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Ginger beer

Posted: Tuesday Aug 02, 2005 10:10 pm
by steveo
Made a nice Ginger Beer tonight.

Can of Morgans, 1kg Dex, 500g finely grated ginger root (several peices of knuckle skin & blood inc.), 2 tbsp honey, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tbsp golden syrup, 2 tsp ginger powder, 2 tsp cinnamon, 6 cloves, 2 chilli's from the garden. Boiled the lot for 30 min, then all in.

Smells real strong, tastes bloody beautiful.

Posted: Tuesday Aug 02, 2005 10:31 pm
by Dogger Dan
Stevo,

Thanks, was looking for a good recipe

Dogger

Posted: Tuesday Aug 02, 2005 10:34 pm
by steveo
Give me a month or so, I'll let you know how it goes.

Posted: Wednesday Aug 03, 2005 9:31 am
by grabman
steveo forgive my stupid question but can of morgans what?? Just so I get it right!

Posted: Thursday Aug 04, 2005 8:50 pm
by steveo
Morgans Ginger Beer. Tapped some off tonight, beautiful! I think adding the chilli was a stroke of genius. Gives it a nice spicy little bite.

Posted: Saturday Aug 06, 2005 5:54 pm
by steveo
Sorry, just ginger beer, not ginger flavoured beer. Although now that I think about it, I will try a lager, something with not too much flavour, and all the ginger & stuff added. Could be a good one!

Bubbling out thru the air lock for 2 days now. Crap everywhere. OG 1.022, down to 1.004 and still going strong. Tastes magnificent!

Posted: Sunday Aug 07, 2005 10:31 am
by grabman
sounds good must give it a shot soon!

cheers

Re: Ginger beer

Posted: Saturday Sep 24, 2005 7:31 pm
by tommo
steveo wrote:Made a nice Ginger Beer tonight.

Can of Morgans, 1kg Dex, 500g finely grated ginger root (several peices of knuckle skin & blood inc.), 2 tbsp honey, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tbsp golden syrup, 2 tsp ginger powder, 2 tsp cinnamon, 6 cloves, 2 chilli's from the garden. Boiled the lot for 30 min, then all in.

Smells real strong, tastes bloody beautiful.
G'day steveo,

Er indoors has requested a nice GB for the summer months. :roll:

Got any tasting notes for this one, sounds ok.

cheers

tommo

Posted: Saturday Sep 24, 2005 8:34 pm
by steveo
Been in the bottle for 6 weeks or so, still flat as a tack mate!

Opened 1/2 of them and added 1 tsp of Pale Ale sediment to each bottle from the fermenter after bottling last weekend, so I'll give her another few weeks and let ya know.

If that fails I might buy another yeast and put some of that in each bottle.

Posted: Saturday Sep 24, 2005 10:10 pm
by tommo
thanks for the speedy reply mate. :)

reading these earlier posts ( here and other sites ) there seems to be no middle ground as far as carbonation is concerned :evil:

it's either glass grenades or, as you say, flat as.....

just a couple of more Q's for ya :roll:

what yeast did you use, and what was the priming rate ?

cheers

tommo

Posted: Monday Sep 26, 2005 10:52 pm
by Clintsc9
Tommo, something else to try, I brew quite a bit of Brigalow's ginger beer (available in Coles). Only additive I throw in is a small packet of sugared ginger chips. It makes it a bit of a bugger to bottle sometimes as the chips clog up the filler, but it gives it a better flavour and is slightly more alcoholic.
The wife loves it. The son won't give it to his missus as she gets too pissed on it. Kids!! :?
A few of my friends are non-beer drinkers (maybe I should just call them acquaintences :D ) and absolutely lap the stuff up.
It makes sure I don't waste the good stuff - my real brews - on those who wouldn't appreciate them.

Can instructions are for raw sugar instead of dex and white for priming. I just use their yeast and there's a packet of nutrient? in the lid as well. They are always well carbonated.

I might try a few of Steveo's additives soon though. Chilli sounds good. Knuckle skin doesn't.

Posted: Wednesday Sep 28, 2005 9:11 pm
by GTI86
I like the sound of the ginger chips did you add em to the boil or just stragiht in

Posted: Saturday Oct 01, 2005 9:19 am
by tommo
thanks for the info guys :D

getting pretty close to a good recipe now with all the input.

Clintsc9, do you bottle in glass or PET ?

cheers

tommo

Posted: Saturday Oct 01, 2005 5:57 pm
by Clintsc9
Just chucked the chips straight in. I guess they would be pretty sterile, considering they are boiled several times during manufacture.

I bottle them in glass stubbies. Good thing is, even the dregs at the bottom still taste ok. :lol:

Posted: Saturday Oct 01, 2005 5:59 pm
by tommo
cheers mate :)

Posted: Thursday Oct 06, 2005 1:33 pm
by bundybear
Hey steveo - Any tasting notes on this Gingerbeer yet? Keen to give a good recipe a go!! 8)

Posted: Monday Oct 10, 2005 9:59 pm
by steveo
Just the yeast that came with the brew. Wasn't sure whether I should try anything else or what to use.

Priming was just the standard I use with all my brews, the old Wander measuring scoop, think it's 2 tsp per 750ml, plain white sugar.

About 3/4 carbonated I reckon. Always bottle a couple in PET so I can 'feel' the carbonation as it builds up. Yeast sediment seems to have done the trick. Maybe a couple more weeks.

Posted: Wednesday Oct 12, 2005 1:21 pm
by Daron
Are these just as good without the yeast, ie no alcohol? For my wife... I'd bee happy to get the giggles from ginger beer.

I want to bew something like the Bundaberg GB.

Posted: Wednesday Oct 12, 2005 1:29 pm
by Clintsc9
Check the can. They mostly have instructions for alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions.

Posted: Thursday Oct 13, 2005 12:26 am
by Oliver
Daron wrote:Are these just as good without the yeast, ie no alcohol? For my wife.
Daron,

You need the yeast for the carbonation. For the non-alcoholic version you generally mix up the kit, using only enough sugar for carbonation to occur, and bottle it straight away (i.e. no fermentation in the fermenter). The packet should have instructions.

When made like this, there is alcohol in it, but a negligible amount. The missus would probably have to drink about 20 bottles in the first hour to even feel the effects! Her body would be getting rid of the alcohol faster than she could ingest it, I'd reckon!

Oliver