I finally did it.  I made my root beer.  Its sitting in the primary right now.

Here’s what I ended up doing:

2.5 Lbs Liquid Pale Malt Extract
1.5 Lbs Molasses
4 oz Dry Pale Malt Extract
12 oz Maltodextrin
14 oz Honey Malt
14 oz Crystal Malt
5 oz Chocolate Malt
8 oz Flaked Barley
2 oz Sarsaparilla
.5  oz Spruce Essence
2 Vanilla Beans
2 oz Star Anise
1 Brewers Licorice Stick
.8 oz Toasted Dandelion Root
2 oz Chopped Ginger Medallions
One smack pack of Wyeast 1056 American Ale Yeast
2 oz Yeast Nutrient

First, I sanitized everything and kept the equipment that would touch the wort in water with Iodine in it, I rinsed thoroughly before using anything.

I did a mash on the malt, ramping the temps from 120-170 over an hour and 30 minutes.  The long boil wouldn't necessary, as the only malt I used that has any diastatic power is the Honey malt. It doesn't have the power to convert other starches.  No I did it because I realized I forgot to smack my yeast pack and had to kill time.  It turned into a nice brown wort.  I only used 1 gallon of water or so, but I don't have a proper brew pot, and was mostly using stuff I already had, like molasses and malt extract.

Here's before I put it in the bag:

After I an hour and a half, I poured the wort through a strainer into another pot, then back to the brew pot.  I added the spices, except the ginger, dandelion, and spruce.  I did 2 separate boils for the ginger and dandelion root.  I cut the ginger into medallions and covered them in water and boiled them.  I did close to the same thing with the dandelion.

Boiling Dandelion Root

After 30 minutes I reevaluated the spice flavor and let it go 15 minutes more.

I slowly poured in the dandelion and tasted as a I went.  I ended up using the whole thing.  I did the same with the ginger, and used the whole thing.  I added the spruce essense, and it doing the same thing, but stopped after .5 oz, I started to taste spruce, but nothing more. 

Spruce Essence from local home brew supply:

Once the wort was done, I ran the Molasses and Liquid Malt Syrup under hot water to get them to pour easier.  I poured them in and stirred the wort.

I stirred the maltodextrin powder in and the dry malt extract.  I used the dry extract and the liquid, because that is how much I had of each.  The dry extract hardened, so I had to stir until it disolved, about 15 minutes.

While it dissolved I sanitized the fermenter.  I added 2 gallons of cold water, then poured the hot wort into it, then topped to the fill line using more cold water.

I added the yeast and yeast nutrient to the fermenter and put the lid and airlock on and shook it. 

Yeast and Nutrient:

Fermenter with root beer wort, yeas, and yeast nutrient.

Fermenter w/ Lid on

I'll let it sit in the primary for a week, then siphon to the secondary for 2 weeks, then bottle for a month, then sit the bottles in the fridge and enjoy.

Secondary Fermenter (aka high tech Beer Making device)

I did things a little differently then I would for beer.  I usually do a partial mash for my beers.  I'll do a post on that sometime, since making beer is fun. 

If you want to experiment, but have limited space, look at a Mr. Beer.  They're 40 bucks and make 2 gallons at a time.  I have 2 of them, and they're fun for experimental beer batches, so you can always use them later.  The 6 gallon bucket and 5 gallon carboy set up is not expensive either, but the higher volume creates logistics issues for all grain and partial mash.  You more or less need a super kitchen, or to do it outdoors over propane.  I do partials on the stove, using a coleman coolor as a lautering tun.

I have some pics of doing an all grain brew w/ a mr. beer. that I'll post those if I can find them.

Misc Pics:

Vanilla

Anise:

Some of my pics wont show for some reason.  Oh well.