Hi everyone,
I’m new on the board, and have been reading through the previous posts non stop for advice on homebrewing. I have come up with a couple of questions which I don’t think have been answered, and have been causing me a lot of aggression in my homebrew operations.

I have been using Sassafras in my brewing, but the flavour I come up with in the end is nothing like a store bought root beer. The store bought brands, are they actually using Sassafras (without Safrole), or have they dropped it from their ingredients and bumped up the wintergreen content?

Also, what is the difference between food grade essential oils and practitioner grade? I have tried speaking to many people at health food stores, and I just get a blank look as if I’m crazy. Some people have told me food grade is just a buzz word internet sites have put out to push their product, and go on to tell me I should never use essential oils in food, period. Easy way out for them, but it has led me to many dead ends.

Sassafras without safrole does not taste like sassafras. It is my understanding that most of the remainder (20%) of sassafras oil after safrole (80%) has been removed is pinene and phellandrene, neither of which taste like safrole. But, phellandrene is described as, "peppery-minty and slightly citrusy" so I suspect it might be a useful ingredient in modern root beer but I doubt that it is extracted from sassafras. If one wanted to add a pine-like taste, one would probably add juniper berry oil instead of pinene from sassafras. Besides that, sassafras bark contains tannins that add a bitter flavor and that is why I prefer essential oil.

The practical difference between food and other grades is often just legal and boils down to whom somebody can successfully sue, or who goes to jail, when something goes wrong. Don't serve essential oils or chemicals that are not labeled or certified FCC (food grade), USP, or NF grade to other people because, if something goes wrong, they can sue your ass off and you can go to jail. If it is only for personal consumption, ingest completely at your own risk.

In another recent thread, online sources of food grade essential oils were listed.

michael123 wrote:

Hi everyone, I’m new on the board, and have been reading through the previous posts non stop for advice on homebrewing. I have come up with a couple of questions which I don’t think have been answered, and have been causing me a lot of aggression in my homebrew operations. I have been using Sassafras in my brewing, but the flavour I come up with in the end is nothing like a store bought root beer. The store bought brands, are they actually using Sassafras (without Safrole), or have they dropped it from their ingredients and bumped up the wintergreen content? Also, what is the difference between food grade essential oils and practitioner grade? I have tried speaking to many people at health food stores, and I just get a blank look as if I’m crazy. Some people have told me food grade is just a buzz word internet sites have put out to push their product, and go on to tell me I should never use essential oils in food, period. Easy way out for them, but it has led me to many dead ends.

Its good to know more about beer recipes.. Thank you.

Its good to know, this is really a great work. Keep it up and best of luck for the next time.

joyee wrote:

Its good to know, this is really a great work. Keep it up and best of luck for the next time.

sure, me too

michael123 wrote:

Hi everyone, I’m new on the board, and have been reading through the previous posts non stop for advice on homebrewing. I have come up with a couple of questions which I don’t think have been answered, and have been causing me a lot of aggression in my homebrew operations.

michael123 wrote:

I have been using Sassafras in my brewing, but the flavour I come up with in the end is nothing like a store bought root beer. The store bought brands, are they actually using Sassafras (without Safrole), or have they dropped it from their ingredients and bumped up the wintergreen content?

The vast majority of store brought brands do not use sassafras. Before to 1960, almost all did. I may be wrong, but I believe that the vast majority of root beer manufacturers use sweet birch oil instead of wintergreen oil as a source of methyl salicylate. There are subtle differences in flavor. And, I don't know whether the average content of methyl salicylate in root beer increased after 1960. I was 14 years old at the time and didn't pay much attention to the way root beer tasted. Around 1962, while drinking a bottle of Hires root beer, I suddenly noted an interesting fruity flavor, afterwhich, I payed more attention to root beer.

michael123 wrote:

Also, what is the difference between food grade essential oils and practitioner grade? I have tried speaking to many people at health food stores, and I just get a blank look as if I’m crazy. Some people have told me food grade is just a buzz word internet sites have put out to push their product, and go on to tell me I should never use essential oils in food, period. Easy way out for them, but it has led me to many dead ends.

Food grade = Food Chemical Codex (FCC).

See http://www.usp.org/food-ingredients/food-chemicals-codex

Also, United States Pharmacopeia (USP) grades of specific non-toxic oils are for oral ingestion.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Pharmacopeia

Beware that not all kinds of USP or NF grades of essential oils are for oral ingestion. For example, some might be only for topical use. But, when both FCC and USP grades of a particular kind of essential oil exist, the USP grade can be used the same as FCC grade.

Loran sells some food grade oils. https://www.lorannoils.com/c-14-essential-oils-for-culinary-use.aspx