| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| summerbreeze |
Posted - Jun 21 2007 : 4:02:36 PM
Someone told me homemade is so much better than store bought (as is true with most things). How hard is ginger ale and rootbeer to make? Does it take special equipment?
Laura
You only live once,if you do it right once is enough. |
| 18 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Jun 26 2007 : 1:53:28 PM
We will be making some for sure on the 4th too. YUMMY!! And it goes great with the picnic foods..fried chicken (or maybe barbqued) potato salad, raw veggies and dip,good rolls, pickles and watermelon
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
| summerbreeze |
Posted - Jun 26 2007 : 12:01:25 PM
Aunt Jenny,
I'm going to try your recipe on the 4th. Thank you for sharing. I have 5 books on hold at the library. I think I will give a try to making some. I think I have all the stuff I need.
Laura
You only live once,if you do it right once is enough. |
| mommom |
Posted - Jun 24 2007 : 4:24:20 PM
I've had the privilege of tasting my Amish neighbors homemade rootbeer. At first I wasn't too sure about it. I thought it was a bit bitter. But, the more I drank it, the more I liked it! Mommom |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Jun 23 2007 : 1:58:33 PM
I use raw sugar often and it works great! It is SOOOO good..not quite as sharply carbonated tasting as bottled root beer..more like old fashioned A&W rootbeer used to be when I was a kid
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
| BarefootGoatGirl |
Posted - Jun 23 2007 : 07:00:14 AM
Thanks, I think I'll try a batch of your root beer for the 4th! I'll probably use raw sugar, but the recipie sounds great! My family looks forward to tasting my latest experment(even if they all think I am a bit off).
Trina
If you would know Love, you must know pain too. -Hannah Hurnard |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Jun 22 2007 : 1:55:46 PM
Nope...it is put in drinks all the time...makes that "fog" in halloween cauldrons full of punch too...I get it at walmart here. They sell it from up front..special freezer. They sell it at another grocery store in the next town too.
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
| BarefootGoatGirl |
Posted - Jun 22 2007 : 12:10:32 PM
Aunt Jenny...you actualy put the dry ice IN the mixture? I didn't think that was allowed. Somewhere I got the idea that that stuff was poision. Where do you get it?
If you would know Love, you must know pain too. -Hannah Hurnard |
| Runbikegrrl |
Posted - Jun 22 2007 : 03:50:21 AM
Now see how different tastes are...I love the yeasty taste of anything! Hummm... maybe that's why I am a breadacholic???
"So many interests so little time!"
http://lovelifelivegrrl.blogspot.com/ |
| MariaAZ |
Posted - Jun 21 2007 : 9:28:25 PM
I tried naturally carbonated rootbeer (ie using yeast to carbonate instead of CO2 gas or dry ice) and I didn't care for it. I make beer, which I like just fine  but the faint yeast flavor of the naturally carbonated rootbeer just didn't go down well.
Some day I want to get a CO2 setup for my home brewing. If I ever score one, I will make root beer again but THIS time "force carbonate" it (meaning using CO2 gas forced into the rootbeer to carbonate it.)
Visit my blog at www.craftyfool.net |
| mom2knk |
Posted - Jun 21 2007 : 8:06:30 PM
My dh made homemade rootbeer with the dks last summer. They had so much fun making it but they were very impatient about having to wait the 2 weeks for it to ferment before they could drink it. |
| KarenP |
Posted - Jun 21 2007 : 6:48:55 PM
Sherri, it's a wonder we made it to adulthood, no bike helmets, no knee pads, no car seats, barely a seat belt,no covers or shields on PTO shafts and home brewed ginger ale, root beer and the like.
I guess it's survival of the fittest...
KarenP
"Purest Spring Water in the World" |
| mikesgirl |
Posted - Jun 21 2007 : 6:42:43 PM
My dad used to store his in the bottom of a half dug well we had on our property. There's a topic for a forum - how dangerous, by today's standards, our childhoods must have been! |
| Runbikegrrl |
Posted - Jun 21 2007 : 6:35:49 PM
Homemade rootbeer...that brings back memories. My mom use to always have a batch of rootbeer going...the bottles were in the basement under the stairs. Once in awhile one would explode...I remember having a friend over one time and one exploded and she let out a scream...probably thought it was a gun shot..LOL
"So many interests so little time!"
http://lovelifelivegrrl.blogspot.com/ |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Jun 21 2007 : 6:26:32 PM
I make homemade rootbeer all the time, but we use it fresh and don't bottle it.
We make it for family parties and like that..the recipe is:
(make it in a 5 gallon or so igloo drink cooler thing)
5 gallons water (start with 4 and then add the other gallon later
5 lb. sugar
5 lb dry ice
1 bottle rootbeer extract (you find it near the vanilla extract and stuff at the grocery store)
put the water, sugar and extract in the cooler and stir well. Add the dry ice and put the lid on loosely and let sit for 20 min or so..this makes the bubbles...then serve.
you can divide this recipe in half. 5gallons of rootbeer is ALOT.
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
| mikesgirl |
Posted - Jun 21 2007 : 6:15:14 PM
Ah.... brings back memories. I too have had my entire kitchen sprayed. My DH decided he was going to make wine, not long after we were married, and apparently, it was a bit more active than he anticipated. He kept saying, "I had a bubbler......." |
| KarenP |
Posted - Jun 21 2007 : 5:47:06 PM
Laura and Corrine,
The book sounds interesting, I had to laugh, Corrine about the spray the kitchen comment from you too.
Laura, my husband makes home brewed beer from time to time, I just used his bottles and caps for the ginger ale.
KarenP
"Purest Spring Water in the World" |
| KarenP |
Posted - Jun 21 2007 : 5:37:48 PM
I have tried a couple batches, the first one was ok (I'm partial to Reed's Extra Ginger Brew)but didn't come close to it.
This is a the site I started with...
http://www.learningherbs.com/ginger_ale_recipe.html
The last batch I used wine yeast... Yikes!!!
I popped the top on one and is sprayed the WHOLE Kitchen, so I took the rest outside and popped them all before they exploded in the house...
This has cooled my jets a little.
I will try again but with regular bread yeast again.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Homemade-Ginger-Ale/Detail.aspx
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/Ginger_Ale_Ag0.htm
There are a few sites to make ginger syrup with you add club soda to.
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~dins/history/gingerale.shtml
http://www.recipesource.com/side-dishes/beverages/ginger-ale1.html
Just my 2 cents...
KarenP
"Purest Spring Water in the World" |
| BarefootGoatGirl |
Posted - Jun 21 2007 : 5:34:44 PM
I've never tried root beer, but I have made both Ginger Ale and Ginger Beer from Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions Cookbook. I wasn't very fond of the Ginger Ale, but we all loved the Ginger Beer. It takes a huge bowl or jug with a lid and bottles with corks or wire held stoppers. It takes 28 days to brew, but is totaly worth it. A word of warning though...be very cautious when opening the stoppered bottles, they will explode like champaigne unless you tilt the bottle and ease up on the wire VERY slowly. I kind of start pouring the beer as I push up on the stopper so that all the foaming liquid is being poured into a large picture even before the bottle is compleatly open. The first time I opened a bottle I just popped the top and soaked my entire kitchen! It smelt like there had been a party!
Trina
If you would know Love, you must know pain too. -Hannah Hurnard |
