# Sassafras wine



## tcavan01

Today I started 3.75 gallons of sassafras wine per Jack Keller's receipe. I have to give my neighbor some of it because he used his Kubota tractor to pull out some of the sassafras so we could harvest the roots. I made the tea out of the roots two days ago and treated it with Campden tablets. Today I put it together in the fermenter. If anyone else has made this I'd like to know how it turned out. Just tasting the tea with the added sugar tasted pretty good. 

I know the government watchdogs labeled one of the componants of sassafras a cancer causing substance. Sassafras is an old american indian herb that has been used for years and I'm not concerned with the small quantity used here. 

If you want your house to smell good just brew up some sassafras tea.


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## joebrady

Oh, this sounds good.


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## tonyt

Wouldn't that be hard rootbeer? My family used to sell rootbeer extract and we kids sometimes brewed some up with yeast. We just poured extract, water, suger and yeast in a carboy and waited fir it to stop foaming. Wasn't very good but we pretended it was. I wish I knew then what I know now. That was about 40 years ago and we were about 15. Good times.


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## tcavan01

*Hard Root Beer sort of.*

Yes Tony it sounds very much like hard root beer. I think root beer has other flavorings in it besides sassafras. Most likely your root beer was 3 to 5 percent ABV. This should be close to 13 percent. I have added tannin and acid blend to the tea. You drank your root beer right away and it probably had carbonation. This wine will age probably 6 months before the first bottle is even opened. So there are a few differences.


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## Julie

tonyt said:


> Wouldn't that be hard rootbeer? My family used to sell rootbeer extract and we kids sometimes brewed some up with yeast. We just poured extract, water, suger and yeast in a carboy and waited fir it to stop foaming. Wasn't very good but we pretended it was. I wish I knew then what I know now. That was about 40 years ago and we were about 15. Good times.



Hires Root Beer Extract! My brothers and I would make a Kool Aid type drink out of it, 2 tbls of root beer extract and a cup of sugar to make 2 quarts.

And once in a while my Mom would make up a batch of hard rootbeer.


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## ericonthehill

How does Sassafras Wine end up tasting? I love the tea, and have a good source of roots.


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## tcavan01

*how does it taste*

I cant tell yet it is still fermenting. Jack Keller said he made three gallons of it and wished he had made fifteen. His sassafras wine won an award. I really wont know for about six months.


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## GrandpasFootsteps

Does anyone know where I could get some sassafras roots? I've read about the roots used for making root beer. I bought sassafras online, but it truly was just sassafras bark and not sassafras root bark. It didn't taste that good. It would be nice to find someone who has a sassafras tree with some suckers they could rip up and mail me the roots. I could pay for it.


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## jswordy

GrandpasFootsteps said:


> Does anyone know where I could get some sassafras roots? I've read about the roots used for making root beer. I bought sassafras online, but it truly was just sassafras bark and not sassafras root bark. It didn't taste that good. It would be nice to find someone who has a sassafras tree with some suckers they could rip up and mail me the roots. I could pay for it.


 
Nope, said it was root but it was bark, so I removed the link.


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## ericonthehill

I bought mine from ebay. $13 for a pound of sassafras root, and that includes shipping. A pound is more then enough to make a 3 gallon batch. I just started mine yesterday. I usually dig up my own roots, but you can't beat the price and they are clean and ready to go.


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## jswordy

ericonthehill said:


> I bought mine from ebay. $13 for a pound of sassafras root, and that includes shipping. A pound is more then enough to make a 3 gallon batch. I just started mine yesterday. I usually dig up my own roots, but you can't beat the price and they are clean and ready to go.


 
But I'll bet it was the root bark. I would buy from Frontier herbs if it were me. Sterling rep, old company, knows their stuff. Herbalists buy from them. But even they offer just the root bark, not the whole root.

Every winemaker should browse this site, I think...lots of stuff we can use here...
http://www.frontiercoop.com/

I had thought, oh boy oh boy, we got lots of sassafras growing here! But my wife would kill me if I uprooted them. She has a bachelor's degree in clincal herbalism, you see...


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## tcavan01

*Sassafras*

Jim, Who's boss around your place? Tell your wife it's your house and property and if you want to harvest some sassafras she can like it or lump it. Get some stones man. Let me know how this approach works and THEN I might try it on mine.


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## jswordy

tcavan01 said:


> Jim, Who's boss around your place? Tell your wife it's your house and property and if you want to harvest some sassafras she can like it or lump it. Get some stones man. Let me know how this approach works and THEN I might try it on mine.


 
I gots da stones - but they're *gallstones!*


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## g8keeper

jswordy said:


> I gots da stones - but they're *gallstones!*


 
roflmao jim....i'm beginning to wonder, and no offense intended to tca, if he has a woman in his life....lol...sorry, i have to admit, if I want to remain HAPPY, i have to make sure SHE'S happy as well....lol...sorry tca, but a p&@$** off woman is nothing to mess with, ESPECIALLY with a degree in herbalism....next thing you know if ol' jim's not careful, the wife just might make a special cocktail for him to drink....


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## Brew and Wine Supply

ericonthehill said:


> I bought mine from ebay. $13 for a pound of sassafras root, and that includes shipping. A pound is more then enough to make a 3 gallon batch. I just started mine yesterday. I usually dig up my own roots, but you can't beat the price and they are clean and ready to go.


 
Gee I may go into a new business, I have a fortune in sassafras at my vineyard 
And Eric, its not that far from you...


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## Deezil

Brew and Wine Supply said:


> Gee I may go into a new business, I have a fortune in sassafras at my vineyard
> And Eric, its not that far from you...



I'll take some 
Any chance you can get your hands on most of the ingredients for an old-school real-deal root beer? Always wanted to make one, guess i better look into it more - did some research a year or two ago but its all since slipped my mind


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## tcavan01

*Sassafras*

Ken, I've had a woman in my life for 40 years as of today. I figured if it worked with Jim it might work for me. I just wanted him to try it first. He is wise beyond his years that guy is.

Tom


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## jswordy

tcavan01 said:


> Ken, I've had a woman in my life for 40 years as of today. I figured if it worked with Jim it might work for me. I just wanted him to try it first. He is wise beyond his years that guy is.
> 
> Tom


 
Yeah .... ...wise enough not to take THAT kind of advice! 

What can I say? She's little but she's feisty!


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## g8keeper

tcavan01 said:


> Ken, I've had a woman in my life for 40 years as of today. I figured if it worked with Jim it might work for me. I just wanted him to try it first. He is wise beyond his years that guy is.
> 
> Tom


 
tca....congrats....but i think if you want it to last another 40 years, you had better not heed your own advice, my friend....roflmao....


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## robie

Any of you sassafras wine drinkers tried Cup Cake's new Angel Food wine?
It's a Chard with some unusual flavor added.

It is hard to ID that unusual flavor, but I have guessed for sometime now that it is sassafras root.

If you try it and let me know if you agree.


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## ericonthehill

jswordy said:


> But I'll bet it was the root bark. I would buy from Frontier herbs if it were me. Sterling rep, old company, knows their stuff. Herbalists buy from them. But even they offer just the root bark, not the whole root.
> 
> Every winemaker should browse this site, I think...lots of stuff we can use here...
> http://www.frontiercoop.com/
> 
> I had thought, oh boy oh boy, we got lots of sassafras growing here! But my wife would kill me if I uprooted them. She has a bachelor's degree in clincal herbalism, you see...



No it's the root. I like to use the roots that are dug up in the spring, but here it's a little late. A couple of bigger roots were included, but most were nice and small and rich. I'm sure there are plenty that like to send you bark though.


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