Birch bark is $8.00/lb at herbco.com. I guess it may not be black birch, but I'm sure it makes a tasty beverage. :)
You can make a tincture with plain ol' 80 proof vodka.
Ran across this article on citrus and thought you may find the bit about lemon juice and aging interesting.
I wonder if just some zest would do the trick if it's still too lemony.
I will take gravity readings and post them here when I make my batch. I still have to order the roots.
I'll be using dried champagne yeast as well and temp controlling the batch at like 60F to keep it clean. Even given that, I still think the fermentation process will impart a...
Well, for the 2-3 days you are fermenting, the yeast is eating the honey and brown sugar and reducing the overall sweetness of the root beer (and creating other goodies). So to directly answer his question, if he's not going to use any yeast, then it does make sense to reduce the sugar a bit in...
I didn't make it to the LHBS this weekend to get the oak. When I do though, I'm thinking of making a tincture and then blending in the oak flavor instead of directly oaking the syrup.
I haven't made a batch of root beer yet, but I plan on kegging when I do. I've read where people are mixing it up and force carbing, but I have to think that the yeast is lending to the overall flavor as well--even something clean like champagne yeast.
My plan currently is to ferment for a...
Agree that it can have many negative outcomes; however, I think you can do it properly with nice results. If you are pitching healthy/active yeast from a starter, those negatives are reduced and underpitching a bit (no more than 20%) to generate some more ester profile is fine.
Thanks for the detail; it definitely helps. I'm formulating my first Saison recipe and looking at what everyone else is doing. The process is much more important with this style.
I like your fermentation ramp. I think starting at 68 will help to reduce any hot alcohol flavors. I'm kinda...
I have one that's stuck on as well and I was thinking of just leaving it on, but it really should come apart to be cleaned properly. Soak it in some warm water with PBW. I'm sure it will come right apart.