# Ginger Beer Recipe - Scratch Brew No Kit



## chappo1970

Ok so i finally got around to making version 2 of the Father & Son Special Ginger Beer.

Version 1 was lacking in a few areas so I have tweaked it a little and changed a few things to see if I can improve it.

Recipe

1.5kg Fresh Ginger
2.0kg Brown Sugar
1.0kg Iron Bark Honey
4 Cinnamon Sticks
5 Large Bush Lemons
5 Limes

Yeast Safale S-05 

Steps

Wash the ginger thoroughly
Cut Ginger into 2cm long pieces
Add 500ml of cold water to blender as well as the ginger. I found it's best to add a couple of pieces at a time. If you don't have a blender grating is fine but you may want to consider freezing overnight to break up the cell structure as the ginger root is very fiberous.
Set Ginger pulp aside in the fridge for an hour to set up a little. Makes it easier to get out of the blender.
Juice the lemons and limes. Set aside two lemons and limes for zesting.
Zest the lemons and limes taking care not to have any white pith. I used a fish filleting knife. Then cut into thin strips.
Crush cinnamon. I put the cinnamon sticks in a zip lock bag and used my palm to crush them. Less mess that way.
Add all the sugar and honey to the boiler with 22lt of hot water. You will need a further 500ml of water to rinse the hoey from the pot. Stir to disolve. Boil size should now be 24lts.
Bring up to the boil. Gentle at this stage. Boil time is 60mins.
Add ginger pulp, zest and cinnamon to hops bag and drop it the boiler.
Boil gently for 50mins. Scoop ginger scum from top of boil. Dunk the bag like a tea bag every so often to get as much ginger flavour to impart to the boil.
Boil vigorously last 10mins. Keep a vigil as it will try to boil over!
Flame out 60mins.
Remove bag from boiler, just the remaining water seep out, don't squeeze. Scoop any scub from the top of the boil.
Rehydrate yeast in starter.
Cool it to pitching temp 18-20C.
Pitch yeast.
Ferment till steady readings.
SG - 1057
FG - 1012

I put it into the fermenter yeasterday. It was happily bubbling away this morning. I want to make mine a little less alcoholic so I will rack to a secondary vessle and crash chill before bottling.

I hope you enjoy it!


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## rupal

Sounds like it will be a good GB, What would you say your first one was like compared to Bundaberg Ginger Beer ? Does it have a strong gingery punch to it ? Ps, what are bush lemons ?


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## chappo1970

rupal said:


> Sounds like it will be a good GB, What would you say your first one was like compared to Bundaberg Ginger Beer ? Does it have a strong gingery punch to it ? Ps, what are bush lemons ?




Yep bottled this one friday night. I would tweek up the ginger to 1.25kg if you like extra bite otherwise leave it as is. Doesn't compare to Bundy GB IMO cinnamon overtone yada yada but I'm bias huh? :lol: 

Bush lemons are lemons with a gnarly rough skin. I have a tree so I have an advantage but normal old lemons from the green grocer would do.

Also need to add yeast nutrient as there isn't much for the yeast to be healthy with.

Hope this helps?


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## lczaban

Probbly the only thing I would add to this GB would be a red chilli, thinly sliced up (seeds and all) added into the fermenter. I used one (which was about 10cm long) in my GB and while it doesn't add alter the mid-palate flavour at all, it does help to lengthen the finish quite nicely and leaves a nice ginger tingle on your tongue after each mouthful. I'll have to go through and search up the recipe I used and post it here as a supercharged K&B GB. The few people I have shown this to have commented on it's gingeryness...


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## lczaban

It didn't take me too long to find the recipe in my notes, so here goes...

GG's GB Recipe 11/1/2009


1 x Morgans Ginger Beer Kit
1 x 500g Fresh ginger
1 x 250g *DARK* Brown Sugar
1 x 1kg dextrose
1 x 750ml Buderum Ginger Refresher Cordial
1 x fresh chilli (sliced thinly with the seeds in)
~600ml Sweet Vermouth
~600ml Sweet Sherry
~30ml Lochan Ora
 Grated the ginger and soaked in a bowl with equal parts of Sweet Sherry, Sweet Vermouth & Lochan Ora for 24 hours. Combined the GB kit, brown sugar, dex and refresher cordial in 3L boiling water in the fermenter and stirred, then added the grated ginger soak (alcohol & all), added the sliced chilli and topped up to 23L. SG 1.048. Let the fermenter stand overnight while the yeast starter worked its treat, and pitched the following morning. FG 22/1/2008 0.996 Alc/Vol : 7.0% 


I like this because it is overloaded with ginger bite. It had a real fortified complexity when I tried the first bottle of this brew two weeks after bottling, which has since faded into the background more progressively as the brew has aged. It still has a real kick to it though. I drank 2 1/2 longnecks of this GB with Vietnamese on Thursday night, and while it started to get heavy going towards the end it was a good accompaniment to the noodle soups we had. It would also go a treat with a sweet chilli stirfry IMHO.

I used the following recipe as the basis for my GB. It was posted in another thread, and I didn't make a note of who put this on AHB, but it also seems like a tops recipe...

_My Ginger Beer recipe has taken me a while to get good and i love gingery bite!!
Its a K&K tho so i hope its ok to post it here...

1 x Coopers Ginger Beer (or morgans but i cant taste the difference just the price)
1 x 500g Fresh ginger
1 x 250g *DARK* Brown Sugar
1 x 800g Raw Sugar (or dex or brewing sugar)
1 x 250g Buderum Ginger Honey
1 x 50g powdered ginger
2 x Whole cloves
4 x birds eye chillies (sliced thinly, i personally keep the seeds in)

Boil up around 3litres of water
Add in the honey, chillies
boil for 15minutes
then add the fresh and powdered ginger
boil for 15minutes
about now its smelling really tastey 
add the brown sugar and the cloves
boil for 15minutes
remove from heat (i usally cover the pot with clingwrap to prevent anything unwanted getting in) let cool while preparing the fermenter
I guess the order i add things in is abit random... but it seems to work

Make the kit up as normal from here
usually ferment for around 2 weeks, bottle for around 6 weeks, but do taste one bottle at 3 weeks the ginger kick is sooooo strong! it mellows out to a nice hit at 6 weeks, by 3 months its lost most its taste imho._


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## chappo1970

Another Hot Head GG? Excellent! :lol: 

Chilli what an awesome idea. I'm gunna give that a crack on the next GB brew for sure. Might have to do a double batch one for me and one for the hordes. My GB a bit of a house brew here kids and the father in law consume 30 bottles in a matter of weeks. 

Great recipe BTW GG thanks for sharing!


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## InCider

What a great idea Gravity - chilli in GB. I'm not much one for chilli in beer, but the flavours will compliment exceptionally well.

instead of birds eyes, I'd go for a jalapeno from the garden, or even on habanero. Yum!

InCider.


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## head

I have not tried this myself but I am tempted to try Galangal in a ginger beer. Have tried it raw before and it has a very hot bite for a ginger. Should be able to pick it up in woolies fresh these days.


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## chappo1970

GravityGuru said:


> 1 x Morgans Ginger Beer Kit
> 1 x 500g Fresh ginger
> 1 x 250g *DARK* Brown Sugar
> 1 x 1kg dextrose
> 1 x 750ml Buderum Ginger Refresher Cordial
> 1 x fresh chilli (sliced thinly with the seeds in)
> ~600ml Sweet Vermouth
> ~600ml Sweet Sherry
> ~30ml Lochan Ora



OK GG you win mate! That was an awesome drop I tried today very very good. For those not privvy or lucky enough to try it there is just the slightest hint of chilli in the background that well balances the GB IMO. 

I WON"T ADMIT DEFEAT YET GG!

:icon_cheers:

EDIT: Whoopsy for those uneducated bogans (like me  ) Loch an bloody norah is a liquor scotch!


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## Tiny_Tim

Hi there chappo. Just have a couple of quick questions about this recipe. 
The original recipe called for 1.5kg fresh ginger, and you said if you want an extra ginger kick you could up the dosage to 1.25kg. Did you mean 1.75kg? Would 2 kg be way too much?
Also is Safale S-05 definitely the best yeast for ginger beer? Anyone else have opinions on this?

Cheers!


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## chappo1970

Tiny_Tim said:


> Hi there chappo. Just have a couple of quick questions about this recipe.
> The original recipe called for 1.5kg fresh ginger, and you said if you want an extra ginger kick you could up the dosage to 1.25kg. Did you mean 1.75kg? Would 2 kg be way too much?
> Also is Safale S-05 definitely the best yeast for ginger beer? Anyone else have opinions on this?
> 
> Cheers!



Hey there Tiny_Tim,

Stick with 1.25kg Tiny_Tim IMO to start with unless you like your ginger beer to bite you back. Sorry for the confusion but from memory I was going to go 1.25kg but upped it to 1.5kg on the day which is my usual style of doing things. I also wound it back a little because other forum members might not like their GB to have as much bite as I do. I'm down to the last 3 or 4 bottles of the last batch (of this particular recipe) and have decided not to change a thing except I'm going to make a double batch so I can ferment one for the kids and one for me with about 500gr of chilli and let it ferment out. BTW my kids will eat mild curries and chilli's so they have a pretty tolerant palate to these kind of flavours. If your kids don't then wind it back say to 1kg or less. But the amount of ginger does depend on how bitey the fresh ginger is you intend to use. I suggest you cut up one of the ginger roots and have a chew. If your eyes pop out of your head, stay lower, if you can gnore the whole thing with having to spit it out, then up the weight.

S-05 loves it but needs to have a yeast neutrient. CB's do sell a ginger beer yeast but I'm not certain of what it is, how it goes etc as I have never used it.


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## rupal

Does anyone know how Bundy Ginger Beer is made ? They use yeast, but it is alcohol free.


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## Tiny_Tim

The vaporisation point of alcohol is lower than that of water, so you can boil the alcohol off beer once it's been fermented. I don't know how Bundaberg do it, but I'd imagine it would be similar to the production of alcohol free wines, they place the brew in a vacuum so that the alcohol vaporises at an even lower temp than normal.


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## chappo1970

Tiny_Tim said:


> The vaporisation point of alcohol is lower than that of water, so you can boil the alcohol off beer once it's been fermented. I don't know how Bundaberg do it, but I'd imagine it would be similar to the production of alcohol free wines, they place the brew in a vacuum so that the alcohol vaporises at an even lower temp than normal.



+1 Tiny Tim

Alcohol starts to vaporise at a balmy +70C so your not really boiling the balls off it more a simmer. Not that I know these kind of things, merely read it somewhere in my travels. h34r: 

Now I must admit I have only read about yeasts that have alcohol as their by product, funnily enough being a beer brewer and all, so I am not sure if there is such a strain of yeast that exist's that doesn't. Maybe someone with more knowledge can chime in with advice on that one?

I use S05 because it is a clean yeast and doesn't throw a heap of diectyl in the first stages of ferment IMO as I tend to rack to a second fermenter after 2(+/- subject to ish) days, fine and crash chill for 7 or more days then bottle condition for 3 weeks or so. I add no sugar to the bottles they don't need it plus I had very bad experience in my earlier days with GB bottle bombs on steriods! Usually comes in around 1-2% ABV. Retains alot of the honey characteristics I like in my GB. 

I also do a double batch so I have the no-chill cube ready to go straight onto the yeast cake of the first batch add yeast neutrients then let that ferment out for the full blown alcoholic version which is around 7% ABV.


