Sassafras/sarsaparilla root beer recipe?

[klowneyy]

Does anyone have a good root beer recipe using sassafras/sarsaparilla root?

 

[saramc]

Try this thread... https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f95/i-need-rootbeer-recipe-supplier-362079/

I have made Crazy8's recipe several times now....awesome!

 

[klowneyy]

Try this thread... https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f95/i-need-rootbeer-recipe-supplier-362079/

I have made Crazy8's recipe several times now....awesome!

Thank you so much!!!!! Can I ask how it compares to store bought root beer? I have made a recipe before and it only called for sassafras/sarsaparilla root and I wasn't a fan of it at all.

 

[pkrath84]

Did you use the actual root for the sassafras, or extract? If extract, how much?

I cant seem to find sassafras bark for sale anywhere that has it in stock... Is it because of the FDA ban? Or is it a seasonal item? I have no idea...

 

[saramc]

Thank you so much!!!!! Can I ask how it compares to store bought root beer? I have made a recipe before and it only called for sassafras/sarsaparilla root and I wasn't a fan of it at all.

Sorry for not checking this...but this blows away commercial root beer. Reminds me of the rootbeer my Mom used to throw together.

I cant seem to find sassafras bark for sale anywhere that has it in stock... Is it because of the FDA ban? Or is it a seasonal item? I have no idea...

When we dug sassafras root growing up we only did so Spring thru Fall and never after first frost. If you have sassafras in your area, check farmer's markets I just grabbed some there, talk about fresh. You can also find it on eBay, many spice vendors there.

 

[klowneyy]

Sorry for not checking this...but this blows away commercial root beer. Reminds me of the rootbeer my Mom used to throw together.

When we dug sassafras root growing up we only did so Spring thru Fall and never after first frost. If you have sassafras in your area, check farmer's markets I just grabbed some there, talk about fresh. You can also find it on eBay, many spice vendors there.

I got my from amazon

 

[Crazy8]

OH MY WORD YOU GUYS...You're going to make me cry. I don't even know what to say. To be honest I have heard such comments from people I work with that have had it, and I guess I just don't get it. Perhaps its true that we are our own worst critics. I am glad that it is enjoyed by many though. I just came across this this post and thought to myself "Hmmmm maybe I should submit my recipe for this guy." and as soon as I started reading I was shocked. Saramc, thank you so much for your praises I am glad you like it so much and Klowneyy if you try it I hope it all works out well for you and that you also enjoy it. For those that are interested...This recipe is what I am now calling my "Signature" recipe. It has changed much since I posted those ingredients. Where it stands now does have some things I am keeping secret, at least for now, but here is kind of what it looks like now.

Ingredients:
8 Qts. Water
24 oz. Honey
1/4 tsp. Salt (try without)
1/4 cp. Sarsaparilla
1/4 cp. Sassafras
1 1/2 cp. Brown Sugar (only use light brown sugar)
2 tsp. Vanilla Flavoring (not extract)
1/4 cp. Chopped Raisins
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Champagne Yeast (1/4tsp/ gal)

I removed juniper berries because as I really paid attention to the flavors, I was picking up something in the background that I couldn't decide if I liked or not. So I looked over all my ingredients and I thought "Well the only "weird" thing here is maybe the juniper berries." Sure enough once I removed them that odd background flavor was no longer there.

Klowneyy, or anyone else who may be interested, I have a YouTube channel that goes through some root beer brewing stuff, sanitizing, etc. that you might find helpful. Just do a search in YouTube for KD0RVY. Thats a zero not an "O". Hope this helps.

 

[pkrath84]

^Its REALLY good stuff!

My only problem has been hunting down sassafras bark. It's unavialable everywhere including amazon right now, everone's out. I just bought 2lbs of fresh dug/cut sassafras on ebay... Anyone have experience with the fresh root? How much to use?

Thanks!

