Early American Root Beer From Scratch (Naturally Carbonated!)

[@JosephDiveley]

5 to 8 sassafras leaves can boiled in water can let off a steam that can stop an asthma attack if you are ever lost in the woods with someone who has asthma and ran out of inhaler.

[@LegacyWildernessAcademy]

That's interesting I've never heard that before.

[@a.b.gibson6521]

Cool tip!

[@LimitedState]

Them: Help, I am having asthma attack, can't breathe.. need help fast... Me: Hey no problem, just relax and wait near a water source while I find a sassafras tree and acquire some leaves.. Hey do you by chance have a pot that you can possibly start to boil some water in?.... it'll speed up the process.. Them: THIS ISN'T A SURVIVAL GAME!!! (*dies*)

[@mikuspalmis]

Probably worth making a tincture.

[@animula6908]

The chances of that seem lower than civilization collapsing and all of us having to invent ways to replace industrial health products. 😂

[@thestickerfarm1254]

I am in my 80’s. My mother and grandmother made root beer around Thanksgiving as a holiday treat thru Christmas. They used recycled glass beer bottles. Since we lived in northeast, cases of bottles were kept in the cold root cellar. Us kids did the capping using our hand press capping matching. It was a fun family activity and a holiday tradition and treat. Grandma always said wrap a heavy towel around the bottle when taking it out of the case, keep it wrapped while opening it, just in case you get a rare bottle that exploded. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

[@dianejohnson9904]

We made root beer also when I was a child. Still have the bottle capper and old pop bottles we used. With a small bottle of root beer flavoring, sugar, and yeast, I can still make some!

[@thestickerfarm1254]

@@dianejohnson9904 in the old days my mom would get the root beer extract from the neighborhood druggist. He would also make extracts which were medicinal. My neighborhood was made up of mostly immigrants from Eastern Europe. They brought so many traditional skills and traditions with them. You should make some old fashioned root beer since you have the equipment. It would be fun to wow your friends and family.

[@PokeMaster-B-Dawg]

Tell me more!

[@valeriemacrae8441]

Thanks for sharing great family experience

[@cianmoriarty7345]

I bet grandma had one of them pop which was why she was so careful!

[@jamilifunk6199]

I've been fermenting for decades and just use a stromg vinegar mix to clean my bottles. I've never used bleach before. If you want to make your own yeast, starter, grab a handful of fresh pine needles place them in a pint jar, fill it with water, add about 2-3 tablespoons of sugar. Mix it well. I about 2-3 days, the culture will be active as the yeast on the pine needles will start comsumimg the sugar. For a gallon of sassafras tea with sugar added off course, use a cup of this starter. In 2 days it will be quite fermented. You can also use kombucha, water kefir, dandelin root culture, etc to make a sparkling probiotic rich brew. Cheers mate!

[@matthewmyers4500]

Liked your reply and knowledge share, thanks

[@Staggababe]

Didn't know you could make yeast from pine needles! Really helpful considering I live in a conifer rich state. Much appreciated.

[@hyperguyver2]

Amen! Bleach is something that has absolutely no place in homebrewing because of how difficult it is to remove the traces of it from the equipment, which in turn negates the entire reason you're sterilizing.

[@jirikurto3859]

@@Staggababe I use pine needles to poke people and I wouldn't dare sacrifice one just to make yeast.

[@Arcahnslight]

​@@jirikurto3859Vlad?

[@gdebree1]

WhenI was a little boy living in Indiana I would go out into the woods , collect sassafras roots to make tea for my family. As a juvenile living in Arizona I made Mormon tea from manzanita leaves. When I was a man living in the sierra’s of California I made bark tea from Jeffery pine . All environment s have fun food to enjoy

wow!

[@user-go5wn6nv5o]

I’m 73, my mom used to make sassafras tea for us. My brother and I would dig up the roots and wash them for her. You have got me thinking about making some for myself. Thanks

[@a.b.gibson6521]

Give it a try!

[@Cragmortis]

I wish I lived in those times.

[@johnslugger]

*Don't tell the Government. Saferal OIl is illegal since 1972 because of the "hippy craze" and getting high from high doses.*

[@-Duck-53]

I'm from the south east and we always call those the "fork, knife and spoons leaves" from the sassafras tree they grow in my mom's woods

[@emeraldfox7175]

In S.e.Louisiana we call the leaves,turkeys foot

[@terrychase3969]

My dad said it was a mitten with two thumbs

[@neolithicnobody8184]

From what I'm told, when I was a newborn, I was given Sassafras Tea sweetened with fresh Honey in a bottle to ease Colic. That was an extremely long time ago. It's still my favorite Tea all these decades later, and even though my Wife doesn't drink it, she drinks what I use it for, Hard Root Beer. When we bought our house 18 years ago, it was in the Fall and the leaves had already dropped. There were several huge Maples, love my Syrup lol, and several other big trees, no big deal. The following Spring, I was surprised when I realized one of the biggest ones was a Sassafras. I've seen some big ones in my lifetime, but this one and the one 2 houses down were the biggest I've ever seen. The one from the neighbor was cut down in 2015 after a massive Ice Storm. When they ground the Stump, I stocked up on the Motherload of Roots!!! And what you said about the exploding bottles, THAT AIN'T NO LIE!!!! The first time it happened to ME, I thought it was a drive-by shooting in the Boondocks. Even my Daughter was ducking for cover. That's when we found out we had a really bad MESS to clean up. lol The house smelled of Root Beer for a week, but I'm not complaining. lol Live and Learn, it comes with the territory. 👍

