Homemade Root Beer

I haven't done much food blogging since I had my baby. I've still been cooking and experimenting and having photo shoots at dinner before anyone is allowed to take a bite. I hope to slowly bring back the food blog, because I've got more great recipes to share with you.

This root beer is a family classic and it is usually my grandpa that makes it at family gatherings. And it is wonderfully easy. There are few things better than homemade root beer on a warm summer evening.

2 bottles root beer concentrate
5 lb. sugar
5 gallons water
ice
5 lb. dry ice

Pour sugar into 5 gallon container.

Pour both bottles of root beer over sugar. Add about 2 gallons of warm water and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Add 3 gallons of ice water.

Add the dry ice 1/2 hour before you want to serve it. Break it into several smaller pieces instead of one big piece. Stir occasionally to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom.

24 hours after we made our root beer, it had turned slushy (on the one occasion we made it for just us instead of for a large group of people and we actually had a bunch left over). I learned that slushy root beer is cool and refreshing and heavenly.

Dry ice tips:

You can buy this at your local grocery store (although my Walmart does not carry it). Handle with gloves to prevent burns. Don't buy the dry ice more than a few hours before you are ready to use it. Don't put it in your freezer, but put it in a cooler with the lid mostly closed. Don't store it an an airtight container. And if you put a tiny piece in your mouth, you can blow smoke out your nose. (Not that I recommend doing that or have ever done it before.) For more dry ice tips, click here.