Sarsparilla

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cansofculture

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Im interested in doing a sarsparilla porter. Possibly with added vanilla.
I have never brewed before but this is sort of a dream beer of mine which i have never actually seen before. I am going to obviously start brewing simple kits first and then experiment once i have the hang of it.

Im just wondering if it would be possible to mix a sarsparilla kit (colony west) with a dark ale or port or stout kit and brew them togeather? Would both yeasts need to be identical? Or would i just use a single packet of yeast? Would i add the same amount of sugar 1kg per kit? So 2kg in total? And would i just double the water 23lx2 so 46 litres? I do have a fermentor big enough to handle that size a brew. Also if i wanted to ad vanilla essence would i add it prior to bottleing or before fermenting. Could i used real vanilla. Also curious about cinnamon. Anyway just food for thought. I know i have a long way to go. Thanks
 
You could brew a porter and maybe add some sarsaparilla syrup or essence to the fermenter
 
Im interested in doing a sarsparilla porter. Possibly with added vanilla.
I have never brewed before but this is sort of a dream beer of mine which i have never actually seen before. I am going to obviously start brewing simple kits first and then experiment once i have the hang of it.

Im just wondering if it would be possible to mix a sarsparilla kit (colony west) with a dark ale or port or stout kit and brew them togeather? Would both yeasts need to be identical? Or would i just use a single packet of yeast? Would i add the same amount of sugar 1kg per kit? So 2kg in total? And would i just double the water 23lx2 so 46 litres? I do have a fermentor big enough to handle that size a brew. Also if i wanted to ad vanilla essence would i add it prior to bottleing or before fermenting. Could i used real vanilla. Also curious about cinnamon. Anyway just food for thought. I know i have a long way to go. Thanks
Great idea, theporter part of the drink could be damaging your liver, while the sarsparilla could be fixing it;)
 
I love Sars and I love Porter. Love the idea. All of the alcoholic sarsaparilla I have in the USA were not very good. Good luck. Interested in your results.
 
I've done a alcoholic root beer and it turned out pretty good, nice sars flavour with a hint of caramel cream. Depending on the alcohol % in your brew it might make the sars flavour a bit bitey and bitter.
 
Ok.. im not sure how to read my hydrometre. When i first put it in my mix. It reads 1010.. leave it a few minutes and it reads 1030.. what is going on? Should i add more yeast?
 
Brewed the batch.. bottled it.. oly been a bit over a week.. there is no carbination at all. I think possibly the sars didnt ferment. Doesnt taste same as originally but i can't tell if it is alcoholic. If it is.. its very weak.
 
Brewed the batch.. bottled it.. oly been a bit over a week.. there is no carbination at all. I think possibly the sars didnt ferment. Doesnt taste same as originally but i can't tell if it is alcoholic. If it is.. its very weak.

How did this turn out for you? I'm keen to try the same
 
I ended up using 2 bottles of liquid.. becuse I had no idea about brewing and didnt realise I could have probably just brought more yeast. Anyway.. I love sarsparilla. But it didnt live up to expectations.. but probably because the mix was doubled.. it had a horrible taste of artificial sweetener. And it was pretty much non alcoholic. I'd say around 3% or less. A bit of a waste of time.. especially as I was so excited for it.. it's all sitting in bottles still but I'll probably end up pouring them out to make way for more brews.
 
Ok.. so I'm revisiting this idea... so far I did a tucan dark ale and stout, with 1kg dextrose and 1kg be 3. 300g or 400g lactose not really sure.. put some in my cider and the rest of the bag in my beer. I gave it 130 shakes of my cinnamon sugar.. 15ml of vanilla extract and half a cup of golden circle sarsparilla cordial. So far so good.. still tastes very much like beer thanks to the tucans.. but the sweetness cuts the edge off the bitterness of the tucans and I feel like I can note all flavors without being over powerfully.. I will leave another 2-3days (it has been in 2 weeks already) and then retaste and adjust before bottling
 
Ok.. so I'm revisiting this idea... so far I did a tucan dark ale and stout, with 1kg dextrose and 1kg be 3. 300g or 400g lactose not really sure.. put some in my cider and the rest of the bag in my beer. I gave it 130 shakes of my cinnamon sugar.. 15ml of vanilla extract and half a cup of golden circle sarsparilla cordial. So far so good.. still tastes very much like beer thanks to the tucans.. but the sweetness cuts the edge off the bitterness of the tucans and I feel like I can note all flavors without being over powerfully.. I will leave another 2-3days (it has been in 2 weeks already) and then retaste and adjust before bottling
How does the cordial go with the preservatives.. I'm about to try the colony West one but not too keen on the artificial sweeteners... Just waiting on an oatmeal stout to finish into the primary and considering using sars cordial as the priming sugar in a couple of bottles but not looking forward to a totally flat stout if the preservatives kill the yeast.

Also thinking of pitching the sars onto the stout yeast cake.. any input would be great..
Thanx
 
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