[@byrdsdoityourselfgarage7330]

You’re lucky to be alive! Raw honey is known to give infants botulism poisoning. My dad taught me how to make sassafras tea when I was a kid. Now I want to make root beer!❤

[@LittlePieceOfHeaven.65]

@@byrdsdoityourselfgarage7330 We all survived given honey . Same with real Root Beer not that crap they are selling now. Don't believe everything they tell you !

[@lharchmage6908]

You forgot the burdock root, molasses and nutmeg. Oh and regular active dry yeast from the grocery store works great. Also you can take the bottles after carbonated and place them in a pot of 160f water for 3 minutes it stop the carbonation and can be stored at room temp.

[@hearttraveler1548]

I understand that the original root beer was made from many medicinal plants: , hops, Sarsaparilla, Licorice, Birch Bark, Juniper berry, ginger, Wintergreen leaf,Dandelion Root, Wild Cherry Tree Bark, Cinnamon The flavor of traditional root is virtually nothing like what most think of as root beer Thanks for the video

[@boikman]

The dishwasher works pretty well for killing yeast, too! I used to use the dishwasher to bottle-pasteurize hard cider when it was at the desired sweetness, never had any bottle bombs

[@lharchmage6908]

@@boikman hmm never thought of that. Thanks will try it.

[@ironhell813]

Fact: birch beer is Irish and British and used to be made with birch burdock and oil of bergamot and was a British drink before the yanks claimed they made it from sassafras.

[@IronDruids]

@@boikman Do you have to decarbonate them? I would guess heating up a carbonated drink would make it explode.

[@tammydillander8992]

My mother in law used to make sassafras tea

[@jacobclark89]

I'm dying to try some, I haven't had any sense I was a kid ,

[@barbgardiner5719]

I Love sassafras tea with just a touch of honey!

[@barbgardiner5719]

@@jacobclark89I get mine at a small locally run health food store.

[@catherineromero1862]

My Dad told me they used to make homemade root beer when he was a kid in the 30’s -40’s. They saved beer bottles which were used to make it. Once the preparation was poured into the bottles and sealed with corks, they laid the bottles down flat in the grass and waited…. Sometimes a bottle would pop its cork 😅

[@superdave54811]

Long ago, back in the 1970s, a very elderly woman known as Aunt Mamie made sassafras tea for me. She brought out a brown paper bag with dried roots and boiled them. She strained, sweetened and refrigerated it. And that was the best. I loved it.

[@RoyatAvalonFarms]

Great video. I'd recommend to use StarSan or similar for sanitizing bottles instead of chlorine bleach. Bleach works, but has an unpleasant residue. StarSan does not have such residue. Keep the great content coming. I appreciate that you made this so simple of a process by demonstrating it out in the woods. ❤

[@grndzro777]

Or just a bit of iodine tincture. Let them air out a bit and then use.

[@beltfedTODDRULZ]

Shout out to all the Beer Brewers!!! And Star San is awesome

[@ParleyPCat]

Starsan is great, no rinsing and you don’t have to wait for it to dry. Never have had a bad batch.

[@whitehorse1961]

+1 for Star San

[@neileyre6019]

Star San is the way to go! It’s basically phosphoric acid which is a great sanitizer. The low concentration in the water does the job and works amazingly well. Put some in a spray bottle and it is your best friend when brewing/ fermenting.

[@ardiem5168]

Thermodynamics: The glass in the bottle is an insulator, the metal in the pot is a conductor, so the rootbeer will cool faster in the metal pot. If you want to speed it up, place a fan so that it blows on the pot's metal, or put the pot in the sink and run a steady stream of water so that it comes in contact with any portion of the outside of the pot. This creates conduction. You can also use an ice bath, but if you are not careful, your beverage will fall below the ~100F/38C that initially activates it.

[@Backdaft94]

So 2 tips...make 1 of your bottles a plastic soda bottle, instead of opening it just give it a squeeze when the bottle is hard your ready. 2 if youre going to store it for more than a week, pasturize the bottles to prevent explosions. If left too long bottles will explode in the fridge

[@jaybailleaux630]

Very similar to wine making. Made wine with Welches concentrated grape juice using 1 gallon glass milk jugs. Used a balloon for a cap for expansion of gases. I loved the stuff in my childhood. It was a family culture of my Sicilian relatives . We drank wine and beer in moderation often with a meal and near bedtime.

[@tombiggs4687]

My dad was in the US Navy during WWII. His bunkmates "liberated" raisins and sugar from the cook's supplies, brewed up tubs of wine under their bunks, hoping superior officers wouldn't see (or smell) the brew.

