Fiery Ginger Beer

rickthebrew · Jan 2, 2010

I`ve been wanting to get some alcoholic ginger beer on for a while - so as i was at a loose end today i brewed this (recipe from a previous forum thread with a few tweaks :twisted: )

Fiery Ginger Beer 5 gallons

1kg Fresh grated ginger
5tsp Dried ground ginger
1tsp Cream of tartar
2 lemons
2 limes
2.5kg Sugar
2tsp Yeast nutrient
1 sachet champagne yeast

Really quick and easy (and cheap) to do - ginger was donated so very cheap :party:

First i grated the ginger into a large pan

Then added the sliced and squeezed lemons and limes, cream of tartar and dried ginger - topped up with boiling water and simmered for 30mins (lovely smell :) )

Next i dissolved all the sugar in the ginger liquor and then put everything into the FV and topped up with cold water

The temp adjusted OG was 1045

Dry pitched the yeast......done : cheers:

Dependant on what it ferments out to it should be between 6 and 8%

rickthebrew · Jan 2, 2010

Meant to ask if any one had done simular before?
If they have what was your FG? Also any ideas what the cream of tartar does?

:drink:

Frisp · Jan 8, 2010

got the stuff gotta have a go at this. got shedloads of bottles just ready to take this on.
Wish me luck .... im going in.

rickthebrew · Jan 8, 2010

Hope it goes well Frisp :thumb: mine`s still fizzing and bubbling away - hydro reading was around 1015 a couple of days ago so slowly getting there as the temp in the kitchen is fairly low!! I give it a couple good stirs a day and will strain it into a fresh FV a day or two before i bottle it up - i brew my AG beer in the garden and its a bit cold out there at the moment so looking at brewing some different stuff to stock up on !! (Have around 90pints of AG brew bottled

) (and loads of wine)

After i bottle the ginger beer i want to try an alcoholic lemonade

rickthebrew · Jan 9, 2010

Tonight i strained the ginger beer into a clean FV - just to remove all the debris ready for bottling tommorrow!
Hydro reading is 0994 so is around 7% - will be ready to drink pretty quick after bottling i think

Frisp · Jan 10, 2010

Well she is on. :thumb:
I cooked her pretty much as per the recipe. I only used 2.3 Kg of sugar keeping 200g ish back for priming the bottles.
I got 1.040 (adjusted) at 25L which should give me something with slightly less potency. I would like 5% ish
It does smell lovely when cooking. Oh and its a piece of piss to make,

This has got to be the summer barbie drink,, you know the one that turns your unsuspecting mates into blubbering wrecks.....
Whats the Mocow Mule recipe.
2 fingers of vodka on crushed ice, a dash of lime topped up with fiery ginger beer.
Hold onto yer brain its going interseller.
:party:

rickthebrew · Jan 12, 2010

Bottled up last night - 39pints in total :party: The FG was 0992 - so its fermented right out, my OG was 1045 so looking at just over 7 :party: %

Will leave for a few days and when i see yeast deposit i will do a taster - i suppose i`m just waiting for the priming sugar to ferment to fizz my brew up ( i used a good teaspoon of caster sugar for maximum fizz!!) as it won`t really need any conditioning i suppose.

Frisp if yours ferments as low as mine it`ll be a little over the 5% you wanted :whistle:

jackhammeruk · Jan 12, 2010

Did you need to add any sweetener to your ginger beer ?. I had a go at this but it came out very dry, so I added a little splenda and it was fine. Super fizzzy stuff, I guess thats the champagne yeast.

rickthebrew · Jan 12, 2010

yeah it will be dry - did you add your splenda in the bottle? I don`t mind it dry and i quite like the idea of using it as a mixer for vodka or gin - could add alittle sugar when serving i suppose, but mixed with spirits i shouldn`t think anyone would care or notice after one!!! :drunk:

hong · Jan 12, 2010

Looking really good Rick! Send a bottle over here asap! Cant wait to hear how it tastes, fancy a go at this one!

jackhammeruk · Jan 13, 2010

rickthebrew said:
yeah it will be dry - did you add your splenda in the bottle? I don`t mind it dry and i quite like the idea of using it as a mixer for vodka or gin - could add alittle sugar when serving i suppose, but mixed with spirits i shouldn`t think anyone would care or notice after one!!! :drunk:

I added a few tablespoons of it to the demijohn I racked it into for a few days.

