How to Brew Root Beer and Ginger Ale
90For that Authentic Old Fashioned Taste
Before the advent of refrigeration, there was no way to preserve juices for more than a day or two as they would spoil. However, ancient peoples soon discovered that there were two types of spoiling - contamination by yeast and contamination by bacteria. Contamination by yeast resulted in the sugar, which occurred naturally in the fruit, being converted to alcohol which then acted as a preservative as well as providing a kick when it was consumed. Contamination by bacteria resulted in the juice turning sour and consumption of the contaminated juice often leading to illness or even death.
Grapes have both a high sugar content as well as yeast which grows naturally on their skins and this resulted in the first wines being made from grapes. However, in time, people began to understand the brewing process and were soon brewing alcoholic beverages from every type of vegetable material available. Since these non-grape fruits and other plant materials did not contain enough sugar for brewing, sugar had to be added and, by controlling the amount of sugar, you could control the alcohol content of the beverage. Alcoholic beverages known as small beers were brewed in Elizabethan England and Colonial America. These small beers had a low alcoholic content ranging from 2 - 12 percent and were consumed by children and many women. Original root beers were made from a variety of berries, tree barks and roots. In America sassafras root became a popular ingredient in the making root beer (sassafras was also used to make a medicinal herb tea).
A by product of the fermentation process is the release of carbon dioxide gas. Normally, the gas is allowed to bleed off but, if the brewing container is sealed off, the carbon dioxide ends up dissolving in the liquid giving the drink its fizz as well as halting the fermentation process early leaving much of the sugar intact and resulting in a very low alcohol content. In the 19th century processes for dissolving carbon dioxide in water to make an artificial version of naturally carbonated mineral water allowed manufacturers to make soda drinks, like root beer and ginger ale, without using the fermentation process.
Below are recipes for making root beer, ginger ale and other flavors of soft drinks using the fermentation process. Since, the fermentation process is stopped after a few days by refrigerating the drink, the alcohol content will be extremely low.
Instructions for Making Root Beer
Items needed for Root Beer:
1 clean and dry, 2 liter soda bottle with a screw cap
funnel
1 cup of sugar (more if you desire a sweeter root beer)
¼ teaspoon of powdered baker's yeast or dry champagne yeast - either will do so long as it is in powder form and is active (not past expiration date)
1 tablespoon of root beer extract
Any two liter soda bottle will do so long as it has been thoroughly cleaned and is completely dry inside. Baker's yeast can be purchased at any grocery store (usually found in the baking aisle). Champagne yeast and root beer extract can be found in wine making and home brew stores as well as on line (see links section below). Root beer extract is also often available in the flavorings section of the baking aisle of many grocery stores.
Using the funnel, pour the sugar into the bottle and then pour in the yeast.
Remove funnel and shake bottle to mix sugar and yeast.
Replace funnel and pour in root beer extract.
Leaving funnel in place, fill bottle half full with water from tap. Use this opportunity to rinse root beer extract from tablespoon and funnel into the mixture in the bottle.
Remove funnel and swirl contents in bottle until dissolved.
Fill bottle to the neck with water and screw cover on tightly.
Let bottle sit at room temperature for about four days or until bottle feels hard like an unopened bottle of soda in the grocery store.
Store in a cool place where the temperature is below sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius).
Before opening, place in refrigerator and chill thoroughly. Loosen cap slowly when opening to allow gas to escape and avoid liquid fizzing over.
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Instructions for Brewing Ginger Ale and Other Soft Drinks
Recipe for Ginger Ale:
Except for the root beer extract, the process, ingredients and tools are identical for ginger ale. However, with ginger ale you can either use ginger ale extract (which can be found at the same wine making and brewing stores or on line sites as the root beer extract) or substitute 1 ½ tablespoons of grated fresh ginger root (you have to grate it yourself) in place of the 1 tablespoon of ginger ale extract. Otherwise simply follow the root beer recipe above and substitute ginger ale extract or freshly grated ginger extract for the root beer extract.
Recipe for Other Soft Drinks:
When you go on line or into a wine making shop, you will find numerous other flavor extracts that can be used to make flavored sodas. Some, like vanilla (for cream soda) or orange extract, can also be found in the baking aisle of your local grocery store. These are the same extracts that are used for baking. In the case of cream soda, you may want to use a little more than 1 tablespoon of vanilla for the cream soda depending upon your taste.
Diet Soft Drinks - unfortunately, you CANNOT use the fermentation process to make diet soft drinks as yeast will not cause artificial sweeteners to ferment.