[@beltfedTODDRULZ]

A small piece of coiled tubing can work well with a plug to make a water trap. Gases go out and oxygen doesn't get in and oxidize the beer

[@brunopadovani7347]

​@@tombiggs4687My dad and his fellow soldiers did the same thing in Korea.

[@RamonaLisa71]

I made your recipe and experimented with sassafras and didn't check the fizz on the second day( big mistake),and when I opened my first bottle on the third morning root beer went everywhere even the ceiling of my kitchen 😂! Needless to say my brewers yeast is very strong!I'm putting them in the fridge hoping that the rest will calm down enough so I can enjoy the beautiful taste because all the root beer shot out of the first one.If not I'll just make a second batch and only let them sit for one or two days! Thank you for this awesome recipe!

[@cianmoriarty7345]

Ale yeast or worse champagne yeast is massively overkill for soft drinks. They are both selected to survive high alcohol levels without dying. We need one with an very limited capacity to survive alcohol. That way we could actually make stable carbonated bottles as is done for beer and wine and have them with enough leftover sugar so they are sufficiently sweet without enough alcohol to blow your head off. Some naturally fermented and not fortified wines and even beers now exceed 18%! Sometimes not having bottles burst by stopping fermentation, particularly with beer that's a matter of finishing to dryness while venting to atmosphere, then sealing after adding a small measured amount of sugar. The sugar is completely consumed but there's only enough to carbonate not explode the bottle. Other times with sweet wines it's a matter of hitting an alcohol concentration that deactivates whatever strain of yeast they are using. That way there can be residual sweetness without continued fermentation. Over the centuries we've selected for higher and higher alcohol concentrations where that happens. But for soft drink even bakers yeast even is too strong for an ideal yeast for this application, it can easily do over 3%: we need one that dies when you hit 2% or something like that. So your bottles are never over a couple percent, can remain sufficiently sweet and never pop. Such a yeast isn't available because manufacturers all want plenty of alcohol. I've often thought I should select just such a yeast from the wild, breed it if need be. I know it can be done by simple selection. Maybe one day I will.

[@josephdonais4778]

As a kid in the 70s northeast, I'd always be in the woods and on the lookout for Sassafras, Staghorn Sumac, Winter Green and a variety of others.

[@eyesofthecervino3366]

Ooh! What's the sumac good for?

[@josephdonais4778]

@@eyesofthecervino3366 Staghorn Sumac, the Sumac with the hard red velvet seed spikes can be put in cheese cloth to soak for a few hours, pull the Sumac and add a little sugar for something akin to pink lemonade.

[@eyesofthecervino3366]

@@josephdonais4778 Oh, that's so cool! I think I've even seen some growing around where I live.

[@josephdonais4778]

@@eyesofthecervino3366 find it on the fall, before the birds get to it.

[@reibersue4845]

I'm still looking for sasafras, but I have 2 comments to male based on this video. I make mead and found a product called star san. Its a sanitizer used in mead and wine making as well as on stainless in the dairy and food industry. No rinsing, just swish around the bottle once you dilute it and pour over your equipment. Then leave on a drain board till you are ready to bottle. 2nd is, and I dont know if you covered this already, i make a white pine needle soda. In half gallon mason jars i fill with about 1/4 full of pine needles (more or less to taste), add about 1/2 cup sugar (more or less to taste), use yeast or I add about 1/4 cup of ginger bug I keep in my fridge and let sit 2 or 3 days. Once it is fizzy, I steain and transfer to the fridge. Slightly citrusy, definitely piney and I add a squirt of lemon juice to bump up the citrus, when I pour a glass.

[@LegacyWildernessAcademy]

Thanks for commenting, great info!

[@chickadee2cor411]

@@reibersue4845 sounds delicious! 😋

[@kevinroberts781]

​@@LegacyWildernessAcademyDon't shake up the yeast. The first 24 hours the yeast actually uses up the oxygen. It uses it from the liquid and the air. On the second day you can shake it

[@whitehawk4099]

Might have to try something like that. Sounds very good.

[@jameswood231]

No Pine Sol for me, please!😮

[@carolynklenk8467]

My Grandmother Mc Adoo made homemade Root beer from her Sassafras tree!! I still can remember that fantastic taste!! Thanks for sharing!! ❤

[@rafterL78]

Did she dig the root? How'd that work without killing the tree? Please forgive my ignorance on the subject, I thought you were suppose to dig up a small tree. Leaves and twigs maybe?

[@ryanmcrae3593]

I'm really enjoying these videos. There's a ton of sassafras on my property. I always enjoy late season mowing. The smell of the persimmons and chopped sassafras leaves is absolutely heavenly.

[@SasukeUchiha-ql5jg]

Now able to identify this after your older videos, the leaf smell was truly mind blowing when I found some

[@LegacyWildernessAcademy]

That's awesome to hear! Thanks for watching!

[@barbgardiner5719]

I lived on the bayou in Louisiana for awhile and had Wild Sassafras trees on the property. I was truly amazed at the 3 distinct different leaves!

