For those of you wondering what an active ginger bug looks like:

It is creepy to say the least. An active ginger bug should be almost foamy on top and make a soft fizzing noise when stirred. You may need to hold the jar up to your ear to hear it. I have also noticed that when using rapadura, the water starts out a root beer color and when the bug activates, it becomes more caramel colored. So there is something to think about.

If yours isn’t active and you have no idea why, consider these things:
* your culture does not like humidity (it causes mold)
* while heat will speed the culture’s growth, too much heat can also kill it
* cool temperatures will slow down your culture
* over feeding or under feeding your culture can affect the time in which it takes to activate
* be sure your ginger root is organic and not sprayed with pesticides or other damaging treatments
* chlorine in your tap water may affect or damage the culture. Try filtered or de-chlorinated water
* cultures (like sourdough and kefir) interact and can affect each other negatively
* a ginger bug does require sugar. It eats it. You can not substitute honey or stevia or any other sugar substitutes without needing to follow a completely different recipe
* honey is naturally anti-bacterial… a ginger bug is basically bacteria water
* neglect your culture a little and see if –after it has had some time to think about what it has or hasn’t done– it comes around and decides to activate for you

There’s nothing more beautiful than home brewed sarsaparilla… truly. The best part was that this was so incredibly easy, especially since I already had an active ginger bug to use. This specific batch was made using sassafras root “flavoring”, but next time I will be using only sarsaparilla root in addition to the other ingredients so that is the recipe I will post here.

Sassafras root and bark have been banned for consumption in the U.S.A. since the 1960′s when it was found to have carcinogens present in the oils of the root and bark. Carcinogens = cancer. Sure, it is a small amount of risk, but why bother when sarsaparilla root is just as flavorful? In any case, sassafras is now only sold as a topical bark and it is difficult enough to find a sassafras “flavoring” not to mention safe extract. So this recipe will only include the easy to find ingredients and thus, will exclude sassafras completely.

How to Home Brew Sarsaparilla Rootbeer
All herbal ingredients can be found online at Mountain Rose Herbs and brewing bottles can be found in our Amazon affiliate store.

Bring the following ingredients to a boil in a very large pot:
* 1 1/2 gallons of water
* 1/4 cup sarsaparilla root bark
* 1/8 cup wintergreen leaf
* 1 Tbsp. licorice root
* 1 Tbsp. ginger root
* 1 Tbsp. wild cherry tree bark
* 1 Tbsp. dandelion root
* 1 Tbsp. hops flowers
* 1/2 Tbsp. birch bark
* 1 tsp. juniper berries
* 1/2 crushed cinnamon stick
* optional: 1/4 of an orange peel

Bring the water, herbs, barks, and roots to a rolling boil and then reduce heat until the mixture is at a steady simmer. Simmer the mixture for 20-30 minutes until the liquid is dark. Take a sip of the liquid to make sure the taste is strong enough (to your liking). Remove from heat and add to dissolve:
* 2 cups rapadura (or 2 cups unrefined sugar with 3 tablespoons molasses)

At this point you may strain and transfer the mixture to a large glass or ceramic jar. Once the mixture is cool to the touch, add:
* 4 Tbsp. vanilla extract
* 2 cups strained ginger bug liquid (or water kefir culture) (or fresh whey)

Let the inoculated (creepy word huh?!) brew sit at room temperature –unsealed– for 24 hours. If you used a ginger bug, you can even bottle immediately to retain some sweetness.

Now bottle that mad brown brew! Let your sarsaparilla sit at room temperature –bottled in sealable brewing bottles– for 48 hours. Then refrigerate and enjoy!

Follow our series on how to make your very own soda starter, known as a “ginger bug”, from scratch! Join in on the fun and let’s see if we can make our own custom flavored sodas.

Oops! I should have known to open my soda over a sink… or with a towel over it… or slowly… but I didn’t and it foamed right out the top! Oh well. Hindsight is 20/20.

So I think I let my first fermentation go a little longer than I needed to. I could have let it sit out to ferment for 24-48 hours instead of three days and then bottled it. It’s still good, don’t get me wrong! It’s just that I’m a little drunk now. I think I might have made mango wine instead of mango soda. Oops!

Super yummy stuff though. I’m taking a bottle to the family Christmas party for sure. Just remember, fruit juice ferments a whole lot faster than plain ‘ol ginger sugar water (ginger beer recipe). Lesson learned. Yummy, mango-y lesson learned.

And also take a sip to test out any “sodas” before serving them to children. A good rule of thumb is that if it tastes alcoholic, it is alcoholic. If anyone needs a darn good mango wine recipe though, I’ve got one.

Follow our series on how to make your very own soda starter, known as a “ginger bug”, from scratch! Join in on the fun and let’s see if we can make our own custom flavored sodas.

After 24-48 hours* of fermenting on the counter, our mango soda is ready to bottle. As soon as I took the cheesecloth over off I noticed lots of foam. I skimmed most of it off to give it a sniff to see if it was still any good. Smelled good… real good! Then I gave it a little stir to see what it do and boy howdy– the soda instantly started fizzing and started to overflow out of the gallon jar! Well it’s ready to bottle now!

My mother bought six liters of Italian soda at the supermarket that came in these flip-cap bottles so I asked her to save them for me when she was done with them. Thankfully I didn’t need to spend $40-60 on a twelve pack of these puppies although I may need some replacement rubber gaskets eventually. I only used four and a half of the 750mL (25.4 ounce) bottles. The fifth bottle wasn’t quite filled so we will have to drink that one first.

Now our mango soda will sit on the counter (hopefully explosion-free) for 24-hours or less and then will be stored in the refrigerator until we’re ready to drink it. Which, knowing this family, will be pretty quick.

* this first fermentation time has been revised after testing the recipe. 24-48 fermentation yields soda, where the previously suggested 72 hours yields an alcoholic soda.

Linked up at: Small Footprint Friday

Follow our series on how to make your very own soda starter, known as a “ginger bug”, from scratch! Join in on the fun and let’s see if we can make our own custom flavored sodas.

Let me start by saying that I have no idea how this will turn out. I hope it turns into super fizzy, super yummy soda. I also hope I didn’t just waste $9 on natural mango juice.

Here’s what I’ve got going:
1/2 gallon dechlorinated water
1/2 gallon Odwalla mango smoothie
1 cup ginger bug

You can also try:
1 gallon fruit juice of your choice
1 cup ginger bug

I decided to water down my mango juice to 50% because the Odwalla brand mango smoothie juice is incredibly thick. Like… a smoothie. Watering it down makes it more juice like. From the different vague recipes I found online, apparently all you need to do is add 1/4 cup of ginger bug to every quart of juice. So for one gallon of juice I added one cup of ginger bug soda starter.

Now, I wait 24-48 hours before bottling my concoction. Next I just have to let it sit sealed for 24 hours and then refrigerate. Hopefully it will all go as planned and in a couple days we will have awesome mango soda to drink. I am such a sucker for anything mango.

Let’s break it down!
Day 1: stir together 1 gallon fruit juice and 1 cup ginger bug soda starter
Day 2: stir 2-3 times throughout the day
Day 3: bottle and seal
24 hours later: refrigerate and drink! (Test all drinks before offering them to children! A good rule of thumb is: if it tastes alcoholic, it is alcoholic.)

* this first fermentation time has been revised after testing the recipe. 24-48 fruit juice fermentation at room temperature yields soda, where as the previously suggested 72 hours yields an alcoholic soda.

Linked up at: Wildcrafting Wednesday