Root Beer: Supposed to add extract when water is boiling, hot, warm, or cool?

[777funk]

I'm new to making root beer and have a pile of extracts from various sources:

Rainbow, Zatarains, McCormic, and some others

and I'm noticing that most of them taste sort of chemically and maybe a little too strong. Here's the other thing I notice is that they smell like alcohol (similar to Vanilla extract has a strong alcohol smell and taste uncooked) and not the best fragrance... BUT

after I put the cap back on, the spilled extract around the edge of the bottle smells great after a day or two. So it's like whatever is giving it the strong chem taste evaporates and just leaves the good smell behind.

My thinking was maybe I should boil off some of whatever this is so I tried it. I boiled the root beer mix for 12 minutes or so and it definitely got rid of the strong taste but it also got rid of the root beer flavor.

Any tips on how this should be done? I especially notice a strong flavor/smell with the Zatarains. It's so strong it almost smells like Scope mouthwash (very minty and alcohol smelling).

Curious what makes these things work best.

 

[Homercidal]

Do you think you have chlorines in your water?

 

[777funk]

Do you think you have chlorines in your water?

No additives since it's well water. I'm just curious about the extracts themselves and the best treatment of them. Obviously somethings will evaporate if temps are raised. I have tried adding them to warm and hot water. I've never let them sit/age at room temp.

So far I'm not thrilled with any of my homebrews following the extract directions and using cane and/or brown sugar/honey/molasses.

 

[MrFoodScientist]

Like any extract flavoring, it's either alcohol or propylene glycol as the carrier or base. The actual flavoring components are very strong, but make up very little of what's in the bottle. The actual flavoring components are also volatile, meaning that they evaporate or boil at a lower temperature than water. Sometimes if you're adding your extract to really hot syrup or water, you can see it flash boil. If you do this, DON'T have your head right above the pot, it can burn your nose and eyes, depending on what the flavorings are. Anything minty will likely have some degree of menthol in it, and that really burns!

That said, if you add your extract to something really hot, you're pretty much burning it off and it's just a waste. You'll get more flavor impact from less extract if you let it cool before you add your extract. The "chemical" taste probably means you're using too much. The best thing to do is add small amounts at a time mixing thoroughly, then taste it as you go, so you'll know when the right amount is in there. Some flavors do tend to "fade" a bit as they age, so keep that in mind as you taste.

 

[777funk]

Mr Food Scientist, I saw on your blog recipes you add something to get more sweet with less sugar. What was that? I tried to look again and your site wouldn't load on my browser for some reason.

EDIT: Ok cream of tarter. Just found it.