Root Beer Beer?

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Ceetar

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I was thinking of something with chocolate and strawberry, but I procrastinated and now I think that's better shelved until wintertime.

My next thought was to make a root beer beer. Nothing crazy, just maybe adding a wee bit of Sarsaparilla and wintergreen.

I'm thinking it might be best in a brown ale of sorts. Probably want something a little earthy, but I'm not sure. If i do choose something lighter I figure I have to color it a bit anyway so it looks like root beer.

Anyone mess around with Sarsaparilla much? I imagine I don't want to go more than maybe 2oz of wintergreen (likely a 5gallon batch).
 
Made a Root Beer Ale about a year ago. Was shooting for a 2% session beer. Addes sarsapailla root into the boil at about 30 min......it smelled great, however it made the beer SUPER bitter. After it sat for about 3-4 weeks the bitterness dropped WAY out, however was still present. Me and my buddy enjoyed it b/c we love bitterness. All in all, we would dumb down the sarsaparilla. We didnt add wintergreen however, we bought it, just never added it.

Good luck!!
 
Made a Root Beer Ale about a year ago. Was shooting for a 2% session beer. Addes sarsapailla root into the boil at about 30 min......it smelled great, however it made the beer SUPER bitter. After it sat for about 3-4 weeks the bitterness dropped WAY out, however was still present. Me and my buddy enjoyed it b/c we love bitterness. All in all, we would dumb down the sarsaparilla. We didnt add wintergreen however, we bought it, just never added it.

Good luck!!


Interesting. I don't mind bitter but was hoping to make it more palatable for all type beer. Did you try it after 3-4 weeks? Did it de-bitter further? Would think about sweetening it up a little to offset that bitterness, but wouldn't want it to mellow out and then end up overly sweet either.
 
Thanks for the reminder. I've been thinking off and on about revisiting a batch of root beer ale I made a few years ago.

.5# Caramunich
.5# Carapils
6.6# Light LME
.5# lactose
1 tbsp vanilla
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 oz sassafrass
1 oz sarsparilla
3/4 oz burdock root
1 oz wild cherry bark
1/4 oz star anise
1272 wyeast

I added the lactose, vanilla and ginger late in the boil, and steeped the roots and bark for 15 minutes after the boil. I don't think I could find wintergreen, but after drinking the beer, which turned out great, figured spearmint would have added a nice twang to it.

I don't remember where I came up with the recipe, or why I added what I did but I remember enjoying drinking it. The root beer flavor was there, but a little weaker than I anticpated, although I really didn't know what to expect.
 
Thanks for the reminder. I've been thinking off and on about revisiting a batch of root beer ale I made a few years ago.

.5# Caramunich
.5# Carapils
6.6# Light LME
.5# lactose
1 tbsp vanilla
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 oz sassafrass
1 oz sarsparilla
3/4 oz burdock root
1 oz wild cherry bark
1/4 oz star anise
1272 wyeast

I added the lactose, vanilla and ginger late in the boil, and steeped the roots and bark for 15 minutes after the boil. I don't think I could find wintergreen, but after drinking the beer, which turned out great, figured spearmint would have added a nice twang to it.

I don't remember where I came up with the recipe, or why I added what I did but I remember enjoying drinking it. The root beer flavor was there, but a little weaker than I anticpated, although I really didn't know what to expect.


That's probably more stuff than I'll end up adding to it myself, but does seem like it'd be good. You remember what color it was?
 
Yes, the longer it sat, the more it mellowed out. Ours was plenty sweet. Just tasted like a bitter rootbeer. Enjoyed the hell out of it. Only ended up around 1.5% though.

Be careful with the sassafrass. We were going to use it but didn't because our LHBS stopped selling it due to a FDA ban on it. It has been classified as a cancer causing agent.

Ginger, star anise, and cinnamon also are good additives. Be way careful with the though, otherwise they will over power and make it taste like a spiced ale.


Also recommend using a rootbeer extract for flavoring. It is really hard to get an authentic root beer flavor with natural ingredients. use the soda making extract to get your flavor and natural ingredients to customize it......have fun with it, its a fun challenge.
 
:confused:

January doesn't count as wintertime in New Jersey?

well, as it's snowing, probably.

but by the time i get the ingredients, and brew it, and it's ready to actually drink? so I figured I'd switch gears to something summery.
 
I remember it being brown, but lighter than a rootbeer. I was surprised when I looked up the recipe, I thought I based a brown ale recipe, but maybe I was afraid to cover the flavors. Next batch I may add a little more caramunich. I remember something about sassafrass being a carcinogen, which in these quantities, I kind of laugh at, as I take a long drag on my smoke (kidding on the last part). I think it was actually sassafrass bark, not the root anyhow.
 
