Homemade Root Beer

Submitted by Chuck Cady
Making root beer is very simple to do. Waiting for it to ferment is the hard part!

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp yeast
1 tbsp root beer extract
- 1 2-liter plastic bottle

Directions

1. Using a funnel, pour sugar and yeast into bottle.
2. Fill bottle halfway with tepid water. Screw top onto bottle and shake vigourously until sugar is mostly dissolved.
3. Remove bottle top and add root beer extract. Fill bottle with tepid water, leaving about 1 inch from top. Screw top onto bottle and shake again.
4. Lay the sealed bottle on its side in a cool location (60 - 65 degrees F) for about three or four days. After this time, refrigerage overnight to chill the root 8beer.
5. Serve chilled.

Notes
Each day as the root beer is fermenting, check the pressure in the bottle. To do this, press the the side of the bottle. Once it is hard, carefully open the bottle to release the pressure and close it.

Do not leave the finished root beer in a warm place once the bottle feels hard. After a couple weeks or so at room temperature, especially in the summer when the temperature is high, enough pressure may build up to cause the bottle to explode!

Artificial sweetener cannot be used to replace the sugar. Sugar is required for yeast to generate carbon dioxide which carbonates the beverage. No sugar, no carbonation. You might experiment with less sugar and add a substitute to make up for the lower sweetness. You can add 1/4 oz by weight of corn sugar (dextrose) or cane sugar to carbonate the soda and sweeten with a substitute.

There will be a sediment of yeast at the bottom of the bottle, so the last bit of root beer will be turbid. Decant carefully if you wish to avoid this sediment.

See how to make homemade root beer for more detailed step-by-step instructions.