Ice cream for floats

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

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)

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.