[@lyndaniel3369]

It is my understanding that Vitamin C tablets will neutralize chlorine bleach. Apparently, it is used in the swimming pool industry. If you have a bathtub full of chlorinated tap water, how do you dechlorinate it? A 1,000 mg (one gram) tablet of Vitamin C will completely dechlorinate a bathtub full of tap water without significantly making it acidic. Water supplies, instead of using ascorbic acid, use sodium ascorbate which keeps the pH neutral. Some swimmers take a spray bottle of tap water and add a Vitamin C tablet (crushed to dissolve quicker), and then spray themselves and their hair to remove the chlorine effects.

[@KenJohnsonUSA]

Pretty good video. Sassafras is awesome. I did have some points of concern. Specifically with a sanitization liquid, the "wet time" matters tremendously. That particular bleach solution requires a minimum of three minutes soak time before rinsing. When filling the bottles, you had way too much head space. You want no more than two inches head space. The chances of a bottle bursting increases based on the headspace. While your bottle choice is okay. those bottles will start to fail after 2-3 uses. The bottle capper works better and is cheaper in the long run. When your "soda" is ready, you can stop the fermentation process so that you don't create a bottle bomb. To do this, place a tea towel in a pot, place the capped bottles in the pot where they will not touch (use towels if necessary), place an extra empty bottle (filled with water) in the pot with a thermometer, slowly heat the water up to 165°F, turn off the heat, and let the bottles sit until cool before placing them in the fridge or storing in a cabinet for later consumption.

[@Rosk03]

This was a natural brew till y'all brought out the javex. Come on, really? Aint nothing traditional or safe about that. Just use full on vinegar and rinse...

[@glennwilck5459]

Good tip on how to kill the yeast and stop fermentation tho!

[@rustyshackleford436]

I have a point of concern, how is an empty bottle filled with water?

[@taboomystic]

Does it need to be a tea towel, or will ordinary dish towels be enough?

[@KenJohnsonUSA]

@@taboomystic any towel will work. You just don't want them clinking together and busting since they're under pressure.

[@tombiggs4687]

Informative and well-presented, thank you. I'm 66 and even when I was a kid, major brand root beers were already being made without sassafras. I remember I wasn't a big fan of root beer then, but then I tried a smaller local brand and loved it - clearly they were using sassafras. We do get sassafras trees up my way in PA, not too many, but I love the way they smell when I pick a leaf and bruise it. Not enough of 'em to harvest for their roots, I'm afraid, but I will try to purchase some root.

[@HenryCabotHenhouse3]

To stop fermentation so they can be left unrefrigerated, pasteurize them. Put them in a 130 F water bath (use an immersion circulator) for 3 hours. That will bring the internal temperature high enough for long enough to kill all the yeast but shouldn't bring it so high as to cause them to explode. Then you can store them in the root cellar for a good while without them overpressurizing and move them to refrigeration as needed. One should also be able to use the immersion circulator to standardize the ferment time. Set the temp to 98 F and let them ferment in water until the proper carbonation level is reached, record the time it took, turn up the temp to 130 F for a few hours to pasteurize. One can then repeat this process for each subsequent batch without having to test multiple times. At the time recorded for the first batch all subsequent batches will either be done or not carbonated at all. If one has a circulator that is time programmable, for batches after the first one simply set to 98 F for the ferment time, then 130 F for 3 hours, then off and no need to worry about forgetting and suffering an explosion. This would probably be best practice for crimp cap bottles.

[@HardinProuductionsOriginal]

Pastuerizing them will also kill all the nutrients in them. Don't do that. This is stupid and idiotic

[@Heartwing37]

You’re doing God’s work young man!

[@biddibee3526]

How? I’m curious how he’s doing God’s work. Sincerely curious

[@georgeburns6512]

@@biddibee3526educating others. God works in many different ways brother.

[@cazdoodle7737]

Jesus is Lord ❤

[@chetisanhart3457]

God gave us nature, and he is teaching about nature. That is certainly God's work.

[@AlexBeckleysRVs]

Campden tabelets are much safer and easier than bleach.. great video ❤

[@emmitstewart1921]

When I was a boy, I would visit my cousins in West Virginia. They taught me to take the new green twigs of sassafras, strip off the leaves and chew the tips. The tase was quite good, though not as sweet as the roots.

[@RobMacKendrick]

I've never made root beer, but I make many different types of kvass, which from what I've seen in this video is basically the same. You can use sourdough starter for yeast. I normally add about a teaspoon of good, vigorously-working sponge to 2 litres of kvass. It imparts a tangy flavour to the product that's generally welcome. If you make subsequent batches from the lees of the last one, you end up breeding a yeast that's precision-engineered for your recipe and works very efficiently and aggressively. Wine yeasts leave a vaguely soapy flavour I don't relish. I also make wine and beer, but I avoid those yeasts for kvass. ("Russian root beer", basically.)

[@freakyflow]

Did not even know untill now that Southern Ontario Canada has Sassafras trees ..I have done Spruce beer from Birch water And spruce buds. I love root beer ! Thanks for the video

[@ryanreedgibson]

Grolcsh Beer came in the swing cap bottles. I used to buy the beer in my 20s and kept each bottle. The only part that needs replaced every 4-6 years is the rubber washer around the lid.

[@ironhell813]

You can make the washer by cutting rubber tubes or rubber bands and melting ends together.

