamom pods

3 Tbsp juniper berries

1 1/2 tsp white pine bark

1/2 cup yarrow flowers

1 tsp dry lemon rind

1 scant tsp citric acid

scan 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 cups sugar

1/4 tsp yeast

1 1/2 gal water

So, even though this is pretty much the same recipe I've been using, this batch didn't turn out nearly as awesome as the last. First, it isn't very fizzy, despite the mini-test-bottle that gushed after 4 days fermentation and a night in the fridge. (Though Fentiman's has about the same amount of fizz.) The rest didn't go in till 5 days. I'm wondering if the bale-top bottles aren't holding the fizz. The big difference is that this ginger seems to just not have had much punch. It has more in common with Vernor's or Canada Dry (I'm aware they're fairly different) than the Caribbean style ginger beers like Reed's. Aside from sharper ginger (the "young" stuff?) a bit more citric acid wouldn't hurt, though maybe that's only needed because of the tamer ginger. Overall it's good, just not the best.

Eight-tree Ale (root beer #7)

2010-04-10T16:16:00.000-07:00

Basically, another attempt to get the root beer to carbonate properly. It's going into capped bottled since the swing tops are going to be full of ginger ale. (Above is the root beer and ginger ale in my temperature-controlled 70-degree oven.) I meant to put a whole tablespoon of yellow dock in, but didn't have that much left.

1/4 cup sassafras

1/4 cup coarse birch bark

2 1/2 Tbsp sarsaparilla

2 Tbsp wild cherry bark

2 Tbsp wintergreen leaves

2 tsp licorice root

1 tsp yellow dock

1 tsp burdock

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 tsp ale yeast

1 gal water

This came out awesome! Finally! I bottled it in reused Fentiman's bottles with twist-off caps, which, aside from one that didn't seal, worked perfectly. Five days at 70 degrees was at least a day too long; the bottles totally gushed and had excessive head. Despite some root beer lost to the floor and sink and waiting for the head to subside, the foaminess was quite satisfying. Very root-beery. Served at our Spring brunch party. Karen said, "there's a lot going on!" Better than the ginger ale for a change.

Root Beer #6 (diet)

2010-02-08T21:38:00.000-08:00

My brother is coming to town, and I thought I should put on a batch of root beer to celebrate. Basically, this is recipe #5, except I'm going to try the stevia experiment from the lavender ale. My hope is that this might be a solution to the flatness problem. Stevia will provide the sweetness, and then I'll prime the beer with enough sugar to carbonate it, but not explode the bottle, so it can brew for a week or more and get totally fizzy... at least that's my theory. So here are the ingredients:

1/4 cup sassafras

1/4 cup birch bark

2 1/2 Tbsp sarsaparilla

2 Tbsp wild cherry bark

2 Tbsp wintergreen leaves

1 Tbsp yellow dock

2 tsp licorice

1 tsp burdock

1/4 cup stevia extract with dextrose

1/4 cup sugar

1 gal water

1/4 tsp yeast

I'll let you know how it turns out.

UPDATE: more fizz that didn't last and I'm less in love with the stevia as sweetener. Ended up dumping most of this to free up bottles.

Lavender Rosemary Ginger Ale #1

2010-01-31T19:18:00.000-08:00

Walking around my neighborhood last weekend, I walked past several rosemary and lavender bushes and it inspired me to try a new concoction.

1/2 oz fresh ginger

1 tsp fresh rosemary

2 Tbsp dried lavender flowers

2 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp stevia extract (cut with dextrose)

1/8 tsp ale yeast

1/2 gal water

Simmered ginger alone for 20 minutes, with rosemary an additional 10 minutes. Removed from heat to steep with lavender for 10 minutes. Brewed 7 days at 70 degrees.

