Root Beer Experimentation

I've been working at my root beer recipe for a little while now. Currently, I'm using the recipe below. It comes out to a rich, dark root beer and I'm loving it. I've just been looking at some possible experiments to improve upon it. The two things that I am really interested in trying are barley and oak.



I'm not sure what the best approach would be to get barley into the brew. I was thinking of just making a barley tea to substitute the water for the wort.



For the oak, I was thinking of just using some oak chips for the flavor. I'm thinking of adding the oak chips to the brew and just refrigerating it for a period of time (not sure how long) prior to pitching the yeast and bottling.



Any thoughts?







Root beer recipe



12 cups water

1/4 cup sarsaparilla

1/4 cup wintergreen

20" fresh sassafras root

2 Tbsp Birch

1 tsp dandelion

1 tsp burdock

1 Tbsp licorice

1 Tbsp cherry wood

12 star anise

8 raisins

Little less than 1 Tbsp juniper berries

1 Tbsp cocoa nibs



Vigorous Boil 20 minutes



Strain



2 Tbsp molasses

1 Tbsp honey

1/2 cup Grade B Maple syrup

3/4 cup Brown sugar

1/2 cup Raw sugar

2 Tbsp vanilla extract



6 more cups of water



Cool



pitch yeast and bottle

Sounds like it will be good.

Roger



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8 raisins?? Do you really thing that is doing something?

Small amount of raisins contribute some tannins and act as a clarifying agent. They don't really impart any flavor to the brew.


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simwaves1 said:

Small amount of raisins contribute some tannins and act as a clarifying agent.

Click to expand...

Interesting, where did you learn that?

http://sodamancy.blogspot.com/2011/09/ingredients-making-your-own-homemade.html?m=1


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