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## Supra-Jim

Chappo said:


> Alcohol starts to vaporise at a balmy +70C so your not really boiling the balls off it more a simmer. Not that I know these kind of things, merely read it somewhere in my travels. h34r:



I believe you are correct, however this vapourisation temp can be lowered by applying a vacuum (or a pressure lower than atmosphere) to the surface of the liquid. Therefore you need less heat to acheive your goals.

Simple idea to post, a little more tricky to put into use!

:icon_cheers: SJ


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## Tiny_Tim

So no priming sugar at all Chappo? Even with the fully fermented version? I'm currently trying this one out, with a few additions. So far so good.


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## chappo1970

On the alcoholic version bulk prime with the normal amount of sugar but on the lean ish side, even 3/4 is good. But taste test first to see how dry it is that will give you an indication of where to go bottle priming wise. There is a whack of fermentables in there and you don't want bottle bombs trust me.


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## Mikey!!!

I'm trying out that GB recipe - it sounds great.

Say, a friend of mine said that doing GB, there's a greater chance of the bottles exploding. Is that right? He reckons I should bottle this in plastic but I really don't like pouring beer out of plastic bottles.

I don't know what the reason could be that he has in mind. Maybe all that ginger and stuff increases the risk of infection...

What do you guys reckon?


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## chappo1970

Mikey!!! said:


> I'm trying out that GB recipe - it sounds great.
> 
> Say, a friend of mine said that doing GB, there's a greater chance of the bottles exploding. Is that right? He reckons I should bottle this in plastic but I really don't like pouring beer out of plastic bottles.
> 
> I don't know what the reason could be that he has in mind. Maybe all that ginger and stuff increases the risk of infection...
> 
> What do you guys reckon?



I bottle mine in screw top Bundaburg GB bottles 700mls (i think? Not completely sure about that one). I haven't had a problem thus far except for a much much earlier batch that went into some Tooheys New tallies.

Let us know how you get on with this one.

Cheers

Chappo


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## Mikey!!!

Chappo said:


> I bottle mine in screw top Bundaburg GB bottles 700mls (i think? Not completely sure about that one). I haven't had a problem thus far except for a much much earlier batch that went into some Tooheys New tallies.
> 
> Let us know how you get on with this one.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Chappo



Will do - thanks! I'll go with the glass then.

Sorry for the dumb questions, but... When you bottle this, do you filter it to avoid getting chunks of ginger in the bottles?


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## Phoney

Here is the recipe (I found somewhere on this forum) that impresses all of my mates: 

Ingredients:
1 Coopers kit ginger beer from the supermaket
800g organic raw sugar
250g *DARK* brown sugar
500g fresh ginger
50g powdered ginger 
250g yellowbox honey
4 birdseye chili's sliced, seeds and all.
2 whole cloves
1/2tsp nutmeg
1/2tsp cinnamon

Method:
snap the fresh ginger into chunks and then put it into a food processer until it all becomes processed. If you dont have a food processer, I suppose you could coarsely grate it all?

Bring 3 litres of water to boil in a big soup pot.
add honey and chillis, close the lid and boil @ 15 mins.
add fresh ginger, and powdered ginger, boil @ 15 mins.
add the dark brown sugar, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and boil @ 15 mins.
turn the heat off, but keep the lid on the whole time.

now make your kit ginger beer as per the instructions using the 800g of raw sugar. 

Then using a very large metal sterile sieve strain the liquid from your soup pot into the fermenter and chuck the solids left behind out. Stir to dissolve.

Top up to 20L, pitch kit yeast, then ferment for 2 weeks at 20-22C, bottle for at least 6 weeks before drinking.

OG: 1034
FG: 1005
ABV: 4.3%



When your GB is finally ready, you can try this for something extra special! 

1 longneck of GB
1 cup of ice cold Vodka
The juice of 2 limes
1 small handfull of torn mint leaves
2 handfull's of ice

Throw it all into a small metal bucket & stir. (or divide into glasses) It'll knock the pants off the ladies  . Bloody beautiful...


I will give your recipe from scratch a go next time though Chapps


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## Jimmeh

Hi phoneyhuh

Recipe looks good!
But just to clarify, do you mean add honey, chillis and boil for 15mins... then add ginger and boil for another 15 mins etc?
Im confused because youve made it look like a hop schedule!

Cheers


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## Phoney

Sorry yes, 45 min boil in total. honey and chillis for first 15 mins, then add the ginger, etc.


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## nabs478

G'day Chappo,

Just hoping to ask a few questions about your recipe...

1. Seeing as you just add a bunch of simple sugars, does the US-05 yeast just ferment all of it if it is left to ferment out? Leaving a very dry GB?

2. When doing the non/low alcoholic one, I would have thought that after you crash chill it and bottle it, then the yeast would just start back up again if the temp rose above 18C and then you would have bottle bombs?

I am going to brew a GB but I am thinking of exchanging some of the sugars for some freshly mashed wort. Have you ever tried that?

Thanks


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## Mikey!!!

Chappo said:


> Let us know how you get on with this one.
> 
> Chappo



So I cracked one of these open this week... It's been in the bottle nearly 4 weeks. I know it's a little early but I wanted to see what it was like. IT WAS FLAT!!!!  

Do you think that means that I somehow killed the yeast? Or might it be that the alcohol content is too high for the crappy yeast I used? (I used the yeast from under the lid of the coopers GB kit.)

It's such a shame! It tastes quite nice otherwise. A bit too sweet but that's probably because the yeast hasn't done its job...

Do you think if I leave it for another month or so it might carbonate itself? :huh:


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## bum

Rouse the yeast and keep them warm and wait. If they taste good they'll probably be good in the end.


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## Mikey!!!

bum said:


> Rouse the yeast and keep them warm and wait. If they taste good they'll probably be good in the end.



Ok cheers. I've shaken the bottles a bit and put them back away. I'll take another peek in a month or so.

Thanks for the advice!


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## Maz91379

Great thing about this recipe is you can reuse the ginger you strain out, freeze it in small portions, and use it for lots of things with cooking. Think it might make a nice addition to a pumpkin pie made some nice ginger chicken the other day.


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## thylacine

Ginger Beer 'Plant' (eg. non kit brewers...)

.....To make the ginger beer "plant", place in a jar eight sultanas, juice of two lemons, one teaspoon lemon pulp, four teaspoons sugar, two teaspoons ground ginger and two cups cold water. Cover lightly with a cloth. In warm weather, leave three or four days by which time it should be starting to ferment. Then each day for one week, add two teaspoons ground ginger and four teaspoons sugar to the "plant". It should be ready at the end of the week to make into beer. To make beer, place four cups of sugar, four cups of boiling water and the juice of four lemons into a large bowl. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Strain the plant into it through a fine cloth, squeeze dry. Add 28 cups of cold water and stir. Pour into bottles and cork down. Leave two weeks before using. To keep the "plant" alive for another batch of beer, halve the "plant" in the cloth and place in a jar with two cups cold water. Continue to feed it with four teaspoons sugar and two tablespoons ground ginger for one week. This is one that my father used when I was a child...


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## brewbeast

just a thought, would a wheat yeast work well with a ginger beer? i could imagine the banana and clove possibly mixing quite well


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## tdack

thylacine said:


> Ginger Beer 'Plant' (eg. non kit brewers...)
> 
> .....To make the ginger beer "plant", place in a jar ... This is one that my father used when I was a child...



Pretty much the same as my folks had me make as a kid. Except I think mum used a bit of bakers yeast to kick things off. She also used to use the end of a stocking stretched over the mouth of the jar and then stuffed in the jar. You put the ginger/sugar/lemon mix in here and it sat in the water. It made the filtering process at the end a little easier as you just lifted the stocking out of the jar with most of the solids.

I remember my batches being a little explosive. We used to keep the ginger beer under the house once bottled and I learnt after a couple of exploding bottles that placing them in the fridge door was bad. After that the bottles were always carried very carefully from downstairs/under the house and placed in the bottom of the fridge where they wouldn't be shaken about too much.


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## crundle

I would recommend using PET bottles for GB, especially the low alcohol versions, as you are really just making a normal alcoholic version but drinking it before the yeast has had a real chance to work on the sugars. PET makes it easier to judge when they are ripe by the results of the squeeze test, unlike glass! 

The kids go nuts for this in the summer, and our ginger beer plant gets a workout!

Crundle


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## keiper12

I really enjoyed reading the ginger beer posts and tried Chappo's recipe but I mucked it...it stabilized way too low and I ended up with ginger wine...really quite horrible. The continued fermentation really changed what started out as a good tasting brew.

What do you do when you see the specific gravity continues to go south...stabilize it? Any advice?

Thanks...


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## skippy

Keiper said:


> I really enjoyed reading the ginger beer posts and tried Chappo's recipe but I mucked it...it stabilized way too low and I ended up with ginger wine...really quite horrible. The continued fermentation really changed what started out as a good tasting brew.
> 
> What do you do when you see the specific gravity continues to go south...stabilize it? Any advice?
> 
> Thanks...




depending on what type of yeast you use...

I found that Champagne yeast is notorious for fermenting GB to dry, as it tolerates high alcohol and pressure.


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## keiper12

skippy said:


> depending on what type of yeast you use...
> 
> I found that Champagne yeast is notorious for fermenting GB to dry, as it tolerates high alcohol and pressure.




Thank you...

...I used a standard beer yeast (WLP039 Nottingham Ale Yeast - couldn't find the one recommended) thinking that it would stop...but it definitely fermented to dry. I'll try it again...but am a little worried about beer bombs...

Thanks again, Keith


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## chappo1970

Keith,

Try S05. I sample mine often to guage whether it's reached the right point I want it, flavour, sweetness and dryness and then crash chill to stop the yeast's putting them to sleep. I then use potassium sorbate and sodium metabisulfate (campdon tablets) to kill off the yeasts. But I keg carbonate and then bottle. Mind you I am happily drinking thru a batch that I bottled (in glass) back in March this which I just used potassium sorbate to stop the little buggers reproducing. Its really a salt and when added to your GB will form sorbic acid which does the deed. Any yeast already alive will continue living and continue being able to ferment out sugars into more ethanol and CO2 but they will eventually die off.

Hope this helps?

Cheers 

Chappo

EDIT: Oh and filtering helps bring down their numbers to if your able to filter?


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## keiper12

Chappo said:


> Keith,
> 
> Try S05. I sample mine often to guage whether it's reached the right point I want it, flavour, sweetness and dryness and then crash chill to stop the yeast's putting them to sleep. I then use potassium sorbate and sodium metabisulfate (campdon tablets) to kill off the yeasts. But I keg carbonate and then bottle. Mind you I am happily drinking thru a batch that I bottled (in glass) back in March this which I just used potassium sorbate to stop the little buggers reproducing. Its really a salt and when added to your GB will form sorbic acid which does the deed. Any yeast already alive will continue living and continue being able to ferment out sugars into more ethanol and CO2 but they will eventually die off.
> 
> Hope this helps?
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Chappo
> 
> EDIT: Oh and filtering helps bring down their numbers to if your able to filter?



Awesome...your clarification helps greatly...it makes very much sense and I'll definitely give it another go and stabilize when it hits the right finishing gravity (I've been making too much dry wine and forgot my common sense)...I have a counter pressure filler and it seems like the perfect application.

Do you find that you have to bulk age a bit to reduce the stabilizing agent taste (or does the strong flavors hide it)?

Again, thank you for your help...your recipe had exactly the right flavor on the first day...when I follow through correctly...I have no doubt that it will be a winner.

Take care...