This recipe was really a shot in the dark, so I was completely prepared for it to be disgusting. It is not. Everything settled leaving the liquid totally clear, but the sediment makes it cloudy with a slight pinkish purple tinge. When I put my nose to it, I was afraid it would be too gingery, but after tasting it, I think the tiny bit of sharpness is needed, as the other flavors are very round. It is distinctly, but not overwhelmingly lavender-flavored. I get almost none of the rosemary, so that can be at least doubled. My room mate, who has a cold and had just drunk tea with honey, found the stevia's sweetness a bit odd. I think it's fine, though it isn't just like sugar. Most people would probably judge the level of sweetness right, but I could use a little less.

As far as carbonation, the small amount of sugar has made it bubbly enough. I'm not sure whether more time would make it any bubblier, and we'll have to see if the other three bottles turn out once they're chilled. This is definitely a good start. Perhaps some rose or ginkgo would be a way to add the next layer of complexity.

Warm Christmas

2010-01-10T19:08:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, my dad built me a thermostatically controlled lightbulb and fan so I can carefully control the temperature of the oven at fermentation temperature. It's already been great for bread (set at 98 degrees--as high as the home thermostat will go) and I'm about to try 70 degrees for some root beer. Hopefully this will eliminate the lengthy and flakey fermentation caused by our 55-60-degree kitchen.

Root Beer #5

2010-01-10T18:56:00.000-08:00

Since I lost recipe #4, I went back to #3, upped the bitters, as I suggested, and added wintergreen.

4 Tbsp sassafras

4 Tbsp coarse birch bark

2 1/2 Tbsp sarsaparilla

2 Tbsp wild cherry bark

2 Tbsp wintergreen leaves

1 1/2 Tbsp yellow dock

2 tsp licorice root

1 tsp burdock

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/8 tsp ale yeast

1 gal water

This is getting close to what I want. It definitely has a much woodsier aroma than commercial root beer, but it's sufficiently sweet (wondering if more licorice or something like stevia can substitute for some of the sugar, though) and has a complex, well-rounded flavor. There might be a little too much bitterness, so maybe taking the yellow dock back to 1 Tbsp would be good.

It definitely has a taste of ale that you don't find in non-brewed carbonated soda. There must be something in the roots that inhibits the yeast, because even at a steady 70 degrees, the root beer carbonates much slower than ginger ale with the same yeast. After three days, a not-completely chilled bottle got a bit of a head, but wasn't super-bubbly, so I gave it another day. Fully chilled after four days fermentation, and it has a nice bubbly feel in the mouth, but doesn't get a head or look very bubbly. 1/4 tsp of yeast in a gallon seems like a lot, but I'll have to give it a try.

Talking about it with my roommate, I counted the ingredients. Perhaps this should be called eight-tree ale. That has a good ring to it.

Ginger Ale #3.1

2009-12-29T21:02:00.000-08:00

I brought pre-mixed ginger and herbs to North Carolina to whip up a batch of ginger ale while visiting my brother's family. Just had to add water, sugar, and yeast. I used the bread yeast that was on hand, and in a 70-degree kitchen, it was fully bubbly in two and a half days. Also tried bottle caps on some twist-off bottles, and that seems to have worked fine. An easy New Year's treat.

Kristmas Kola

2009-12-01T17:14:00.000-08:00

zest of 1 small lemon

peel of 2 mandarin oranges

1/3 oz piece of cinnamon bark

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 anise star

1/2 tsp kola nut

1/6 oz fresh ginger

1/2 vanilla bean

1 tsp wintergreen leaves

1/2 tsp citric acid

1 tsp maple syrup

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 gal water

1/8 tsp ale yeast

Looking up cola recipes, I found a number of pages listing supposed original recipes for Coca-Cola, and modern reverse engineering attempts. Most used alcohol-based extracts, rather than steeped raw ingredients. I had most of the flavorings commonly used in dried or fresh form, so took a stab at something I hoped would be cola like. While it boiled, it filled the apartment with Christmas scents. Finished, it's pretty unusual. I don't think anybody would take a sip and think Coke or Pepsi. It's hard to tell what the flavors are. Nutmeg and orange seem to dominate. Brown sugar adds something unexpected in a soda. It's not unpleasant, but it's pretty weird.

