# Kit & Kilo Ginger Beer



## milob40 (18/10/10)

done a search for ginger beer on the forum but search seems to freeze up.
i want to brew a kit ginger beer, can anyone sugest a good kit for this from experience?
not interested in gettin too fancy with it, just a decent k&k style. (unless there are any fast enhancements)
also is it likely to taint my fermenter long term?


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## barls (18/10/10)

ether morgans or coopers.
ive been brewing them for years and never had any taint in my fermentors.


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## GrumpyPaul (18/10/10)

Last summer I made a non alcoholic version of this with my daughter (simply left out the sugar and bottled after about 5 or 5 days).

We only used about 200g of fresh ginger - (at the time it was $26 a kilo, so it was a bit expensive)

This makes an awesome ginger beer - with a little kick of chilli.


1 x Coopers Ginger Beer
500g Fresh ginger (1/2 grated and 1/2 sliced)
3 tsp of dry ginger
125g Buderum ginger marmalade
11 sliced up long red chillies
3 whole cloves
150g brown sugar
1 whole lemon squeezed

Boil up some water
Add in the lemon juice,honey, chilli and fresh ginger.
After 15-20 minutes add in the brown sugar,cloves and dry ginger.
Boil another 10-15 minutes.

Strain into fermenter (or don't strain, I didn't)
Add extract.
1.5kg of raw sugar.

This year I might have to try the proper alcohilic version


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## Hatchy (18/10/10)

Coopers GB, 1kg raw sugar, water & yeast. Comes out at about 3.5% so if you want a headbanger then up the sugar. It would be better with better yeast but it's turned out fine for me with kit yeast.


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## enuun (18/10/10)

Normally I brew my ginger beer in a 2l pet bottle with 150g grated ginger, 1 cup sugar and 2 lemons. Turns out nice and dry


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## lczaban (18/10/10)

I've always used Morgans kits with my GB - the yeast & dry enzyme work a treat. My advise would be to use some fresh ginger, raw or dark/moist brown sugar and add a thinly sliced chilli into the fermentor to get a nice, ginger bite. Enjoy!


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## roo_dr (19/10/10)

Just pitched my first one of these today - will let you know how things go...

Coopers GB can
500g LDME
600g Raw Sugar
500g Honey
75g rough grated fresh ginger

Yeast harvested from Cooper's Sparkling


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## Lord Raja Goomba I (19/10/10)

This is going against the concept of the original thread, but I've done enough K&K GB to say something.

Don't use beer malt. I tried it once. It sucked. Not enough to stop me eventually drinking it, but it still sucked.

I have one ready to bottle. 3kg ginger (it's $10 per kg at the local markets and more fresh than the supermarkets) peeled, chopped up and boiled for a couple of hours and 1kg raw sugar (I prefer it). The boiling also acts as a fantastic insect repellant (extra rain=increase mozzies).

Smells great and has had a few weeks in fermentation (I don't want bottle bombs TYVM).

Goomba


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## roo_dr (19/10/10)

Lord Raja Goomba I said:


> Don't use beer malt. I tried it once. It sucked. Not enough to stop me eventually drinking it, but it still sucked.



 Why wasn't I told this 24hrs ago?!!?!


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## Lord Raja Goomba I (19/10/10)

roo_dr said:


> Why wasn't I told this 24hrs ago?!!?!



If it less than 25% or so of your bill, should be okay. I did one where it was 50/50 and it was drinkable, but not great.

Funny thing is monteith's summer ale is a beer using ginger and it is beautiful.

That was back when I was extract brewing. So it would have had saaz hops in it as well.

Goomba


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## New2thebrew (19/10/10)

I have a simple GB in the fermenter at the moment;

1 can Coopers GB
2kg raw sugar
4 tablespoons grated ginger

Brought 250ml of water to the boil in a small saucepan, reduced to a simmer, added ginger and let steep for 10 mins. The liquid (strained) added to the fermenter with can & sugar.

Has been fermenting for a little over 2 weeks now & smells fantastic.

Should come out at about 7% ABV


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## mkstalen (19/10/10)

I just cracked open the following recipe and was mighty impressed.

