On brewing a ginger beer

[scheelings]

Hi everyone, I'm planning on doing a ginger beer - however I have a few questions.

1) Do I need to invert the sugar from regular table sugar / coconut sugars? From what I've read elsewhere on the forum it speeds up the fermentation process. However, given that the temperature where I am doesn't move between 25 and 35 degrees, I'm not sure that is necessary. Will it impart any flavours?

2) Yeast - I have champagne yeast with apparently a very high tolerance. The reason I got it was because it handles higher temperatures. If anyone could recommend a lower yielding yeast - because I'm not sure I want a completely dry ginger beer but I don't like the idea of using splenda or other artificial sweetners.
Is there a preferred yeast which imparts better flavours to a ginger beer?

3) Storage - what is an ideal storage time? I noticed when I brewed back at home a long time ago 3 months seemed to make a big difference. I suppose that storage times probably differ depending on what you are brewing. Some insights into this would be great!

regards

 

[ScottM]

When I did the ginger beer I just used plain old sucrose, no need for dextrose or anything like that with this style of brew IMO. The temperature is definitely not ideal and shifting 10 degrees makes a MASSIVE difference to the yeast as that really isn't stable at all. Ideally you want to get a fermentation fridge setup.

If it's home made ginger beer with root, water and sugar then the attentuation of the yeast won't make any difference. If you plan on making it with extract then you could use a low attenuation ale yeast to leave as much of the sugar behind as possible. You could use sweetener or another option is to ferment it dry, kill the yeast and add sugar to sweeten it. With the latter option you would need to force carb it if you want it fizzy though.

The home made ginger beer takes a long time to mature into something nice. 3-6 months in a cool temperature would be the best way to get it good. I doubt you're going to manage the cool temp though, so I'm not really sure what would be best in this situation.

Hope some of that helps :)

 

[scheelings]

What about making a really thick syrup by inverting? Caramelizing the sugar won't change the flavour of the brew right?

 

[ScottM]

What about making a really thick syrup by inverting? Caramelizing the sugar won't change the flavour of the brew right?

No idea, also no idea why you would bother though.

 

[Megaross]

More info on ginger beer in the wines section buddy, I posted a couple of videos on my process somewhere, nothing too detailed.

1. Table sugar/ dextrose is completely fine. No need to **** about.

2. Unless you plan on force carbing you'll need a decent yeast, and then you can back sweeten after bottle conditioning, nowt wrong with using splenda or other non fermentables if it's a bit dry, or even just mixing it with a bit of something sweet when pouring. If you used a low yield yeast I can't see how you'd naturally carb it.
The alternative being you could filter, add a stabiliser then sweeten with sugar and force carb, if you've got the kit for that good luck to you.

3. 2-3 weeks or around there, some recipes are better the longer you leave them but after a fortnight in bottles it should be plenty drinkable.

 

[scheelings]

More info on ginger beer in the wines section buddy, I posted a couple of videos on my process somewhere, nothing too detailed.

1. Table sugar/ dextrose is completely fine. No need to **** about.

2. Unless you plan on force carbing you'll need a decent yeast, and then you can back sweeten after bottle conditioning, nowt wrong with using splenda or other non fermentables if it's a bit dry, or even just mixing it with a bit of something sweet when pouring. If you used a low yield yeast I can't see how you'd naturally carb it.
The alternative being you could filter, add a stabiliser then sweeten with sugar and force carb, if you've got the kit for that good luck to you.

3. 2-3 weeks or around there, some recipes are better the longer you leave them but after a fortnight in bottles it should be plenty drinkable.

I'm about halfway through the 30 page post on ginger beer. My only problem is that I think eating artificial sugars is unhealthy - some have been linked with cancer :nono:

Possibly if you wanted to naturally carb it and use natural sugars to sweeten it, could you put just the right amount of sugar in to almost reach the yeast's threshold, bottle it with too much sugar - so that there was just enough sugar to gas it and too reach the alcohol threshold - (yet not break the bottle) - but also sweeten it. Probably this is way too risky to try

 

[rpt]

My only problem is that I think eating artificial sugars is unhealthy - some have been linked with cancer :nono:

Refined sugars are unhealthy. They lead to obesity and diabetes. They have also been linked to cancer.

 

[Megaross]

What hasn't been linked to cancer these days, lets be honest?

You could sweeten as you serve with natural sugar, syrup or honey if you really needed?

 

[rpt]

What hasn't been linked to cancer these days, lets be honest?

Indeed. That was my point.