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Best Ginger Beer Kit?

Posted: Sunday Feb 19, 2006 5:29 pm
by thisispants
What's the best one>? The local brew shop has about 4 to choose from?

Any I should avoid?

I just want a good non alcaholic ginger beer flavour>

Posted: Sunday Feb 19, 2006 5:32 pm
by Chris
The country brewer is pretty good. The coopers is a bit better. Brigalow is horrible.

Posted: Sunday Feb 19, 2006 5:34 pm
by thisispants
also, how do you not make it alcaholic?

I've never made one before, i'm not sure how the whole thing works>?

Posted: Sunday Feb 19, 2006 5:49 pm
by Shaun
thisispants wrote:also, how do you not make it alcaholic?

I've never made one before, i'm not sure how the whole thing works>?
Add a 1kg of fermentables and yeast and ferment like a normal beer.

Posted: Sunday Feb 19, 2006 5:54 pm
by thisispants
so with a non alaholic ginger beer.....just mix it up, and bottle it straight away with some priming sugar?

Posted: Sunday Feb 19, 2006 6:03 pm
by velophile
thisispants wrote:so with a non alaholic ginger beer.....just mix it up, and bottle it straight away with some priming sugar?
For non-alcoholic the Coopers kit says;

Mix with water in fermenter, pitch yeast, wait 2-3 hours, stir well, prime then bottle. Store at least 3 weeks above 18C etc

I'll be doing another Coopers kit soon but adding 1.5 - 2kg fermentables :)

Posted: Sunday Feb 19, 2006 7:02 pm
by dags64
anyone here done the Grumpy's ginger beer
I have one of theirs to put down in the very near future

I have done a couple of the Coopers ones and they have turned out very nice

Posted: Sunday Feb 19, 2006 8:19 pm
by Polar
would not recommend the Coopers kit - has artificial sweetner in - terrible

Posted: Sunday Feb 19, 2006 8:29 pm
by Daron
Coopers artificial sweetener is a bit of a put off... but it might go well with some scotch!

Posted: Sunday Feb 19, 2006 9:30 pm
by thisispants
hmmm...artificial sweetener isn't good. Anyone know if the country brewer has it as well?

Posted: Sunday Feb 19, 2006 10:22 pm
by flosso
Not sure about Country Brewer, I do know that Grumpy's have a ginger beer that doesn't use artificial sweetener - anyone have an idea how it goes?

Re: Best Ginger Beer Kit?

Posted: Monday Feb 20, 2006 3:17 pm
by Chewie
thisispants wrote:What's the best one>? The local brew shop has about 4 to choose from?

Any I should avoid?

I just want a good non alcaholic ginger beer flavour>
Have only done one. It was heaps nice. A Beermakers Ginger Beer. added coopers brewing sugar (maltodextrin and sucrose) and a few hundred grams of dextrose. made a 2% alc. brew that didnt taste at all alcoholic, just a refreshing drink.

only problem was cleaning the fermenter of ginger- the stuff from the kit clung to the plastic :(

Posted: Monday Feb 20, 2006 3:20 pm
by Mewshew
I've got a beermakers in the fermenter at the moment. Brewed it with 1kg of dex. I've pulled out the airlock to have quick smell and it smelled absolutely putrid. Worst rotton-egg smell I've ever experienced. I'm hoping that this is normal and not a sign of infection.

Posted: Monday Feb 20, 2006 3:24 pm
by Chewie
hmmm..
i do remember mine smelt a bit weird, but i dont know if it was that bad :?

Posted: Thursday Feb 23, 2006 12:53 pm
by unicamrep
Polar wrote:would not recommend the Coopers kit - has artificial sweetner in - terrible
I'd second this, I made some about a month ago non alcoholic, and it has that strange artificial taste through it.
They say pitch the yeast wait 3 hours then bottle, this is just to rehydrate the yeast. I only realised this afterwards otherwise I would've rehydrated the yeast in a glass then pitched it.

Posted: Friday Feb 24, 2006 11:17 am
by thisispants
Has anyone tried Morgans>?

Posted: Friday Feb 24, 2006 11:28 am
by bkmad
the morgans is exactly the same as the coopers, just a different label.

Cheers
BK

Posted: Friday Feb 24, 2006 3:21 pm
by Chris
The Grumpys is good- but it's a ginger ale, not a ginger beer as such.

Posted: Friday Feb 24, 2006 4:24 pm
by dags64
Chris wrote:The Grumpys is good- but it's a ginger ale, not a ginger beer as such.
I have a Grumpy's bubbling away at the moment, does not smell as gingery as the Coopers at this early stage, smells good though

Posted: Saturday Feb 25, 2006 9:35 am
by earle
Havn't tried the Coopers but I use the Morgans. It doesn't have the same artificail sweetener taste as a Brigalow I once brewed. I just use 1kg dextrose and everyone who has it likes it and wants more. Also goes well with a mates home distilled rum.