• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Amish 365
  • About
  • Amish Recipes
  • Amish Culture
  • Amish Marketplace
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Amish Recipes
  • Amish Culture
  • About
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Amish Recipes
    • Amish Culture
    • About
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Everything Amish » Plain Culture

    Homemade Root Beer - Part I

    Published: Mar 15, 2012 · Updated: Feb 2, 2021 by Kevin Williams | 18 Comments

    Let's throw in the towel on winter, with 80 degrees days here in Ohio we've skipped spring and moved straight onto summer. I made a big tumbler of sun tea yesterday, a sure sign of summer.  Another refreshing drink you can make yourself: homemade root beer.  Root beer extract can be tough to find, but if you look hard enough you'll be able to find it in specialty supermarkets and definitely online. Homemade root beer is popular among the Amish because it is something that can be made at home and has a bit cleaner of an ingredient label than Mountain Dew or Coke.  So this gives you some pop without the pop.  Amish entrepreneurs in Lancaster County sell homemade batches of root beer from roadside stands in the summer.  This is a photo of a bottle I bought from one such stand.  It wasn't my favorite, it was a little too "rooty" for my taste.  The recipe below comes from our Amish Cook archives.  The late Elizabeth Coblentz shared this recipe in her column back in the summer of 1998.  I'm excited to find this recipe, because I will try it as soon as I get my hands on some root beer extract.  I'll let you know my results, but here is the recipe so you can try it yourself. There are many homemade root beer recipes out there, but this looks really easy.  Part II of this post will be my photos and review of the recipe.

    QUICK, REFRESHING HOMEMADE ROOT BEER

    Homemade Root Beer - Part I
     
    Print
    Ingredients
    • 1 gallon warm water
    • 1 1 /4 cups sugar
    • 4 tablespoons root beer extract
    • 1 tablespoon of yeast
    Instructions
    1. Mix all ingredients together and pour into a gallon jug. Seal the jug at set in the sun for 3 hours or more. Refrigerate overnight.
    Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe
    3.5.3226

     

    « Suburban Sprawl In Plain Country
    Lancaster County: Zook's Roadside Stand/Family Cupboard »

    About Kevin Williams

    Hi, my name is Kevin Williams and I am owner of Oasis Newsfeatures and editor of The Amish Cook newspaper column.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. mrs. mcintyre

      March 15, 2012 at 1:52 pm

      i made root beer when we were 7 in the house and accidentally let it go too long and got the family tipsy. thank GOD we were not going anywhere and just had a really good nites sleep. i don't drink root beer and the troops have not let me live this down. continuing adventures in being a thrifty mother.... blessings, mrs. mcintyre

      Reply
      • Kevin

        March 15, 2012 at 4:01 pm

        LOL, thanks for the insight, I'll make sure to keep the fermentation to a minimum!

        Reply
    2. Dave

      March 15, 2012 at 2:53 pm

      We've made it lots of times but never that way. Used to bottle it. Once we must have put in to much yeast or sugar or something. Stored the bottle on a shelf over the basement steps. One by one, they popped the corks and spilled all over the steps. Didn't have a caper then. ---- We even tried to make gingerbeer. It never worked to well for us.

      Reply
    3. Dave

      March 15, 2012 at 2:55 pm

      You just can't find the good Hire's Root Beer extract in bottles anymore.

      Reply
    4. Wendy

      March 15, 2012 at 3:49 pm

      Elizabeth makes it sound really easy. I've had a root beer "kit" sitting in my basement for ages. Maybe I'll finally put it to use.

      Reply
    5. Brenda

      March 16, 2012 at 5:28 pm

      This is just like the one I make... Can't wait for part 2 Sisterbrenda (Maine)

      Reply
    6. thelma stafford

      March 16, 2012 at 5:57 pm

      you can find root beer x tract at the amish bulk food stores. we have one in hutchinson ks.

      Reply
    7. Lynette Sowell

      March 16, 2012 at 6:22 pm

      Our local Wal-Mart (supercenter) sells root beer extract in the baking aisle, right next to the lemon and vanilla flavorings. I can't wait to try this! 🙂

      Reply
    8. Susie MacDonald

      March 16, 2012 at 8:42 pm

      I found root beer extract at the Lehman's hardware store in Kidron, Ohio when my husband and I visited there. I tried to make the root beer, but it didn't taste so good. I'm going to try Lovina's recipe and see how it tastes. :-).....Susie

      Reply
      • Kevin

        March 16, 2012 at 9:02 pm

        Susie, let us know how it turns out!