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## chappo1970

Keiper said:


> Awesome...your clarification helps greatly...it makes very much sense and I'll definitely give it another go and stabilize when it hits the right finishing gravity (I've been making too much dry wine and forgot my common sense)...I have a counter pressure filler and it seems like the perfect application.
> 
> Do you find that you have to bulk age a bit to reduce the stabilizing agent taste (or does the strong flavors hide it)?
> 
> Again, thank you for your help...your recipe had exactly the right flavor on the first day...when I follow through correctly...I have no doubt that it will be a winner.
> 
> Take care...



No worries. I have been meaning to post that tid bit up for a while but kept forgeting to do it  . I shudder to think of the bottle bombs that may have been created?
Yes I usually bulk condition it for 1 to 3 months as a matter of course in the keg to settle everything down and to let the flavours come shining thru. I have never had any off flavours but you will find a sulfury aroma at first but the C02 when carbing seems to drive that off very quickly. I have also dropped off the sodium metabisulfate as I cold condition in the keg and filter prior.

Chappo


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## Bugsylove

Chappo said:


> Ok so i finally got around to making version 2 of the Father & Son Special Ginger Beer.
> 
> Version 1 was lacking in a few areas so I have tweaked it a little and changed a few things to see if I can improve it.
> 
> Recipe
> 
> 1.5kg Fresh Ginger
> 2.0kg Brown Sugar
> 1.0kg Iron Bark Honey
> 4 Cinnamon Sticks
> 5 Large Bush Lemons
> 5 Limes
> 
> Yeast Safale S-05
> 
> Steps
> 
> Wash the ginger thoroughly
> Cut Ginger into 2cm long pieces
> Add 500ml of cold water to blender as well as the ginger. I found it's best to add a couple of pieces at a time. If you don't have a blender grating is fine but you may want to consider freezing overnight to break up the cell structure as the ginger root is very fiberous.
> Set Ginger pulp aside in the fridge for an hour to set up a little. Makes it easier to get out of the blender.
> Juice the lemons and limes. Set aside two lemons and limes for zesting.
> Zest the lemons and limes taking care not to have any white pith. I used a fish filleting knife. Then cut into thin strips.
> Crush cinnamon. I put the cinnamon sticks in a zip lock bag and used my palm to crush them. Less mess that way.
> Add all the sugar and honey to the boiler with 22lt of hot water. You will need a further 500ml of water to rinse the hoey from the pot. Stir to disolve. Boil size should now be 24lts.
> Bring up to the boil. Gentle at this stage. Boil time is 60mins.
> Add ginger pulp, zest and cinnamon to hops bag and drop it the boiler.
> Boil gently for 50mins. Scoop ginger scum from top of boil. Dunk the bag like a tea bag every so often to get as much ginger flavour to impart to the boil.
> Boil vigorously last 10mins. Keep a vigil as it will try to boil over!
> Flame out 60mins.
> Remove bag from boiler, just the remaining water seep out, don't squeeze. Scoop any scub from the top of the boil.
> Rehydrate yeast in starter.
> Cool it to pitching temp 18-20C.
> Pitch yeast.
> Ferment till steady readings.
> SG - 1057
> FG - 1012
> 
> I put it into the fermenter yeasterday. It was happily bubbling away this morning. I want to make mine a little less alcoholic so I will rack to a secondary vessle and crash chill before bottling.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!



Would it be over gassy if you prime the bottles before bottling, would you prime them at all or half as much or as per usual


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## cdbrown

Chappo,

Any reason for doing a full boil on this? My next brew is going to be a ginger beer and looking at using your recipe. Has it changed at all since brewing it earlier in the year?


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## bum

I expect two reasons: extract as much gingery/cinnamony (that's a word now, get used to it) goodness as you can and, even when washed really well, ginger is a bit of a dirty bugger (I don't trust it anyway).

Chappo may have other reasons - he's operating on a whole different plain.


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## cdbrown

Reason I ask that if I go for full boil I'll have to no chill in a cube, but if the boil is like a partial then I can chill it in the sink and ferment away.


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## bum

For my GBs I only do a 6 lt or so boil and then top up to desired volume and I have no worry getting enough bite out them. If you're worried about that but would prefer the small boil option a good little trick is to back a couple birds eye chillies into the boil. If you don't over do it this can extend the tail of the ginger flavour without over-powering. 

Wait, you may want to disregard that advice as I leave the ginger pulp in my fermenter - that would probably change things significantly. Best wait for the man himself.

Speaking of which...has he ever been this quiet before (excluding 5 hours or so before his 4000th post)?

[EDIT: just re-read his recipe and he does a 24lt boil]


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## skippy

just speaking to an old bloke today and he recons when he used to make ginger beer years ago he used to add a sultanna to each bottle and turn the lame sunday lunch GB into something with a little bit more kick in it. Has the old bugger taken to much medication or is this true - adding one of these boosts the alcohol content?

Puzzled, science tells me it doesn't.

edit.sp


----------



## cdbrown

Not sure about that skippy - but sultana's are used in the ginger beer plant I believe.


----------



## AntCoop

Sultanas have yeast in them, this would convert the sugar and give off more C02 possibly making bottle bombs? h34r: 

Coops :icon_cheers:



Edit :speeling


----------



## Beerbuoy

I have one of these fermenting now. I've been taste testing over the last 3 days :icon_drool2: . Still a bit sweet but I reckon it will be ready for the keg this arvo.

Thanks Chappo


----------



## chappo1970

cdbrown said:


> Chappo,
> 
> Any reason for doing a full boil on this? My next brew is going to be a ginger beer and looking at using your recipe. Has it changed at all since brewing it earlier in the year?



I full boil to get the most out of the raw ginger really.



Beerbuoy said:


> I have one of these fermenting now. I've been taste testing over the last 3 days :icon_drool2: . Still a bit sweet but I reckon it will be ready for the keg this arvo.
> 
> Thanks Chappo



Awesome news! I just polished off a 9month old bottle of the Alcoholic version last night. Yeehaw woke up this morning with a hairy chest it was that good. Probably bring a couple of bottle to the case swap to give gravityguru a run for his money.

Chap Chap


----------



## cdbrown

I brewed this but only did a 10L boil. I really should have pulled out the food processor because grating 1.25kg of ginger is neither fun or quick. It fermented quite quickly but didn't show any signs of ferment apart from some slight condensation. It ended up being 1.000 and is now in the keg carbing up just waiting for me to connect a tap to it - tonight hopefully!!. Sample before the keg was very promising, very dry and very hot. Not as much ginger flavour as I was expecting, but maybe the heat was masking the flavour. Will see what it's like carbed and cold. Better be good as it's one of the more expensive brews due to the price of ginger and limes.


----------



## chappo1970

cdbrown said:


> I brewed this but only did a 10L boil. I really should have pulled out the food processor because grating 1.25kg of ginger is neither fun or quick. It fermented quite quickly but didn't show any signs of ferment apart from some slight condensation. It ended up being 1.000 and is now in the keg carbing up just waiting for me to connect a tap to it - tonight hopefully!!. Sample before the keg was very promising, very dry and very hot. Not as much ginger flavour as I was expecting, but maybe the heat was masking the flavour. Will see what it's like carbed and cold. Better be good as it's one of the more expensive brews due to the price of ginger and limes.



Heat will die down with age. Unfortunately so does the ginger flavour IMO  . Really depends on the ginger and how fresh and flavoursome it was. I'm sure once it's cold and carbed it will be fine. Wow 1.000 FG it's going to as dry as simpson and have a hell of a kick to her, best I have done in 1.004 and 7.4% ABV. I usually wizz the ginger in the food processor skin and all, saves the knuckles being grated. I know what you mean with the price of ginger, I have scanning the local farmers market for fresh ginger best price so far was $19kg!!! Worth more than gold!

I hope you enjoy it CDB :icon_cheers:


----------



## cdbrown

The ginger seemed very fresh. Was about $15/kg at woolies. Honey wasn't cheap either come to think of it. Total cost for the batch was around $50.

Started off at 1.044, added the nutrient the following day (forgot to do it when brewing) so that may have helped get it down.


----------



## chappo1970

cdbrown said:


> The ginger seemed very fresh. Was about $15/kg at woolies. Honey wasn't cheap either come to think of it. Total cost for the batch was around $50.
> 
> Started off at 1.044, added the nutrient the following day (forgot to do it when brewing) so that may have helped get it down.




Even $15kg is way too expensive in my books. Come around Feb the price here usually get down to $5-6kg and same for honey. How long has it been fermenting for CDB?


----------



## cdbrown

Into fermenter 29/10, was finished probably about 3/11, chilled on 5/11 and into keg 7/11. Taste test tonight 13/11.

My OG reading says 1.055 but my hydro was reading too high at the time (it was broken) so I'm estimating it was 1.044 (based on beersmith's reckoning).


----------



## chappo1970

Fair enough. I'll be interested in your feed back CDB. :icon_cheers:


----------



## manticle

Anyone ever tried mixing the ginger up with some galangal (thai ginger)? It's an absolute prick to peel, especially if it's a bit old but it has a lovely flavour. I might give it a shot soon.


----------



## floppinab

cdbrown said:


> I really should have pulled out the food processor because grating 1.25kg of ginger is neither fun or quick.



A tip for ginger lovers. Keep it in a zip lock bag in your freezer, keeps for ever and when you need it, it grates up real easy, a bit like grating ice. Don't let it defrost as it goes all mushy.


----------



## manticle

Also peel it with a spoon rather than a knife. Sounds weird, works a treat and much less loss of flesh.


----------



## Fourstar

manticle said:


> Also peel it with a spoon rather than a knife. Sounds weird, works a treat and much less loss of flesh.



One of the best tricks i ever learnt mants!

Another good one is for peeling garlic. Smash the clove 1st with your palm on the side of a knife and the paper always comes off in one piece!


----------



## chappo1970

manticle said:


> Also peel it with a spoon rather than a knife. Sounds weird, works a treat and much less loss of flesh.




Your right it does sound weird. Please explain the technique M?


----------



## manticle

It works best with younger ginger (although so does any other method). Simply use the rounded edge if the spoon as you would a paring knife. Hard to explain, easy to demonstrate but it's basically the same technique. The spoon edge will shave away the skin no worries, you won't cut yourself at all and you cut away less flesh and can get into nooks and crannies.

try it at home when no-one's watching in case you think I'm pulling your leg. I did spend many years working in kitchens though so my advice is sound.


----------



## chappo1970

manticle said:


> It works best with younger ginger (although so does any other method). Simply use the rounded edge if the spoon as you would a paring knife. Hard to explain, easy to demonstrate but it's basically the same technique. The spoon edge will shave away the skin no worries, you won't cut yourself at all and you cut away less flesh and can get into nooks and crannies.
> 
> try it at home when no-one's watching in case you think I'm pulling your leg. I did spend many years working in kitchens though so my advice is sound.




I trust you M. I'll give it a go next time.


