Root Beer Recipe

[goybar]

Hi All,

I'm planning on making 3 gallons of force carbonated root beer.

I have looked at a bunch of recipes and I combined a bunch scaled them up to three gallons.

How does this look:

Honey 24 oz
Sarsaparilla 1/4 Cup + 2 tbsps
Sassafras 1/4 Cup + 2 tbsps
Brown Sugar 2 Cup
Vanilla 1tbsp
Raisins 1/4 Cup + 2 tbsps
Nutmeg 1/5 tsp
birch 1/4 cup
cherry tree 1/4 cup
cinnamon stick 1/8 cup
star anise 4 pods
molasses 1.5 cup
Burdock 3 tbsp

Too much of one thing or not enough of another? I'm I missing anything I really should add?

Regards,

Chris

 

[aruzinsky]

Hi All,

I'm planning on making 3 gallons of force carbonated root beer.

I have looked at a bunch of recipes and I combined a bunch scaled them up to three gallons.

How does this look:

Honey 24 oz
Sarsaparilla 1/4 Cup + 2 tbsps
Sassafras 1/4 Cup + 2 tbsps
Brown Sugar 2 Cup
Vanilla 1tbsp
Raisins 1/4 Cup + 2 tbsps
Nutmeg 1/5 tsp
birch 1/4 cup
cherry tree 1/4 cup
cinnamon stick 1/8 cup
star anise 4 pods
molasses 1.5 cup
Burdock 3 tbsp

Too much of one thing or not enough of another? I'm I missing anything I really should add?

Regards,

Chris

"Birch" is too vague. Presumably you want the methyl salicylate contained in the Black Birch tree, but, there is none in the more common Paper Birch Tree (the one that has white bark that peels off like paper). Originally, birch beer was made from the sap of the Black Birch tree. So, where are you getting "birch?"

Personally, I don't like the flavor of nutmeg, cinnamon or burdock in root beer.

 

[goybar]

I haven't purchased the Birch Bark yet. I was going to acquire it from Monterey Bay Spice Co.

I wasn't to sure on the nutmeg, but everyone seems like Crazy8's recipe, which is the base of what I'm doing.

I think the Burdock Root and Star Anise have a similar taste, so I figured I would go with a little of both.

I haven't had "real" root beer since I was a kid, so I'm not sure what I will like. The commercially available ones are OK, but not great.

Chris

 

[aruzinsky]

I haven't purchased the Birch Bark yet. I was going to acquire it from Monterey Bay Spice Co.

I wasn't to sure on the nutmeg, but everyone seems like Crazy8's recipe, which is the base of what I'm doing.

I think the Burdock Root and Star Anise have a similar taste, so I figured I would go with a little of both.

I haven't had "real" root beer since I was a kid, so I'm not sure what I will like. The commercially available ones are OK, but not great.

Chris

I suspect that the recipe should contain betula lenta bark, not betula alba bark because betula alba is not native to America. Doing a quick Google search, I found this supplier,

http://timelab.hostedbywebstore.com/Birch-Betula-lenta-Bark-Wildcrafted/dp/B00DC9N4EK

but, it is out of stock.

 

[goybar]

I have some White Birch trees in the back yard. Maybe I should just peel of some off.

 

[TheEricThe]

A head's up: you may want to be careful with the sassafras. It generally shows up somewhere between unsafe and cancer-causing-in-large-doses on my google searches. Just FYI.

I swapped it for Wintergreen Leaf when I made root beer way back when and it came out pretty tasty.

 

[goybar]

Thanks TheEricThe but I'm not too concerned about the sassafras. The quantities are low.

I should be more concerned with Cigars I smoke, or the alcohol in beer. "The World Health Organization has classified alcohol as a Group 1 carcinogen." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_and_cancer

Or the hour plus portion of my commute to go the last 15 miles to work everyday.

Chris

 

[droshi]

I have some White Birch trees in the back yard. Maybe I should just peel of some off.

Just wanted to point out that white birch is not what you would want (unless you're planning to build a canoe). The common name for the desired variety is Sweet Birch, Black Birch or Cherry Birch (Latin: betula lenta) and has a similar look overall to white birch but the bark is obviously very dark. Make sure you get this variety, as all others don't have methyl salicylate in them, which is the same flavor component in wintergreen. Generally you can substitute wintergreen leaf and should taste nearly to exactly the same.

If you do go this route, make sure you break up the bark very fine, or better grind it in a coffee whirly blade grinder, or use a small food processor.

Even better than the tree bark is the root bark of the tree, but take care when gathering it to not damage an established tree. Thinning saplings is the best way to gather in my opinion.

Just be careful when using large amounts of wintergreen or sweet birch, the active component at high levels can be toxic. This is the reason I prefer using the essential oil, but using leaf at lower quantities should be fairly safe IMO.