 

[Crazy8]

Yeah its crazy how that stuff seems to be in stock everywhere and POOF! everyone is out. Another place to check is mountainroseherbs.com I don't have experience with freshly dug roots but I do know that the roots are better if harvested during the cold winter months. This is because all of the sap (the flavor) will be in the roots rather than in the branches. To my knowledge, fresh root should be the same quantity as its counterpart. The only factor I could see in this is that if the root (not twigs) was not harvested in winter, then the flavor might not be as potent, and if that's the case, then you may need to use more. But again I don't have experience yet with freshly dug roots.

I have heard of people harvesting root and twigs in the warmer seasons, but that sap is going to be in higher quantity in the twigs/branches, in those warmer months.

 

[pkrath84]

Thanks for the info! I'll play with it a bit and report back. I ordered 2lbs from an ebay seller and he even cuts to size for easy handling!

Only problem is I wish it'd get here faster because I wanted to make another batch, like last week!

 

[Crazy8]

Yeah, this is what some people call an "addiction". Addicts go to rehab so I find my self as being at some level, though I'm still very much a brewing virgin, a passionate hobbyist with a constant thirst for root beer.

 

[saramc]

^Its REALLY good stuff!

My only problem has been hunting down sassafras bark. It's unavialable everywhere including amazon right now, everone's out. I just bought 2lbs of fresh dug/cut sassafras on ebay... Anyone have experience with the fresh root? How much to use?

Thanks!

Read thru this. It will depend honestly on the 'strength' of your roots based upon when they are dug up. (We dug before frost only because the ground can be very hard here)..... http://m.chickensintheroad.com/cooking/how-to-steep-sassafras-roots/ My Mom says she has 'a pencil per quart' in her head for root beer making, and I know she steeped the roots.

 

[klowneyy]

OH MY WORD YOU GUYS...You're going to make me cry. I don't even know what to say. To be honest I have heard such comments from people I work with that have had it, and I guess I just don't get it. Perhaps its true that we are our own worst critics. I am glad that it is enjoyed by many though. I just came across this this post and thought to myself "Hmmmm maybe I should submit my recipe for this guy." and as soon as I started reading I was shocked. Saramc, thank you so much for your praises I am glad you like it so much and Klowneyy if you try it I hope it all works out well for you and that you also enjoy it. For those that are interested...This recipe is what I am now calling my "Signature" recipe. It has changed much since I posted those ingredients. Where it stands now does have some things I am keeping secret, at least for now, but here is kind of what it looks like now.

Ingredients:
8 Qts. Water
24 oz. Honey
1/4 tsp. Salt (try without)
1/4 cp. Sarsaparilla
1/4 cp. Sassafras
1 1/2 cp. Brown Sugar (only use light brown sugar)
2 tsp. Vanilla Flavoring (not extract)
1/4 cp. Chopped Raisins
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Champagne Yeast (1/4tsp/ gal)

I removed juniper berries because as I really paid attention to the flavors, I was picking up something in the background that I couldn't decide if I liked or not. So I looked over all my ingredients and I thought "Well the only "weird" thing here is maybe the juniper berries." Sure enough once I removed them that odd background flavor was no longer there.

Klowneyy, or anyone else who may be interested, I have a YouTube channel that goes through some root beer brewing stuff, sanitizing, etc. that you might find helpful. Just do a search in YouTube for KD0RVY. Thats a zero not an "O". Hope this helps.

I haven't brewed it yet. I am in the process of moving and have taken a few months off. I am planing to brew either a beer,cider,mead, soda in around August 15th. I am leaning more towards the root beer. I am pretty excited to brew it. I will let you know what I think of it as soon as I can. I will make sure to find you on YouTube. Thanks

 

[wildozarkwine]

Did you use the actual root for the sassafras, or extract? If extract, how much?

I cant seem to find sassafras bark for sale anywhere that has it in stock... Is it because of the FDA ban? Or is it a seasonal item? I have no idea...

Try the local health food store, I know of a couple that stock it year round.