----------



## EZE-09Z

im also doing this recipe Chappo............... taste great so far !

cant wait to finish fermenting and keg it !


cheers for a great brew :chug: 



Ernie


----------



## moovet

GravityGuru said:


> It didn't take me too long to find the recipe in my notes, so here goes...
> 
> GG's GB Recipe 11/1/2009
> 
> 
> 1 x Morgans Ginger Beer Kit
> 1 x 500g Fresh ginger
> 1 x 250g *DARK* Brown Sugar
> 1 x 1kg dextrose
> 1 x 750ml Buderum Ginger Refresher Cordial
> 1 x fresh chilli (sliced thinly with the seeds in)
> ~600ml Sweet Vermouth
> ~600ml Sweet Sherry
> ~30ml Lochan Ora
> Grated the ginger and soaked in a bowl with equal parts of Sweet Sherry, Sweet Vermouth & Lochan Ora for 24 hours. Combined the GB kit, brown sugar, dex and refresher cordial in 3L boiling water in the fermenter and stirred, then added the grated ginger soak (alcohol & all), added the sliced chilli and topped up to 23L. SG 1.048. Let the fermenter stand overnight while the yeast starter worked its treat, and pitched the following morning. FG 22/1/2008 0.996 Alc/Vol : 7.0%



Hi all,

First time ginger brewer. Followed this recipe almost exactly but I substituted the sugar for a kilo of my honey and ended up with an SG of 1.030 in only 18 litres at 22degrees so i stopped adding water. That seems a long way below the SG above using dry sugars and I still have 5L less volume than the original. I am worried about adding more honey as my intention is to rack it after a few days and quick chill it before bottling as I want low alcohol and no bottle bombs. 

Is it normal to have such a difference when using honey over sugar? Can I safely make it up to 20 or 23L without making it too watery? I wont pitch the yeast (in a starter now) until the morning. Hopefully I have heard from somone by then.

Cheers

Moovet


----------



## bum

To make a low alc GB you must have a low SG to start with so you're halfway there already. As you are bottling you need to ferment this out completely - you don't have the luxury of stopping fermentation early like keggers can. You can add more water to your desired volume but it will make it more watery. Have you had a taste of the wort? The reduced volume may make the ginger bite stronger than you intended. Have a taste to see - remembering that the ginger will dissipate somewhat during fermentation and over time once bottled.

Also 1030 isn't quite as low as it sounds. GBs ferment out lower than beer and depending on your yeast/aeration/fermenting temps/nutrients/etc you may find it'll go down to around the 1000 mark so this recipe might come out over the standard drink vol% anyway.


----------



## moovet

Chappo said:


> I use S05 because it is a clean yeast and doesn't throw a heap of diectyl in the first stages of ferment IMO as I tend to rack to a second fermenter after 2(+/- subject to ish) days, fine and crash chill for 7 or more days then bottle condition for 3 weeks or so. I add no sugar to the bottles they don't need it plus I had very bad experience in my earlier days with GB bottle bombs on steriods! Usually comes in around 1-2% ABV. Retains alot of the honey characteristics I like in my GB.



Thank you bum. I hadn't tasted the wort but have pitched the yeast. Will try it whenI get home today. If you keep using the tap for taking samples for SG or tasting, how do you sterilise the tap afterwards? Or do you use a wine thief?

Was trying to eumulate Chappos 1-2% bottle GB above where he didn't ferment it out but didn't prime the bottles. Reason I am wanting low alcohol is for the wife as she is preggers. You don't think thats possible? I do have a fridge the secondary fermented will fit in nicely and I can chill that right down.

Cheers,

M


----------



## bum

Ah, sorry, missed that bit. You'd have to ask him about that. Sounds like a recipe for bottle bombs to me but he has practical experience with the process and I'm sure that his advice will be correct.

As for the tap I always keep a spray bottle of no-rinse sanitiser handy to my fermenter and just give a squirt up the tap after taking samples.


----------



## chappo1970

bum said:


> Ah, sorry, missed that bit. You'd have to ask him about that. Sounds like a recipe for bottle bombs to me but he has practical experience with the process and I'm sure that his advice will be correct.
> 
> As for the tap I always keep a spray bottle of no-rinse sanitiser handy to my fermenter and just give a squirt up the tap after taking samples.


Yep I do the same Bum with all my brews that I sample.

Weeeeell kinda yes? Kinda no? Basically the idea is to let the yeasties eat the easy stuff and leave the longer chain sugars for back sweetness by crash chilling, fining and I now filter (the lastest batch anyways) after 2 to 3 days. Important thing is to try to drop as much yeast as possible, also I bottle exclusively in PET for my GB these days as I figured it was better to be safe that sorry. Yeasts are funny little creature they sometimes decide to do something completely different to the last time in my experience.

You can kill the yeast if you wish to but I hate having any sort of preserving agents in my stuff. Moovet the trick IMO is to crash chill for at least 7 days and low around 4C or so.


----------



## moovet

Chappo said:


> Moovet the trick IMO is to crash chill for at least 7 days and low around 4C or so.



Thank you Chappo.

I got back home to check the taste and measure the SG. It is still 1.032 and tastes really nice with a bit of burn I can still feel but just a bit sweet (would be a good Bundy). Anyway there is not much foaming activity on the surface yet and it has been about 20 hours at 18-20 degrees since pitching a starter I made up. I only used one sachet of US-05. Should I be worried there is no action since pitching? Do you think i should make up another starter tonight and pitch that as well?

To tell you the truth it is very drinkable now but a bit less sweetness would be good. SHame it is going to lose some of its bite.

Cheers,


M


----------



## bum

Might not lose as much as I suggested because I was assuming you'd be fermenting this out. It will still fade over time however. Get into it as soon as it is ready.


----------



## chappo1970

moovet said:


> Thank you Chappo.
> 
> I got back home to check the taste and measure the SG. It is still 1.032 and tastes really nice with a bit of burn I can still feel but just a bit sweet (would be a good Bundy). Anyway there is not much foaming activity on the surface yet and it has been about 20 hours at 18-20 degrees since pitching a starter I made up. I only used one sachet of US-05. Should I be worried there is no action since pitching? Do you think i should make up another starter tonight and pitch that as well?
> 
> To tell you the truth it is very drinkable now but a bit less sweetness would be good. SHame it is going to lose some of its bite.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> 
> M



Mate I wouldn't pitch anymore. Leave another say 12 hours over night and check it again in the morning. Maybe another hydro test and see where she's at?


----------



## moovet

bum said:


> Might not lose as much as I suggested because I was assuming you'd be fermenting this out. It will still fade over time however. Get into it as soon as it is ready.



I thought I read somewhere in a forum that the preservative in the Biderum Giner Refresher could prevent fermentation but in the recipe I am following it makes no mention of that and adds it at the start. I also only added the nutrient that came with the kit (didn't use their yeast though).


Cheers,


M


----------



## bum

moovet said:


> B, Do you reckon I need to be worried yet about the yeast not working?



Chappo is a better and more experienced brewer than myself. No need to seek a second opinion on this one (especially not from me). Besides, he is right - too early to start panicking yet. 



moovet said:


> I thought I read somewhere in a forum that the preservative in the Biderum bottle could prevent fermentation but in the recipe I am following it makes no mention of that and adds it at the start.



My own recipe is either based on GravityGuru's or we've both based our recipes on the same one (should try to get to the bottom of that one of these days) so I've used the Ginger Refresher a number of times now and it has never presented any barrier to fermentation. Bottling a batch tonight that went down to 1001, in fact. I wouldn't stress. Might be worth an experiment to see if there is any difference in adding it later though.


----------



## moovet

Thanks B, saw Chappo had posted after I sent that one so edited that comment out. We will see how she is in the morning.


Cheers,


----------



## moovet

OK we have kicked off. The yeast has completely covered the surface now with visible bubbles and the air lock is bubbling about once every minute. SG now 1.026 so we are on our way.

Cheers,


Moovet


----------



## chappo1970

moovet said:


> OK we have kicked off. The yeast has completely covered the surface now with visible bubbles and the air lock is bubbling about once every minute. SG now 1.026 so we are on our way.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> 
> Moovet



Patience "Grasshopper"


----------



## moovet

Chappo said:


> I tend to rack to a second fermenter after 2(+/- subject to ish) days, fine and crash chill for 7 or more days then bottle condition for 3 weeks or so. I add no sugar to the bottles they don't need it plus I had very bad experience in my earlier days with GB bottle bombs on steriods! Usually comes in around 1-2% ABV. Retains alot of the honey characteristics I like in my GB.



Hi Chappo,

When you crash chill, what temp do you take it down to. The SG yesterday was 1.015 which equates to about 2.4% so I racked it into a carboy and put it in my brewfridge which is at about 4 degrees. Is that too low? I also didn't have any finings yesterday so will it matter if I throw finings in when it is that cold?

Cheers,


M


----------



## chappo1970

moovet said:


> Hi Chappo,
> 
> When you crash chill, what temp do you take it down to. The SG yesterday was 1.015 which equates to about 2.4% so I racked it into a carboy and put it in my brewfridge which is at about 4 degrees. Is that too low? I also didn't have any finings yesterday so will it matter if I throw finings in when it is that cold?
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> 
> M



Perfecto! :icon_cheers:


----------



## paulwolf350

I always crash my beers to 1c on the fridgemate, which is a max of 2c in my fridge. 1c ( setting) + 1c (swing). I have never had a problem. So 4c will be ok.

This is the first time I have made Chappos GB, but it will get the same treatment, 1c for 7 days then bottle.

I did the finish early then botlle with no priming sugar last GB, beers were great to start with then dried out to be party killers at about 7.5% and pretty thin. I like the idea of killing the yeast then force carbing. This one will be a full brew out, but I would like to experiment with low alc GB next time

Any thoughts Chap? or brewers?

Paul


----------



## brettprevans

thought i might bang this out one night this week. jumped online to colesonline to see the price of ginger....$20 a kg  rip off.

will have to see what the price of ginger is at the Queen Vic Market is. hopefully a little more reasonable.


----------



## chappo1970

citymorgue2 said:


> thought i might bang this out one night this week. jumped online to colesonline to see the price of ginger....$20 a kg  rip off.
> 
> will have to see what the price of ginger is at the Queen Vic Market is. hopefully a little more reasonable.




Ouch!!!! $20/kg :angry: That's highway robbery!

I usually get mine from the local farmers market at Beenleigh showgrounds but I guess that won't help you CM2.

Chap Chap


----------



## brettprevans

Chappo said:


> Ouch!!!! $20/kg :angry: That's highway robbery!
> 
> I usually get mine from the local farmers market at Beenleigh showgrounds but I guess that won't help you CM2.
> 
> Chap Chap


i recon if you bought it at your local price, incl shipping $, it would still be cheaper than $20 p kilo. ridiculous! I'll ring a few of the local fruit/veg stores around locally. got to be a better price than that.


edit: just rang a few local shops....$20kg, $20kg, $30kg  wtf! the melb ginger shortage of 2010!


----------



## chappo1970

citymorgue2 said:


> i recon if you bought it at your local price, incl shipping $, it would still be cheaper than $20 p kilo. ridiculous! I'll ring a few of the local fruit/veg stores around locally. got to be a better price than that.
> 
> 
> edit: just rang a few local shops....$20kg, $20kg, $30kg  wtf! the melb ginger shortage of 2010!



WTF????? Wow that's expensive! I'll have a look up this way CM2 if you want?

Chap Chap


----------



## brettprevans

Chappo said:


> WTF????? Wow that's expensive! I'll have a look up this way CM2 if you want?
> 
> Chap Chap


yeah mate, why not - thx. shipping from interstate cant be as expensive as buying it here. maybe i should be a ginger grower in victoria instead of working at my day job!


----------



## piraterum

It's $20/kg in Sydney too :angry:


----------



## mrmatt

$20 for nice stuff from the asian grocer $10 for manky stuff from woolies at my shops


----------



## moovet

moovet said:


> Hi Chappo,
> 
> When you crash chill, what temp do you take it down to. The SG yesterday was 1.015 which equates to about 2.4% so I racked it into a carboy and put it in my brewfridge which is at about 4 degrees. Is that too low? I also didn't have any finings yesterday so will it matter if I throw finings in when it is that cold?
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> 
> M



Bottled the ginger beer about 11 days ago. Had a bit of a problem with the finings though as the bung was stuck and I couldn't pour them in easily and tried to do it through the airlock. However they ended up freezing in the airlock (must have a higher freezing temp) and luckily didnt have an exploding carboy in my fridge. 