        Reply
    9. Dawn Kirk

      March 17, 2012 at 12:13 am

      This sounds great!! We don't buy pop for the house,though we will drink it at parties & such..All four kids love rootbeer.
      Not to change the subject,but please be sure to see if Lovina will describe how to make her dandelion salad,the one she always talks about looking forward to each year.Dandelions are already out-picked a few leafs today & threw them into the water of the carrots I was cooking..We also put snipped dandelion flowers in pancake batter & cakes for extra nutrition.Does not add a flavor.

      Reply
    10. Diane Adelstone

      March 17, 2012 at 12:41 am

      I don't understand where the root in root beer comes from. What kind of root is it? Is the root cooked first, pulverized? In other words how is root beer made and what source is it made from?

      Reply
    11. SueAnn

      March 17, 2012 at 2:09 am

      Leaving it in the sun can be a problem...exploding problem......we just made the root beer and bottled it..we have a bottle capper..need to store it in a cool dry place...it does not have the long shelf life of store bought soda...it will pop the caps if left too long..or gets too warm......Sun tea develops a bacteria in it.....you are better to use hot tap water...and steep the bags...many people have taken ill and sun tea was the reason...it is not a recommended tea to make anymore...even tho people still do.
      Off topic...Miami U in Oxford is doing their Craft Summer..and...the weekend of June 22-24, is Amish cooking and culture....know anything about it? wonder who is teaching the course?

      Reply
      • Kevin

        March 17, 2012 at 9:00 am

        SueAnn,
        Thanks for the information, I'll have to heed your warning because I make sun tea frequently. I don't know about what is going on at MU, but I'll sure as heck find out and report back. Thanks for the heads-up!

        Reply
        • Wendy

          March 17, 2012 at 3:45 pm

          Last summer I started using my coffeemaker to make a tea concentrate. (We're not coffee drinkers, I just keep one for serving friends.) It works great - I put the teabags in the hopper, run the water through, add some sugar and store it in the fridge once it's cooled. No fuss - when I want some tea I add water and it's ready to go.

        • Jenn

          March 17, 2012 at 7:10 pm

          @Wendy, that's a great idea! I'm going to try that! Thanks for the tip!!

    12. Grace

      June 29, 2013 at 4:31 pm

      Zatrain's root beer extract is wonderful - like Hires - I just ordered from Amazon - 12- 4 oz bottles plus 10 pkgs of champagne dried yeast (which works best-no yeasty taste) and it was over $25 so free shipping - total was $26.83 sent to Wa State.....Good price for 12 bottles.
      This will keep us in root beer for several months.
      Remember - 1 tip - Zatrain's is strong, a little goes a long ways - experiment for your favorite mix. Better less than too much - you can always add but not take away.
      Good drinking - I make it in a glass gal vinegar jar (from the past!!) and make sure it doesn't explode by checking it - then refrigerate it and it's absolutely the best.

      Reply
      • Suzette Carlin

        August 13, 2017 at 10:56 am

        Thanks Grace, I'll be checking that out.

        Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Rate this recipe:  

    Primary Sidebar

    Kevin Williams - The Amish Editor Amish Cook Column

    Hi There, I'm Kevin!

    Welcome to Amish365, where I share my knowledge of Amish cooking and culture! I’ve spent almost three decades exploring Amish settlements and kitchens from Maine to Montana and almost everywhere in between. I’ll occasionally throw in stories of my travels, journalism adventures (I’m a Pulitzer prize-nominated journalist), fascination with grocery stores and Kmarts, and much more!

    More about me →

    Latest Amish Recipes

    • Amish Wedding Customs and Traditions
    • Amish Wedding Cake
      Amish Wedding Cake Recipe
    • Creamy and Cheesy Chicken
      White Wine Baked Chicken
    • 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Amish Church
    dutchcrafters

    Download The "Almost Amish" Ebook

    Footer

    Footer

    About

    • About The Amish Editor
    • Download "Almost Amish" Ebook
    • Amish Communities
    • Amish Marketplace

    Contact

    • Work With Us
    • Contact

    *As a member of various affiliate programs I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2000 - 2020 Amish 365 | Powered by Touch The Road