[@NOMAD3030]

I appreciate that you're making this kind of content. I can't wait to forage in the foothills of smokey mountains.

[@charlesdevier8203]

Yep, that is the way that I used to make root beer. We had lots of sassafras trees on the ranch.

[@chrissipe3206]

Really appreciate your channel king! 👑 I already made Mimosa flower tea and even smoked it already in an herbal blend 💨 and the effects were amazing. I have a recommendation for your videos if you end up reading this. Going out of your way to make it like if you were in the wild (lots of video time shown making a fire, etc) isn’t really what I want to see. But showing exactly how you go from digging up the root, and processing it into shavings like that is exactly what I want to see, but you left that part out. I might not speak for all the audience, but I imagine a lot of us are here with the intention to possibly harvest something we commonly see in the wild and process it using basic kitchen tools in a kitchen environment. With that in mind, I think slight tweaks in how you edit your videos will make for better videos for more people and help you achieve your stated mission. I think the format of other cooking shows where you show less of you speaking directly to the camera, and more having that audio layered over footage of you doing the work like shaving the roots would work much better. Much love and respect! 👑🙏💛

[@TimTimTomTom]

Agree, and he should specify inner, or outer root bark, as that matters a lot. But yes, process from digging to the boil would be useful for most.

[@chriskasprzyk6235]

That was in the linked first video.

[@stacystepp7914]

He already has a video on everything you just described wanting. You should check it out:)

[@ducktapepilot]

Love this! Great to see a channel dedicated to wild foods and medicines in the south east! My mom's grandmother was a Choctaw and she would make her and her siblings drink sassafras tea whenever they were sick.

[@mikesic.280]

Fun fact...if you drink enough of sassafras tea/root beer, you will sweat sassafras. It will stain white shirts orange and give you a nice sassafras scent.

[@robertrhodessr3664]

Thanks for this side note! I appreciate the heads up.

[@ambermartin2931]

Lol, wow. I drink too much coffee and my white shirts are brown. Definitely need a detox and drink less coffee.

[@emeraldfox7175]

​@@ambermartin2931😂😂😂😂 absolutely luv lol

[@TheKnifed]

Fun fact.. if you eat enough garlic and it begins to taste spicy, you will stink like garlic for the next 2 days and nobody will want to sleep next to you at summer camp.

[@johnr3603]

will it work on a spouse😅?

[@glennhelm9525]

When I was a kid a friends mother made root bèer in the bath tub using a large bottle (half gallon?) of a liquid root beer mix. I think she added cherry extract. DELICIOUS.

[@TheMongo1357]

New FAN here Sir!!! My Granny used to make me a cup of Sassafras tea and half a pink grapefruit for breakfast! I am a Native Floridian and very interested in learning everything I can about my native medicinal plants! Did I mention I absolutely LOVE Rootbeer? Lol Great video!!!

[@jomamackdaddy]

I always used the blue sanitizer tabs that bartenders use in their 3 compartment sinks. Never had a problem with any of the beer I made.

[@dan797]

My parents made their own root beer when I was a kid growing up in Maine. It was wonderful.

[@jonsparano6937]

Thanks for noting that dried powder is different and we'd need 20G. 👍

[@owenblount7334]

I mean water content wise you might want to use a little less powder

[@owenblount7334]

But it could be balanced out by the powder maybe being a little less flavorful so you might not have to reduce the amount

[@JayCWhiteCloud]

Overall, Mathew, this was highly informative and excellently delivered. Here are some key points that you may find useful though there are quite a few more from the traditional perspective of means and methods like the many different traditional additives to authentic rootbeer. While some traditional recipes might mention "sugar," it was never the refined sugar shown in this video, nor do I believe it resembles what you've been using, as suggested by the color of your root beer. Modern root beer, although enhanced with artificial colors, captures the authentic shades of the original root beers and amber sarsaparillas that my Arkansas family has been producing for over 150 years, which we fondly enjoyed in our youth. Achieving the true essence of authentic root beer is impossible with modern refined sugars; they simply cannot replicate the original flavors. Only by using traditional sweeteners like molasses, honey, maple syrup, and raw organic "browned" cane sugar can you unlock those rich colors and complex and nuanced flavors. Traditional sterilization methods differ significantly from what you've presented in this video. It primarily involves boiling water and inverting the container until the decanting process. Relying on industrial chemicals not only wastes money but can also impart unwanted flavors to the vessel. The yeast featured in the video is widely used by DIY enthusiasts exploring various "how-to" techniques today. However, this approach deviates from traditional methods. There are numerous ways to capture and cultivate "wild yeast" species. A popular method found in regions like the Ozarks and Appalachia involves mixing organic flour, spring water, and a ripe blackberry (or a similar berry). After stirring the mixture thoroughly, it should be loosely covered with a cloth and left at room temperature for 48 to 72 hours until bubbles appear. This "starter" can be maintained and fed indefinitely with proper care. Yeasts play a crucial role in developing the subtle flavors of these beverages. Thanks again for a generally great video and I look forward to viewing more...