Managed to sort it out and bottle it leaving it in the fridge at about 4 degrees while we went overseas for 10 days. Got back today and relieved a bit of the pressure in the bottles (using 2.4L Berri Juice PETE bottle) and drank some tonight. Definitely lost a bit of the ginger bite but is still very good and I will defnintely repeat the recipe at some stage maybe with some extra chili and ginger (maybe another 250g).

Anyway, the pregnant wife loves it and it doesn't taste alcoholic at all.

Time to start brewing some mead!!


----------



## The Mexican

Chappo said:


> I bottle mine in screw top Bundaburg GB bottles 700mls (i think? Not completely sure about that one). I haven't had a problem thus far except for a much much earlier batch that went into some Tooheys New tallies.
> 
> Let us know how you get on with this one.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Chappo




Hi Chappo

I've been making GB around 20 years & think I have it somewhere near what I like. IMO only... cut back the fresh ginger by 1/2 & use 1/2 a bottle Buderim ginger syrup. I use some DME to give a bit of body & for sweetness I use lactose as they can be very dry without it, but don't over do it. For yeast I was using chapagne yeast, but now it's what ever ale yeast is left in the fermenter from the last brew, pitched high. My GB's are not low alcohol & I only use 1/2 the amount of primming sugar & refrigerate the lot when carbonated.

Regards
The Mexican


----------



## chappo1970

Hey there Mr Mex,

Yeah I have used the ginger refresher too in a few brews and it is nice. The idea on my recipe was a total scratch ginger beer with nothin' artificial. Yep lactose is great to back sweeten. Thinking I must brew this very soon but by the look of it I think I will wait till the ginger prices are more around the $20kg mark. SWMBO tells me it's $20 at the farmers market as well  .

Chap Chap


----------



## brettprevans

citymorgue2 said:


> just rang a few local shops....$20kg, $20kg, $30kg
> wtf! the ginger shortage of 2010!





Chappo said:


> SWMBO tells me it's $20 at the farmers market as well  .




hmmm maybe chinese bulk buy :lol: h34r:


----------



## Ester Trub

I know most of you would probably be against this, but I'm led to believe that dumpster diving can be a great source of large amounts of ginger. Especially at $20/kg, I reckon they're probably throwing a lot of this stuff out.
Would probably only suit those who are dumpster divers anyway, as it would take patience for a good score like that.


----------



## brettprevans

Ester Trub said:


> I know most of you would probably be against this, but I'm led to believe that dumpster diving can be a great source of large amounts of ginger. Especially at $20/kg, I reckon they're probably throwing a lot of this stuff out.
> Would probably only suit those who are dumpster divers anyway, as it would take patience for a good score like that.


sorry but your reasonsing seems contradictory. at $20kg there is little likelyhood that they would be throwing it away as its costs so much. more liekly to throw it away if it was cheap. 

and they shouldnt be throwing it away anyway. plenty of things to do with ginger so it can be used rather than throw away.


----------



## Ester Trub

citymorgue2 said:


> sorry but your reasonsing seems contradictory. at $20kg there is little likelyhood that they would be throwing it away as its costs so much. more liekly to throw it away if it was cheap.
> 
> and they shouldnt be throwing it away anyway. plenty of things to do with ginger so it can be used rather than throw away.



If you were a fruit shop or large supermarket with kilos and kilos of wrinkly ginger that you couldn't sell because no one was buying it, you would throw it out. Trust me, I used to work in the fruit section at Coles, and Ginger got thrown out all the time. Not such a popular product even when it's cheap.
I totally agree, they shouldn't be throwing it away, nor a lot of other stuff that just gets chucked in the bin for no good reason, but it happens just the same. It's criminal if you ask me, but it's just another sign of how wasteful society has become.


----------



## mrmatt

Made mine on the weekend (not the same recipe http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...p;#entry610510) and used SO-04 when i thought i had 05 in the cupboard, went and checked it toady and the krausen is mad, much higher then my beer ones, bit of ooze coming out of the clingwrap and all. I thought that GB had only a small amount of krausen.


----------



## chappo1970

mrmatt said:


> Made mine on the weekend (not the same recipe http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...p;#entry610510) and used SO-04 when i thought i had 05 in the cupboard, went and checked it toady and the krausen is mad, much higher then my beer ones, bit of ooze coming out of the clingwrap and all. I thought that GB had only a small amount of krausen.




Not with S04 it won't. That stuff crawls out of fermenters on a normal beer. Be interested to see how "Old Dusty" goes with a GB?

Cheers

Chap Chap


----------



## bum

Chappo said:


> Not with S04 it won't. That stuff crawls out of fermenters on a normal beer. Be interested to see how "Old Dusty" goes with a GB?


 
I'm not a fan of S04 in beers but have used it a couple times in GBs without noticing the qualities I dislike about it (excluding the loose sediment).


----------



## brettprevans

Ester Trub said:


> If you were a fruit shop or large supermarket with kilos and kilos of wrinkly ginger that you couldn't sell because no one was buying it, you would throw it out. Trust me, I used to work in the fruit section at Coles, and Ginger got thrown out all the time. Not such a popular product even when it's cheap.
> I totally agree, they shouldn't be throwing it away, nor a lot of other stuff that just gets chucked in the bin for no good reason, but it happens just the same. It's criminal if you ask me, but it's just another sign of how wasteful society has become.


sorry mate i was thinking resteraunts not ubermarkets. yeah they chuck stuff. cant say i want to go dumpter diving though. ill just have to suck it up and pay the price or wait until its back in season.


----------



## scoundrel

last friday at the fruito in mcwhirters - fortitude valley, 300g packs of ginger were about $3-4, ill be heading in on thursday morning to see if anys still there.


----------



## Mobbee007

citymorgue2 said:


> sorry mate i was thinking resteraunts not ubermarkets. yeah they chuck stuff. cant say i want to go dumpter diving though. ill just have to suck it up and pay the price or wait until its back in season.


Maybe Ester could do the dive & post some to you?


----------



## mrmatt

is 04 a bit dry?


----------



## Wolfy

citymorgue2 said:


> ill just have to suck it up and pay the price or wait until its back in season.


After noting the price of fresh ginger, when I saw 1kg jar of crushed ginger (90% ginger) at Costco, for a bit over $5 I though it was worth a try.





Also saves the time/effort of crushing/chopping/squeezing the fresh stuff too - don't know what it tastes like in GB yet however, as it's only been fermenting for a week now.


----------



## bum

Very keen to know the outcome of this one, Wolfy. Price of ginger is the only thing stopping me from putting down GBs more often (and at the moment I've doing one at least every 3rd brew).


----------



## chappo1970

Mr Matt S04 isn't dry more it leaves a dusty flavour in beers. Some brewers taste other don't.





Wolfy said:


> After noting the price of fresh ginger, when I saw 1kg jar of crushed ginger (90% ginger) at Costco, for a bit over $5 I though it was worth a try.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Also saves the time/effort of crushing/chopping/squeezing the fresh stuff too - don't know what it tastes like in GB yet however, as it's only been fermenting for a week now.



Nice one Wolfy keep us posted. Be good to know in a pinch that it is an option!

Chap Chap


----------



## manticle

I toyed with the idea of using that but doesn't it contain oil?

A Gb based on Chappo's recipe is on the cards. Looking to make my own super dark and stormys over winter (but with better rum than bundy).


----------



## Wolfy

manticle said:


> I toyed with the idea of using that but doesn't it contain oil?


No oil, just a couple of preservatives which would be nice not to have:
ginger (90%), water, food acid (260), preservatives (233, 202), vegatable gum (416)
260 - Acetic acid, 223 - Sodium metabisulphite, 202 - Potassium sorbate, 416 - Xanthan gum

Both preservatives are not uncommon and will harm yeast (or yeast growth), however I'm not sure what quantities/dilution you'd need before it was a problem.
I used 250g in 18L and fermentation has shown no ill-effects.


----------



## brettprevans

I wouldn't think that we want those preservitives in our 'beers'. I know I don't want that stuff in mine. I don't really want to eat that if I can get fresh Ginger. But I suppose in a push....


----------



## brettprevans

just had a thought. anyone used galangal in their ginger beer? could add a longer lasting dimension if you used say 3/4 ginger: 1/4 galangal....


----------



## Westoz

I have used processed ginger before just do a small boil an the oil & gum came out on top of the break . Just skimmed off the top.
Had no adverse affect on ferment or finished product and at $1.70 per 300g jar was well worth it IMHO.


----------



## bum

citymorgue2 said:


> just had a thought. anyone used galangal in their ginger beer? could add a longer lasting dimension if you used say 3/4 ginger: 1/4 galangal....


 
I've considered it but the only thing that puts me off is that I've never used it in cooking so I'm not certain what qualities it will impart. Might give it a go on the next one.


----------



## manticle

Galangal gives a beautiful ginger flavour that's maybe a bit sharper and sweeter at the same time (in cooking - not brewed with it). The only drawback is that it is a mega pain to peel but subbing out some ginger for galangal would be well worth a crack.


----------



## chappo1970

manticle said:


> Galangal gives a beautiful ginger flavour that's maybe a bit sharper and sweeter at the same time (in cooking - not brewed with it). The only drawback is that it is a mega pain to peel but subbing out some ginger for galangal would be well worth a crack.




Yep gotta agree with Man-testicle ( h34r: ) here.

I reckon I will give it a shot on the next brew of GB. I think it has a lot to offer.

Chap Chap


----------



## manticle

That's Mr Mantesticle to you Fappo. 

Womantesticle is not something I've played around with incidentally.


----------



## Katherine

Chappo said:


> Yep gotta agree with Man-testicle ( h34r: ) here.
> 
> I reckon I will give it a shot on the next brew of GB. I think it has a lot to offer.
> 
> Chap Chap



of cause it would work why wouldnt it? But it would then be a Galangal Beer! Maybe throw (not to many) kaffir lime leaves in aswell!


----------



## bum

Wikipedia tells me it is not entirely like ginger. A bit citrus, earthy and soapy(!). Not sure whether I'll do it now.

If you're going to use kaffir be sure to use fresh. I had eight large dried leaves in an hour boil for my last batch and cannot notice them in the slightest.


----------



## manticle

Think of it as siamese ginger and put wikipedia in its place.


----------



## bum

I think they prefer the term 'conjoined ginger' these days, you brute!


----------



## manticle

Insensitive bastard, that's me.


----------



## chappo1970

manticle said:


> That's Mr Mantesticle to you Fappo.
> 
> Womantesticle is not something I've played around with incidentally.









Fishing is good today


----------



## manticle

I prefer oranges.


----------



## superdave

citymorgue2 said:


> hmmm maybe chinese bulk buy :lol: h34r:


I've started growing it. Can't get my hands on hop rhyzomes, so I'll do the next best thing  Plus it isn't a bad looking plant in the garden.

But will be interesting to see the results from the processed ginger as thats pretty cheap.


----------



## brettprevans

Well I'm glad I suggested galangal. Just need to find some and find some cheap Ginger


----------



## manticle

Try Vic Market.


----------



## Wolfy

citymorgue2 said:


> Well I'm glad I suggested galangal. Just need to find some and find some cheap Ginger


Think you may have to wait for that.
Went shopping today, Dandenong Market, Clayton and Springvale, cheapest ginger was $14.99, most expensive was $34.99.
The only 'good' news is that the expensive stuff looked a bit different and might be new-season, so sometime in the not-so-distant future we may find it at a decent price.