Ingredients for 21L:
1 Coopers kit ginger beer
750mL bottle of Buderim Lime refresher with Ginger
270g Dextrose
250g LDME
500g Brown Sugar
~300g Golden Syrup (what was left in the jar)
500g fresh ginger
50g ginger powder
4 small chillis
5 whole cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 sticks of cinnamon
1 lemon rind and juice
1 tsp of Vanilla Escense
2L Apple juice
US-05 yeast

Method:
Peel and grate ginger
Bash the cloves in a morter and pessle
Halve chillis
Into a pot put 3L water and add the Grated ginger, Golden syrup, Chillis (seeds and all), Cloves, Nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon, vanilla and Buderim refresher.
Bring to boil for 25 min.
Strain via my BIAB bag into a 2nd pot (that was mission in itself) and add the dextrose, LDME, and Coopers kit
Bring to boil for 5min.
Into the fermenter with the apple juice and top up to 21L.
Yeast pitched @ 24
Ferment @ 19deg

OG = 1.042
FG = 1.009

In primary for 2 weeks. Bulk primed with 160g white sugar and bottled into 1.5L & 2L PET.


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## mattcarty (19/10/10)

I agree with hatchy 

coopers kit, 1 kg raw sugar and yeast. all my mates even the ones who dont usually drink my beer love it. I spend ages doing intricate beer brews AG and extracts and the one they love is a basic K&K ginger beer.

wierd.

its an easy brew that still tastes great


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## milob40 (19/10/10)

New2thebrew said:


> I have a simple GB in the fermenter at the moment;
> 
> 1 can Coopers GB
> 2kg raw sugar
> ...


wow. sounds good but it'll kick like a mule :icon_drunk: 
glad i started this thread as there's some very interesting variations in chemistry to tinker with
and i think tinkering with a gb is more forgiving if i screw it up.
what temp are you fermenting at ?


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## milob40 (19/10/10)

oh bugger , i suppose i'll have to buy some bottles (not a good brew for kegging as the secondary fermentation in the bottle probably adds the character/cloudiness?)
thanks for all the recipes , i'll probly make 2 brews ..... 1 with alchamahol and1without for the minister for finance and recreation


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## Hatchy (20/10/10)

Where are you? There's a chance you'll score some free bottles from someone. I've kegged ginger beer without any problems.


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## New2thebrew (20/10/10)

milob40 said:


> wow. sounds good but it'll kick like a mule :icon_drunk:
> glad i started this thread as there's some very interesting variations in chemistry to tinker with
> and i think tinkering with a gb is more forgiving if i screw it up.
> what temp are you fermenting at ?



Currently fermenting at about 22c (which is not bad for Spring in Brisvegas)


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## milob40 (20/10/10)

Hatchy said:


> Where are you? There's a chance you'll score some free bottles from someone. I've kegged ginger beer without any problems.


so hatchy , no long term tainting of beer lines?
thats what concerns me


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## Hatchy (20/10/10)

Not that I've noticed. Probably worth running some sod perc through the line to make sure. I just ran water through.


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## milob40 (22/10/10)

one thing i didn't ask.... how long should i leave it to mature in bottles before it tastes reasonable?
does anyone invert the bottle to stir it up before opening to give it the authentic cloudy look or does it stuff it up?
hey hatchy, do you leave yours in the keg to mature for a few weeks or its it good to gas and guzzle straight away?


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## ekul (22/10/10)

What temp is everyone fermenting at? I've read a few times that its better to ferment a bit higher (24-26C) so the last ginger beer i put down i just left it sitting on the bench, but it was pretty cold for most of the fermentation so probably didn't go above 24C. 
I was sceptical but as the brew only cost me $7 and took 10mins to make i won't be that disapointed if it fails. When it was colder (18-20C) the gb did seem to really slow down, so maybe it does need to be warm to ferment.