[@pauljohnson2372]

Food guy here. You need to let your sterilization solution evaporate on the treated surfaces. I run a restaurant, and we use the same mixture, but it needs to air dry to be effective. Thanks for the video. I really enjoyed it

[@clinttorris4085]

Since i commented that he's doing quite a few things wrong i thought it only fair to explain. I'm not gonna go into deep details because you can Google wine or beer making. Sanitation. He's right about everything needing to be sanitized. But wash/boil your pot and utensils THEN sanitize with bleach but don't rinse. Let them air dry. Temps: That metal pot will loose heat faster than a thick glass bottle. Bottom line if it's warmer than luke warm it can kill your yeast. Pitching yeast: Once under 100°F pitch your yeast and stir or aerate. Yeast undergo 2 metabolic processes. First, they multiple and to do that they need oxygen. So pour it between 2 containers if you have to in order to get air in there. Second, they make alcohol. It's an anaerobic process that doesn't need oxygen. The yeast eat the sugars and piss out alcohol. Bottling: Don't do it until it done fermenting! Leave it in the big jar or pan covered to keep bugs out. Yeast put out lots of CO2 so don't seal it right away! In a week or two after bubbling has quit it'll be ready to rack into bottles. Racking not only gets it into bottles but helps clear up the wine. (Since your not using grain its actual not a true beer. It's a sassafras flavored sugar wine) Your wine should be between 5 and 12% ABV (alcohol by volume) and should have a dry flavor. But don't worry, adding a pinch of sugar will carbonate it and sweeten it up, lowering the dryness. Gonna fast forward cause i feel like I'm writing a damn book. Use a siphon hose to rack the wine into the bottles so you don't disturb the sediment in the big container. Once in the bottles, add a good punch of sugar to each bottle and seal them. The yeast is still there and alive so this pinch of sugar they'll eat will just make carbonation. Be sure to keep it cool or fridged after the first day to avoid exploding bottles. During the first or initial fermentation right after pitching yeast you want to keep the wine between 70° and 90°. And you don't need fancy expensive yeast. Fleischmann or Red Star both work great. Basic bread yeasts. Our grand parents used them or wild yeast. Just Google wine making, it'll teach you what you need to know for root beer, strawberry wine or any other wine you want to make. Real beer made from grain can be a real bitch to make and i ain't getting into that. I've damn near wrote yall a book about this shit. Good luck!😉

[@capnspicy5565]

Um yeah, first things first, he's not trying to make alcohol, he's just adding carbonation, second, just as you like to point out "it's not beer", It's not wine either, wine is made with grapes, third you left out pasteurization, and one hundredth just to hurry this along, your google education shows, all this cleaning is bullshit, even when making beer, it's knowing when to be clean, that is the key, and wine can be higher than 12%... yeah, I'm done, fighting internet misinformation would literally take a lifetime.

[@onemorething100]

@@capnspicy5565 Agree, That comment was wrong.

[@MichiganDaisy-1111]

Im a northerner...but I'll still watch 😅

[@johnnyboy4654]

Much love from your southern brethren

[@grantwalkersound]

From what I understand my great grandfather made home made root beer. Root Beer was always my favorite soda as a kid... As an adult I worked in professional kitchens and always wanted to make authentic fermented root beer. Thank you for this recipe, I am going to add to it with some vanilla bean and other ingredients, but I love this as a base. Simpler then I thought it would be.

[@LegacyWildernessAcademy]

Thanks for watching! I was surprised when I found out how simple it is

[@Blinkerd00d]

I've had homebrewed root beer, and it's absolutely amazing!

[@chaseme9860]

Leave the mash in the gallon container for a few days with the lid loose. This will allow the yeast to consume the sugar and produce alcohol and gas off. Then you bottle it with a tablespoon of sugar, which will give you the bubbles. No need to worry about explosions.

[@LittlePieceOfHeaven.65]

Tablespoon of Sugar into the Gallon container before bottling I assume ?

[@chaseme9860]

@@LittlePieceOfHeaven.65 A tablespoon in each 16oz bottle.

[@LittlePieceOfHeaven.65]

@@chaseme9860 thanks!

[@TimewornUncle]

I generally couldn't care less about this. But the video captivated me and suddenly the video was finished. Well done.

[@joewoodchuck3824]

I used to make brewed root beer from extract that I sent for. I liked the idea of controlling the amount of sugar and it was economical. My first batch was made with bread yeast from the grocery store as recommended by the extract maker. It was ok, but I reasoned that I might improve the flavor with a substitute yeast since all the other ingredients would still be the same. I suppose that bread yeast was chosen for it's wide availability. So the next extract order came wine yeast meant for montrachet. I chose that one for it's cool name as much as anything else. 😃 The result was much improved flavor of root beer. I had cut way back on the sugar content but it still fermented fine. That was years ago and I haven't made any root beer or barley alcohol beer since as i sadly parted my sizeable collection of large glass crown cap bottles that I had amassed by saving 5 cent deposit grocery store soda bottles. They probably sell for a price I probably wouldn't want to spend now anyway. My beer making was also done creatively. Another time for that. Nichols Garden Nursery where I got my extract and yeast from was still in business the last time I checked, but I'm not sure they still carry that product line.

[@karrskarr]

Awesomeness! A must watch! Thank you!

