SUBJECT: Root beer recipes
DATE: 4/97
 
 
I'd like to try the Root Beer fermentation. Does someone have or know where
I might find the recipe?
Patricia (Pat) Hauslein, Ph.D.
Dept. of Biological Sciences
St Cloud State University
St Cloud, MN 56301
 
 
 
Root Beer
The original recipe (in cups, tsp, etc) is from the root beer extract bottle. I
prefer metric measures to help students learn to use metrics. Steps 8 and 9 are
not on the bottle. Amounts can be changed for students to work individually or in smaller groups. Root beer
extract can be puchased in supermarkets, home brewing stores, or ordered from
McCormick's (spice company).
 
Root beer trivia: I used to get root beer extract from Hires who sold their root
beer to Proctor&Gamble who sold it to McCormick's. One ingredient, sassafras was
placed on the carcinogen list consequently sassafras was replaced with a
synthetic flavoring called sassafrol.
 
1. Pour 1 bottle of Root Beer Extract over 1800 grams sugar in a kettle.
Mix well.
2. Dissolve the mixture in 19 liters lukewarm water.
3. Mix 2.5 g dried yeast or one-half cake compressed yeast in 500 ml
lukewarm water. Let stand for 5 min. Add 5 g or 1 cake yeast when the
temperature is 21 C.
4. Add yeast to sugar-extract mixture, mix, and pour into bottles
immediately.
A raisin may be added if you like a great deal of carbonation. Fill to within 1
cm of the top. Excess air will spoil the result. Why?
5. Cork securely or seal with a capper.
6. Place bottles at 21 to 27 C for 5 to 7 days. Place the bottles on their
sides. Why?
7. Refrigerate before drinking. Why isn't alcohol usually produced (final
alcohol = 0.03%)?
8. Streak an SDA plate with the sediment and incubate inverted at room
temperature for 24 to 48 hours.
9. Prepare a simple stain of an isolated colony.
 
Christine Case
Skyline College
case@smcccd.cc.ca.us
 
 
When I made root beer, I made it using the little 4 oz. extract bottles which
cost anywhere from $4 to $6 to make 5 gallon batches. A recipe for making
root beer from basic ingredients is available at:
http://www.xensei.com/users/modbrew/recipes/rootbeer.html
The recipe uses Sassparilla, Sassafrass, Ginger Root, Birch Bark, Molasses,
Honey, and Corn sugar. The Web page also notes that adding the bottle
flavorings will add a "more commercial taste" to the product.
 
My personal choice is to make a dry ginger beer and not bother with the other
roots, but younger palates may prefer the root beer.
 
Tom Smith
Van Nuys, CA
 
 
Is the sassafras included in the recipe an extract? Sassafrin is
reputedly a carcinigen. I've seen "sassafras flavoring" in a
supermarket with the label statement that it is not an extract and
contains no sassafrin.
 
When I was a boy we drank sassafras tea, made from stewing the roots in
water. We collected the roots ourselves, in East Texas and Oklahoma.
Later I saw them for sale in groceries and roadside markets. I've not
seen that for a long time. Much later I knew folks who made sassafras
tea in Eastern Kentucky.
 
Dave McNeely, Biology, University of Texas at Brownsville, 80 Fort
Brown, Brownsville, TX 78520; mcneely@utb1.utb.edu
 
 
Someone asked in the last day or two about root beer recipes for lab
(fermentation for non-alcoholic drinkers). Here is an interesting site:
http://www.crl.com./www/users/ca/cac/rbeer/links.html
 
I hope it helps.
Don Serva
Fr. Donald M. Serva, S.J.
Biology Department
316 Washington Ave.
Wheeling Jesuit University 26003-6295
 
 
Tom,
Your post about ginger beer reminded me of a beverage my aunt used
to make for us when we were haying in the summer time. I was a city kid
visiting my Vermont relatives and got included in the work force, which I
loved. It was a home made drink called ginger beer and my recollection is
that it contained vinegar, water and ginger. It was really cold and
thoroughly slaked the thirst on a hot, sweaty summer day.
I have never been able to find a recipe for the concoction. Does
any body have a recipe?
 
Doug
 
G. Douglas Crandall, PhD
Biology Department, Emmanuel College
400 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115
(617) 735-9959
 
 
Doug
 
I haven't made ginger beer in years. When I did, I used a combination of
grated ginger and powdered ginger. I used lemon juice for the acidity and
not vinegar, although it probably would be OK to use vinegar if it didn't
turn your beer into vinegar also. Perhaps the brewer using vinegar needs to
heat and cool it first if it isn't a commercial product which has been
bottled, pasteurized or whatever. The recipes I have in my library add lemon
juice and both use powdered ginger and not ginger root. If you want these,
I'll post them, but you probably could find something just as good as quickly
on the Web. One thing for sure, you'd better add some sugar to the recipe as
well as some yeast if you want something sweet and carbonated!
 
I remember meeting someone long ago who took a little cider vinegar every day
because he felt healthier. Also, ginger seems to be good for a stomach upset
or for hunger pangs, so perhaps your grandmother was onto something.
 
By the way, I noticed in The Wall Street Journal today on page one in an
article about changing cooking habits that an old recipe for squirrel used
powdered sassafras leaves. Anyone know if the leaves are as carcinogenic as
the roots? If these aren't as carcinogenic, maybe Dave McNeely should have
been drinking tea as a boy from sassafras leaves insead of roots!
 
Tom Smith
Van Nuys, CA

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