Hawks · Jan 13, 2010

This sounds good - looking forward to hear how it tastes...

rickthebrew · Jan 14, 2010

had a quick taste tonight - needs a little more time to carbonate, hissed but not as much as expected and some bubbles but was gonna leave it a while longer before tasting but hey ho :?

good ginger taste - quite firey on the lips but could add more for your own tastes, for a 7% brew this could get you into trouble as it doesn`t taste of alcohol at all :party: Will make this again for summer BBQ`s and unsuspecting guests :whistle:

I imagine this will stay cloudy :drink: :drink: :drink: :drunk:

RobbieD · Mar 19, 2011

Hi, so i made a batch of this last night which is bubbing away nicely this morning. Its in a std 1 Gal DJ.. Am i supposed to stir or agitate this through the fermenting process or should i just leave it to do its thing?

Thanks
Rob

rickthebrew · Mar 19, 2011

Just leave it - as long as its fermenting all is good :thumb:

AnbhÃ¡s · Apr 3, 2011

I am going to start this step by step after my current cider is done fermenting >

kRooGa · Sep 10, 2013

Set mine off today after reading this thread :-)

2 kg fresh root ginger (grated with skin on)
2 lemons (zest and juice)
2 limes (zest and juice)
2.6 kg sugar
4 tsp CoT
Ginger simmered with citrus for 20 mins then added to fv with sugar dissolved in 2 litres of water. Topped up to 24 litres with cold water. Temperature adjusted OG was 1.040 and an amazing smell. Pitched the yeast at 70 degrees and 3 hours later it's blooping away happily. Looking forward to this :-)
By the way, I was surprised at how cheap root ginger is. Â£2:11 per kilo :-) 40 pints for less than a tenner. Bargain : cheers:

Rockpig · Sep 18, 2013

I recently made a batch of this Fiery Ginger Beer with a couple of variations, and after 10 days I've thrown 10 litres away it was going vinegary! I'm trying to establish exactly what went wrong.

I may have made some errors along the way. I used to make real ale 25 years, so I've leapt into this with some misplaced confidence. I've brewed anything since during this time. I never had to throw away any ale!!!

So I followed the basic recipe but substituted 500g light muscovado sugar and 500g dark soft brown sugar. OG reading was 1040.

3 potential areas may have tripped me up.

1. I made a starter from 100mls of Old Jamaican Ginger Beer with ale yeast.
2. When everything was in the brewing bucket, the mixture may not have been cool enough, no thermometer???
3. Being in North London with temperature dropped the day I added the starter, and fermentation did not begin as expected.
4. After 5 days I added another ale yeast and a small fish tank heater to bring the temperature up, something started happening for several days then stopped.

During this period this OG reading never really changed, it went up slightly when I was expecting it to move closer to the black line.

Would anybody take an educated guess where I went wrong?

I'm seriously keen to get going on another try, so I'm thinking champagne yeast next time and more patience before adding a starter made with water.

One Very Thirsty Rockpig!

Robg260977 · Oct 15, 2013

Just done my second batch of this.

Just cracked open the first bottle, and.........

It's as clear as water!

Literally like water, not like cloudy lemonade that I was expecting

Tastes alright though

I left the ginger in a FV for a week in a warm cupboard, racked to a clean FV and removed ginger. Left for another week then bottled.

What's the view, alright to drink? I will tell u tomorrow if I get a hangover or not.

Cheers

clockhammer · Oct 17, 2013

My first ever bottled brew is the Ginger Beer from the start of this thread, bottled today. Only change was a bit more sugar and it tastes strong. Nice ginger flavour and the lemon comes through well. Can't wait for a proper taste once it has carbonated etc.

Thanks Rickthebrew for the recipe

Fiery Ginger Beer

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