Fiery Ginger Beer

[TRXnMe]

Most supermarkets have cream of tartare in the baking section, if they have a baking section..

I have used dry malt extract on a couple of occasions, when I have I don't bother with cream of tartare as it is supposed to add to the mouthfeel of the ginger beer.

On occasion when I've forgotten the CoT the ginger beer has still been very drinkable, so if you can't get it, go ahead and brew regardless :)

 

[Kinleycat]

I started another post about doubling the ABV of a coopers ginger beer kit but now I'm starting to think I should give this a blast instead. Couple of questions though:

1. When adding a sweetner like splenda, how many of those little tablets should I add to a pint bottle?
2. What sort of time frame are we talking before this stuff is ready to drink?

Cheers

I don't add the tabs to the bottles as they normally don't fully dissolve.
I dissolve them in boiling water or in this case with some boiling water and tea bags to add a bit of tannin tang to this batch and add that to the bottling bucket prior to bottling.
My batches both reached 1004 so I will only add 1 per pint.

 

[phildo79]

Most supermarkets have cream of tartare in the baking section, if they have a baking section..

I have used dry malt extract on a couple of occasions, when I have I don't bother with cream of tartare as it is supposed to add to the mouthfeel of the ginger beer.

On occasion when I've forgotten the CoT the ginger beer has still been very drinkable, so if you can't get it, go ahead and brew regardless :)

Cheers bro. I'll prob just go ahead without it. I checked 2 supermarkets, albeit small ones, to no avail. Just waiting on my yeast arriving in the post to get this started. Really looking forward to trying something from scratch. I've brewed plenty of kits but this'll be a first for me. Hope it turns out as well as I hope.

 

[phildo79]

I started another post about doubling the ABV of a coopers ginger beer kit but now I'm starting to think I should give this a blast instead. Couple of questions though:

1. When adding a sweetner like splenda, how many of those little tablets should I add to a pint bottle?
2. What sort of time frame are we talking before this stuff is ready to drink?

Cheers

I don't add the tabs to the bottles as they normally don't fully dissolve.
I dissolve them in boiling water or in this case with some boiling water and tea bags to add a bit of tannin tang to this batch and add that to the bottling bucket prior to bottling.
My batches both reached 1004 so I will only add 1 per pint.

That's a good idea. I normally dissolve my priming sugar and add to the batch before bottling. Saves so much time and fiddling about. I'll wack in 40 tablets or so at the same time anf then wait, patiently, for the taste tester.

 

[TRXnMe]

Most supermarkets have cream of tartare in the baking section, if they have a baking section..

I have used dry malt extract on a couple of occasions, when I have I don't bother with cream of tartare as it is supposed to add to the mouthfeel of the ginger beer.

On occasion when I've forgotten the CoT the ginger beer has still been very drinkable, so if you can't get it, go ahead and brew regardless :)

Cheers bro. I'll prob just go ahead without it. I checked 2 supermarkets, albeit small ones, to no avail. Just waiting on my yeast arriving in the post to get this started. Really looking forward to trying something from scratch. I've brewed plenty of kits but this'll be a first for me. Hope it turns out as well as I hope.

I did two of these, one extract and went AG, so be careful :)

 

[TRXnMe]

I usually give mine a couple of weeks for seconday fermentation to complete.

You'll only know how alchoholic it is for definite if you took hydrometer readings before and after fermentation, if you didn't you can do some rough math based on kilos of sugar per litre. Divide the weight of fermentable (in grammes) by 2, then dividw the number of litres of water to get an approximation.

For example, 1,000 grammes of sugar in 5,000 mL of water will give you 10% ABV, in theory.

This would be lower if you used an ale yeast as they can usually only ferment up to about 7 or 8 percent ABV, where a wine yeast would take it all the way :)

 

[abssm]

I bottled mine a week ago and aim to leave it another week in the warm before throwing it outside.

I am going to crack open a bottle tonight though, just as a tester. I did a few pints in plastic bottles and these are already quite firm with not a lot of give so am hoping they are nice and fizzy now.

Will post back later/tomorrow with initial thoughts.

Mine came out at about 7.2%


Edit to say my juice was in the FV for two weeks

 

[JhnMcK]

The two FV's I used to brew this still smell of the ginger beer even though they've been sterilised (to try get rid of that smell). Did anyone else have this problem? If so, how did you get rid of it? Don't want it to be infecting my next brew which could be tomorrow

 

[TRXnMe]

Never ben a problem, my FVs tend to hold the smell of the most recent brew for a while, well, until the nex brew goes into them anyway :) No problems with taste transfer as yet.

I clean them immediately after racking off (oxy clean for 24 hours if the muck wont move), then sanitise them, then repeat the sanitisation before putting my new wort into them.