Ginger Ale #3

2009-11-27T15:34:00.000-08:00

2 1/4 oz. young ginger

6 cardamom pods, broken

2 Tbsp juniper berries

1 tsp white pine bark

1/4 cup yarrow flowers

1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon zest

1/2 tsp citric acid

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1 gal water

1 2/3 cups sugar

1/4 tsp yeast

We're on to something here. I took several bottles of this just finished batch to Thanksgiving dinner (fermented in a lighted oven to be sure it would be fizzy on time.) Perfectly floral, ever-so-slightly ginny, tangy and refreshing. It's definitely gingery, but without so much ginger heat. Juniper berries are at exactly the right amount--they would be lost with less, but startling with more. A bit more yarrow, being subtler, probably wouldn't hurt, but isn't needed. It isn't markedly lemony, but is satisfyingly citrusy. The cardamom seems lost--maybe a couple more pods to see next time. The pine, too, doesn't seem to be adding much, but perhaps that's as it should be.

The more gingery recipe certainly deserves to be called "Carribean." What we have here might be more of a "mainland" version.

Ginger Ale #2

2009-11-21T13:37:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, I visited the new pizzeria in my neighborhood, Pi Bar. I spied in their cooler a tiny bottle of Fentiman's Ginger Beer, and asked for a bottle on the way out. I'd intended to savor it at home, but the bartender opened it for me. It was 125ml of delight, sharply gingery, but with strong herbal fragrances. The label keeps nothing secret: it lists ginger, speedwell, juniper, and yarrow extracts, rather than the usual, coy 'natural flavors.' Although it contains carbonated water, this British company seems to actually brew with yeast at some step of their production. So I promptly went to Rainbow and bought juniper berries and yarrow flowers. (They didn't have 'speedwell.') These, I hoped, would add a better complexity to the ginger-sugar combination than the fruit juice of my last batch.

3 oz young ginger (no skinning needed)

4 cardamom pods, broken

2 Tbsp yarrow flowers

1 Tbsp dry juniper berries

1 tsp lemon zest

1/2 tsp citric acid

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1 2/3 cups sugar

1/8 tsp ale yeast

1 gal water

I opened a bottle after six cool days, and it was drinkably fizzy, though I'll give it another day before chilling. It's very satisfying, with a hint of herbal scent. I think the cream of tartar gives it a smooth mouth-feel. It definitely can use a good bit more of the juniper and especially the yarrow, which smells lovely raw. It might, at some point, be worth trying to extract the essence with alcohol, rather than just boiling, though that opens up a whole new line of experimentation...

Root beer #4

2009-11-17T18:39:00.000-08:00

So, this batch was so finicky, and ended up taking so long, that I have misplaced the ingredient list. It might be lying around somewhere, but I do remember that I increased the burdock and yellow dock, as I suggested to myself after the last batch, and, along with the new, blue bottles, I ordered wintergreen and ale yeast, so it's got that too.

After a week of fermentation, I put the bottles in the fridge and took some to work to share. The bottle I shared with Rachel gushed, and shot all over her office and out the door into the library, but then three other bottles were only slightly carbonated. I gave the remaining four a few more days, and cracking the bail tops only released a little gas. Finally, when I bottled the hard cider I was making (with champagne yeast) I put a little of the dregs in the root beer. The bottle I'm drinking now is really tingly and some of the sweetness has gone boozy. The flavor might not satisfy a 10-year-old either, but I like it.

It's perhaps a bit more bitter than the last batch, and there seems to be more going on. I can't distinctly make out the wintergreen, which, made into a tea, was rather mild, nothing like a wintergreen Lifesaver. Maybe there is some coolness to the aftertaste, though. Mmmm.

Ginger Ale #0

2009-11-15T12:56:00.000-08:00

The ginger beer I posted about a couple weeks ago seemed a little simple to me, compared to the super-simple Trader Joe's based concoction I'd done before, so I decided to make that again as a base-line to compare to. I still highly recommend that anyone interested in trying to make their own soda throw some yeast in a bottle of lemon-ginger-echinacea juice and let it sit till it's fizzy, but I wasn't as enamored of the result this time. It lacked the really sharp, carribean-style bite you get from fresh ginger, and it was, well, rather juicy. I think I can do better: a project for this evening.