 

[pkrath84]

I got some online (ebay) from seller: washburn71scotty

2lbs (I received about 2.5) set me back $20 shipping included.

Just FYI, I thought I'd share that the recipe he provided for root beer calls for 3 ounces of the root in a recipe that makes 2 quarts, so this is a good starting point. I'm wondering if I need to scale directly or if I can cut back and just boil longer? His recipe calls for a 15 min boil.

I really like crazy8's recipe so I'll probably plug in my sassafras into crazy8's recipe using the guidelines from washburn71scotty for the sassafras.

I'll update after this weekend when I get to brew this! I saved a keg JUST for root beer :-D

 

[Crazy8]

Good luck and I hope it all turns out well for you. Happy brewing and let us all know how it went.

 

[djbradle]

OH MY WORD YOU GUYS...You're going to make me cry. I don't even know what to say. To be honest I have heard such comments from people I work with that have had it, and I guess I just don't get it. Perhaps its true that we are our own worst critics. I am glad that it is enjoyed by many though. I just came across this this post and thought to myself "Hmmmm maybe I should submit my recipe for this guy." and as soon as I started reading I was shocked. Saramc, thank you so much for your praises I am glad you like it so much and Klowneyy if you try it I hope it all works out well for you and that you also enjoy it. For those that are interested...This recipe is what I am now calling my "Signature" recipe. It has changed much since I posted those ingredients. Where it stands now does have some things I am keeping secret, at least for now, but here is kind of what it looks like now.

Ingredients:
8 Qts. Water
24 oz. Honey
1/4 tsp. Salt (try without)
1/4 cp. Sarsaparilla
1/4 cp. Sassafras
1 1/2 cp. Brown Sugar (only use light brown sugar)
2 tsp. Vanilla Flavoring (not extract)
1/4 cp. Chopped Raisins
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Champagne Yeast (1/4tsp/ gal)

I removed juniper berries because as I really paid attention to the flavors, I was picking up something in the background that I couldn't decide if I liked or not. So I looked over all my ingredients and I thought "Well the only "weird" thing here is maybe the juniper berries." Sure enough once I removed them that odd background flavor was no longer there.

Klowneyy, or anyone else who may be interested, I have a YouTube channel that goes through some root beer brewing stuff, sanitizing, etc. that you might find helpful. Just do a search in YouTube for KD0RVY. Thats a zero not an "O". Hope this helps.

So, if your not using pure vanilla extract then I hope your vanilla
"flavoring" is not derived as castoreum which essentially is from a beaver's behind. Are you using Torani syrup? Did you notice a difference in taste from not using the pure extract or a bourbon vanilla bean? Just curious as I plan on trying this recipe out.

 

[Crazy8]

So, if your not using pure vanilla extract then I hope your vanilla
"flavoring" is not derived as castoreum which essentially is from a beaver's behind. Are you using Torani syrup? Did you notice a difference in taste from not using the pure extract or a bourbon vanilla bean? Just curious as I plan on trying this recipe out.

Well I have to say, this is the first I have heard of the beavers behind thing. Ill have to take a look and see if that's what it is. However, if it is that, then that is some delicious beaver behind. I did notice a great improvement but we all have different tastes and the quantity was greatly increased. I like vanilla and that recipe has gone from 2tsp of extract, not much when you consider that's for 2 gallons, to almost 2cps of vanilla flavoring. If you wanted to even do 1/4 or 1/2 of a cup of extract, that can get to be pretty expensive that's why I even considered flavoring and I have not looked back.

I have not used Torani syrup though I may give that a try as per a suggestion I had received about it. Im not sure what a bourbon vanilla bean is, but that may be something else for me to experiment with. I did try using vanilla bean AND extract in my batches and it still was not as vanilla-y as what I was wanting.

 

[djbradle]

Interesting. If 2 cups of the bourbon vanilla extract was used I would expect it to be overpowering, no? I was just going to buy a 16oz bottle of Mccormicks from amazon for 12 bucks which is not too bad of a price. I did get a 24 oz bottle of honey for under 5 bucks. I thought that was going to be the most expensive ingredient. I'll give two gallons a go and let you know.

