Root Beer Recipe #1 - "Sarsaparilla"

I got this root beer recipe at the brew store that I purchased my first pieces of equipment. It's a pretty simple recipe so it should be easy for a first timer.

The recipe creates 5 gallons and since my brewing pot isn't large enough to start, I'm halving the it, which I doubt should hurt anything. So what I'm listing here is the halved amount. Ingredients needed:

• 1/2 oz Wintergreen Leaves
• 1 oz Indian Sarsaparilla
• 1/2 T Sarsaparilla extract
• 4 cups cane sugar (I'm just using the normal white grocery store kind)
• 1/4 t Coopers Ale yeast (This maybe will be silly to half but here goes nothing)

First bring 1 gallon of water to a boil. Turn off heat. Add Wintergreen leaves and Indian Sarsaparilla (which I but in my straining grain bag), cover and let stand for 2 hours. I left the house so I actually let it soak for 6 hours, but who's counting. Remove grain bag. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Add extract and re-hydrated yeast. Transfer to larger bucket (because my pot is too small) and add 1 1/2 gallons of water. Mix well. Siphon into bottles and cap. Leave set at 65° to 80° for 3 to 7 days. Check for carbonation. When carbonated, refrigerate to stop additional fermentation and bursting bottles. Chill and drink.

Beside using glass bottles, I siphoned into two plastic soda bottles so that I could squeeze the bottle to test for carbonation.

Day 3 - I got a little impatient to test how this worked. By squeezing the plastic bottles I could tell that carbonation was happening. They were getting quite firm so I thought that I would get one a test. Nope, not carbonated enough, it was a bit flat.
Day 5 - One more plastic soda bottle left and it's even more firm now. ... Almost there. It's much more carbonated than day 3 but still needs just a little more time.
Day 7 - Just right. The bottle are now carbonated. I now refrigerate the remaining bottles.

Color: The color seems a bit light. I don't think the picture really shows the color too well. I doubt that the color of my root beer really will be a factor of if I like it or not.
Taste: I didn't think it tasted strong enough. There is a root beer taste and smell but it just seems like it's missing more.
Overall: I just didn't like it. I ended up dumping all but a couple of bottles to keep for something just to sip on and taste.
Rating: 3 out of 10