"Cream soda" #2

2009-11-01T15:42:00.000-08:00

This tweaking of my first cream soda batch is a little bit improved. It has gotten good reviews from the friends who've tried it, though I wouldn't say I'm in love with it. I upped the vanilla, though it doesn't seem as much stronger as I expected. Eileen thinks more raisin, like the first batch, would be good. I'm fine with the raisin flavor being more subtle. For some reason the increased cinnamon still isn't noticeable, perhaps it's masked by the vanilla. It took a full week to carbonate in our cool apartment.

1 3/4 cups light brown sugar

2 vanilla beans

5 inches chinese cinnamon

scant 1/4 cup raisins

4 quarts water

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/8 tsp ale yeast.

EDIT: I just came across an article that mentions that unsplit vanilla bean doesn't provide enough flavor. I didn't split them to avoid the little seeds getting out. Mystery solved.

Ginger beer #1

2009-10-18T15:07:00.000-07:00

2 1/2 oz coarsely grated, skinned ginger
Juice of one medium lemon
1 cardamom seed, broken
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 qts water
root beer dregs

Boiled flavorings and half the water for 30 minutes before diluting and bottling.

My first attempt at ginger ale/beer from scratch turned out pretty much as expected. It has a satisfying effervescence, and a pretty intense spicy ginger bite, definitely a Caribbean-style ginger brew. The batch carbonated much faster than the "cream soda" I made at the same time. Cardamom can be overpowering, so, as usual, I was cautious. It only contributes a faint hint, so I definitely want more next time. I'm in favor of more lemon too. The bit of root beer that provided the yeast didn't hurt the flavor at all. It's completely satisfactory, but I'm hoping for more.

For the past couple years, from time to time, I've been turning Trader Joe's Lemon Ginger Echinacea juice into super-easy ginger ale. If you are at all curious about brewing your own soda, this is where you should start. Open a bottle of the TJ juice, sprinkle in 1/8 tsp of yeast, seal and shake. (I've used champagne yeast, but I'm sure regular bread yeast is fine, and will probably go faster.) Loosen the cap, and let it sit on the counter for a couple days. Seal the cap and let the plastic bottle harden under pressure (an afternoon or overnight, probably.) Chill in the fridge, and enjoy! (From what I've been reading about making soda in 2-liter bottles, you could probably just seal the bottle from the beginning, but I haven't tried it.)

What I really like about starting with the TJ juice is that instead of water and sugar, it contains white grape and apple juice (100% juice!) and honey, yielding a pretty complex flavor with ease and consistency. I suppose it's really ginger wine or ginger cider, rather than ginger ale. (There's also "natural flavors," vitamin C, and echinacea extract.)

This time, I wanted to try a totally straight-forward ginger beer, and using the fresh ginger gave a stronger bite, but I'll probably take some inspiration from the back of the Trader Joe's label for the next batch.

"Cream soda" #1

2009-10-17T12:27:00.000-07:00

Homemade Root Beer, Soda & Pop includes a recipe for "Cream Soda" because "no book of soft drink recipes would be complete" without one. I don't think Cresswell is confident in this recipe because he suggests that it be "a starting point for you in your quest for the ultimate cream soda."

I went ahead and tried a slightly modified and smaller version of the recipe:

scant 1/4 cup raisins

5 inches vanilla bean, split

1 1/4 cups light brown sugar

3 inches chinese (coarse) cinnamon bark

3 quarts water

root beer dregs

There was also supposed to be 1/4 tsp cream of tartar added before bottling, but I just realized that I forgot that step (as confirmed by the still-sealed jar on my ingredient shelf.)

The finished product is definitely a starting point. I wouldn't call it cream soda, really. More like cinnamon raisin toast with vanilla icing in a bottle. If ever a soda was meant for breakfast, this is it.

