How would I make Alcoholic Rootbeer?

Question

I picked up some rootbeer extract at my local brewshop, and I've made a few batches in old soda bottles... but is it possible brew it with an alcohol content similar to that of beer?

Answer 1

Making a (good) hard root beer sounds tricky. At least, the traditional method of brewing root beer doesn't seem like it would scale well to the weeks-of-fermentation beer brewing model. I imagine in the end, while you would have higher alcohol content, too much of the sugar will have been fermented, so you'd end up with a few gallons of not very sweet liquid (e.g., not root beer).

One approach might be to start with a base fermentable (maybe some sort of wheat/pale dry malt extract combined with honey) that had a light profile in tandem with traditional root beer extract, replace/enhance traditional hops additions with herbs specific to root beer brewing, reach your target gravity, and add heaps of sugar prior to bottling for desired sweetness. From here, you could bottle and pasteurize to stop the yeast from eating all the added sugar.

With all this said, the easy solution (which might yield tastier results) is to start with your favorite homemade root beer recipe and pour in copious amounts of your favorite distilled beverage!

If you go the route of experimentation, be sure to share any successful recipes!

Answer 2

I went through exactly this about 9 months ago. I couldn't find anything online about it, so I used a basic cider as the inspiration. Here are the exact notes I took while brewing it. Some sections were direct copies from the cider recipe, I added the rest.

1lb Munton’s Dry Malt

2Fl Oz Root Beer Concentrate

¾ cup priming sugar

5lbs granulated sugar

Hefeweisen Ale Yeast WLP300

1. Pour 1 gallon of water in pot and bring to a boil. Add Dry Malt and stir.
2. Dissolve the sugar in the heated juice. Stir frequently until the sugar is completely dissolved. Use a wooden or plastic spoon.
3. Mix the liquid with the dissolved sugar into the bucket with the rest of the water, stirring thoroughly. Temp was at 79 degrees.
4. Add yeast to the liquid in the bucket. Mix well.
5. Put the lid on, tightly. Install the airlock and place the bucket somewhere out of the way, but with a steady temperature, usually around 70 degrees.

***After 1 day, bubbling stopped. I left it for another week with no change. Beer Nut rep suggested adding more yeast. WLP001 California Ale was added 1/23/10. I also picked up a hydrometer. Readings as follows: 5.5%, 11, 1.045 @ ~65 deg. Root Beer was bitter tasting and ended with .5 grav after adding bottling sugar. I bottled half with only that sugar, then boiled 1/3 cup of sugar and threw that in with the other half. The mixture was very cloudy (looked like mud).

Unfortunately, my hydrometer broke before I could take the first reading, but I'll tell you that it was a very high alcohol content. The resulting drink was a bit like a sarsaparilla without a whole lot of sugar. However, my girlfriend and I drank it like crazy. It was odd, but good.

Changes I would make: 1) Only dissolve about half the original sugar at the start; add the rest when bottling (just have to make sure you let the CO2 work the O2 out of the bottles before capping so you don't get little beer bombs). 2) Wait to add flavor until bottling. 3) Start with California Yeast

Answer 3

I once had a delicious "American Cervesa" that was kegged into an uncleaned root beer keg. It was really freaking delicious. Definitely had a noticeable root beer flavor.

Answer 4

You'll have trouble with the sugars fermenting.

One option, which may or may not work, is to make the 'beer' to your target alcohol percentage, then filter it really good to pull out as much yeast as possible, and then perhaps add a potasium metabisulfite tablet or two to retard any remaining yeast. You could then add your sugar sweeteners without them fermenting, hopefully.

Another option would be to go crazy with some non-fermentable lactose sugar (what's used to sweeten milk stouts).

Answer 5

18# gw base malt, 2# choc., 4oz black or roast barley, 1# oats or flaked barley. Used 2nd runnings for root beer stout. to boil add 1 pt. molasses + 1 c. pale dry extract + 2oz root beer extract. lightly hop with 2 oz cascade. ferment as usual. og 1.065 fg 1.013 . kegged & force carbonated. sweeter than typ. ales, dryer than sodas. many compliments, 34 year old neice said best beer ever.

Answer 6

I just finished making a 5gal batch of natural root beer using danelion root, burdock root and sassafras, along a small amount of wheatgrass and beet juice (for colour).

I used a combination of white sugar, honey and mollasses to ferment and a combination of lactose and stevia to sweeten. I reused an English Ale yeast from an IPA I made a while ago and bottle conditioned

I transferred to secondary and tasted and was good but a little bland. I primed with corn sugar and bottled 2 gallons to see what it tastes like carbonated. To the remaining 3gal I added 1oz of centinnial hops boiled for 30m. It now has more hop bitterness and flavour but think it could still use a little more hop flavour so plan on boiling 1oz cascade for 15 mins to get some more flavour/aroma. Will then re-prime and bottle the rest.

Answer 7

Add sugar and ferment it to completion. Done.

Answer 8

Ingredients

• 6 lbs dark lme
• 1 lb lactose
• 1 lb amber dme
• 4 oz root beer extract
• 1 oz haulertau hops
• 5 gallons water
• 6 grams splenda
• 1 packet safe ale us05
• 3/4 cup corn sugar

Steps

1. Bring 2.5 galons water to the boil
2. Stir in the liquid malt
3. Return to the boil
4. At the hot break add hops and amber dme
5. Boil for 60 min
6. 15 before flame out add the lactose (Stir constantly)
7. At 60 min chill the wort to 100 degrees F as fast as possible
8. Add wort to fermenter
9. Top up with water to 5 gallons
10. Pitch the yeast at 78 degrees F
11. Leave for 2 weeks in primary
12. Rack to clean carboy
13. Add root beer extract and splenda
14. Top up to 5 gallon mark again
15. Leave for another 2 weeks
16. Prime the batch with 3/4 cup corn sugar
17. Bottle or keg
18. Leave for another 2 weeks
19. Cool in the fridge for at least 3 days

Answer 9

Some make it so hard... It's Root Beer.

• 3 Tbls Zanterains Root Beer extract
• 1 Tbls Vanilla Extract (Real)
• 1 Tps Wintergreen Extract
• 1/2 Tps Clove
• 5 quarts 110 degree water (save 16 oz out for activating yeast)
• 2 cups of sugar

Mix these together, let sit 10 minutes, whisk briskly till sugar is dissolved.

Now the yeast

• 1.25 grams Red Star Champagne Yeast
• 16 oz water saved out (110 degrees)
• 1 heaping Tbls sugar

Mix water and sugar in jar and shake, shake, shake. Add yeast but dont stir. When you see bubbles (activated) shake. Add to root beer.

Pour into Grolsch Bottles and seal, burp every day for 7 days) Refrigerate and drink. Burp bottles everyday until drank.

Plenty of sweetness left, 3-4 % alcohol. Nice little buzz with your soda. If ya want more or just have to get hammered... add neutral spirits. I like my little buzz in the afternoon.

Answer 10

Yes you can make root beer have an alcohol percentage close to beer. You follow the instructions on a root beer kit except add more sugar. Then you let the root beer sit in the bottles with the cap opened, this is to ferment them. Adding the extra sugar gives the yeast more to "eat" to ferment more and to still make it sweet after around 1-2 weeks of fermentation. After the 1-2 weeks put the cap on for a 1-2 days or until the bottle gets pressurized. put the bottles in your fridge and the longer they stay in the better they will taste!