Did you do a full 60min boil? Since there are no hops, could you just bring the LME to a boil and after any hot break, start your spice additions?

This is defenitly going into my line up just have to do a bit more research.
 
right now I'm leaning towards something like this. I've ordered most of the ingredients, so I'll definitely be at least attempting something. The description of the wintergreen leaves on midwestsupplies

Wintergreen Leaves are used as a flavoring agent in beer or soda. To get the flavor, wintergreen leaves must be allowed to sit 3 to 4 days until they naturally begin to ferment, then added to the brew. To do this, boil 1/2 gallon of water, pour over 1 to 2 ounces wintergreen leaves, cover, and allow to stand until fermentation begins. You can use up to two oz. of wintergreen in a five gallon batch of homemade root beer. If you are using a root beer extract as a base then you will only need to enhance the existing flavor and less can be used.

suggests that I can probably just add the flavoring to secondary. I'm still unsure if i'm best adding the other stuff to the boil, or maybe just throwing all the additives in this pre-fermenting pot of stuff with the wintergreen and just adding it in secondary. I can get enough bitterness from the Cluster hops and just use the roots for flavor..hmm.




5lbs Amber Dry Malt Extract
1 pound British Crystal 50-60L
1/2 pound Caramunich II
1/2 pound Roasted Barley


60 mins 1 oz Cluster

Wyeast Dennys Favorite 50 (1450)



2 ounces Sarsaparilla
1 ounces licorice Root
1 ounces Vanilla bean
2 ounces Wintergreen
 
I"m sorry, I added 1 oz Perle for 60 min, 1/4 oz Perle for the last 15 minutes. How did I miss that?
 
I've done it b4 using a rootbeer extract and it turned out fantastic. Gonna try it aging here soon but I want to get all my roots and herbs in place and work out a good root beer soft drink recipe first, then incorporate that into a beer by replacing the sugar with malt

malt wise I'm looking at
6lbs Vienna
1lbs Special B
1lbs Crystal 150
2lbs Carapils
2lbs Flaked Barley

I'm aiming for sweat and thick to balance out the amount of bittering coming from my herbs and roots.
 
never thought of brewing a root beer beer before. but i have poured a beer and put a little root beer schnapps in it before.
 
And how was that? which beer did you use?


I'm still strugging with a good name.

i've had it with a light beer that has no flavor, like a bud light or coors light. it's actually good. first time i had it was at a bar; they called it a "root beer barrel".
 
anymore tips? I am thinking 1oz sasparilla, .5 oz licorice root, 1oz wintergreen to steep for 10 minutes after boil and then cool the beer. Maybe adding root beer soda extract at bottling if it needs it.

6lbs vienna
3lbs dark caramunich
1lbs flaked oats
.5 caramunich
.5 special b
.5 crystal 80

This is a combination of recipes I found throughout the internet. Going for a chunky, sweet beer to balance with the spices. probably mash at 154. 1oz of willamette at the begining of the boil to get to about 15-18ibus.
 
My beer is ready. This is my recipe:

http://hopville.com/recipe/475294/northern-english-brown-ale-recipes/root-beer-beer

except i used licorice instead of sassafras because midwestsupplies didn't have it.

I like it. it actually tastes pretty yummy, and definitely a root beer feel to it.

I steaped the wintergreen in water for 3 days before using it, like the package suggested. i added it in the fermenter, and kept with it during secondary, which I think was a mistake. The smell of the beer, while not bad, is a little bit too much I think.

It's also not sweet enough. If i make it again, I definitely want to add something to it to give some sort of sweet taste on the tongue, to emulate a sweet soda that I was going for. Not to say the beer is bitter or nasty, but it's not 'sweet'. What would be the best ingredient to add for sweetness in this case? maybe the root beer soda extract?
 
As for name, I'm calling it Root of MADness. (MAD brewery being my "brewery" name)
 
My beer is ready. This is my recipe:

http://hopville.com/recipe/475294/northern-english-brown-ale-recipes/root-beer-beer

except i used licorice instead of sassafras because midwestsupplies didn't have it.

I like it. it actually tastes pretty yummy, and definitely a root beer feel to it.

I steaped the wintergreen in water for 3 days before using it, like the package suggested. i added it in the fermenter, and kept with it during secondary, which I think was a mistake. The smell of the beer, while not bad, is a little bit too much I think.

It's also not sweet enough. If i make it again, I definitely want to add something to it to give some sort of sweet taste on the tongue, to emulate a sweet soda that I was going for. Not to say the beer is bitter or nasty, but it's not 'sweet'. What would be the best ingredient to add for sweetness in this case? maybe the root beer soda extract?