I have another can in the cupboard which i will be putting down for chrissy so i want to make sure its fermented at the right temp, so what does everyone think the optimum fermenting temp is? Same as tasty ales?

thanks


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## ekul (25/10/10)

ekul said:


> What temp is everyone fermenting at? I've read a few times that its better to ferment a bit higher (24-26C) so the last ginger beer i put down i just left it sitting on the bench, but it was pretty cold for most of the fermentation so probably didn't go above 24C.
> I was sceptical but as the brew only cost me $7 and took 10mins to make i won't be that disapointed if it fails. When it was colder (18-20C) the gb did seem to really slow down, so maybe it does need to be warm to ferment.
> 
> I have another can in the cupboard which i will be putting down for chrissy so i want to make sure its fermented at the right temp, so what does everyone think the optimum fermenting temp is? Same as tasty ales?
> ...



Well i bottled it and it tasted great straight out of the fermenter, far better than expected. I thought it was going to be really dry but it wasn't, doesn't taste alcoholic at all actually! If anything its a little sweet so i may dilute the next one a little more, or add more sugar to dry it out a little.
It didn't seem to be adversely affected by the higher temps which is really good, because it means i can put them down without tying up the fermenting fridge.


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## kuntushi (25/10/10)

I've currently got GravityGuru's K&K Powderkeg Ginger Beer recipe going: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...&recipe=972

It didn't start as high as he stated, but I didn't use the spirits or soak the ginger at all... maybe that had something to do with it. I think it started at 1.030 (way below the stated 1.042) and after a week is down to 1.000. That was in my temp controlled fridge, which is set to 20C (+- 2C). But yeah, only a week to drop that much at 20C using the Morgan's kit yeast and beer nutrient, as well as the dry enzyme I bought.

It currently tastes AWESOME! Nice strong ginger hit on the back of the throat and tongue, which lasts a bit because of the chilli. It didn't taste too alcoholic either, not too dry or anything. I'm really happy with it.

Thinking of bottling sometime this week if the SG stays around 1.000, but I'm a little worried I might explode some bottles. It seems to happen with ginger beer. Also, everyone else seems to be leaving it for 2-3 weeks. But if the SG has steadied it should be ready, right? I'm thinking of aiming for around 2.8 - 3.0 CO2 volume.


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## DigitalGiraffe (27/11/10)

So I grabbed a coopers kit from my LHBS today and he gave me the following to add to it:

1x 1kg Brew Enhancer (75% Dextrose and 24% Corn Syrup)
1x 500g bag of Lactose (To make it creamier?)

And I have 375g of ginger ready to add to it also.

Should I be adding and raw or brown sugar?

Should I be boiling the ginger or just peel it and slice it up and add to the fermenter?

Is the lactose worth adding as I haven't seen it used in any of the recipes here?

Cheers,

Paul


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## RobH (28/11/10)

The lactose will add sweetness as it is an unfermentable sugar. I have seen it in some kits at my LHBS, but have never tried those kits.


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## qpoint (25/1/11)

Bumping this topic than starting a new one... seems like some quite good info in here. 

I've done about maybe three different GB K&K's now being Coopers, Morgans and a Brewcraft one. I think Morgans seems the best, although I've yet to experiment with anything more than just some extra dextrose.

My main complaint about GB kits is that they seem so flat taste-wise... almost soapy. What's the sweetening agent in the kits? I'm guessing it's something artificial so as not to ferment out and it's coming through really strong in the brews. Has anyone else noticed this?

I'm considering maybe adding extra ingredients like fresh ginger, spices, chilli etc which will make it more than one-dimensional and drown out the artificial taste I'm getting. Either that, or try making a GB from scratch but using lactose as sweetener but have no idea how that'd work.

Any thoughts?


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## hotchilli (30/1/11)

This thread inspired me to put down a GB today based on stienberg's recipe, but slightly less ingredients:


1 Coopers Ginger Beer Kit
750ml Bottle of Buderim Ginger Refresher
1.5 kg Raw Sugar
250g Fresh Ginger
145g Crushed Ginger
50g Powdered Ginger
10 Whole Cloves
10 Medium Chillies (~75g)
2 Cinnamon Sticks

The fresh ginger and chilli was chopped and added to 3L of water, then boiled for about 15 minutes. All the other ingredients were mixed in, steeped for a while and then added to the fermenter along with chilled water to make up 19L. Temp was good at 20 deg C and I pitched the kit yeast - I'm going to brew this one in a kitchen cupboard with frozen bottles of water for temp control rather than tie up the brew fridge.