----------



## scoundrel

was in mcwerters on friday, 500g of ginger for $3.99 a kilo. bought 2 kg myself, got a few GB recipes to do.


----------



## brettprevans

Wolfy said:


> Think you may have to wait for that.
> Went shopping today, Dandenong Market, Clayton and Springvale, cheapest ginger was $14.99, most expensive was $34.99.
> The only 'good' news is that the expensive stuff looked a bit different and might be new-season, so sometime in the not-so-distant future we may find it at a decent price.


Wolf man. Where was it $15 a kilo, that's still $5 cheaper than anywhere I've been able to find


----------



## Bribie G

In Brisbane ginger is a ridiculous price as there are hectares and hectares of it on the Sunny Coast. Like Scoundrel says, independent fruit shops like that Chinese place are the place to look for it.


----------



## brettprevans

All the indepandant ones here are also $20-30 a kilo. Just no relief


----------



## Wolfy

citymorgue2 said:


> Wolf man. Where was it $15 a kilo, that's still $5 cheaper than anywhere I've been able to find


Dandenong market and Springvale both had at least one shop/stall selling it at that price (all independant type green grocers).
But I'm not sure it would not be worth your drive (unless you buy heaps) especially since the quality of the cheap stuff was very average.


----------



## mrtim123

all of these recipes are sounding good, im gunna have to give them a go!


----------



## scoundrel

just put on my ginger ninja in the fermenting fridge

1.0 kg peeled grated ginger ( food processor with 1L water )
2 hot as shit chillis (one of grandpa's fookin' 'ot crossbreeds)
1.0kg brown sugar
400gm dextrose (normally 500gm but ran out)
juice of 2 limes ( throw spent limes into boil as well)
1.5 tblsp vanilla extract (real stuff not imitation crap)
l

fermenting with 2 x pkts T-58 yeast (have another 7 pkts to get through, don't go to the brewshop pissed.)

might rack to secondary in 4 - 5 days and dry hop 1oz. cascade.


big ginger bite to hide alcohol, hence the name ginger ninja (so chappo can stop having mental images of the ranga in a far too tight ninja jumpsuit.


----------



## moovet

The colonial fresh market at Westfield Doncaster, Melbourne currently has excellent ginger at $10/kg. It is beside Coles on the bottom floor.


----------



## chappo1970

VIVA SCRATCH BREW GB!!

WE WILL NOT BE SUPRESSED!!!

Come on fella's time to give up the cans and go all fresh? B)


----------



## bum

Perhaps you're just not a good enough brewer to make the tins work, Chappo?


----------



## brettprevans

moovet said:


> The colonial fresh market at Westfield Doncaster, Melbourne currently has excellent ginger at $10/kg. It is beside Coles on the bottom floor.


Great detective work there mate. Champ. Will venture down there somestage this week and collect Ginger. Don't suppose they had galangal? I would assume not. Full Ginger will do. 

Maybe I should throw some rye in it to keep maple happy!


----------



## brettprevans

havent made it down to shoppo yet to grab that $10 ginger, but went to a different coles today (croydon) and it was $13.60 a kilo! there was about 1.6kg of nice fresh ginger then about 600g of crap. i grabbed the 1.6kg and will be making ginger beer probably tomorrow night. ashame there wasnt enough for a double batch. the market seems to up the arse and all over the place. the independant 'market grocer' in the same set of shops was selling ginger for $26 a kilo.. market madness!

will throw 2 birdseye chillies into the boil also.


----------



## Wolfy

citymorgue2 said:


> havent made it down to shoppo yet to grab that $10 ginger, but went to a different coles today (croydon) and it was $13.60 a kilo! there was about 1.6kg of nice fresh ginger then about 600g of crap. i grabbed the 1.6kg


Next time harass the shop-attendants and they can most likely fetch you more nice-fresh stuff from 'out the back'.
I have even pre-ordered ginger from a local supermarket; rang them a few days in advance to let them know I wanted a few kg so they got some in fresh on their next order.


----------



## cozmocracker

i followed chappo's ginger beer recipe yesterday with a couple of minor changes for a half batch,

Recipe

.6kg Fresh Ginger
1kg Brown Sugar
.5kg Iron Bark Honey
2 Cinnamon Sticks
3 Large Bush Lemons
3 Limes
1 Chilli

Yeast Safale S-05

my SG is 1062.

my question is, im wanting to finish this on the sweet side, when should i finish the ferment? my concern is creating bottle bombs because i will be bottling into glass stubbies, i will CC for a few days but am worried about how much priming sugar i should use considering the risidual sugar left behind from finishing the ferment early.

any advise would be appreciated,

cheers coz

btw the sample i took for the SG reading tasted really promising!


----------



## brettprevans

Wolfy said:


> Next time harass the shop-attendants and they can most likely fetch you more nice-fresh stuff from 'out the back'.
> I have even pre-ordered ginger from a local supermarket; rang them a few days in advance to let them know I wanted a few kg so they got some in fresh on their next order.


I did harrass the fruit guy and he told me that the tray of Ginger they got that morning was the nice stuff and that basically I'd wiped them out! Will go check them out Tuesday to see if they restocked.


----------



## bum

I know Chappo does differently, cozmocracker, but I reckon you're just asking for bottle bombs by not fermenting it out fully. I'm sure it took Chappo a few batches to work out the sweet spot to do this and he'd have lost a few on the way. I'd seriously be looking at lactose or backsweetening on serving before thinking about finishing primary in the bottle.


----------



## brettprevans

+1 to what bum said. Same issues constantly raised in cider topics also. U can search them for the discussions

now... 
Peeling 1.6kg of Ginger - sux
peeling with a spoon - rocks (great tip manticle)
hands drenching in Ginger essence and not coming out - undecided as to whether it's good or bad. 

All prepped for tomorrow.


----------



## cozmocracker

ok a couple of things,

firstly, i pitched an 11g packet of US 05 saturday arvo and i just checked the fermenter and theres no sign of fermentation, im a little worried, what should i do? i did forget the yeast nutrient.

and if it ever gets going i will let it ferment all the way through as suggested above, no bottle bombs for me thank you very much!


----------



## bum

When you say there's no sign of fermentation does this include no movement on a hydrometer reading? This is the only way to be sure. I've only used US05 on a GB once and I don't recall an impressive or particularly rapid krausen. If you haven't done so, check the gravity and see what you're actually dealing with.

I don't think forgetting nutrient would stop it from taking off altogether. It'd just slow things down and maybe your yeasties might give up the ghost a little sooner - which would help you get your GB a little sweeter perhaps.


----------



## brettprevans

Cozm - 
should be ok. slow to fire yeast is common. i used US05 in a light beer recently and there was a fart's worth of kraussen the entire time. only real way to tell was with the trusty refrac (or use a hydro in your case).

re my crack at this.
just a thought. as i peeled the ginger last night and wasnt using it until tonight, i covered the ginger water to stop it drying out. tonight I will re-use that water as my water for blending (as per chappos instructions below from 1st post). actually maybe i should have frozen the whole thing! oh well maybe next time


Chappo said:


> [*]Add 500ml of cold water to blender as well as the ginger. I found it's best to add a couple of pieces at a time. If you don't have a blender grating is fine but


----------



## cozmocracker

ok i feel a bit better now, i took a reading (which i should of thought of but im a bit of a tight arse when it comes to sampling) and its gone from 1062 to 1058, at least i get to sample it again!

thanks again guys!


----------



## brettprevans

cozmocracker said:


> ok i feel a bit better now, i took a reading (which i should of thought of but im a bit of a tight arse when it comes to sampling) and its gone from 1062 to 1058, at least i get to sample it again!
> 
> thanks again guys!


another reason for getting a refrac. 5ml worth per sample (or a teaspoon worth once youve lost the pippette and take samples with teaspoons :huh: )


----------



## brettprevans

Decided to reconnect with partial makers and feel the pain of BIAG and do it on the stove top in a 15 pot.... Feeling the pain all right. Stupid stove takes forever to heat. Tempted to dump into my kettle and u leash hell on it. I'm very impatient.

Oh and no wonder no one makes a double batch from scratch... Ginger takes fkn forever to blend. And u need a huge bloody hop bag for 1.6kg of Ginger. Just ad well I've got the giant craftbrewer hopsock...

On the plus side it smells great in the kitchen. Sweet and spicey


----------



## brettprevans

well all is said and done and its in the fermentor and almost at pitching temp (well it was this morning before i left for work).

- only recipe variation was 50/50 dark brown sugar and brown sugar and 2 sliced birdseye chillis went into the fermentor.
- i would definitley freeze the ginger next time to help puree it. 
- definitely needs to be pureed in batches (which i did)
- i think there is too much ginger in 1 hop sock, so splitting between 2 hop socks would be the way to go OR letting it run free in the ketle and strain it out later.
- i think doing it in a 15L pot was too small for my liking, but still very doable. I will probably use my kettle next time as heating on the stove takes too long.
- have some icy cold water ready to add to fermentor once you tip in the hot 'wort'. mine was cooled down to about 32C last night with just adding cold water. i probably could have got it to pithing temp if i had of used more than 6L of icy water and the rest cool water.
- i wasnt sure about the theory of not sqeezing the ginger once finished boiling. i ignored this and 'rinsed' or 'sparged' the ginger etc in the hops sock with the cold water, so as to get every last bit of gingery goodness out of the pulp. Chappo et al , please enlighten me as to why you guys dont squeeze the hopsock or rinse it.


----------



## bum

citymorgue2 said:


> - i wasnt sure about the theory of not sqeezing the ginger once finished boiling. i ignored this and 'rinsed' or 'sparged' the ginger etc in the hops sock with the cold water, so as to get every last bit of gingery goodness out of the pulp. Chappo et al , please enlighten me as to why you guys dont squeeze the hopsock or rinse it.


 
Yeah, that is a perculiar one. I've put the ginger into primary before and noticed no negative aspects added (uh, apart from at bottling). I can't see what you're gonna get bad from squeezing that wouldn't be present from processing or having in the fermenter. I'd be interested to hear the reason too. 

Personally I'd be buggering the hopsock idea off. Let it loose, I say!

[EDIT: When you say 50/50 dark brown/brown sugar - what amounts are you talking for your batch size? For myself, I've noticed that the dark brown sugar gets a little overbearing beyond 500g in 23lt (with 250g being my preference) paired with raw sugar and that all brown sugar batches have been a little heavy in the body. This is all preference, obviously. Just interested to see what you went with and how it goes.]


----------



## brettprevans

bum said:


> [EDIT: When you say 50/50 dark brown/brown sugar - what amounts are you talking for your batch size? For myself, I've noticed that the dark brown sugar gets a little overbearing beyond 500g in 23lt (with 250g being my preference) paired with raw sugar and that all brown sugar batches have been a little heavy in the body. This is all preference, obviously. Just interested to see what you went with and how it goes.]


2kg total: 1kg dark brown, 1kg brown into 24L
it was a random spur of the moment thing. 

hmm didnt really think about the body impact. good point to remember in the future. I'll report back at sampling time.


----------



## bum

It should be pointed out that I'm a bit of a princess about my ginger beers. I wouldn't worry. It's all sugar still - it's not the same thing as using too much spec grain and mashing your base malt at 70, yeah? It'll still be good, I'm just talking subtle balance stuff.


