Ginger beer questions.

[Fifey]

I wonder what the answer is then? I'd still rather not go to a GB kit unless things get really desperate.

DrSmurto, what have your recipes been and have they turned out well?

[drsmurto]

I wonder what the answer is then? I'd still rather not go to a GB kit unless things get really desperate.

DrSmurto, what have your recipes been and have they turned out well?

I've never made a GB using one of the kits. I recall picking them up and reading the ingredients at which point i shook my head, put the tin down and have never picked one up since!

There are a few schools of thought here. One is Bundaberg GB but alcoholic. That is, a traditional GB but with alcohol.

The other is ginger flavoured beer.

Two very different beasts.

I have made both and favour the former.

The 'all malt' GB i made was an AG recipe. 100% pils malt with my standard GB flavourings/spices and Nottingham yeast. Not bad but too 1-dimensional. To correct that i think it would be with an addition of crystal malt but then you risk make it cloying as i added no hops so there is no bitterness. Once you add malt to an alcoholic beverage you need somehting to balance that and hops do the best job so i guess you could add a bittering addition.

But.... my preferred ginger beverage is simple.

Enough raw sugar to give a 5-6% drink with the following added for a 20L batch.

Minimum 1kg of fresh ginger up to 1.25kg. Preferably using a combination of super fresh with some older ginger that has been 'ageing' in the crisper for a few months. Older ginger loses the fresh ginger aroma but the ginger bite increases.

A lemon or 2, chopped. You will read about only taking the zest and the juice as the pith is bitter but i like bitter as do all beer drinkers........think about it.

6-8 whole cloves. Not garlic cloves, the spice - cloves. Too much and it may numb your mouth and tongue so less is more.

A cinnamon stick (~5cm).

You can add chilli but despite being a chilli head who loves habaneros and the Death Sauces, i don't like chilli in drinks. It's far too easy to overdo it and you end up having to either grin and bare it or tip it.

You could add an asian twist to it by using limes instead of lemons as well Kaffir lime leaves.

The method i used was crude. Put the ginger (unpeeled - its going to get boiled so whatever is on the skin is irrelevant. Other than mould!) in a food processor and process it down to very small pieces. Dissolve the raw sugar in boiling water (normally 3-4L) and add the ginger, lemon, cloves and cinnamon. Boil for 30-60 mins. Strain into a fermenter, top up to 20L and once below 25C or so pitch a champagne yeast (EC-1118 is the one i used and the one most HBS sell).

It finishes bone dry and is thin. If you want sweetness mix with lemonade. I like it dry.

I used to make it to 7% and then water it down to approx 4-5% with lemonade (if you want a sweet GB) or soda water (if you want dry GB) and a batch wouldn't last in summer. I couldn't make it fast enough for the mates both male and female.

People go to great lengths to produce sweet GBs (and ciders) by adding artificial sweeteners and/or lactose. I take the KISS approach and simply add sweetness in the glass. Others put the effort in and make a ginger plant but this method is much easier and (IMO) more reliable in the results.

Each to their own

[Trizza]

I agree with a lot of what Doc’s said above. Generally, it’s wise to stay away from adding great quantities of malt or malt extract to the brew. I’ve tried a partial with base malts & a partial with only crystal / chocolate malts. Neither was as good as keeping it simple and getting the flavours from adding differing quantities of sucrose/dextrose/honey/raw/brown/candi/ect…

I’ve done (and overdone - kinda went mental and made commercial grade ginger cleaner ) doc’s above recipe and it comes out paralysing dry, and needs lemonade to sweeten it up. I also find that the coopers kit gives a level of mouthfeel and consistency that cannot be attained from using ginger alone, with the all-ginger recipe resulting in ‘gingery water’ as discussed earlier. But each to their own…

For now I’m content with the closest thing to Bundaberg which is Coopers Kit + Belgian Yeast + Candi Sugar + honey + Dextrose.

I’m going to spend the majority of the summer working on perfecting my GB, by making about 8 versions of the recipe mentioned earlier in this post. I can’t make it fast enough, with every batch being consumed by friends and family within in 2 months of bottling. In relation to the recipe mentioned earlier, the only criticism so far is that its too sweet…

Trizza.

[Fifey]

I'm sold on using lemonade as a mixer, it finished really well. Might try the coopers kit some time though. A brown ale with a touch of ginger might be interesting.

[dowlmott]

Hi Ginger Ninjas, I'm in trouble!!! Did an all in mash & boil with Coopers Ginger Kit 400g root ginger, 2 x cinamon sticks, 10 cloves, 2 limes, 1 lemon, 1 orange, 500g honey, 12 kafir lime leaves and 2 cardonom pods and 4 chopped chillis and 30g hops for 60 mins, strained into fermenter and pitched a Wyeast Belgium Lambic Blend yeast. Also dry pommace bag with another 400g ginger, 10g hops, 1 whole chillis and 4 lime leaves and 12 mint leaves. Anyway after 24 hours no burbbling on the air lock so pitched Coopers Brewers Yeast last night. As of 1pm today no burbling. I am thinking come this time tomorrow its strike three on the yeast front or down the drain. It was always going to be an Xtreme Jinja Ninja brew but did not fear it would be that extreme to not ferment. Any ideas ginger ninjas????

[earle]

It doesn't sound like you've gone over the top with fermentables. Are you sure its not fermenting - is there condensation under the lid, formation of krausen? Bubbling through the airlock is a notoriously inconsistent indicator of fermentation. What temp are you fermenting at? What temp did you pitch the first yeast at?

[dowlmott]

HI earle, there is condensation under the lid and temp is about 20C and there is quite a big head space in my 30L fermenter from liquid to lid so could well be low level ferment type activity. Its going to be a lid of nose in the fermenter tonight inspection. Have not lost all hope yet!

[Oliver]

I think I know what the answer to this is going to be but did you take an SG reading at the time you pitched the yeast? If so, another SG reading now will tell you if it's fermenting.

Although I'd be surprised if it's not given what went into it. Unless 2x yeast were completely dead when you pitched them. Unlikely

What temp is it at and what was it when you pitched the yeast(s)?

DON'T TURF IT!

Cheers,

Oliver

[dowlmott]

Good news guys and thanks Earle and Oliver for your tips and wisdom. Got home last night from work to a very highly condensated under the lid, screwed off the top and saw a beautiful big bubbly brown ale yeast scum on the top. We have a strong ferment! Must be an air leak around air lock or lid seal but not fussed and a CO2 blanket there to keep the nasties away from the xtreme jinja ninja underneath - we have a ferment

[Oliver]

Good to hear. A lot of us around here don't even use the lid. We just put some cling wrap over the top and use the rubber seal from the lid to secure it. That way you can see the action happening. Plus, there's one less thing to sanitise!

Cheers,

Oliver