# Gb From Scratch Mkii



## KenJohnson (13/3/11)

Okay, so im doing my 2nd Ginger beer from scratch. this time is basically Chappo's recipe, but a scaled down test version. wont start this for another one or two days...

the recipes for 4.5 Litre

about 250 gm of raw ginger
250gm Dark Brown Sugar
1 cup honey
1 cinnamon stick
1 lemon
1 lime
1 chilli (chopped up and added to fermenter) 
US05 yeast and nutrient 
maybe lactose for sweetening if required

does this look like its missing anything?
anyway i'll update this when i get started which hopefully will be monday or tuesday


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## SuiCIDER (14/3/11)

I would be careful with the chilli, I had a small birdseye chilli in mine and it almost overpowered it.


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## KenJohnson (14/3/11)

SuiCIDER said:


> I would be careful with the chilli, I had a small birdseye chilli in mine and it almost overpowered it.




i was worried about how many to add, but the ones i got arent too hot. i had a whole one with dinner last night and it was just the right spicyness 

also, when would i add the lemon juice? at the start of the boil? chappo's recipe uses a full 60 min boil


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## SuiCIDER (15/3/11)

I would pour it straight into the carboy, I would suggest that most of the lemon/lime would dissipate after fermentation anyway so it doesn't really matter!


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## Yeastie Beastie (15/3/11)

I have had a few cracks at doing a Ginger Beer myself.
After a few failed attempts, curse words and even the kids laughing I came up with one that was easy/lazy and tastes not too bad.

1 x 900g Can Brigalow Ginger Beer.
1 kg Coopers Dextrose.

Add 3ltr warm water to fermentor, add goo and dex to fermentor, stir, top up fermentor to 20ltr, add yeast, wait whilst fermenting, bottle, enjoy. 
Even shout ya mates a couple 'cos it was so easy.

Sorry h34r: 

Did their Apple Cider too, both aren't bad for the record.


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## KenJohnson (15/3/11)

i might try a kit one after this no matter how it turns out, why not , its gotta be dead easy  
and morgans (?) is the other brand thats not bad i think.. i'll have many brews to go after this hahaha

Also, got my yeast and other goodies today in the post, but the Hydrometer i ordered had broken  well serves me right for buying delicate glass things online.


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## toadskin (15/3/11)

KenJohnson said:


> i might try a kit one after this no matter how it turns out, why not , its gotta be dead easy
> and morgans (?) is the other brand thats not bad i think.. i'll have many brews to go after this hahaha
> 
> Also, got my yeast and other goodies today in the post, but the Hydrometer i ordered had broken  well serves me right for buying delicate glass things online.




Put this down today.

I x 750ml bottle Buderim Ginger Refresher
1 x 1kg Buderim minced fresh ginger
1 x 1kg LDME
250gm lactose
1 x cinnamon stick
1 x small chilli
1/2 lime

Morgans ale yeast

Hope and pray!

23lt ferment


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## SuiCIDER (15/3/11)

toadskin said:


> Put this down today.
> 
> I x 750ml bottle Buderim Ginger Refresher
> 1 x 1kg Buderim minced fresh ginger
> ...



I would have waited to add the ginger refresher until after the ferment, I can imagine it would have a few preservatives which at the very least would create some dodgy flavours..


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## KenJohnson (16/3/11)

thats not bad looking  
I would also be concerned about possible preservatives. if you boiled it though, would that take care of some of them? anyway, Back to my recipe haha. im gonna start toady (without hydrometer) n just get one later in the week. i'll use it when the brew looks like its calming down, to check for a stable reading, etc, etc.. bottling, blaa blaa


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## Sprungmonkey (16/3/11)

yeah i made a batch witht the refresher but didn't like it - came out too syrup like.

I used 500g of fresh ginger with a brigalow kit and lactose (thnk about 250g) dextrose (750g) and about 6 birdseye chillies chopped

it was perfect.


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## toadskin (16/3/11)

KenJohnson said:


> thats not bad looking
> I would also be concerned about possible preservatives. if you boiled it though, would that take care of some of them? anyway, Back to my recipe haha. im gonna start toady (without hydrometer) n just get one later in the week. i'll use it when the brew looks like its calming down, to check for a stable reading, etc, etc.. bottling, blaa blaa




I boiled the Refresher with the LDME but not the minced ginger. I was going to boil that as well but I wasn't sure what effect it would have on the taste of the ginger. The lime and chilli were just washed carefully and thrown in. I calculated the Refresher contains about 500gm of sucrose. It's fermenting nicely and smells great at the moment.


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## KenJohnson (16/3/11)

nice  good luck man! I just got the yeast in mine and its currently under the house wrapped in wet tshirts and flanked by frozen waterbottles. now we wait....


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## KenJohnson (18/3/11)

well, its been bubbling away for two days now. ive kept it nice and cool, etc.. also the brewing store sent me another hydrometer as the 1st one got broken in the post. i tested it at 20 degrees in water, (as the instructions said) and it reads 1004. so i would just remember to compensate for that when i take an actual reading?


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## brettprevans (19/3/11)

Boiling something with preservitives doesn't kill the preservitives. They are chemicals (usually) and will remain. But it's so small in your end quantity it won't matter. We discussed using minced Ginger in the chappo GB from search thread. 

In regards to the hydro, yeah just adjust 4 points. That's if it was room temp pure water. It's meant to be room temp (20C) pure water (from memory) if ur testing the calibration. I wouldn't worry too much


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## KenJohnson (30/3/11)

hey guys,

finally bottled the ginger beer, and had a taste test. 
the taste was surprisingly good, nice amount of ginger bite, and not too much chilliness. although i would use less in my next batch. very dry, so i added 100gm of lactose (into 4.5L of ginger beer) with my priming sugar. thats an experimental amount, so i'll get back to all of you after i taste it which should be 2 weeks from now. 

In other news, im starting an experimantal Cider! using nothing but juice (beechworth-Just apple juice) and a yeast culture i grew from some apple peels.


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