----------



## brettprevans

bum said:


> it's not the same thing as using too much spec grain and mashing your base malt at 70, yeah? It'll still be good, I'm just talking subtle balance stuff.


or mashing at 79C like someone did recently on AHB -link. :huh: whoopsy

back on topic. I should have stuck with the stock recipe as is since ive never made gingerbeer before, but i tend to brew like i cook, ie seat of my pants, whatever inspires me at the time etc. anywho wil wait to see how she ferments out and report back on taste. im going to throw 1/2 cup of US05 yeastcake at it tonight and watch it fire.


----------



## bum

citymorgue2 said:


> I should have stuck with the stock recipe as is since ive never made gingerbeer before,


 
Nah, bugger that! Carpe Diem! 

GBs are pretty forgiving flavour wise and there's plenty of places to hide any flaws. Have fun with it, I say. 

But then again this sort of thing http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...showtopic=42585 might not be for everyone so perhaps you'll need a grain of salt or two to go with my opinion.


----------



## brettprevans

I'll bottle a few and we can do a swap if you like. i'd be interested in tasting your experiment.


----------



## bum

I'd be happy to but you'd have to jump in your time machine for that one, I'm afraid. Batch is gone bar one bottle that I'm holding on to for a few months to see what negatives might occur over time. You can pick some leaves up cheap as and just run a test bottle or two yourself if the idea appeals. I'm sure it'd still work without my spice additions and I don't think curry and lemon would be a terrible combo either.

I'll be running a very similar recipe on my next batch but omitting the kit and trying to scale up the fresh ginger - if I can afford it. I'm expecting to have to double up to 2kg. Still I won't be able to put it down til mid May due to travel commitments so hopefully prices are looking a lot better by then.

[EDIT: typo]


----------



## brettprevans

yeast doesnt seem to havce fired. i recon i might have a few dodgy packets of American ale (us05). I other packets i used recently struggled with a light beer. ive got 1x12g pack left. when i check tonight if the yeast still hasnt fred ill chuck the 2nd pack in and hope like hell it fires. i'll also throw in some yeast nutirent for safe measure. never thought i have to do that for US05


----------



## cozmocracker

as suggested to me, have you done a hydro reading? there has been no sign of krausen or any other signs of fermention in my batch other than the hydrometer reading going down, currently sitting at 1042 from 1062 after 5 days from pitching. Currently sampling right now, let me tell you mine has a fair bit of heat in it.


----------



## brettprevans

cozmocracker said:


> as suggested to me, have you done a hydro reading?


bahahahahaha. yeah mate i used a refrac to measure fermentation, im not a noob. no discerable change in the refrac measurement. now it could just be taking a while to fire. I just have never experinced that from us05 before. normaly us05 goes batshit. i will wait. it could be that i didnt oxegenate it enough and thats causing some lag. but it does sounds a little dodge that 2 packs of yeast form the same batch have struggled. sounds like bad yeast to me. but will remain hopefully and check my babies tonight.


----------



## Maple

maybe your yeast are ginger-intolerant? besides, I'd say oxygenation (or lack thereof) is not your problem if pitching from dried form. did you re-hydrate prior (i never do, but hear and believe it is of benefit)


----------



## cozmocracker

sorry CM2 i wasn't questioning your knowledge or ability, its just that sometimes its the simplest things that get over looked, just as i did! well i hope it has fired up for you now.


----------



## brettprevans

cozmocracker said:


> sorry CM2 i wasn't questioning your knowledge or ability, its just that sometimes its the simplest things that get over looked, just as i did! well i hope it has fired up for you now.


not in the least buddy. i knew what you were meaning. its all good.
I stirred the GB up last night and took another refract reading this morning and it finally seems to have moved. very very sluggish yeast im thinking. it was a full 12g pack and the OG was ~1055, so it should have been fine. even the temp has been good (my mead is loving he warmer temps and fermenting more vigerously than previously).

oh well patience is a virtue. nah bugger that i might use my last packet of US05 up. i'll start cultering some up tonight.


----------



## OLDS2006

When I copied bum`s recipe, it took 3-4 days for the cling wrap to move.
Then left it for 10 days before chilling.


----------



## brettprevans

well best i can make it my batch has finished.
OG 1065, FG 1024.

i still recon this is high but yeast seems to have carked it. the GB on taste test isnt dry either, still plenty of sweetness. heaps of chilli bite also.

got to decide whether to keg or not.


----------



## brettprevans

pulled out all thr tricks in the book and got it to drop another 5 points, but she wont budge now. so kegged it last night.
damn that chilli has some bite. I recon the drop in the 5 points will helpas it has dried it out a little more but still has a nice little bit of sweetness.

did up a label for it (ignore the cyser description next to it, that's obviously for a cyser ive done)

View attachment Beer_Card_ginger.pdf


now to wait for it to carb up and enjoy


----------



## jiesu

Ok I am about to put a batch of this down but I have a question re fermenting. 

I want the final beer to have a slight/residual sweetness to it and I also want to carb it. No keg so it has to be naturally bottle carbed. And it would be great 
if I could keep it to about 2 - 2.5 % 
Any ideas on how to achieve this without using a keg or killing the yeast?

Could I reduce the brown sugar until I get the alc% i want in beersmith or will this change the taste a little to much chapo?

What would you say would be an adequate amount of birds eye chilli just to get a slight twang from it? 10 -12? I would usually use 2 or 3 in a stir fry for 3 people. 
mind you this I woudl consider to strong a dilution for a beverage. 




Cheers! 

O BTW found Ginger for $7 a KG at the market down here.


----------



## Wolfy

daft templar said:


> O BTW found Ginger for $7 a KG at the market down here.


I was happy to find it for $12.99 at the local fruit shop today. :icon_cheers:


----------



## brettprevans

I used 3 Birdseye chilli in 23L and I was plenty. That was sliced and in went seeds membrane everything.

The only way to decrease the alc is to cut down the fermentables. So decrease the honey and sugar but decrease sugar more. There more sugar in there than needed for taste. U could get rid of 1kg easily I recon. Ask chappo though or have a look at the other low alc Ginger beer recipes in the others threads for some ideas. 

Coles has Ginger back at $12.99 a kilo. So the great Ginger shortage of 2010 seems to be easing


----------



## jiesu

Well my GB has finished fermenting out and finished about 1.001 Damn dry. I wish all my fermentations attenuated this well. However I would like to add a little sweetness back into it as it is a ginger beer after all and I think it benefits from a middle level of sweetness to conteract some of the bite. What would you guys say about adding Lactose in post ferment? I Imagine I will add it to my priming sugar solution and mix it in the bottling bucket. I will probably leave 4 bottles dry as a comparison. What would be a good amount of lactose to add to a 20Litre Ginger beer? would 500grams be too little?


----------



## bum

I wouldn't go any higher than 500g of lactose personally. Not because it is too sweet exactly but lactose gives a funny mouthfeel for me. Haven't seen anyone else report this so I am probably a bit of a princess.

CM2, I can see you tried your damnedest but there's no way that GB is done. But since you're kegging you've probably stopped at a nice sweet-spot (if you'll pardon the pun) if you don't like them dry.



OLDS2006 said:


> When I copied bum`s recipe, it took 3-4 days for the cling wrap to move.


 
Make sure you let us know how it came out and how any variations you might have made turned out.


----------



## brettprevans

bum said:


> CM2, I can see you tried your damnedest but there's no way that GB is done. But since you're kegging you've probably stopped at a nice sweet-spot (if you'll pardon the pun) if you don't like them dry.


Its def not dry. so yeah there's a bit of sweetness and the chilli really bites, although its eased off some with a little cold conditioning. great little drop. would definitely need it dryer for the summer months, but for winter i recon its good.

Im taking a bottle up to QLd for Chappo to test. He can report back on his thoughts about it.


----------



## wakkatoo

Parents came back from Noosa recently and brought with them 2 x 1kg packets of the ginger pulp from Yandina.
Gonna give Chappo's recipe a go but will only use 1 packet. Depending on how it turns out, I'll probably up the ginger on the next one.


----------



## brettprevans

I think this recipe is definitely the base recipe to work from.

The Qld boys seemed to like my variation of the GB (or perhaps they were getting pretty happy by that stage of the day). I gave a bottle to a work colleague who is a amatuer distiller and he loved it. my mates loved it (bit much chilli for them though)

so Im calling this a winner.


Wakkatoo. let us know how the ginger pulp goes.


----------



## spots

Hi citymorgue2

What recipe did you end up using?

You also mentioned in a post that you might cut down on the sugar, so how would you change the recipe in the future.

Cheers,
Jason.




citymorgue2 said:


> I think this recipe is definitely the base recipe to work from.
> 
> The Qld boys seemed to like my variation of the GB (or perhaps they were getting pretty happy by that stage of the day). I gave a bottle to a work colleague who is a amatuer distiller and he loved it. my mates loved it (bit much chilli for them though)
> 
> so Im calling this a winner.
> 
> 
> Wakkatoo. let us know how the ginger pulp goes.


----------



## chappo1970

I can testify that CM2's version was bloody awesome. I loved the chilli hit BTW.


----------



## brettprevans

spots said:


> Hi citymorgue2
> 
> What recipe did you end up using?
> 
> You also mentioned in a post that you might cut down on the sugar, so how would you change the recipe in the future.
> 
> Cheers,
> Jason.


I used chappos recipe on page 1 but added an extra 0.5kg Ginger, used zest from all the lemons and limes. 50/50 split brown sugar and dark brown suga. And increased honey about 0.5kg. Increased fermentables for bigger alc%. Oh and 2 or 3 supermarket Birdseye chillies sliced and into the primary fermentor.


----------



## gregie57

bum said:


> I expect two reasons: extract as much gingery/cinnamony (that's a word now, get used to it) goodness as you can and, even when washed really well, ginger is a bit of a dirty bugger (I don't trust it anyway).
> 
> Chappo may have other reasons - he's operating on a whole different plain.



Hi. I've brewed and bottled a Ginger Beer similar to what's been posted on this thread. The one thing I didn't do was read all of this information and did not peel the ginger. I whacked it in the blender with some water until it was reasonably fine and then boiled it with the rest of the ingredients. How badly have I stuffed up or may it be OK. It didn't taste bad when I bottled it and has only been a week since then so I have not tasted it since.


----------



## bum

stumblingin said:


> I whacked it in the blender with some water until it was reasonably fine and then *boiled* it with the rest of the ingredients. How badly have I stuffed up or may it be OK.



If your boil was over, say, 10 minutes you'll most likely have nothing to worry about. I was talking more about my preferences (superstition) rather than actual knowledge (science). If you're liking it now you'll probably love it with a little time under its belt.


----------



## smilinggilroy

stumblingin said:


> Hi. I've brewed and bottled a Ginger Beer similar to what's been posted on this thread. The one thing I didn't do was read all of this information and did not peel the ginger. I whacked it in the blender with some water until it was reasonably fine and then boiled it with the rest of the ingredients. How badly have I stuffed up or may it be OK. It didn't taste bad when I bottled it and has only been a week since then so I have not tasted it since.



Hi Stumblingin,
I've got a ginger beer in the fermenter now based on Chappos' first post which he washed the ginger only and didn't peel it.
I did the same as I used over 2kg. of ginger and about 400g. of galangal which I treated the same.
I also added a few extra flavours to the recipe (spices, herbs, chilli, hops etc.) and the tastings so far have been fantastic.
If you did the full boil as Chappos' recipe instructed I can't see any problems at all.
Cheers.


----------



## brettprevans

in the interests of letting people know how my version tasted I post some info re its entry into vicbrew 2010. 
in the specialty category - ranked 18 out of 37 with a score of 97.5. now there were some issues. the bottle submitted seems to have restarted fermentation and gone dry as a nuns proverbial and was way overcarbed. in saying that it still scored well so I guess you can take from that what you will.