 

[goybar]

http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20588763_11,00.html

Just plain nasty....

 

[pkrath84]

My batch with the fresh sassafras root suffered from some complications but overall it went well! Definitely tasting much more like root beer than sarsaparilla soda like my first attempt, hah!

With that said though I ran into some kinks when I realized I was 8 ounces short on honey and it came out lacking sweetness and I was also 4 oz short on vanilla flavoring. To make up for it, i added another cup of brown sugar and I found some molasses sitting around and figured, why not!? I also added cinnamon, wintergreen (which I think really made it taste more like commercialized root beer), and sub's the remainder of the vanilla with Madagascar bourbon vanilla extract.

With the changes I made I seemed to produce a slight off after taste... almost bitter in a medicinal way.

Crazy8 - In your other recipe you've used wintergreen... I'm suspecting that this is where my "bitterness" came from. Can you confirm or guide me based on your experience? I'm thinking it was drawn out from boiling the wintergreen too long.

Overall though it came out fantastic and that bitterness I produced with my experimenting goes away after a few sips after your taste buds saturate. This 3 gallon batch will get finished for sure, with enthusiasm!

 

[Crazy8]

Well I have heard that wintergreen can cause a bitterness. I guess I haven't had much problems with it. It was suggested to me though to try and put the wintergreen in towards the end of the boil. The wintergreen is only being used for head retention not flavor or to add bitterness. I think I may not be having a problem with the bitterness because of the quantity of sweets/sugars I have added in. So I would try to do that. Maybe add the wintergreen during the last 5 minutes of your boil. That should be long enough to draw out whats needed for head retention but long enough to not grab all that bitterness. At least thats my thoughts on it.

Glad to hear that everything seemed to go well over all for you. It always nice when you start something new and the experience starts off on a good foot. Just remember that you have a great resource here on the forum.

It took me a long time to develop my two recipes which 99.9% of people that have tried it seem to love. Though one of them is loved slightly more. The best part about this hobby is being able to play with your recipe and get it all tweaked just right. It takes time but in the end, when you got it, you got it, and its wonderful.

 

[pkrath84]

Well I have heard that wintergreen can cause a bitterness. I guess I haven't had much problems with it. It was suggested to me though to try and put the wintergreen in towards the end of the boil. The wintergreen is only being used for head retention not flavor or to add bitterness. I think I may not be having a problem with the bitterness because of the quantity of sweets/sugars I have added in. So I would try to do that. Maybe add the wintergreen during the last 5 minutes of your boil. That should be long enough to draw out whats needed for head retention but long enough to not grab all that bitterness. At least thats my thoughts on it.

Glad to hear that everything seemed to go well over all for you. It always nice when you start something new and the experience starts off on a good foot. Just remember that you have a great resource here on the forum.

It took me a long time to develop my two recipes which 99.9% of people that have tried it seem to love. Though one of them is loved slightly more. The best part about this hobby is being able to play with your recipe and get it all tweaked just right. It takes time but in the end, when you got it, you got it, and its wonderful.

Thanks for the insight! I agree with you on the timing of that wintergreen. I suspected that was my culprit because I've had experience with all of the other ingredients.

Thanks again for posting the recipe up for sharing. I remember in one of your messages to be before yo were working on clearing up the brew. Any progress/tips?

 

[Crazy8]

Yes I have had much success with both of my recipes. One of the big tips I think I would have for anyone is to take a look at the timing that everything goes in. Now I know some people may not agree with this, and others may but here is my experience and one of the secrets I haven't really mentioned, lucky you.

As you know now with the wintergreen thing, you may want to put that towards the end of your boil. Well with the exception to that, it seems that there are some flavors you may want more pronounced (ie vanilla, honey, etc.) and if you want them to be stronger flavors, then put them in at about the last 5 minutes of your boil. All the roots and stuff like that need to be in the water from the very beginning because it takes a much longer time to extract the flavors from those types of ingredients.