OG=1.046. The 1.5kg raw sugar should give this ~5% ABV.

The crushed Ginger was "Galiko" brand that you find in the fresh food section of Woolies - it's half the price of fresh ginger and I'm hoping it's a good substitute.

I drank the sample from the SG reading and it tasted amazing. The chilli really leaves a good strong sensation in the mouth afterwards  





I reckon this will be a winner - can't wait to try it.


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## jasonharley (30/1/11)

hotchilli said:


> This thread inspired me to put down a GB today based on stienberg's recipe, but slightly less ingredients:
> 
> 
> 1 Coopers Ginger Beer Kit
> ...




Just be careful.... most crushed ginger is laced with vinegar which can give an off flavour, especially if you don't strain the excess liquid .... best to dice up fresh ginger and boil with the other ingredients for 30 min

5 eyes


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## brettprevans (30/1/11)

I know crushed Ginger is quick but it tastes nothing like real Ginger and weight for weight I recon fresh Ginger is still probably cheaper than jar stuff even if it's $20 per kilo. 

10 chillis? Wow. I used 3 Birdseye and that was plenty. Mind u that was an 'AG'/from scratch Ginger beer. Maybe kits have something that offsets the heat.


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## hotchilli (30/1/11)

*5eyes* - thanks for the heads up. I checked the ingredients on the jar and yep, it's about 10% vinegar, which works out to 15ml. Hopefully this won't be detectable in 19L. If I do ever decide to use it again, I'll boil off the vinegar.

*CM2 *- I got stung $30 per kilo for the fresh ginger at woolies. You're right though, the crushed stuff is nowhere near as good as fresh - may have been false economy? And yeah, 10 chillies is probably a bit overkill, but hey, I love chilli, and I'm brewing this one for me, not the ladies. Now that I've discovered you can put chilli in GB, I'm also finding some people are putting chilli in their beer - woohoo, sounds like heaven


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## jasonharley (30/1/11)

hotchilli said:


> *5eyes* - thanks for the heads up. I checked the ingredients on the jar and yep, it's about 10% vinegar, which works out to 15ml. Hopefully this won't be detectable in 19L. If I do ever decide to use it again, I'll boil off the vinegar.
> 
> *CM2 *- I got stung $30 per kilo for the fresh ginger at woolies. You're right though, the crushed stuff is nowhere near as good as fresh - may have been false economy? And yeah, 10 chillies is probably a bit overkill, but hey, I love chilli, and I'm brewing this one for me, not the ladies. Now that I've discovered you can put chilli in GB, I'm also finding some people are putting chilli in their beer - woohoo, sounds like heaven



If you a stuck for fresh ginger (this may be the case during the post-flood food logistic crisis) then a quick trick is to empty half of the jar of ginger and fill it will ice cold water, mix with a spoon and drain off the liquid... that should take the edge off the vinegar


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## Dribs (1/11/11)

I'm thinking of doing something similar to Hotchilli's recipe (but with half the chilli). I'm thinking of not straining it so some ginger pulp ends up in the bottle. People love that! But what of the chilli pulp in the bottle? Would it be inoffensive after being soak for weeks?


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## bum (1/11/11)

Dribs said:


> Would it be inoffensive after being soak for weeks?


Nope. But just cut it in half, no reason to pulp it - it'll still do it's thing. Maybe even fish them out of the boil first.


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## Dribs (2/11/11)

Just put mine down a few moments ago, twas:

tin of Coopers GB
200g of fresh ginger (grated)
1.6kg-ish of raw sugar
750ml Bunderim Ginger Refresher
10 cloves (whole)
3 cinnamon stick (whole)
2 big chillies, 4 baby chillies
rind and juice of 1 lemon.
1.5 packets of Coopers yeast.

Method: The usual. Boiled most of it in 2 litres of water for 20 -30 mins, however, I put the ginger refresh in the fridge to help bring the temp down before pitching and added it after the goo and boil were in. Strained it into the fermenter and ate half the ginger pulp, it was delicious. Over shot a bit and made 23 litres, gravity 1035 so expecting around 4.5%.


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