I removed the cinnamon after 15 minutes of simmering, afraid of it overwhelming the flavor. It turns out that once chilled, the cinnamon pulled back considerably. The cinnamon is mostly discernable as an aftertaste; it could use a little more, and that might be good, but would take it even further from anything like cream soda.

Splitting the vanilla bean turned out not to be a great idea. The tiny seeds aren't really a problem, but they didn't filter out well.

Finally, the yeast must have been weak. After six days of warm weather, it still needs more fermentation, though it's definitely going. I'm not sure where to go with this one. Upping the cinnamon and adding the cream of tartar would probably let it live up to its full cinnamon toast potential. If I'm going for cream soda, though, I might do something completely different.

UPDATE: Another couple days, and this finally carbonated properly, and I have to say it's pretty good. Yesterday, I started another batch with less raisins, much more vanilla, and without chickening out on the cinnamon. I'm optimistic it'll be even better.

Between batches

2009-10-11T19:05:00.000-07:00

I've got two batches sitting on the stove cooling right now. One is ginger ale, which I'm fairly confident in my recipe for. The other is a cream soda from the root beer book which contains raisins, cinnamon, and vanilla. It smells nice, but I'm skeptical it will taste like what I'd call cream soda.

As I was finishing up the root beer in the fridge, I put a bottle of batch #2 up against my revised batch #3. Number 3 had the same amount of sugar, and had licorice root too, but wasn't as sweet. Both batches had gone in, then back out of the fridge, but I put #3 on top of the fridge to ferment further and gave it even a little more time. This, on top of the fact that I felt like I'd had a wee bit to drink when I drank a bottle this morning, makes me think a fair bit of the sugar got consumed. I kind of like the dryness, but perhaps a little more sugar would be a good idea, and perhaps a little more licorice.

Flavor-wise, #2 definitely had a more sarsaparilla taste. I had cut that root back a bit and put more sassafras in #3. Back to more sarsaparilla without cutting the sassafras is probably the next step. The additional flavors in #3 gave it good complexity, especially the smokey cherry flavor, so those are keepers for the next refinement, which I'll have nothing but cream soda and ginger ale to compare to.

Root beer float!

2009-10-03T18:22:00.000-07:00

Home-brewed root beer + homemade ice cream = super homemade root beer float. What a rare treat!

How to Cook Everything Vegetarian suggests that good rich ice cream really needs to be custard-based, but you can make custard using cornstarch instead of eggs.

2 cups half-and-half brought to scalding
2 Tbsp corn starch (mixed with a bit of cold half-and-half) and
1 scant cup sugar added and stirred at heat until thick
1 cup heavy cream and
1 tsp vanilla extract added off heat

Chilled in freezer to 34 degrees and frozen in kitchen-aid mixer ice cream maker.

It is quite custardy--excellent texture, but a very warm flavor. Next time (which my arteries should wait a while for) I might try scalding only half the half-and-half.

And there could always be root beer flavored ice cream...

Batch #3

2009-10-03T15:38:00.000-07:00

This is my third batch steeping on the stove.

4 Tbsp sassafras
2 1/2 Tbsp sarsaparilla
1 tsp licorice root
2 Tbsp cherry bark
4 Tbsp birch bark
1/2 tsp burdock
1 Tbsp yellow dock
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 gallon water
1/4 cup dregs from bottle of previous batch

Using the settled yeast from a bottle I'd just drunk worked just fine. It was foaming from sitting at room temperature when I put it in. I let this batch brew for four days before refrigerating. After two there was almost no pressure or bubbling in the bottle I opened. Two more days and it bubbled vigorously without gushing. Once chilled, it isn't as bubbly as it could be, so I think I need to get over my fear of exploding bottles and impatience and let it brew another day or so. It tastes adequately carbonated though.

The flavor of this batch is just the right strength. The increased sassafras and decreased sarsaparilla is a better proportion. Tastes like root beer! Though more herbal, slightly smokey, and nuanced than the commercial stuff. I don't miss the anise (but will probably try a stronger anise/licorice brew at some point.) I think I can stand to up some of the secondary ingredients, like the bitter burdock and yellow dock, for a more grown-up flavor.