Do NOT use glass containers - always use plastic containers as the pressure build up inside the bottle during fermentation will often cause the bottle to explode and scatter broken glass all over. I know this from experience as, years ago when we were teenagers, my parents let my brother and I make root beer. After a couple of successful batches, the weather warmed up and we had two, one-gallon jugs explode on us. In addition to broken glass all over the room in the basement we had a very sticky mess to clean up.
Watch the Temperature - Do NOT keep fermenting soda at room temperature for more than four days. In fact, you should move it to a cooler place (65 degrees Fahrenheit or below) as soon as the bottle becomes as hard as an unopened bottle of soda from the store. While you won't have the glass problem, the plastic bottles will still explode if the pressure gets too great and you will have a sticky mess to clean up.
Root Beer Extract
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A World of Root Beer Resources: History, Brands, Recipes, News, Shopping, and more
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They do, at least the ones my brother and I brewed, have a yeasty taste which is one of the reasons (in addition to lack of time) that I prefer to buy soda from the store. But it is fun to brew a batch or two of your own soft drink. Thanks for the comment.
I remember my grandmother making us root beer when I was a little kid. She used glass bottles, because there was no plastic back then. we would put 1 or 2 raisins in each bottle to carbonate the soda but no more or they would explode. It seemed that we had to let them sit longer than 4 days though. they where stored under the kitchen sink. I don't have her recepie so I don't know if she used yeast but I sure remember the raisin part. Do you know of a recepie like that?
Wendy, thank you for the comment. The only recipe I have is the one published above. I never heard of putting raisins in the bottle when making rootbeer however, I did know a fellow once who told me that he used to toss a raisin in the bottle when making cranberry wine. Although, he never explained why he did it.
When I made this as a college student with my younger brother, we also had to use glass bottles (we used 1 gallon jugs) because there were no plastic bottles in those days either. Frankly, we made the root beer a couple of times for the fun of while we were making wine (also for the fun of it). I never particularly cared for the end product as it had a distinctive yeasty taste and I much prefered to drink the store brought product instead. The same with the grape wine that my brother and I made - it also had a yeasty taste. Although, the cranberry wine (using Ocean Spray Cranberry juice) had a very good taste as did the grape wine that I made with a neighbor a few years later - in that case, instead of a package of yeast and a can of frozen grape juice concentrate, we used real grapes and let them naturally forment using the yeast that grew naturally on the skins of the grapes. Though not award winning quality, the wine that we produced was decent tasting.
I am brewing rootbeer now with an old Ocean Spray Cranberry juice jug(3.78L). It has a air leaking sound from the cap. Now does this matter? Or is this brew poisonou to consume? How long are you suppose to brew before you can drink it? I want a response to all these questions. Thanks!!!
Anon, If there is an air leaking sound from the cap, it probably means that the cap is either not on tight or that it doesn't make a good seal when screwed on tight. So long as you can hear air leaking out there shouldn't be any problem with the brew becoming contaminated (assuming the jar was clean when you started and there were no contaminating bacteria in the jar or mixture when you stared) as the pressure on the inside is greater than the outside which is why air is leaking out and not being sucked in. However, if this changes and air gets sucked in you do risk contamination (which will probably either be visible with mold floating in the mixture or a bad smell or taste that will prevent you from drinking it and becoming sick).
If you let this continue to sit with the air leaking out will probably be a flat tasting rootbeer. The air that you hear escaping from your bottle is carbon dioxide which is being released by the yeast acting on the sugar in the mixture. If you have a tight seal on the bottle this gas cannot escape and will dissolve in the rootbeer giving it its fizz. If the gas is allowed to escape rather than dissolve in the mixture there will be no fizz. Also, when the gas dissolves it creates a condition that kills the yeast and stops the fermentation process (the converting of the sugar to alcohol) giving you not only a fizzy drink but one whose alcohol content is near zero. Allowing the air to escape and the fermentation process to continue will result in a rootbeer tasting wine (assuming that it does not get contaminated with air coming in) rather than the rootbeer soda you are expecting.
As to how long you should let the rootbeer stand before opening, about four days to a week should be sufficient (but chill it first before opening as stated in my article above) to produce rootbeer. Of course, this assumes that you have an air tight seal that keeps the carbon dioxide in the bottle. Finally, if the bottle you are using is glass rather than plastic, then be careful if you do get an air tight seal that it doesn't explode as happened to me one of the times I made rootbeer using a glass bottle.
