To give some background I recently created a root beer milk stout with real sassafras plucked out of the woods. Due to mistakes on my part, it could have been better, but I still think the idea has potential. I want to take another stab at created a "soda" flavored beer. I have a good hefeweizen recipe that I want to add birch beer flavoring to. My thoughts are that the wheat flavor and the birch flavor will complement each other nicely.
To get the birch flavor, it seems I would have to use "birch essential oil" which seems to be boiled down sap. I know you want to avoid oily ingredients in beer because of the head retention, but is birch essential oil truly an oil? Also will it affect anything else besides the head? I can live with a great tasting headless beer if need be.
Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!
To get the birch flavor, it seems I would have to use "birch essential oil" which seems to be boiled down sap. I know you want to avoid oily ingredients in beer because of the head retention, but is birch essential oil truly an oil? Also will it affect anything else besides the head? I can live with a great tasting headless beer if need be.
Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!
