Homemade Root Beer - Texas Recipe Workbook (2024)

Homemade root beer isn’t something that we often make in our house because it has so much sugar, but it’s a nice treat on occasion andwayhealthier than the stuff on the shelves at the store.

Beyond all the natural ingredients, we ferment the starter for it with a ginger bug. A ginger bug is a natural fermentation that works similar to a brewer’s yeast.

The bacteria formed in the starter, primarily lactobacillus acidophilus, is excellent forgut health and many other potential health benefits.

The American diet has been almost entirely devoid of ferments with the over-pasteurized ingredients and industrial sludge that we subject our dinner plates too.

Introducing some beneficial bacteria in a treat seems like an excellent way to reintroduce it.

It’s a simple process. Anybody can make homemade root beer, but it takes some patience.

Including making the ginger bug, it’ll take from nine to ten days.

The only special equipment you’ll need is someswing-top bottles, or some old beer bottles and a bottle capper. Maybe a funnel to get the root beer from your pot and into the bottles.

When making fermented drinks, one important thing to keep in mind is that they will have a little alcohol in them—only about 0.5% to 1%, but it’s something that you should be aware of.

Most of the ingredients won’t be available at your local grocery store, so you’ll have to either order them online or potentially source them from a brewer’s supply store.

Once you’ve got everything together, you’ll make a tea out of it, then strain it through cheesecloth, before letting it cool.

Once it’s cooled off enough, you’ll add the ginger bug, stir, then bottle it up. It’s critical to let it cool completely, because temperatures over 110 degrees F, can potentially kill the bacteria in the ginger bug. No bugs, no carbonation.

The carbonation in fermented drinks comes from the bacteria eating some of the sugar and expelling carbon dioxide.