Now I am no master brewer or anything. I am just someone who has brewed probably a total of 50 gallons of root beer by now and has some experience and has noticed some things. That's it. I would also suggest the use of maltodextrin to add that creamy mouth feel. I think I use about 4oz for a 3 gallon batch. Hopefully that advice and tip will help you a bit in your brewing hobby.

As far as "clearing" the brew, that has not been a successful venture yet. I still have one or two more things to try in doing that, I just haven't done it yet. If I do find that one of the methods works you can bet ill be posting about it.

 

[Masterjuggler]

I got some online (ebay) from seller: washburn71scotty

2lbs (I received about 2.5) set me back $20 shipping included.

Just FYI, I thought I'd share that the recipe he provided for root beer calls for 3 ounces of the root in a recipe that makes 2 quarts, so this is a good starting point. I'm wondering if I need to scale directly or if I can cut back and just boil longer? His recipe calls for a 15 min boil.

I'm also wondering if you can just scale directly if I wanted to make 1gal instead of 2. Anyone know if I can just cut the recipe in half, or are there only some ingredients that scale like that?

I got that same sassafras root, though I got the unwashed stuff so it was only $15 for me. Took a whole 2 minutes to wash, and the dirt probably didn't add that much weight when he weighed it to sell.

Actually, once I washed it, I dried all my roots in the oven at 180 fahrenheit for a few hours, then peeled off the bark when it hardened a bit, but didn't become brittle. Then I just let it fully dry and I ground it into large chunks (not powder) so I could measure it. This way it won't get moldy.

This will actually be my first time brewing anything, so I have very minimal equipment. I have almost everything (still waiting on the yeast in the mail, and I'm getting some bottles later), so once I try Crazy8's recipe I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

[pkrath84]

You should be able to scale it straight out add far add I know. I've made 1 gal, 3 gal and didn't notice much difference. Only differences from my addition of wintergreen which I'm going to put in right at the end from now on.

 

[djbradle]

Thanks Crazy 8! I used your base recipe and added crush star anise, burdock root, a 1/4 cup of vanilla extract, and gum arabic for 4 gallons. This is day 2 after refrigeration. After another week the head should be better maybe clearer. Very very very good!

 

[Crazy8]

Wow that looks great. If you don't mind me asking, how much burdock did you put in for that 4 gallons and what exactly does the gum arabic do? Thanks much and Im glad you liked it and that it all turned out well for you.

 

[Masterjuggler]

As far as "clearing" the brew, that has not been a successful venture yet. I still have one or two more things to try in doing that, I just haven't done it yet. If I do find that one of the methods works you can bet ill be posting about it.

I'm going to try adding a little gelatin to my root beer right before I stick it in the fridge, but after it carbonates when I try making it in a few days. Hopefully it will recarbonate well when I release the pressure to add the gelatin.

My yeast should get here thursday, and I already emptied and bleached several plastic soda bottles that add up to a gallon. I'll add some gelatin to a bottle or two and leave the rest alone, just to compare. I got eight 16.9oz bottles, because I figure waiting for the the 2L bottles to recarbonate every time I open them will be a pain. I guess 1/2 tsp per bottle will do it.

Anywho, I'm going to try the recipe you posted on page 1 of this thread, but I'm cutting the entire thing in half to make only 1 gallon. That'll give me a good baseline to tweak it to my own taste. Who knows, it may even be perfect the first time (though I'm usually not that lucky lol).

 

[Crazy8]

One thing to keep in mind is that if you are adding gelatin after carbing and before sticking it in the fridge, you will release most of the carbonation and once in the fridge the yeast will go dormant. The yeast may not go fully dormant but it will take a bit longer to get that carbonation back to where it was. Still worth a shot though to see what happens. Good luck Let us all know how it goes.