# Does Ginger Beer Taint Future Brews?



## stebon (16/1/11)

I'm about to try my first ginger beer brew, but have been told any future beer brews will have a ginger taste if fermented in the same carbouy? Can anyone tell me if this is the case or not?

Thanks


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## brettprevans (16/1/11)

Tell whoever told u that, they r full of shit. 
Clean it properly, a good air out and it will be fine


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## Midnight Brew (16/1/11)

citymorgue2 said:


> Tell whoever told u that, they r full of shit.
> Clean it properly, a good air out and it will be fine




+1 Couldn't agree more


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## lczaban (16/1/11)

Possibly... It depends on a couple of things, like how gingery the GB is, how long it will be in your carbouy and what sort of beer you will be following up brewing in the carbouy. If you were brewing a stout/porter/IPA/APA then I would say there would be minimal chance of having a lingering ginger taste carrying over into your next brew. I would advice against trying to brew a delicate pilsener after using that carbouy to brew a GB. I brewed a Kolsch where the carbouy had been used for a GB in the previous brew, and a strange taste was present in the Kolsch. There are a couple of factors in play when it came to determining where this taste came from, but one guy who tried it claimed that there was a definite "ginger" note in the beer, which wouldn't surprise me...

My 2c



stebon said:


> I'm about to try my first ginger beer brew, but have been told any future beer brews will have a ginger taste if fermented in the same carbouy? Can anyone tell me if this is the case or not?
> 
> Thanks


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## Tanga (16/1/11)

I've brewed a blonde after a GB with no worries - but then it was a straight kit, without all that extra ginger I'm going to try in my next brew =D. But like they say, a good cleanout should see you right no mater how punchy you make it. An overnight soak with steriliser if you're really worried. I find regular water and sunlight did a good enough job though.


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## milestron (16/1/11)

surely the ginger flavour wouldn't be able to survive a good bleaching if you were really concerned


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## brettprevans (16/1/11)

2nd of Ginger and chillis in my GB as well as lemons and limes. Good clean and she was right as rain. But yeah I get if point GG. I still recon a clean and an air out and it should be right


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## The Giant (17/1/11)

Soak for 24 hours in a cleanser solution
Give it a good wipe/scrub
Then add a tiny bit of bleach and some cold water, swirl it around, leave it sit for 1 hour.
Then your fermenter should be clean, not smelling and sanitised ready to chuck the next brew straight in


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## stebon (17/1/11)

Thanks for the responses. 
Thought a good clean out should do the trick, but figured i'd ask rather than just take a punt.
Going to try an amber ale after the GB.


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## DU99 (17/1/11)

+1


> Soak for 24 hours in a cleanser solution
> Give it a good wipe/scrub
> Then add a tiny bit of bleach and some cold water, swirl it around, leave it sit for 1 hour.
> Then your fermenter should be clean, not smelling and sanitised ready to chuck the next brew straight in


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## brettprevans (17/1/11)

Just try not to scrub too much. Searching the plastic gives bugs and gunk somewhere to hid and makes subsequent cleaning harder.


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## j1gsaw (17/1/11)

jeeze, i have used some of my carboys for beers/spirit washes/ciders and GB... a good wash down, starsan, happy days...


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## crozdog (17/1/11)

I have found the gb smell comes out of my fermenters with a soak in sodium percarbonate.

PET beer bottles still smelt of GB after a H2O rinse, but when I soaked em in sodium percarbonate it went.


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## Muggus (18/1/11)

crozdog said:


> I have found the gb smell comes out of my fermenters with a soak in sodium percarbonate.


I've also found this. 
Not so much in kegs, probably because they're stainless steel, but plastic fermenters tends to absorb the strong odours and it seems the ginger from a kit is worse than anything else. Wouldn't be entirely sure, but i'd say a ginger beer made WITHOUT the kit, probably wouldn't taint the fermenter so bad.
Either way, everyone above has got the right idea - it just requires a bit more cleaning than normal to get out.


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