Ingredient notes

2009-09-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

Results from my tea tasting:

Sassafras root is one of the main traditional root beer flavors, and I'd say the sharper component of that familiar taste. I don't think it's actually used anymore due to something in it being mildly carcinogenic in large quantities in small animals.

Sarsaparilla root by itself has a very fragrant, round, fluffy smell, akin to vanilla. It was less intense in the mouth than in the nose. Very root-beery.

Cherry bark made a quite weak tea. Obviously smells like furniture being made out of cherry wood. I think I can use more than in the last batch without risk of bitterness.

Birch bark was stronger than cherry, very nice, should probably use a lot.

Pine bark is nice, but strong. Probably use sparingly. Might be good with wintergreen (which I don't have.)

Licorice root was super sweet after it sat for a couple hours. Less so when it had only steeped for half an hour. Probably good to use to make low-sugar drinks. Some aftertaste, but not unpleasant.

Sliced stem that I thought might be American Ginseng had an even stronger non-sugar sweet than licorice. Definite aftertaste. I don't think ginseng is supposed to be sweet, so who knows what it is. As long as it isn't dried sea cucumber.

Yellow Dock root tastes like digging up green roots. Green, earthy taste. A little bitter.

Barberry root had a very mild, light wood taste.

Burdock root reminds me of a midwestern stream, or some wood used in boat building. Pretty bitter, maybe offensive to some, but probably adds some good complexity.

The flavors were less discernible once cooled. Putting a pinch of sugar in each didn't hurt, but adding ice and club soda wasn't as helpful as I thought it would be. It mostly just watered the flavors of the teas down.

Taste testing

2009-09-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

Today's experiment is underway. I've steeped 10 different ingredients, sweetened the teas, and as soon as I get some club soda, will add some ice and bubbles so I can get a feel for all the different flavors. I want to see if I can pick out the different ingredients in a bottle from my last batch, and figure out what to put in a batch later today.

Experiment #2

2009-09-27T12:51:00.001-07:00

This is the recipe for my first successful batch of root beer. The book is full of recipes, but I couldn't resist putting together something using a lot of the ingredients I bought.

3 Tbsp sassafras

3 Tbsp sarsaparilla

1 Tbsp cherry bark

2 Tbsp birch bark

1 anise star

1 1/3 cups sugar

1/8 tsp champagne yeast

1 gallon water

I boiled the roots and bark in 1 quart of water, dissolved the sugar, strained and then added the remaining water and yeast, and bottled it. It fermented for 3 days. The bottle I opened did bubble, so, nervous that the bottles would explode, I stuck it in the fridge. When I poured a bottle the next day it was flat, so I gave them another 2 days at room temperature. At that point I opened a bottle and it gushed. I saw it starting and made it to the sink before it made a mess.

Carbonation was good, but the color was unexpectedly light, and the flavor not as strong as I'd like. But a good first successful batch!

Experiment #1

2009-09-27T12:46:00.000-07:00

I bought 8 bottles of Grolsch, but only managed to drink two before wanting to try my first root beer batch.

1 qt water

2 Tbsp sassafras

1/2 tsp licorice root

40 drops burdock tincture (courtesy of Eileen)

1/3 cup sugar

1/32 tsp champagne yeast

Unfortunately, the first two bottles, while having a good traditional root beer flavor, never got fizzy. I'm now using a fresh package of champagne yeast.

Ingredients!

2009-09-27T12:26:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, I got the book Homemade Root Beer, Soda & Pop. I promptly went out to buy roots. China Town was my first stop, but that wasn't as productive as I'd hoped. I did get some star anise, cinnamon bark, and what I think is cheap American Ginseng. Rainbow Grocery was more helpful. They have hundreds of glass jars filled with every spice, herb, and aromatic plant imaginable. I more than a dozen jars of various things, including sassafras, sarsaparilla, and burdock roots; and birch, cherry, pine barks. I went a little overboard, mostly because it seems like if you're going to have shelf of witchdoctoresque ingredients, you better go all the way.