[@LegacyWildernessAcademy]

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks!

[@user-ks3ol3lw3b]

I spent a summer on Nantucket Island. At one time, they just about wiped out the sassafras harvesting roots. When I homebrewed beer I was going to try making root beer, but I never got around to it.

[@johnwiggwag1789]

Wintergreen leaves are even stronger than sassafras, and birch bark is very strong too, although they all have differences, id like to see someone brew with all 3.

[@gregkral4467]

Carbonation is indeed an art, from the pressure capable conical bottom champagne type to thick beer bottles, is real tricky. after fermenting stopped with beer, or was near stopping, just racked gently off yeast layer, let sit another day, rack into bottles with a tiny bit of sugar in each 1litre bottle, and let sit for a couple months for whatever little bit of yeast floating about to start feeding again, but have heard of beers 10 or more years old, if kept in a relatively cool place were very good, is pretty much safe to consider all bottled beers and whatevers to still be alive, just hibernating they just go dormant when starved. Thanks for your vid. Was fun. Certainly makes a person wonder how much different it tastes from what we know.

[@larrystootsgirl6015]

I love sassafras tea used to drink it with my dad up in Ohio here when i was a kid

[@srboromir452]

You can also pasteurize your root beer to stop the fermentation to keep it from exploding, just submerge in hot water for the right amount of time

[@russellcrawford4809]

My daddy made us sassafras tea every spring. He said it was a health tonic

[@Lulu-mj2fi]

Starsan is mostly used for sanitation and it's not toxic if there is some left in the bottle.

[@2manyroberts]

Thanks so much for your step by step process, I have wanted to make root beer for years!

[@scott729]

I used to boil sassafras roots making an unsweetened tea. We would put it in a spray bottle and use it for cover scent while deer hunting. The are we hunted was loaded with sassafras trees, so it made sense. Back then (early 1990's) there were not all of these commercially made cover scents available.

[@kevinroberts781]

I wish I could grow this tree at home. It's the best tree in the country

[@dalepres1]

You can keep the bottles longer, safely, by simply opening every day after the first three days. Pop the lid and reclose. Eventually they'll go flat but you'll learn how long you can go with your process and your yeast.

[@futurekron]

Awesome tutorial. Now I know how to identify this tree!

[@JudeNoneya]

Very nice video. I remember drinking some as a child at a friend's house. It was delicious.

[@underourrock]

Use starsan for sanitizing food contact materials. It is simply an acid than has no off taste. Rinsing undoes the sanitizing. With starsan you don't need to rinse it.

[@peterbishop9771]

In Boy Scouts, we would make sassafras tea from the tree root. Lots of sugar. Excellent video.

[@wagon53417]

I've never had homemade root beer, but I have made sassafras tea ...Grandparents told me it's used for a blood thinner if you drink to much...but it's mighty good.

[@mathewpennington7049]

Great job Matthew. Thanks for sharing

[@LegacyWildernessAcademy]

Thanks for watching!

[@ericenos1097]

A good way to do this is you take a regular plastic soda bottle on the side. When you squeeze the side and it has resistance it's a good way to know to refrigerate the rest.

[@swanhill772]

God’s work, I agree. Thank you.

[@logoseven3365]

Bought some dried bark from the local herb store. Over boiled the tea a little, but really good. Thanks

[@wesh388]

Very nice video, thanks for posting. I have heard that it is best to be cautious with it, glad you mentioned it

[@jamesservey824]

something i learned from my grandpa when making wine was if you keep less headroom in the bottles it can help with flavor and stoping any bacteria/contaminates from the air. as for the flavor after refrigeration i can’t remember the name of the chemical but it crystallizes and falls out of solution which is why it tastes different. you can sometimes see it as sediment in the bottom of the bottles

[@cherylbishop7657]

Hi using baking soda and vinegar, instead of bleach is a good option. ( l am highly allergic to bleach and glycerin) GOD BLESS YA'LL

[@chickadee2cor411]

Thank you for teaching how to make it! This is fantastic ♥️♥️♥️

[@LegacyWildernessAcademy]

Thank you for watching! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@NateHatch]

Cool fact (pun intended): the refrigeration process doesn't just slow the fermentation process, it also reduces the pressure CO2 exerts on the bottle, so even though CO2 does keep building the molecules are more compressed.

[@RunnerPack]

CO2 dissolves more easily into cold water

[@ARedMotorcycle]

Kind of reminds me of how the deeper you go in water, the more matter, like gasses compress. One gas being the nitrogen in a compressed scuba tank. That's how you get the bends if you don't take a safety stop a few meters from the surface. You need time to let the nitrogen out, otherwise it gets stuck and you get decompression sickness which is supposed to be very painful, and sometimes deadly.

[@raywhitehead730]

My aunt made Root Beer from sassafras root that my cousin and I dug up. That was in 1962. She made it the old fashioned way, not carbonated. Carbonated tastes better. It has a very licorice taste.

[@raywhitehead730]

To be clear, you can make an alcohol root beer Or a tea Or you can carbonate it just like a Cola.

