Too bitter soda, any suggestions?

[Christopher Weeks]

Hi y'all,

I've just brewed my first soda. It wasn't a wild fermentation, I used a commercial ale yeast. It's pretty awful. My wife and kids hate it. I kind of like it but it's too strong even for me. Here's what I did:

I simmered the following list of botanicals (dried and shredded unless otherwise noted) in two quarts of water. I was aiming for 25 minutes but really what happened was more like 45 minutes not quite simmering most of the time. Here's what was in it: 1/2 vanilla bean (whole bean snipped in half), 4 t sarsaparilla, 4 t wormwood, 4 t licorice root, 2 T elderflower, 2 T dried elderberries, 3 t wintergreen, 1/4 c chopped dried tart cherries. I also disolved 1.5 c light brown sugar and 3 T molasses while it was hot. As it cooled, noticing how strong it was, I stirred in 1/2 c agave nectar for some concentrated sweetening.

It's still too bitter.

I strongly suspect the wormwood was a poor choice and I'm thinking about making it exactly the same except for completely omitting the wormwood. Thoughts?

Also, now that I have this stuff -- I'm not sure it'll be consumed as is. Does anyone have suggestions for how I could use this in cooking or anything? I hate to waste it but I think that I'm headed toward chalking it up as a learning experience and starting over.

[Tim Hall]

Wormwood is definitely the culprit. All of the artemesias, especially wormwood, are extremely bitter and have to be used judiciously.

There's also a certain curve in the simmer/boil time where virtually all botanicals cease to give up flavoring compounds and start to extract more of their tannins and bitterinng principals. Most plants have the capacity to become bitter if heated too high for too long. 25 minutes sounds like it would have been a good time, maybe even only 15 minutes. At 45 minutes, especially at higher temps, you're going to get more bitterness and also cook off a lot of the volatile flavors and aromas.

To my palate I'm not sure this flavor pairs well with many foods. I am a fan strongly bitter stomachics like Fernet Branca though. Maybe you could make a light syrup and/or add a little citrus juice to the glass before you pour the soda to help cut the bitterness. Acids will deactivate some bitter tannins, and sweetness can help mask the rest.

If you want the wife and kids to drink it, I'd avoid using too much bittering herbs like wormwood, mugwort, yarrow, etc.

[Tim Hall]

Buhner's "Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers" is a good botanical reference, but I have never followed any of the actual recipes, as in my experience almost all them look a little over the top in terms heating time and quantities of herbs used.

Randy Mosher's "Radical Brewing" and Fisher & Fisher's "The Homebrewer's Garden" give more sensible advice for using herbs to flavor brews, but they are not as comprehensive or pharmacopeia-like as Buhner's book.

All of these references are aimed more at beer rather than soda or small beers, but the information easily translates.

[Tim Hall]

Christopher, you might also test your botanicals as teas, both individually and in combination, before committing them to a full batch of brew. I do this any time I'm trying to formulate something new, and especially when I'm unfamiliar with the herb.

[Christopher Weeks]

Thanks for the excellent response, Tim! I took two bottles to work to share around and it's more popular here than it was at home. I still think I like it, but I'm kind of sipping like a strong cocktail rather than drinking it like commercial soda.

[Tim Hall]

I still think I like it, but I'm kind of sipping like a strong cocktail rather than drinking it like commercial soda.

Well, you know our tastes for things have a lot to do with conditioning and expectation. Sometimes it's hard to appreciate something we otherwise would had our expectations not gotten in the way.

The way I make beer, wine and sodas often doesn't register as quite right with a lot of people because I've started having a hard time making well defined distinctions between them. I mean what really separates beer from wine? Only definitions and expectations.

Point is I'm glad to hear about people experimenting, and I hope you can appreciate what you made even if it's not what you expected.

[Christopher Weeks]

I reduced it to a syrup and mixed with alcohol. I'll determine if it's useful in that form over time -- maybe as a "custom" bitters.

And I brewed a new batch; following the same ingredient list (sans wormwood) but careful to simmer for only 25 minutes. It's insipid. I'll try another bottle tonight but unless the flavor is developing, I'll just dump it and start using real recipes rather than just winging it. :)

[Tim Hall]

Christopher another thing you could try is fermenting for a few days in a single, large container with the herbs/spices included. Then strain it into bottles that'll be sealed for carbonation. You get more flavor infused without too much risk of bittering.

This process is essentially the same as what's called "dry hopping" in beer-brewing terminology. The point of dry hopping is specifically to extract the hops' herbal character without adding bitterness.

[Christopher Weeks]

Tim, is that entirely at room temp then? Just like a cider or melomel? I wasn't sure if the barks and roots would give up their goods without the heat.

[Tim Hall]

Well, you can do both...heating and room temp. No it won't give up flavor as quickly as boiling, and boiling may draw out certain principals that just letting it steep won't.

You could also boil your herbs, then let the pot cool and sit for several hours or overnight to extract more flavor.

Beer and wine have a certain advantage in dry hopping and making fruit infusions that you don't have with sodas or small beers: alcohol. Alcohol can help extract things that even boiling water won't. So you won't get the same degree of flavor/aroma extraction you would with something containing alcohol.

Some herbs benefit from boiling longer than others and for making decoctions (strong infusions). For example roots generally seem to stand up to longer boil times. Might try boiling your sarsaparilla longer than the other ingredients. Nettle is a good herb to make decoctions with. But most green herbs don't want to boiled too long...again they turn bitter and their flavors cook off.

I'll post a recipe for my ginger beer here in a moment as an example. I just happen to be brewing this up for a workshop with Sandor this weekend.