Homebrew Root Beer

[Mike_302]

I've searched in these forums for Root beer discussions -- the very few that exist are ancient discussions which died a quick death. I am considering brewing a root beer though, and wanted to create a modern thread. Hopefully this one doesn't die with as little input as the others, and brings some more up-to-date advice for future readers

Main questions, aside from finding a recipe, include:
1. Using a King Keg to store and build up carbonation.

2. Potential for long-term contamination of the king keg? I think there are a few types of beers that can really affect future brews, no matter how much you clean it? I don't know the details, so I don't know if a root beer recipe could potentially do the same.

Thoughts?

 

[Dutto]

My only thought was "Hmmm? Let's have a look at this." and discovered that ...

"Sassafras root is still used to flavor traditional root beer, but since sassafras was banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration due to the carcinogenicity of its constituent safrole, most commercial recipes do not contain sassafras.

So, in view of this and all the other "it gives you cancer" scares that we read about, I have decided to give it a miss.

Good Luck with your new Thread!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_beer

 

[Mike_302]

Nahhh! That's seriously just hype. Look at the research that inspires that "carcinogen" claim: they fed the stuff in ENORMOUS QUANTITIES to mice in the sixties, and took the results to mean it was bad for humans. There's just as much evidence going the other way, showing it has beneficial effects on humans. It was used for medicinal purposes for centuries before the USDA decided to do outlandish things to mice and extrapolate the results to humans.

It's really not that an uncommon blog to find various root beer recipes, but most seem to be really small batch brews, like 1-2L, whereas I'm taking about UP TO 23L, for sharing, stored in a king keg...

 

[An Ankoù]

I'm up for it. I like root beer.
As for contamination of a keg- don't know, but what if it did get into the plastic? Would it then taint your beer with an unpleasant flavour? We use oak chips and bourbon barrels, can't see a tiny bit of root beer causing a problem. That's presuming it does linger.
Your topic reminds me I also love Dandelion and Burdock. An alcoholic one would be well worth trying.

 

[An Ankoù]

So, in view of this and all the other "it gives you cancer" scares that we read about, I have decided to give it a miss.

Says the man who uses foxgloves and nightshade to add a certain je ne sais quoi to his highly intoxicating confections.

 

[IainM]

I think the main reason sassafras was banned was because people were using it to make ecstasy.

 

[Dutto]

I think the main reason sassafras was banned was because people were using it to make ecstasy.

I reckon it was banned because in the old "westerns" all the men in white hats drank "Sarsaparilla" (a drink that uses sassafras), whereas the men in black hats always drank whisky!

 

[phildo79]

You don't need to use sassafras. I made a pretty good root beer with sarsaparilla, liquorice bark, yellow dock, birch bark and clove a few years ago. I have been meaning to make another batch to use up the ingredients but got slightly sidetracked with making actual beer.

I used 500ml plastic bottles. When they went hard, they were ready to put in the fridge.

 

[Rodj]

I also love Dandelion and Burdock. An alcoholic one would be well worth trying.

Agreed. Dandelion and burdock is a drink from my childhood and I loved it. Also sarsaparilla: my mother used to make it in an enormous earthenware bowl. I don't know what went into it, but she floated a toast on top of the liquor and sprinkled the yeast on the toast. We should start a mini-project to investigate and revive these drinks. (Incidentally, Dutto, I think the white hat cowboy who always drank "a short sarsaparilla" was Tom Brewster.)
I've often made ginger beer - good fun, especially when one went off with an enormous bang in the middle of the night when I was at uni.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Used to go the baths once a week at school, on the way back stop off at local temperance bar for sasperalla and db

 

[GerritT]

You could try a tonic?

 

[Drunkula]

I've been threatening to do alcoholic dandylion and burdock for 2 years but things got in the way. I even got permission to forage in the nunnery after I got rid of an abandoned telly for them that somebody had dumped in the woods. I saw them gawping at it when I was out running - you'd think it was an alien space ship. No, sisters, just a massive old Bush crt. I've no idea if nuns have rules about how to deal with a big old Bush. You don't see them any more. My gran had a massive Bush but the colour started fade.

Anyway, I won their trust and now I've got access to acres of wild garlic and burdock.

John Wright and Hugh FW do a version of it - using all those delightful country methods that turn farm hands into farm no-hands.

 

[Rodj]

I've no idea if nuns have rules about how to deal with a big old Bush. You don't see them any more. My gran had a massive Bush but the colour started fade.

Ye gods, Drunkula, how on earth do you know the size and colour of your gran's bush????

 

[Drunkula]

Ye gods, Drunkula, how on earth do you know the size and colour of your gran's bush????

Oh she was an exceptional woman and kept records of everything - there was never a hair out of place with regards to that Bush. Any time her Bush needed a service she wrote about it extensively in her diary, and the records go right back: in 1969 the whole street gathered round and watched Neil Armstrong take a giant leap on her Bush. She said she was in tears after. Amazing times.

 

[Rodj]

Oh she was an exceptional woman

She sounds like she would have been my kind of girl. Too late now, but was she rich, beautiful and a terrific cook?

 

[Dutto]

Used to go the baths once a week at school, on the way back stop off at local temperance bar for sasperalla and db

If we walked to Sherwood Colliery Baths we could use our bus fare for a Hot Oxo and a slice of bread and dripping in the miners canteen! The Oxo (a cube melted in a mug of hot water) was needed because the baths weren't heated and the slice of B&D was a much savoured treat!

We didn't have a "temperance bar" but the local Methodist Church Youth Club did have a billiard table. Aged eleven, I "Signed the Pledge" so that I could play on it and aged eleven and one month, I broke the billiard table! With my chosen career as a Snooker or Billiards Player in tatters, I stopped attending the Youth Club and took to the drink a few years later!

I too love Dandelion & Burdock but nowadays it just doesn't taste the same; perhaps it's because my Granny made Elderberry Wine instead!

 

[Clarence]

@Mike_302
I don't know if you get notifications, but I'd be interested to know how you got on with your root beer. I'm having a bit of a fling with foraged stuff- especially rosehips and I see I can get dandelion root and burdock root easily enough from Amazon. Anyway, i was thinking of having a go at some alcoholic Dandelion and Burdock and was wondering if you or anybody else had had any success in this direction.