Homemade Root Beer Recipe–Brew your own for Halloween!
Homemade Root Beer Recipe–Brew your own for Halloween!
This is my favorite Halloween Tradition–Brewing my own Homemade Root Beer! Every year as a child, my family would host a Halloween party with several other families. We would carve pumpkins, eat hot soup and homemade rolls, and munch on Halloween appetizers all night, and the height of the evening was brewing our own homemade root beer! Making your own root beer really is very simple, AND SOOOOOO fun for the kids because you use dry ice. It creates a fog across the ground of wherever you brew it. Cameron and I have done this every year since we have been married, and my husband has perfected the recipe. He’s the official brewer for the Halloween Holiday! If you want to add some fun to your Halloween Party–Brew your own Homemade Root Beer!
A FEW TIPS FOR BREWING YOUR OWN HOMEMADE ROOT BEER!
- Use a LARGE container. We use a cooler because once you add the dry ice, it bubbles and splatters everywhere…BEWARE.
- Use gloves to handle the dry ice. It can burn your hands….we just use utility/yard type gloves.
- Buy your dry ice as close to the time of the party as possible. Dry ice disappears quickly, we always get ours about lunch time (which is why we buy 10lbs), and store it in the freezer until the party starts. It begins disappearing as soon as you buy it.
- Homemade root beer is not an exact science. We buy a 10lb bag of sugar…draw a really fancy line in the middle of the bag by eyeballing it…and dump “about” half the bag of sugar into the container…there you go…that’s how we measure 5 lbs of sugar. We do the same thing with the extract….there you go…that’s how you measure 1 and 3/4 bottles.
- There are lots of different root beer extracts on the market, and one year I accidentally bought one without COLORING…oh my gosh, we had clear root beer. It was awful. Pay attention to what extract you buy. Make sure it has some sort of caramel coloring added. Even though clear tastes the same…it’s just not the same. Since that experience, I get all my root beer extract, and dry ice at Albertson’s grocery store. They always carry the brand I need.
- Begin Brewing the root beer as soon as guests arrive, BUT no sooner. Serve appetizers while they are waiting for dinner to begin. The brew creates a foggy midst across the ground, and a fun atmosphere. Sure you could do it in advance, but then the guest would miss out on all the foggy midst…and you have to have the foggy midst for the party!
- As time passes throughout the night, the root beer will get very slushy…this is when it’s the best. We sat around and played games and drank slushy root beer late into the evening. It was loads of fun!
Homemade Root Beer Recipe
4 gallons of water
5 lbs of sugar
1 and 3/4 bottles of root beer extract (So about 3.75 oz, they come in 2 oz bottles)
about 10lbs of dry ice
- Combine sugar, water and extract in a REALLY Large container.
- Then add dry ice, a piece at a time…USE GLOVES, the ice can burn your hands
- Wait 30 minutes to an hour before serving. The root beer will become really chilled. By the end of the evening it turns into a delicious slushy.
- Read my tips above…trust me…if you’re new to brewing root beer, you need to read the tips.
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