Home made Root Beer!

So after two prior failed attempts, last night I tried again to make a batch of homemade root beer. I don't know why I have been having such a hard time getting this stuff to work, I mean this stuff practically flows through my blood but, last night I think I nailed it. The good thing is if it works, I should be sippin' the good stuff within the week! The downside of it is, this was a brand and method I have never ever followed so, even if successful not sure if I can call it "Allred Rootbeer". Nevertheless, we are in for a treat.

So traditionally when we make this stuff with grandpa, we fill a big five gallon jug up with warm water. I think the problem with my first batch was no 5 gallon container. A few months after first getting to Japan I borrowed the biggest pot from the school kitchen taking it home only to find it was too small. I decided having had gone through all the trouble I would still go through with making it but only making half a batch. Somewhere in the process I guess I miscalculated the proportioning because in the end I think my rootbeer tasted more like yeasty water with a hint of rootbeer and not the rootbeer with a hint of yeast I was aiming for. Well, that batch went down the drain and thinking about it now, probably still have a half a container of extract in my cupboard somewhere!

My wife's dad loves root beer and in fact, whenever we are lucky enough to find it at an import shop usually buy a can or two just for him. Anyways, last summer (attempt 2) I told him I had the materials to make it and next time I went to visit him we would try to make a batch together. I don't do math but, he is pretty smart so I knew as far as calculating we would have no problems. We went out and bought a large bucket (I think the kind used to pickle vegetables). I think once we had all the ingredients in we were like an inch from the top. If my memory serves me correctly, to the best of my knowledge we followed the recipe exactly, no needing to cut back portions or anything however in the end, this batch too was missing something. I ended up finally getting to taste an unopened bottle about three weeks after making it (usually where it has the greatest kick). I don't remember much but, know it wasn't the action packed flavorful soda I was hoping it would be.

Well, last night was attempt three. This recipe came in a kit I got from my brother included in the family Christmas package. Without having to dig through my parents boxI could smell root beer somewhere from within the contents. This recipe was pretty straight forward however different from the stuff I am used to making. For example, this batch has a mysterious package containing "flavor crystals" (no idea what that is about) added at the same time as the extract. It also requires brown sugar where I have only used white and also required 45 minutes of sterilizing the containers and instruments we would be using in the procedure.

This recipe was used to make 1 gallon. We don't have gallons here in Japan and our biggest pot mysteriously burned our dinner the other night and now we can't get the crusty stuff off from the inside (we think the pot is done for). I got online and found that 1 US gallon is about 4 liters so, I used two old two liter water jugs. I was a little nervous because again I was afraid I would screw the portioning up but, this recipe had you mix the root beer extract, sugar, yeast etc. in a separate bowl and then add it to a half full container so, in spite of not having a gallon jug think it still worked out just fine- easy to say visually, I will have to update this blog after I have tasted the stuff.

Well, here I am 24 hours later, feeling the firmness of the jugs every few hours but, know they're still not ready. However, I am very anxious to see if this batch works. I can occasionally find root beer here (not in Isobe but, in big cities) but alas, nothing can compare with good old home brewed root beer.

Cheers to good root beer!