Ginger beer

[Kinleycat]

Really looking forward to making these empties!!

 

[Diesel1]

That looks nice. So does the bottle, it looks very familiar, what is it?

I am going to put 25 litres of ginger beer on this weekend , it will be a C.I.I.A.S.W.H. (chuck it in and see what happens) brew!

Diesel1.

 

[second2none]

When you cook onion if you think how the taste changes from raw onion to fried onion
And the same is true with garlic and horseradish the cooked versions are much sweeter and they loose all that bitterness.
Going off this assumption I peeled and grated about 200g of ginger onto a baking tray and popped it in the oven on a medium heat for about 10mins, I knew 10 mins was long enough because of the amazing sweet smell that came out of the oven like what one would expect a ginger cake to smell like.

I tasted a small sample and it was still sharp but didn't blow my head off like the raw ginger did, it's like it kept the flavour but lost some if the acidity.

So I thought surly I'm on to a winner here as my ginger beers have always been tart and nothing like shop bought stuff but then I go and balls it up adding far too much sweetener to the brew!

I was going to write my own post about this but thought this had been a great thread and I hope others out there will try this method and get a nice brew out of it! As for me I'm patiently waiting for my current wakey experiments to finish fermenting, but once they do I'll be right back to these recipes for ginger beer!

 

[Kinleycat]

That looks nice. So does the bottle, it looks very familiar, what is it?

I am going to put 25 litres of ginger beer on this weekend , it will be a C.I.I.A.S.W.H. (chuck it in and see what happens) brew!

Diesel1.

Strathmore sparkling water bottles, got a load of 330ml and 750ml screw tops from a mate with a restaurant.

 

[Diesel1]

Strathmore sparkling water bottles, got a load of 330ml and 750ml screw tops from a mate with a restaurant.

:thumb:

 

[liamg1285]

just done a 1 gallon brew of this to try and smells really nice just allowing to cool before adding the yeast :

 

[Kinleycat]

Let me tell you:

That knocks the pants off crabbies!!!

 

[mark.s.davies1]

ok got to be honest i dont know a 100% how my recipie will turn outthis is my first attempt but just bottled it, its a mishmash of a couple of recipies i have seen, i was after a really strong one 12% so it could be dilluted with lemonade for a long drink and mixed accoring to my mood

3kg of fresh ginger chopped
6 whole limes in a blender
4 whole lemons in a blender
4 kg of white sugar
1 kg of muscavado
20 gm of cinamon (not sure this will make a big diff but didnt want to over do it)
wine yeast
and nutrient
and all my fingers crossed but tasted great the little try i had of it very rich

 

[Doug97]

cream of tarta, think of it as an anti acid that takes some of the tart bite out of bitter ginger

The opposite actually, cream of tartar is essentially tartaric acid (the kind of acid that's predominant in grapes) - I reckon you could replace it with extra citrus fruit.

 

[Diesel1]

Me and Mrs Diesel have enjoyed a pint or two of my fiery ginger beer tonight and it went down a treat! I used this recipe......

Fiery Ginger Beer 5 gallons

2 kg Fresh grated peeled ginger
3 Stalks chopped rhubarb
3 Unwaxed lemons sliced
2 kg Sugar
200g Honey
1 tsp Yeast nutrient
1 tsp Pectolase
1 tsp Gervin ale yeast
6 Cloves
1/8 tsp Ground black pepper. I estimate this as 10 grains/pieces.
1 tsp Cayenne powder

Boil the sugar, ginger and lemons until the lemons are soft. Put the ginger/lemon syrup into your bucket/barrel and top up with cold water to 25 litres. If/when cooled to 20 C or below add the yeast, nutrient, pectolase, cloves, black pepper and cayenne.

Diesel1.

 

[Kinleycat]

Me and Mrs Diesel have enjoyed a pint or two of my fiery ginger beer tonight and it went down a treat! I used this recipe......

Fiery Ginger Beer 5 gallons

2 kg Fresh grated peeled ginger
3 Stalks chopped rhubarb
3 Unwaxed lemons sliced
2 kg Sugar
1 tsp Yeast nutrient
1 tsp Pectolase
1 tsp Gervin ale yeast
6 Cloves
1/8 tsp Ground black pepper. I estimate this as 10 grains/pieces.
1 tsp Cayenne powder

Boil the sugar, ginger and lemons until the lemons are soft. Put the ginger/lemon syrup into your bucket/barrel and top up with cold water to 25 litres. If/when cooled to 20 C or below add the yeast, nutrient, pectolase, cloves, black pepper and cayenne.
Gh
Diesel1.

Sounds nice, if you're ever passing Wakefield I'll swap you for a couple of mine.
Love the idea of adding the rhubarb, I might nick that for my next brew :thumb:

 

[Diesel1]

I have made a second batch with a lime, a banana, 1/2 tsp nutmeg and 3 large stalks of rhubarb. I could not taste the rhubarb in the last brew but maybe it is one of those ingredients you only notice when it isn't there.

I also forgot to say that I used around 200g of honey in the first recipe.

I would love to swap a bottle or two!

Diesel1.