I have seen people add lactose to the beer or maybe you could up the caramunich in your recipe.

I think I am going to change all of my spice additions to 1oz, proof the sasparilla and throw it in after fermentation has started. Also I will throw in some vanilla extract at the time too. Then taste just before bottling and add root beer extract as needed at that point.
 
I made a batch using the recipe posted earlier in this thread, with the addition of 1/2 oz. dried spearmint. The messing with wintergreen seemed excessive, and spearmint seemed like it would work.

I'm surprised, with your recipe having way more crystal malt than mine, it's not sweet enough. I thought mine was close, and was going to add some dark crystal to the recipe, but maybe the lactose is adding what you're missing.

The spearmint worked great, it was actually too much, kind of overwhelmed the other rootbeer flavors. Maybe 1/4 oz next time. Still a tasty (root)beer.
 
This is the recipe i came up with, and it came out amazing. Used KreamyX for priming for extra creamy head

Style: American Brown Ale OG: 1.069
Type: All Grain FG: 1.016
Rating: 0.0 ABV: 6.94 %
Calories: 225 IBU's: 33.01
Efficiency: 70 % Boil Size: 5.83 Gal
Color: 20.4 SRM Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
10.00 lbs 74.07 % Briess 2-Row Brewers Malt 60 mins 1.037
1.00 lbs 7.41 % Barley, Flaked 60 mins 1.032
0.50 lbs 3.70 % Briess Chocolate 60 mins 1.035
0.50 lbs 3.70 % White Wheat Malt 60 mins 1.040
0.50 lbs 3.70 % Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L 60 mins 1.034
1.00 lbs 7.41 % Oats, Flaked 60 mins 1.037

Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
1.00 ozs 23.85 Sterling 60 mins 7.50
0.50 ozs 9.17 Sterling 30 mins 7.50

Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg California Ale White Labs 0001

Additions
Amount Name Time Stage
2.00 oz Wintergreen 20 mins Boil
1.00 oz Licorice 20 mins Boil
2.00 oz Sasparilla 10 mins Boil
1.00 oz Ginger Root 10 mins Boil
2.00 each Vanilla bean 05 mins Boil

Mash Profile
Medium Body Infusion In 60 min @ 154.0°F
Add 18.90 qt water @ 166.0°F
Medium Body Infusion Out 15 min @ 168.0°F
Add 10.80 qt water @ 196.0°F
 
one8tvw- is the above recipe still tasting good. gearing up to do a rootbeer beer here pretty soon and would like to use your recipe as a strong backbone to mine. Thanks!
 
Here is my final recipe I brewed. It turned out really good! Probably one of my better "experimental beers" The beer was good at 4 months but was better at 6. There was a bitterness that we attributed to the wintergreen but who knows exactly where it came from. The good thing is it went away. It smelled like a Barg's but tasted much more earthy and herbal. The sweetness that you may be used to while drink a root beer soda may throw you off because the beer is not sweet like pop.



Recipe: Root Beer Beer
Brewer: AJ AW
Asst Brewer:
Style: Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.00 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.25 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.062 SG
Estimated Color: 27.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 19.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 72.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
6 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 51.1 %
3 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 2 25.5 %
1 lbs Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 8.5 %
1 lbs Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 4 8.5 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 5 4.3 %
4.0 oz Carafa III (525.0 SRM) Grain 6 2.1 %
1.00 oz Fuggles [5.10 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 19.0 IBUs


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs 12.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 15.69 qt of water at 167.5 F 156.0 F 45 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (0.61gal, 3.12gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------
2.00 oz Wintergreen 20 mins Boil
1.00 oz Licorice 20 mins Boil
2.00 oz Sasparilla 10 mins Boil
1.00 oz Ginger Root 10 mins Boil
1.00 each Vanilla bean 05 mins Boil
2-3 tbls of root beer extract at bottling to taste. (Add a little, mix and taste until you get a little extra root beer flavor)
 
@adamjab19 Thanks for the recipe. I'm interested in doing something with root beer. It appears your base recipe is a stout.

Do you think using just root beer extract only, and not the herbs, would produce a good finished product?

Sourcing the sasparilla and wintergreen alone is a bit expensive.
 
adamjab19 said:
I believe that would be ok to use just the extract. Prob still add it to taste after fermentation I suppose.

I'm definitely thinking after fermentation for the extract.

Where did you source your wintergreen? I see places like Austin homebrew wanting 3.50 per ounce.
 
Cool recipe, I really want to try this. I had been wanting to try to ferment some kind of less acidic version of root beer as an experiment, but this sounds better.
 
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