Ginger beer

[shuggie159]

OK Its substantilly finished fermentation, and it's fairly disgusting. BUT lacking in taste, especially gingeriness, it is not. It's firey, bitter, astringant. Totally undrinkable.
I've tried a teaspoon of sweetner in a glass... better, but still totally undrinkable, watering it down with about 10-15% water helps. So I'm going to leave it a few more days for the yeast to drop and add a couple or three large bottles of cloudy lemonade before deciding about more serrious sweetening.

 

[gl0ckage]

That's what mine tastes like, going to try another brew see if it was just a bad batch.

 

[SaabNoob]

First go at FGB and reading this with interest;
Mine is 5gals comprising:
1.1kg of root ginger, grated,
2 oranges, sliced and squeezed,
2 lemons, sliced and squeezed,
1/2 a spice container of ground ginger (i didn't measure it),
Cinnamon stick,
3kg of sugar, (i'm aiming for about 6%-7%)
Wine yeast compound and nutrient.

No cream of tartar though.

I boiled it up and then immediately dropped it to a simmer for about an hour with the pan lid on. Into the FV with the sugar and made up to about 4.5 gals with cold water. Pitched the yeast the following morning when cooled and then left for a good few days. Bubbling like a good 'un after an intial slow start, I posted a question about the brew not being very gingery and asked if i should chuck the other 1.1kg of root ginger in, to which the answer was yes. The point here being i didn't boil the other 1.1 kg before peeling and grating it and chucking it in the brew.

I'll let you know the outcome.

Question: will it make any difference to the taste if it's left for longer in the FV? I notice many of the lighter recipes don't stay in the FV for very long.

I'm aiming to leave mine at least 2-3 weeks. Noob question, what do i do then, strain and bottle with some sweetener and sugar? Or strain and transfer to secondary barrel and leave to settle first?
Sorry for the noob question but i'm used to wine where you just rack it off and job done.

 

[gl0ckage]

After making a few batches with some different stuff I think I've mastered a ginger beer I like this works so well!

1kg ginger (check for mold)
3 limes
2 lemons
2.3kg sugar
200g muscovado sugar

You can add more ginger/lemons/limes I prefer the lime tang then the crisp ginger taste after. I didn't add any spice so feel free to add what you expect from your ginger beer.

Blend all the ingredients in a processor add some boiling water to loosen the ginger and to semi clean it.
Put 2 litres of boiling water into the FV and stir in the the sugar to dissolve it. Once that's done add the ginger mix and top up with cold water.

Add yeast nutrients and CHAMPAGNE yeast, I tried a few using wine yeast, cider yeast etc. The champagne yeast tastes the best not sure why I'm not a master on yeasts.

Leave to ferment once it's done let the yeast clean up. Then prime and bottle, if you are bottling in plastic, leave 2 inches squeeze the bottle so it fills up then put the bottle lid on and let it prime in there.

Like I say this works for my tastes, I added cinnamon sticks and a tench pinch of cayenne.

I'm not keen on fiery ginger beers I'm more of a sweet and soft type of guy.

Hopes this helps you all.

Also boiling the ginger kills the taste, boil some ginger and taste it compared to raw ginger.

You don't need to add boiling water to the ginger mixture, you can add more lemons and limes for your tastes.
With my quantities the lime out powers the lemons and the lime hits your tongue first with the lemon hint in the middle and an intense ginger kick at the end.

 

[shuggie159]

As for making the tart firey astringant brew drinkable, I've been experimenting.

I have Truvia and shop bought lemonade to add for dilution and sweetening. Neither of which are fermentable.

It occurs to me that I am very much better placed to undertake this process than most. I'm going to be dispensing from a cornie whereby I can gas up later. This means I can use shop bought lemonade as a sweetner, which is probably heavily laced with Potassium sulphate a yeast inhibiter. If you intend to secondary ferment in a bottle I wouldn't add lemonade which may kill off the chances of a secondary fermentation.

It occurs to me that every brew is essentially going to be different due to the varying amount of gingeriness that has been inbibed into the initial brew. I therefore concentrated on getting the dilution of piquency and taste right first by adding lemonade. This was done by mixing proportions of brew and lemonade in a measuring flask until I had established an acceptable taste; only then did I consider sweetness which can be adjusted with the sweetner. These are very much subjective qualities - what I found drinkable my son said was 'wishy washy'. So I've decided to go with strong flavours on the basis it can always be further adjusted later.

Importantly, I feel we (gl10ckage and I) have formed a concensus that boiling impairs achieving a full ginger taste. Lets have some more feedback to see if we can establish a predictable method and sensible quantity of ginger to achieve a balanced flavour. I can tell you that 2kg in 20 litres is too much, but only about 10-15% too much.

I've still got to wait for the yeast to drop fully before I'm going to have any meaningful flavour comparisons - I guess 'Jamaican' is the taste control.

I hope my ramblings are of some use to somebody!

 

[Badger]

Sounds pretty tasty! Happen to have cream of tartar already with a surplus of ginger!

