As I have used an extract rather than cooking up my own proper recipe, so this is more like instructions for making root beer at home rather than a proper recipe.One can try boiling down sassafras root and making your own flavoring for root beer but sassafras isn't the only thing that goes into root beer. Wintergreen and possibly dandelion root go in there too. You really have to be a pharmacist to the right mix. In any case, I left the mixing to the experts and used some root beer extract.
Sadly, Hires Root Beer extract form is no longer available. I remember Hires root beer extract being in the cupboard when I was a child. Every once and a while, I'd unscrew the cap a little tiny bit so I could get a sniff. Thanks to my dad's generosity, I used Gnome brand root beer extract. He brought some over during one of his visits. It is as close to good old fashioned root beer taste as I can ever hope to achieve.
Making root beer requires some essential equipment most of which can be picked up at a shop that specializes in home brewing or on-line.
Big 5 gallon bucket
a funnel
enough plastic bottles with screw caps OR
glass bottles and a bottle capper to bottle it all when you're finished
--------------------------
8 cups of white sugar (more or less to taste)
brewers or champagne yeast
root beer extract
4.5 gallons of water
When making root beer everything must be scrupulously clean. I didn't sterilize anything but I did wash everything that came into contact with the root beer in very hot soapy water, rinsing with hot hot water. Some instructions for making root beer say to sterilize the bottles. That's probably a good idea. I re-used some plastic bottles that wouldn't take the heat of sterilization so I just got them as clean as I could and I added a cap full of bleach to the wash water.
Pour one sachet of the yeast into a measuring jug and add in warm (not hot) water. Stir the yeast and water to dissolve the yeast completely and let it stand for 15 - 20 minutes or so.
In your big bucket, dump all the sugar in and add some warm water. I ensured that all the sugar is dissolved before I had the root beer extract. Add in the root beer extract and stir. Add in the yeast and top up the water level until it reaches 4.5 gallons (just don't go over the 5 gallon mark).
Now start bottling the stuff. When filling bottles (glass or plastic) make sure you leave a bit of head space at the top. Don't fill the bottles to the brim.
Wipe off the bottles and set them somewhere out of the way to cure.
In about 3 days, check the carbonation levels by opening up a bottle. Do this in the sink in case you get a gusher. When the carbonation levels are about right, refrigerate the bottles to stop the yeast.
You now have a lot of root beer to drink. I'm planning to make a batch in the summer for a root beer float picnic party.
There are lots of other root beer recipes on line. I've just given you mine.
Root beer float!
