I have decided to take a look at this again. What I am planning on doing is making a good basic porter and instead of using hops I am planning on using root beer extract to balance out the malt. I guess I got the idea after reading the article in BYO on gruit beer (Jan/Feb BYO page 20 - 23) and thinking WTF would I want lavender or rosemary in my beer.
In the article they suggest using a ale somewhere inbetween a porter and a stout but then also recomend a german or english wheat beer yeast. My plan is to try and stick to a porter/stout base but then use 5 gallons worth of rootbeer extract instead of hops.
Is there anyproblem with using something like rootbeer extract? Do I need to worry about infection? Do I add the extract at the same time I would have added the hops, add it like I was dry hopping, OR do I add it just befor I bottle?
Any ideas suggestions or concerns will be appriceated (not neccessaryly followed though)
In the article they suggest using a ale somewhere inbetween a porter and a stout but then also recomend a german or english wheat beer yeast. My plan is to try and stick to a porter/stout base but then use 5 gallons worth of rootbeer extract instead of hops.
Is there anyproblem with using something like rootbeer extract? Do I need to worry about infection? Do I add the extract at the same time I would have added the hops, add it like I was dry hopping, OR do I add it just befor I bottle?
Any ideas suggestions or concerns will be appriceated (not neccessaryly followed though)