 

[CMKMStephens]

Cross posting this here in case people are looking here and not in the other thread, but I'm getting quite bothered about the ginger beer recipe - I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong:

1.2kg of local (NZ) ginger (seemed a bit spicier than thai when raw) grated with a micro grater (hours!)
4 lemons, zested, squeezed, and pith sliced out
1 lime as above
a few crushed cloves
half a stick of grated cinnamon
1 tsp cream of tartar
4 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

boiled for a good hour, then

1.1kg white sugar
400g Muscavado dark brown sugar

added and stirred in, left to cool down, before transferring to the bucket and topping up to 9.5L. Champaigne yeast and yeast nutrient then dry pitched, stirred, and the lid closed.

Bottled and primed after 9 days.

BUT AGAIN, taking a taste of it, there is basically no ginger to it. AGAIN, it's like the last two attempts, but with a bit of the muscovado sugar's own taste coming through. Taste once decently carbonated after a week might be up to 4/10, but it's still hardly ginger beer without a ginger taste. It's just like numerous people in the thread, just like the guy two posts above. The yeast is clearly doing its job, but the recipe just doesn't seem to be working.

Since that post I let it carbonate for a week, and it is indeed for the third time just a somewhat spiced alcohol-water with no ginger taste.

Since this is the first time I've tried brewing, could someone break down their (successful) process into a 'for dummies' guide? The champaigne yeast is clearly doing its job, producing 6-7% every time, but is it destroying the ginger flavour? Are there steps after everything is in the bucket that I'm missing?

 

[Kinleycat]

Enjoying a glass in a nice glass!!

Medium dry sweetness, lightly sparkling and with a fiery kick like a mule

 

[Cheshire muzz]

Mine was a bit flat and a bit too sweet for my taste at first. But 2 months on, they are bubbly and crisp. Now, the big challenge is making them last for hot summer days!

 

[shuggie159]

Been following this topic for a while before taking the plunge.

My question is .... Why is it necessary to boil, other than to sanitize?

In beer brewing (which I could bore for Europe on) the more you boil hops the more flavour you loose, because the essential oils all evaporate.

I note that CMKMStephens, who boiled long, (two or three posts above) is having problems getting ginger flavour, and I think this could be why. Has any body tried just bringing to the boil, or even, a non boil method. Say finely grating all the ingredients and leaving to soak with a campdon tablet to sanitize.

I'm nearly there, teetering on the edge. Do I jump or dive?

 

[shuggie159]

OK I've gone and done it.

Perhaps knowledgable folk would like to advise me and help improve my technique.

I've gone for a minimal boil philosophy....

Design brew length = 20 litres

2.5kg root ginger
2 lemons and 2 limes
3 dried chillies and 2 tsp cayenne pepper and 15 twists of gnd blk pepper

All washed, and finely shredded complete with skins rind etc. and brought to boil in approx 4 litres of water.

Immeadiately on boiling, decanted into sanitized FV in muzlin bag.

500g Spray malt, 1000g granulated sugar, 340g basics honey
3 tsp ground ginger, 1tsp cream of tartar, 30ml glycerin brought to boil in another 4 litres of water and added to FV.

Made upto 20 litres with cold water. OG = 1.054 13% brix

When cooled and airated combined with Youngs cider yeast and placed in fermentation vault at 20degC. I chose this yeast to hopefully minimize the attenuation, however I know I will have to sweeten it.

Generally I've never been too worried by OTT sanitation. I believe if your clean enough and can start with a generous quantity of your chosen yeasties in an ideal environment; they will out perform any other nasties and quickly produce sufficient alcohol to deter further competition.

Tastewise, as you would expect it is pretty much full on, BIG GINGER KICK then you get the citrus. I'm confident it will mellow as it matures. Well I hope so... I may have rather over done it!

 

[Cheshire muzz]

I'd be interested to hear how gingery your brew is. I boiled mine for about an hour and there's more lemon than ginger to the taste.

 

[shuggie159]

I know only a day or so in, but, my FGB is MASSIVE. Very hot, gingery, firey. I hope it looses some of it's "in your face". I offered it round as a taster to my 19yr old son and one of his friends and the comment... already... was that Crabies was sweeter. They had no issues with the piquency. I wonder, if, with this degree of ginger taste I'm going to have to sweeten it disproportionately to balence the flavours. (which is not my preference)

But since I'm not brewing it for me to drink; what do I know or care.

Obviously this is not a demonstration that extended boiling looses flavour.

What we need is for some 'techie' to do a brew to the 'boiling point', then split the batch. Half gets put straight into a demijohn and the other half is boiled on for 30mins or so etc and the different half batches compared.

I an confident in my initial supposition - that the essential 'ginger' oils are boiled off.

Who's up for a comparative taste off?

 

[Diesel1]

I think you have just volunteered yourself as the appointed 'techie'! :clap: :clap:

I think you may have hit in something with the boiling issue. My FGB is very fiery and very beery but definitely not as ginger as crabbies. I like it as it is though, very dry, very strong and has the citrus sweetness rather than the alcopop sweetness of the brand names.

I have some bottled to carbonate but usually just dunk a jug into the bucket and strain it into a pint glass! :shock: :drink: :whistle: :drunk: :hmm:

Then after 5 or six pints I fall flat on my back and pass out!

Diesel1.