#homemade rootbeer

[grubloved]

and heres the full label design :)

[grubloved]

made little labels for my homemade soda!!!!! :>

[grubloved]

beetle rocket root beer v. 0.1

due to popular request, here is the recipe i used for the first batch of rhinoceros root beer!

buckle up, yall, this one is....wild. it's wild. it's based on old-fashioned, medicinal root beers, so it may not taste how you expect! it is good though. it tastes a little bit like mulled cider and root beer had a baby, heavy on the spice, heavy on the molasses, and with a lot of anise on the back end.

this recipe makes 90 oz of root beer.

ingredients and tools:

1.5 oz chopped sassafras root (if you can't forage your own, you can order root bark online!)

grate about 1/4 of a whole nutmeg

snap 2 cinnamon sticks in half

17 wintergreen leaves, chopped

10 whole allspice, crushed

6 cloves, crushed

4 star anise, crushed

zest of one orange

2 tb vanilla

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup + 4 tb molasses

16 oz of ginger bug starter liquid

74 oz of filtered water

a cheesecloth

a wire strainer

pop top bottles (like these. this is really important lol any other bottle WILL either explode or send the lid into space)

put your water in a big pot and add in all your spices. bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

add in your molasses and brown sugar, stir til dissolved, simmer another 15 minutes. remove from heat, cover, and let steep overnight.

the next day, strain your mixture through cheesecloth to get out all the chunks and stuff. add in the ginger bug liquid, mix until combined.

transfer to pop-top bottles, let ferment at room temperature for a couple days. OPEN EVERY BOTTLE ONCE A DAY WHILE FERMENTING. if you don't, they will explode :)

when root beer has reached the desired fizziness, transfer to a fridge to halt the fermentation process. it will keep for about 3 months :)

[grubloved]

i'm gonna go and fiddle with the flavor of the rest of the root beer i have in the fridge and then bottle it up! as it is, it's really sweet and spice-heavy, with a lot of sassafras, vanilla & molasses up front and then the clove and anise kinda hang on the end. i think i want to bring out a bit more brightness in the taste, add a little more wintergreen and nutmeg!

i'll take good notes so i can post the recipe when i'm done :)

[grubloved]

my homemade root beer!!!! it is VERY LOUD and VERY FIZZY.

[grubloved]

Beetle Rocket Root Beer 2.0

makes a little more than 90 oz of soda

i like this one a lot better! much cleaner and less medicinal taste than the first batch. i'll probably experiment with adding back in some of the spices and molasses i cut.

INGREDIENTS:

25 leaves wintergreen

2 star anise

1/4 grated nutmeg

1.5 oz chopped sassafras

86 fluid ounces water

6 fluid ounces of ginger bug starter

1 cup cane sugar

place wintergreen, anise, nutmeg, and sassafras in a pot with the water. bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 45 minutes. mix in sugar, cover again, turn off the heat and steep for 8-12 hours. strain soda liquid through cheesecloth and add strained ginger bug starter liquid. mix well and bottle. let ferment for 2-4 days, opening once daily.