Root beer by-ingredient analysis

Hi soda lovers!

I'm embarking (ha) on an analysis of root beer ingredients, one at a time. My plan is to do cold-steeping, boiling, and everything in between, to determine flavor and extraction techniques for each individual component.

With the results I'll have a better understanding to develop recipes from.

If anyone knows of resources along these lines, I'd love suggestions. Tips on brewing these ingredients are also very welcome. I'd like to follow best practices, but I'd also like to break conventional wisdom (first surprising finding: boiled oak is surprisingly flavorful and far less tannic/dry than I expected reading dry-hop guidelines).

If you'd like to do the tests independently I'd be happy to compare notes.

Please let me know any ingredients you are curious about and I'll add it to my testing.

So far I've done basic evaluation of:

1. Birch bark
2. Burdock root
3. Cherry wood
4. Kola nut
5. Sassafras Bark
6. Sarsaparilla root
7. Indian sarsaparilla
8. Licorice root
9. Juniper berries
10. Gentian root
11. American Oak - Medium
12. American Oak - Heavy
13. French Oak - Medium

Yucca root is another popular one you may want to add. It may not be a bad idea, and maybe you're already planning too, to add what they may contribute to the brew.

For example, sarsaparilla and sassafrass are used for their flavors where as the use of yucca root or wintergreen are used for head retention. I could be wrong but I think yucca might get used for body...anyway you get the idea.

My thought behind that is people would see something like winter green and pass on using it because they fear that it will add a minty flavor when I'm actuality it's used for bead retention and has very liitle to no impact on the flavor profile of the brew when used in small (.5oz) amounts.

In another scenario someone may want to know what ingredients to add for something like head retention but may want to know what flavors it will add, if any, and if they should be expecting a strong flavor from that ingredient.

Just my thought. Good luck on this endeavor. I look forward to your results.

Crazy8 said:

what they may contribute to the brew.

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Ahh, never heard of Yucca Root as a potential ingredient. Thanks!

Good call on wintergreen as well, that'll be on the list for sure, but evaluating for head retention is very interesting; that'll be another vector of testing.

Just a quick point about #5: Make sure you're talking about sassafras root bark, and not the bark from the trunk or limbs. The former has that classic root beer flavor, while the latter is more like lemon.

burninator said:

The former has that classic root beer flavor, while the latter is more like lemon.

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Innnnteresting.

I might have to do a post sussing out all the different sassafras/sarsaparilla questions I've had (and much still to learn).

owenfi said:

Innnnteresting.

I might have to do a post sussing out all the different sassafras/sarsaparilla questions I've had (and much still to learn).

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The upper bark makes a fine tea. I bet it would go well in a ginger beer, but I haven't tried it yet.

Recipes vary on whether to use the whole root or just the root bark.

subscribed to this - I use extracts but I really want to understand sodas better.

Updates?