One of the most commonly brewed non-alcoholic drinks being brewed today is root beer, perhaps because of the word beer in the name. Making home made root beer is relatively easy, especially for those that begin the process using root beer extract instead of mixing their own flavors. Charles Hires is often considered the original father of root beer, but is also believed that he did not really invent the taste, but only popularized it. Additionally, root beer was flavored with sassafras, which was outlawed in 1960 once it was deemed to cause cancer.

Today's home made root beer is flavored primarily with wintergreen with vanilla, ginger, licorice and sarsaparilla mixed in for good measure. However, the simplest way to make home made root beer is to use a root beer extract, preferable the kind sold in a brewing supply outlet instead of what is available in most grocery stores. To make the first batch, you will need a container large enough in which to boil five gallons of water and still have room left over for four pounds of sugar.

If you buy the root beer extract from a supplier, it will usually have a recipe to tell you how much to add to the boiling sugar water, but you are free to taste it and adjust the amount of extract added to your home made root beer.

Fermentation Adds Bubbles To Your Brew

Everyone knows that root beer is supposed to be carbonated and in order to add the bubbles to the beverage you will need to add yeast to the mixture. Some recipes call for adding champaign yeast, but those experienced in home made root beer recommend using ale yeast. Champaign yeast lives longer under pressure when it is bottled and can sometimes cause the bottles of home made root beer to burst under the pressure.

As the yeast is added to the flavored mixture it begins to react with the sugar, creating the fizz. It will take at least 12 hours to add the proper carbonation and when making home made root beer if it does not seem to have the kick of the fizz, an additional 12 hours of fermentation probably will not hurt it any. Once fermentation is completed, the home made root beer is ready to be bottled.

The bottles should be sterilized to prevent the growth of bacteria. Once the pressure inside the bottles reaches a certain point, the fermentation of the home made root beer will cease and the bottles and be chilled and stored in a cool place until consumed.