 

[lakeslad]

Well Ive been wanting to make this for ages, finally got round to it today, only difference from the recipe on page 1 is i have added 5tsp of glycerine, i can not wait to taste this beauty!! :thumb: :

 

[phildo79]

I bottled my brew last night. Got 37.5 pints worth. I added 190 grams of sugar and 60 sweetner tabs to it before bottling (dissolved in boiled water and added to the batch). I will leave for one week in a warm-ish place (boiler cupboard) before trying one.

It took 12 days to ferment out. FG was 995 but the OG was only 1040 and i used 2.8KG of sugar. Did I do something wrong when taking the OG? Like not leaving it long enough to cool down? If not, then it'll be about 6%ABV. I was hoping for more but as long as it's tasty, I'm sure I'll work my way through them.

Slainte

 

[TRXnMe]

Kegged off my latest ginger brew and I'm sitting here sipping a pint out the bottom of the FV while the rest force carbs in one of my cornies.

OMFGG, it's brilliant, got to be my best ginger beer yet. It'sd also very high in alchohol, if I got the

Must get some more ginger and get some ginger wine on, I'm down to my last 2 bottles from the bach I made in April 2013.

When I'm drinking this I do sometimes wonder why I bother with all the fuss of AG brewing, usually only as long as it take me to get a pint of my Cascade hopped pale ale in my glass, but it does make me think

 

[JhnMcK]

Drank my first bottle of this. Think I should have sweetened it a little before bottling as it tastes a little sharp. It may get better, not keeping my hopes up, but it's all a learning experience. It was on the second brew I made and it had potential as it smelt bloody lovely when I made it. Think I just rushed into bottling without thinking of sweeting it first. Did bottle carbonate with a tsp in each and the one I opened was well-carbonated so at least that worked. I will make it again at some point, I may make a smaller batch though...maybe 1 gallon instead of 5 to try to see what I would need to do to improve the flavour. It's not like its expensive to make :)

 

[Kinleycat]

Batch 2 is (I think) infected.
I'm a bit bunged up with the back end of the man flu, but I'm getting a distinct vinegary sour flavour and smell that isn't apparent in batch 1.
#gutted

 

[phildo79]

I bottled my brew last night. Got 37.5 pints worth. I added 190 grams of sugar and 60 sweetner tabs to it before bottling (dissolved in boiled water and added to the batch). I will leave for one week in a warm-ish place (boiler cupboard) before trying one.

It took 12 days to ferment out. FG was 995 but the OG was only 1040 and i used 2.8KG of sugar. Did I do something wrong when taking the OG? Like not leaving it long enough to cool down? If not, then it'll be about 6%ABV. I was hoping for more but as long as it's tasty, I'm sure I'll work my way through them.

Slainte

Cracked open a couple last night to try. I think the sweetener tabs did the trick; not as dry as feared. Still a hint of dryness, mind, and a definite sharpness but nothing unpleaseant. The only thing that is missing is the real lack of ginger flavour. I was expecting a very gingery taste but was left disappointed. Maybe this will improve with time but I'm not optimstic. I'll try another batch and up the ginger root content to 3lbs.

hashtag somewhat unhappy FFS

 

[simkin]

I found using fresh ginger and powdered gives a good gingery kick. I momentarily boil fresh, strain off liquor, then refresh leftovers with boiling water, allow to stew an hour and strain off, then add a good amount of powdered. When I only used fresh I got good aroma and finishing warmth but lacked gingery punch in the middle.

 

[TRXnMe]

Got my first force carbed pint of ginger beer in the glass at my elbow as I type

By eck, it's good, I'll be using the honey again for sure.

It has a very good gingery bite, but with around 4 kilos of ginger in a 4.5 gallon batch it ought to have, that plus the 4 teaspoons of ground ginger anyway :)

Very smooth despite being brewed on the trub and me not peeling the ginger before blitzing it with the food processor :)

I feel another ginger buying spree coming on very soon.

 

[lakeslad]

just bottled mine tonight, very nice i dissolved some sugar in cool boiled water and added this to the bottling bucket, seems to have perked the flavor up nicely, i had that much i used all my spare bottles and invited the neighbor round with his empties to help himself!!
any one give me a rough ABV i used 3kg of sugar sg was 1.047 fg was .990
:

 

[TRXnMe]

According to the calculator in BeerSmith that's around 7.5% ABV which should give you a very nice kick off a half pint :)

It's worth noting that the top left of the forum has a few buttons, one of those is marked 'calculators', there is an ABV option in there

 

[lakeslad]

thanks mate, sorry been that long since i have needed to calculate i forgot all about them!!! :whistle: