Can someone clear up this recipe for me?

[Monkhouse]

I’m hoping to do this (see attached) ginger ale recipe soon but wanted to know what it means by toasted malt?
Also- does it seem like it calls for allot of ginger?? I know it’s being added straight into the boiler before it’s even boiling but even so- thought I’d ask!

 

[An Ankoù]

I think if I wanted to make some ginger beer and I came across this, I'd start looking for a different recipe.
I can't find any supplier or maltster that offers toasted malt- toasted malted oats, yes, but otherwise only breakfast cereals.
I'd download a few recipes off the web and see if you can get a consensus over the amount of ginger to use. I wouldn't boil it up for long either.

 

[An Ankoù]

Here's a likely one from Greg Hughes. We'll worth buying his book if you haven't already got it.

 

[Jim Brewster]

That does seem a lot of ginger! However, a lot of the ginger flavour gets lost in the fermentation. So if you want it to pack a punch you'll need plenty although a kilo sounds too much.

I had one attempt at something similar - made a light beer with ginger using US-05 and it after a few weeks in the bottle it tasted like Budweiser. If I was to do it again I'd want to make something that tastes like Badger's Blandford Fly.

For toasted malt, perhaps substitute something like biscuit or amber maybe 5% of the grist

 

[Monkhouse]

I think if I wanted to make some ginger beer and I came across this, I'd start looking for a different recipe.
I can't find any supplier or maltster that offers toasted malt- toasted malted oats, yes, but otherwise only breakfast cereals.
I'd download a few recipes off the web and see if you can get a consensus over the amount of ginger to use. I wouldn't boil it up for long either.

To be fair this recipe is written by Gordon strong- isn’t he quite well known and respected in the home brew community?

 

[foxy]

To be fair this recipe is written by Gordon strong- isn’t he quite well known and respected in the home brew community?

He certainly is. If you can't buy toasted malt then do it yourself. I have and have ignored the last sentence of this link and gone ahead and brewed the beer.
http://howtobrew.com/book/section-4/experiment/toasting

 

[Michael Burnley]

I did the Greg Hughes recipe but used 200g of fresh ginger instead of 150g, unfortunately the ginger was barely noticeable. If I was to do it again I'd go for 300g or even more.

 

[An Ankoù]

To be fair this recipe is written by Gordon strong- isn’t he quite well known and respected in the home brew community?

Say no more squire! Strong is principle author of the BJCP style guidelines so he's certainly well known. Respected? Not in this department; his work "brewing better beer" is a masterpiece of condescension and you're left feeling as if you've just had a group therapy session for the slightly ********! His other book "modern homebrew recipes" is useful, on the other hand.
Toasted malts: in homebrew recipes, pp 45-46, he lists toasted malts as Amber malt, brown malt, victory malt, biscuit malt and similar products. Helpful? In the other book, these malts are referred to as specialty malts, p 109, with no mention of toasted malts.
Ginger: I'm not sure I'd put a kilo of ginger in 19 litres of hot curry, let alone in a beer. While Hughes' 150g might be a bit lightweight... and I'd put it near the end of the boil to get all the earthy flavours.
On the other hand BYO Magazine is an excellent publication so you pay your money and take your pick. I'll look more into this recipe now that you've identified it.

 

[Monkhouse]

He certainly is. If you can't buy toasted malt then do it yourself. I have and have ignored the last sentence of this link and gone ahead and brewed the beer.
http://howtobrew.com/book/section-4/experiment/toasting

Ta foxy, unfortunately your link seems to not be working though

 

[Monkhouse]

Say no more squire! Strong is principle author of the BJCP style guidelines so he's certainly well known. Respected? Not in this department; his work "brewing better beer" is a masterpiece of condescension and you're left feeling as if you've just had a group therapy session for the slightly ********! His other book "modern homebrew recipes" is useful, on the other hand.
Toasted malts: in homebrew recipes, pp 45-46, he lists toasted malts as Amber malt, brown malt, victory malt, biscuit malt and similar products. Helpful? In the other book, these malts are referred to as specialty malts, p 109, with no mention of toasted malts.
Ginger: I'm not sure I'd put a kilo of ginger in 19 litres of hot curry, let alone in a beer. While Hughes' 150g might be a bit lightweight... and I'd put it near the end of the boil to get all the earthy flavours.
On the other hand BYO Magazine is an excellent publication so you pay your money and take your pick. I'll look more into this recipe now that you've identified it.

Therapy session for the slightly ********?

 

[Monkhouse]

Just to put another query out there-
This time regarding the yeast, I want a dry yeast substitute for this recipe. I was thinking S-04 or notty but what confused me was the pitching rate. Lallemand has a pitching calculator on their website that states that for 25l at 1.068 I’m going to need 2 packs of notty- something I didn’t really expect as I thought one would do it.
On the other hand it states on the back of the pack of S-04 that one pack is good for 20-30 litres? Both S04 and notty are 11g sachets so what is to be believed?

 

[Slid]

Just to put another query out there-
This time regarding the yeast, I want a dry yeast substitute for this recipe. I was thinking S-04 or notty but what confused me was the pitching rate. Lallemand has a pitching calculator on their website that states that for 25l at 1.068 I’m going to need 2 packs of notty- something I didn’t really expect as I thought one would do it.
On the other hand it states on the back of the pack of S-04 that one pack is good for 20-30 litres? Both S04 and notty are 11g sachets so what is to be believed?

One pack of yeast will be fine.
I did the GH Ginger beer once and it was terrible.
SWMBO had got ginger for some recipe from the Hairy Bikers and ordered a huge amount off Tesco.
Best suggestion I can give is tone down the ginger a lot.
Second best suggestion is leave it out altogether and just make a proper beer.

 

[foxy]

Ta foxy, unfortunately your link seems to not be working though

Toasted base malt. Place malt on a baking tray set oven at 180 C for 15 minutes.

 

[An Ankoù]

We're making a bit of a meal of this so let's try and simplify it. This is supposed to be a recipe where you can just buy the ingredients off the shelf and knock it together.
So let's have a look at some pictures of Carillon Ginger Pale Ale to get an idea of the colour.
Now lets bung some figures into Brewer's Friend Colour Calculator.

First attempt:
10 lb U.S. Pale 2 row at 3.5 degrees Lovibond
2.5 lb American 2 row Toasted at 30 L
... It's a bit darker than the pictures of Carillon, but we're in the right ballpark.

Second attempt using English ingredients:
10 lb Crisp's Best Pale at 3 L
2.5 lb Crisp's Amber Malt 27.5 L
....As far as I can tell, it's spot on.

So Amber is your "Toasted Malt". Crisps is a good match, Minch is a bit darker, Fawcett's is much too dark.

Job done.


Rounds of applause.

 

[Monkhouse]

Lol thanks for that. Yeah I’ve settled on Amber, it’s cheap too. I’ll go for a single pack of S-04 for 25litres, asking as that’s not a blatant underpitch at 1.068.
Still unsure about the ginger amount but I’m never going to know unless I just do it. I’m aiming for a sort of brandford fly clone(ish)

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

It's a long time since I studied this , but be aware of NDMA in malt and it's potential reaction with NOX gases. By using a direct flame to toast the malt , ie a gas oven or grill rather than an electric one . It can produce nitrosamines which are carcinogenic. I don't know if a small amount of grain toasted in a gas grill is any worse than smoking a few cigarettes but at least you now know about it .

 

[An Ankoù]

Lol thanks for that. Yeah I’ve settled on Amber, it’s cheap too. I’ll go for a single pack of S-04 for 25litres, asking as that’s not a blatant underpitch at 1.068.
Still unsure about the ginger amount but I’m never going to know unless I just do it. I’m aiming for a sort of brandford fly clone(ish)

If you rehydrate the yeast before pitching, it should be fine. On the other hand, if you're not sure you're going to like it, why not make half a batch? Or, split the batch and boil half of it with less ginger.
Blandford Fly is a bit of a holy grail. Nobody seems to have a recipe. I reckon they use essences rather than root ginger, and not just ginger essence. The "... offset with hints if sweet toffee" suggests some kind of crystal malt, too. That would make it quite different from Carillon's offering.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Lallemand has a pitching calculator on their website that states that for 25l at 1.068 I’m going to need 2 packs of notty- something I didn’t really expect as I thought one would do it.
On the other hand it states on the back of the pack of S-04 that one pack is good for 20-30 litres? Both S04 and notty are 11g sachets so what is to be believed?

1.068 is a pretty high starting gravity. When S-04 says one pack should do 20-30 litres, it's assuming standard strength wort (1.040-1.050). That'll probably account for the difference.

 

[Monkhouse]

Tbh I think I’m now leaning more towards just doing a smash brew. It’s not really worth my time doing a half batch of ginger as it still takes me the same to me to do a full batch so I need to have a good idea that it’s going to turn out nice lol.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Tbh I think I’m now leaning more towards just doing a smash brew. It’s not really worth my time doing a half batch of ginger as it still takes me the same to me to do a full batch so I need to have a good idea that it’s going to turn out nice lol.

You could always just do the smash brew and either make a ginger syrup/tincture and add directly to the glass, or add some ginger to a few bottles in a dry -hop fashion. That would give you an idea of what it would be like without doing a full batch.

I made some homemade ginger syrup by steeping sugar and grated ginger in hot water for 15m, then strain. Dead easy.