[@christopherleblanc9599]

my great grandmother used too make me a gallon each summer when i was young , when she visit my grandmother, for the summer ,she used small mason jars like you use for jams or jelly's, im 53 now, seems like so long ago ,

[@aquaticspirits4140]

Loved your video! We once lived in Western Michigan and we had sassafras trees all over our 5 acres. We even made sassafras tea. Now we live in northern Michigan and there's not a single sassafras tree to be found. I need to find a good supplier and plant some in this area.

[@farceadentus]

Mmmmmm Love me some Root Beer. Thanks for sharing bother!

[@DJl3iohazord]

So with the sanitizing step, I get a veggie based sanitizer for brewing. I like it because you dont need to rinse it and it adds an extra barrier against the glass. I found that fermenting mead in glass kinda gives it a slightly off flavor.

[@TheNegative]

I have no idea how I got here but I do love root beer so this is super cool.

[@srboromir452]

I realize the need for boiling to sanitize since you're fermenting, but I remember reading somewhere that Sassafrass root tea needs to be made with cold water to keep from leaching the things you don't want out of the root, need to search that up again to see the reason

[@TimTimTomTom]

You want all of it.

[@jeffw1267]

​@@TimTimTomTomBoiling can leach the bitter tannins out of the leaves and roots. You can balance out the bitterness, to some extent, with more sugar. But you get a smoother flavor if you don't bring the water to a boil.

[@TimTimTomTom]

@@jeffw1267 You miss my point entirely. That's okay.

[@rocksalt636]

I mix sassafras which is sold at health foods store with a tea called 'detox', that has star anise, licorice and other spices. With some sugar it has that perfect root beer flavor.

[@sparky6086]

I use Star San. It's inexpensive & rinses off easily. Bleach leaves a residue which takes a lot of rinsing, or else it may inhibit fermentation or leave a tinge of bleech flavor in the end product.

[@kevinbyrne4538]

When my dad was a kid during the 1930s (in New York City), he and his mom used to make root beer like this.

[@mikco99]

Hires root beer used to sell concentrate to make root beer at home. It was very good and would have a slight alcohol content.

[@eknuds]

I homebrew and we like a sanitizer called Star San. No rinsing.

[@csmith6483]

It’s easy to stop the fermentation. Just bring the bottles up to 140 F in hot water to kill the yeast. You can then store them indefinitely.

[@daerth4423]

My dad would dig some of the roots in the fall and winter and make a hot tea out of it. These days I like mixing a little in with regular iced tea sometimes. I had no idea i was bad for you until relatively recently but that hasn't stopped me from using it lol. Going to have to try this this fall.

[@onemorething100]

Sassafras is not bad for you Per Se. The so called Science the medical community did was with vastly higher concentrations of the compound

[@lauriaktahi]

When I leave my fruit water sit overnight, it will ferment. They call it compote in other countries. Im going to try that way first, I started avoiding yeast a couple years ago. I have no reason why, except I was overhauling my diet completely and yeast just wasnt in my metabolic list 😊 I have a soda machine too, jic. Thanks for this! I love root beer, A,&W drive up was about a mile away in my Childhood. Im in to herbal tea, and Im sure This will cover the bitter flavor of some of the other herbs I have. Lol

[@capnspicy5565]

I started a diet a couple years ago, I lost my metabolic list, I haven't eaten in a couple years.

[@intractablemaskvpmGy]

I like to use PET bottles for this. Just your standard 1-2 liter plastic soda bottle. Seltzer or club soda doesn't leave any residual flavors or odors. As they carbonate the bottles will get rock hard almost, and have less of a chance of exploding. Those glass swing tops are for experienced users only. Think grenade and subsequent trip to the ER. But, the rest is easy. Good luck!

[@n3bruce]

As a homebrewer there are a couple better options for sanitizing your fermentation vessels and tools,a chlorine bleach can leave lingering odors, particularly with plastics.Iodaphor and Star San are brand names of iodine and phosphoric acid sanitizer that are popular with homebrewers.

[@LegacyWildernessAcademy]

Thanks for the tip!

[@Babypapayaproductions]

I love this channel!

[@LegacyWildernessAcademy]

Thanks for watching!

[@philipdove6987]

Back in the 1970s we made Ginger beer. we used screw top glass bottles because we hadn't got the recommended bottles with corks. This could have been lethal if we had not kept the beer in our old coal shed. About 1 week in two we would find the coal sheddripping with ginger beer and broken glass everywhere because a bottle had exploded. once we realized what was happening we went to a bit of trouble to buy some corks. They act as a safety valve, if pressure builds too high the cork blows not the bottle.

[@pellis8985]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I would love to know how it tastes. Can you do a short or a follow up and compare it to the store bought root beer?

[@ragnavald_7985]

I'd recommend leaving your primary ferment in bulk with an airlock and then moving your secondary to the swing tops. You'll get a better ferment and a cleaner finished product.

[@TheRealChetManley]

Find starsan for cleaning bottles and brewing equipment...

[@davidhansen9665]

I have made this a bunch over the yrs, absolutely a thousand times better that store bought

[@caseylewis2835]

Great video! Where I live there. Used to be a barbecue place that had old fashioned root beer made that way and it was amazing. How I missed that root beer