 

[CMKMStephens]

My 4th batch is certainly an improvement on the previous ones, up to a 5-6/10, but still not quite 'Ginger beer'. I would now drink it...but only after running out of everything else in the house. The main differences were that I used only brown sugar (1kg cane, 400g muscavado), did some of the same steps in a different order. The brown sugar certainly seems to work better in terms of taste. For whatever reason this time it's much more fiery, and as usual it settles at 7-8% alcohol. It's still the all important taste that's the problem.

For my 5th attempt I'll go with the above without boiling on the stove since such a drastic difference in method might be what's needed.

 

[Kinleycat]

Did this on Jan 24th and its fab.
Anyone struggling with their recipe, i would recommend it:
The final recipe 1.0 went as followed
770g ginger (peeled and grated.)
3 lemons and 3 limes (squeezed and chopped)
2 teaspoons ginger powder
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
(All soaked overnight in dark rum 200ml)
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
(All ingredients put in a 4 litre pan topped up with water, brought to the boil and simmered for thirty minutes.)
When finished I poured half the liquor into the FV and then mixed 500g light spray malt, 1kg brew enhancer and 400g granulated sugar until dissolved and then added to the FV
Topped up to 20 litres with cold water.
Added two teaspoons of yeast nutrient and whisked like Billyo!!!
The OG was 1040 and if I can get it right down it should clock in at about 5.5%.
Pitched one sachet of cider yeast at 22c
Smells malty and gingery!!!
Plan to bottle with a teaspoon of sugar and two of sweetener.
:thumb:

 

[gl0ckage]

Im planning on adding some malto dex to my next batch see how much body it adds.

Might try yur recipe if i have some malt left from my ale adventures.

 

[SaabNoob]

Update on mine: Still hadn't quite got the fiery taste i wanted so I liquidised another 800g of root ginger and then squeezed it through muslin into the almost done beer. Left that for a few days and i'm happy to report it's now got a much more distinct ginger flavour.
I strained and squeezed the primary into a secondary for it to settle and tapped off 2l into a PET bottle for testing. 6 tsp of sugar and the bottle was rock hard after 2 days. I've now moved it into the fridge so i can complete the taste test as it would be served.

I think definitely the next batch will be done without boiling the ginger.

 

[gl0ckage]

My new 1 gallon batch was really good. Used a bed sheet as a Muzlin and absolutely rinsed it into the secondary rack too.

 

[SaabNoob]

My new 1 gallon batch was really good. Used a bed sheet as a Muzlin and absolutely rinsed it into the secondary rack too.

Is your's rather yellow and cloudy same as mine? The beer that is, not the sheet. :lol:

 

[gl0ckage]

Yes very cloudy and yellow but I've got a few bottles of my first batch and they are crystal clear, they been bottles awhile now though. Can read paper through it so give it time to settle.

 

[danb]

all the previous brews were clear but yellow. this time I have 5 gallon in a keg that's been in there for just over a month that was also put into a secondary with honey for a month and that's like sparkling water with no colour at all.

 

[gl0ckage]

Forgot to mention most are clear some are not, taste the same though

 

[otate]

Hi,
Looking for some advice, I tried a bottle of my first go at ginger beer which I brewed using the recipe here

http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/ginger-beer

I found it way too harsh, dry and had a wine taste to it , pretty much undrinkable. Plus it tasted very thin.

Bottles have been conditioned for about 3 weeks.

I know there's loads of different recipes for ginger ale out there but can someone recommend a good starter recipe with a more subtle flavour

 

here is the post ive copied and brewed i used 3 kg made 7% , great stuff
Fiery Ginger Beer 5 gallons also another recipe at bottom of page

1kg Fresh grated ginger
1tsp Cream of tartar
2 lemons
2 limes
2.5kg Sugar
2tsp Yeast nutrient
1 sachet champagne yeast Use S-04 yeast. That's the only one that worked for me

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

First i grated the ginger into a large pan

Then added the sliced and squeezed lemons and limes, cream of tartar - 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

just a few things ...
where do you get the 1 sachet champagne yeast Use S-04 yeast ...
i have looked on my local brew shop website but they dont have it listed ...

next thing you say...

Then added the sliced and squeezed lemons and limes...

which ones are sliced and which are squeezed ...
or do you squeez them first then slice up the remains then put that in aswell...
and when do you add the yeast nutrient...
thank you in advance.. :thumb: .

regards mick...

 

[gl0ckage]

Slice in half then squeeze. I used wine yeast a few times, only started using champagne recently. I add my nutrients once I've topped up with cold water. Tbh nutrients might not be needed due to having lemons in. I add it anyway.

 

Slice in half then squeeze. I used wine yeast a few times, only started using champagne recently. I add my nutrients once I've topped up with cold water. Tbh nutrients might not be needed due to having lemons in. I add it anyway.

ok thanks bud ..
i think ill be be doing a ginger ale soon ...
this one looks like a good one to try ...

regards mick... :hat: .

 

ok i have got almost all the stuff to do this ginger ale....

but i dont have the yeast that was advised to use...

i do have a muntons gold active brewing yeast ...

can i use this or should i wait till i can get to a brew shop...
and ask them what one they say is ok ...

thanks again ...

regards mick... :hat: .