Chuck
Thanks, This is very interesting for my first rootbeer brew. The cap is kind bad when I started. I clean and rinse with sulphite from previous homewinemaking kit to rinse it before the rootbeer mixture going in. The store that makes wine for customers says sulphite will do a good job in sanitzing carboy. I will throw the cap away later and using the jug to brew wine(all kinds of wine).
Really fun hub. Thanks for the info. I've always wanted to try this. I've made wine and my son has brewed many batches of beer, but never root beer. This is pretty simple, though, so may be worth a try for the fun of it!
we do this for science projects..It really is fun..thanks for the info!
The raisins are there so you know when it's ready since you can sqeeze a glass bottle to check the pressure. Raisins will float when the drink is carbonated.
Love the hub and I encourage everyone to read Wendy's (3rd comment) and Nick's comments (which should be a couple above mine)... it's a great little tip/explanation. This Hubpage thing is gettin friggin' addicting. A lot of these hubs are great! Hell, I even got a bit of a history lesson out of this one. Great Stuff Chuck... Keep the Posts Comin'
Is there any way to make this as a completely alcohol free concoction? My first guess is no because of the key ingredients required for making it. I love Vernor's ginger ale and would love to try making a batch of homemade ginger ale but don't drink anymore. No big deal if it's not possible. I will say it was an interesting hub, nonetheless.
Does the root beer that you buy at the store contain any alchohol?
JeffM & Garrett, Thank you for visiting my HubPages and for leaving your comments.
The answer to both questions is 'No'. The fizz in the homemade soft drinks is the result of the carbon dioxide gas being given off by the fermentation process being dissolved in the liquid. As I said in the article, the alcohol content is minimal but the beverage does contain alcohol.
As to the root beer and other soft drinks sold in stores, that does not contain alcohol as that is made by injecting the carbon dioxide into the liquid and not relying on a fermentation process to produce the carbon dioxide.
Thanks again to both of you for your comments. Chuck
My mum used to make ginger beer and we loved it! We did have a batch explode in a cupboard and it was very messy. Thanks for this great hub.
love it, im an alchoolic ya know!!
thank you for these instructions! my husband was amazed at my new found skills!
I am going to have to try this with my son, he loves root beer! Nice job
I never knew they made kits for brewing root beer. My brother brews beer, and my dad used to make wine, but given my druthers I'd rather have root beer. I'll have to give it a try.
mmmm beeeeer
can i make triple the recipe and put it in a one gallon glass jug or will it explopde?
jones88 - I wouldn't recommend this as my brother and I originally used 1 gallon glass jugs and that is what exploded. Instead of a 1 gallon glass jug, why don't you simply tripple the recipe and use 3 two liter soda bottles?
thanks
I love root beer. I think I might be brave enough to make my own. Thanks for the hub.
Can you use sassafras root instead of the extract? And if so, how much? Would it be the same amount as the giner root?
DonnaCSmith - thank you for visiting my Hub and for your comment. As to using sassafras root, that used to be the way to make root beer and sassafras tea (boiling the root or maybe the bark in water to make an herb tea with sassafras). However, I would check this out further before going ahead with using sassafras root because, when I was doing background research on the history of root beer, I recall seeing some articles on the web warning about health dangers associated with sassafras.
I didn't include information on sassafras in the article since root beer extract has been bottled and sold commercially by Hires and others since the late 19th century and can be found in most grocery stores. Prior to selling the commercially bottled extract on store shelves 19th century pharmacists used to mix and sell the syrup on request. Also, all of the 19th century recipe books that I checked called for using syrup to make root beer.
Finally, while ginger root can usually be found in grocery stores, one has to go looking for sassafras in the woods. Also, ginger extract is not as common in stores as the root beer extract and one must either go to a specialty store that deals in brewing supplies or go on the web to find the ginger extract. Cook books from the 19th century forward also contain recipes for ginger ale using both the extract or the ginger root itself.
Thanks again for visiting my hub.
I read that about sassafras, too, but I am not to concerend considering the difference between what we'd drink in relation to what they give a lab rat. Anyway, I do have it growing in my woods and I've made the tea before.
My brother made Ginger Ale once and the bottle exploded LOL.
Thanks for an interesting hub. :)
Thanks for this hub, making it yourself definitely sounds more fun than going to the store and buying some root beer!
working
livelonger says:
2 years ago
This is cool. Don't these taste a little "yeasty", more than store-bought varieties?