----------



## gregie57

smilinggilroy said:


> Hi Stumblingin,
> I've got a ginger beer in the fermenter now based on Chappos' first post which he washed the ginger only and didn't peel it.
> I did the same as I used over 2kg. of ginger and about 400g. of galangal which I treated the same.
> I also added a few extra flavours to the recipe (spices, herbs, chilli, hops etc.) and the tastings so far have been fantastic.
> If you did the full boil as Chappos' recipe instructed I can't see any problems at all.
> Cheers.


Yea, I boiled it but not as long as Chappo said. It's still not off. I tasted one last night. You get a bite and then and empty sentation (I presume that's the dry wine sensation) then you get the ginger flavour and not as sweet as I thought, but it is early days, and my recipe was slightly different. It started at 1046 and ended at 1006. Maybe a bit too efficient?


----------



## Macca81

well, having used some of the recipes in this thread as inspiration for making a GB, i put my first home brew GB down tonight for the first time since i was about 12... (non alcoholic plant, with lots of bottle bombs  lol)

i figure i should post up what i did.

Ingredients:
1x coopers GB kit as base.
800g fresh ginger, grated.
1x Chillie, sliced, seeds in.
1 cup of lemon juice, plus the pulp and zest of one whole lemon.
3x cloves, whole.
1x stick of cinnamon, sorta broken up.
500g Leatherwood honey.
500g Brown Sugar.
500g Raw Sugar.
1x 750ml bottle Ginger Refresher.

Firstly, started peeling the ginger, decided it was a PITA and gave up on that idea. then i grated it... dont ever grate it. buy a blender. grating that much ginger sucks. a lot!

anyway, chucked all the ingredients except the kit and the refresher cordial into the pot and boiled it for a min or so. then chucked all ingredients into the fermenter with 18l of water all up. this bought it to roughly 20-21l total.
yeast pitched at 26deg. OG was 1.040 i aim to have an FG of 1.005ish.

having an initial taste of what i drew off to take the SG reading, i would say that i wouldnt mind a bit more chilli next time, but i suspect that it will draw out a fair bit more as it ferments, so we shall see


----------



## beer-bub

I'm looking at attempting Chappo's original recipe on page one. Just a quick question though, I don't have a kettle,l so does anyone see any issue with using a 3 litre pot and working in batches?


----------



## brettprevans

beer-bub said:


> I'm looking at attempting Chappo's original recipe on page one. Just a quick question though, I don't have a kettle,l so does anyone see any issue with using a 3 litre pot and working in batches?


be better if you had a larger pot. i did my version of this in my 17L stock pot as opposed to my 90L kettle. 

i would suggest that for ultimate results you'd want some of each ingrediant in each batch, but that would be a PITA


----------



## beer-bub

I'll take your advice and divide the ingredients up. Might be a PITA, but I don't have a quick option to get a larger pot. Have seen a few threads here about buying one off ebay so might follow suit, not 90L though!!!  
Cheers


----------



## manticle

Kmart will do at least 15L, if you have a cheap chinese/asian grocer nearby you might find a 20/30/40/50L pot for very cheap.


----------



## beer-bub

manticle said:


> Kmart will do at least 15L, if you have a cheap chinese/asian grocer nearby you might find a 20/30/40/50L pot for very cheap.



I work near Box Hill, so I think this might be a great idea for the next brew. I did it in batches and yes it was a total PITA!!! Done now and hopefully bubbling away (looked pretty dead in there this morning and I've just seen the recommendation regarding yeast nutrient...) Also added more water than intended SG 1038. Just hope it hasn't stalled!

Recipe in the end:

1.25 Ginger (around 850gms after peeling)
1kg dark brown sugar
500g brown sugar
500g Beechworth honey
2 cinnamon sticks 
2 Large lemons (juice only)
1 15 cm Chili (seeds and all)


----------



## Arghonaut

Brewed one of these following Chappo's recipe on Saturday except i used half dark brown sugar. Cooled it overnight and pitched the yeast (us05) Sunday morning, OG was 1058, took another reading this morning and it hasnt budged. 

I added a tsp of yeast nutrient with 10 mins left of the boil as per the instructions on the packet. I just sprinkled the dry yeast on to the surface as its what i always do with my regular beers and never had a problem. 

Its sitting in my temp controlled freezer @ 18 degrees, a beer i pitched at the same time with the same yeast is happily bubbling away next to it.

Starting to worry, anything i can/should do at this point?


----------



## manticle

Did you check gravity?


----------



## Arghonaut

manticle said:


> Did you check gravity?




Yep, thats what i meant by it hadnt budged, still on 1058.


----------



## manticle

Sorry I forgot to actually put my eyes in when I read your post.

Get another pack, rehydrate it and make an active starter with a bit of malt extract and some grated ginger. Once the starter is ready, if the brew still hasn't kicked off, chuck it in. If it has kicked off, let the starter ferment out, refrigerate, decant and keep in a sanitised, sealed container for your next 05 brew. 

Starters aren't normally needed/recommended with dried yeat but active starters are one way to kick of slow/stalled ferments.


----------



## Arghonaut

Went to take one more reading before putting a starter together this morning, and noticed that there was some signs of activity on the surface of the wort, sure enough its dropped to 1050, phew! at $20 a kilo i was getting worried about my ginger investment!


----------



## Macca81

Just an update on this, its damned good! very refreshing and easy drinking and it goes down very well on a warm day. i primed half with sugar and half with honey, and you can definatly tell the 2 apart. one of my mates thinks it tastes too gingery, but i quite like it like that, everyone else has thought it was great! i will be doing this one again!


Macca81 said:


> well, having used some of the recipes in this thread as inspiration for making a GB, i put my first home brew GB down tonight for the first time since i was about 12... (non alcoholic plant, with lots of bottle bombs  lol)
> 
> i figure i should post up what i did.
> 
> Ingredients:
> 1x coopers GB kit as base.
> 800g fresh ginger, grated.
> 1x Chillie, sliced, seeds in.
> 1 cup of lemon juice, plus the pulp and zest of one whole lemon.
> 3x cloves, whole.
> 1x stick of cinnamon, sorta broken up.
> 500g Leatherwood honey.
> 500g Brown Sugar.
> 500g Raw Sugar.
> 1x 750ml bottle Ginger Refresher.
> 
> Firstly, started peeling the ginger, decided it was a PITA and gave up on that idea. then i grated it... dont ever grate it. buy a blender. grating that much ginger sucks. a lot!
> 
> anyway, chucked all the ingredients except the kit and the refresher cordial into the pot and boiled it for a min or so. then chucked all ingredients into the fermenter with 18l of water all up. this bought it to roughly 20-21l total.
> yeast pitched at 26deg. OG was 1.040 i aim to have an FG of 1.005ish.
> 
> having an initial taste of what i drew off to take the SG reading, i would say that i wouldnt mind a bit more chilli next time, but i suspect that it will draw out a fair bit more as it ferments, so we shall see


----------



## unrealeous

Chappo said:


> Recipe
> 
> 1.5kg Fresh Ginger
> 2.0kg Brown Sugar
> 1.0kg Iron Bark Honey
> 4 Cinnamon Sticks
> 5 Large Bush Lemons
> 5 Limes
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!


Just kegged a batch of this - only change was dropped the brown sugar down to 1.25kg to make it less alcoholicy and added a couple of chillies as per suggestions. Chilled after 4 days fermenting - right in the goldilocks zone of not too dry, not to sweet - Bloody beautify drop Chappo. Thanks for the recipe.


----------



## bonk

Hi All,

its been awhile since i posted something off any use etc, so i thought i would chuck up a recipe for ginger beer to get some feed back etc. So far it tastes good with only 1 week in the bottle. But like most it lacks the zing of ginger. It does have a nice bite but nothing aggressive.

Because i tried to do a beer with ginger i ended up with the following, taking ideas from everyone else in the thread.

10L Batch

Fermentables
1.5Kg LME
100g Dark brown sugar

Hops
6g of Hallertauer Aroma Hop flowers (7.5%) Boiled 60min

Spices and others
230g of Fresh Ginger grated
1 tsp Ginger Powder
1 Small Lemon cut up
1/2 stick of cinnamon.

Yeast, not sure was an ale yeast, generic homebrew brand thing.

Method
4L of water to the boil, added hops when boiling.

After 30mins added
190g of the ginger,ginger powder, lemon and cinnamon

at flame out, in with the remaining fresh ginger.

I tried to treat the ginger as an aroma hop with its additions.

Then the usual, cool down and into the fermenter and top up with water to 10L.

Any feedback to help the ginger kick? i was thinking that the chilli trick might be something to explore.

Thanks,


----------



## bum

That's stuff all ginger, really. More ginger will give you more ginger bite.

I won't be putting down a GB for the foreseeable future. Ginger is way too expensive and pretty poor quality at the moment.


----------



## brettprevans

+1 to bums advice. 
And u really want to get as much from ur Ginger as possible so u need to cook it out to extract the most flavour. 
Chaps recipe is still pretty good. In fact I'd say the best, depending on whether quantumbrewrrs recipe takes ur fancy (it's pretty good also). I loved my version which is pretty much a tweaked chappo version. 

Happy brewing and remember to report back

Oh and i hope u paid attention to ur OG and FG so u dint have bottle bombs


----------



## bonk

Cheers, i thought it was low in ginger, but yeah $32 a kilo in darwin is crazy for ginger.

And yep, use old promash to track my numbers so i know whats happening.

thanks again.


----------



## gregie57

Anyone interested...I have just been down to woolworths (Melbourne area), the price is $14.95/kg. I made a pig of myself and bought 2 kg's.


----------



## Margrethe

I've tried to make non-alco gb, and have never succeeded. Always ended up with it alcoholic. 

I am peeved that I just can't get it right. I've done it from peoples recipes, I've done it from kits....it always ends up alcoholic. 

I want a nice smooth, sweet ginger brew as my 13 year old is annoyed she can't drink the alco stuff, and I'd like to make some for her. Just can't get the hang of the non-alcoholic version! 

I'm in awe of you fellas!


----------



## stux

Margrethe said:


> I've tried to make non-alco gb, and have never succeeded. Always ended up with it alcoholic.
> 
> I am peeved that I just can't get it right. I've done it from peoples recipes, I've done it from kits....it always ends up alcoholic.
> 
> I want a nice smooth, sweet ginger brew as my 13 year old is annoyed she can't drink the alco stuff, and I'd like to make some for her. Just can't get the hang of the non-alcoholic version!
> 
> I'm in awe of you fellas!



If you add yeast to it it's going to be at least a little alcoholic

If you want a truly non alcoholic gb you need to basically carbonate a gb cordial


----------



## brettprevans

Margrethe said:


> I've tried to make non-alco gb, and have never succeeded. Always ended up with it alcoholic.
> 
> I am peeved that I just can't get it right. I've done it from peoples recipes, I've done it from kits....it always ends up alcoholic.
> 
> I want a nice smooth, sweet ginger brew as my 13 year old is annoyed she can't drink the alco stuff, and I'd like to make some for her. Just can't get the hang of the non-alcoholic version!
> 
> I'm in awe of you fellas!


Mate these are all alcoholic GBs. Mine was about 6.5%


----------



## bluejay

I want to make a batch of this for my sister. 

Couldn't find any Iron bark honey at woolies. Is there a specific reason you use this type? What's the next closest one?

Would you recommend adding any of the ginger refresher stuff? I already have a bottle of that.

Also, would a coopers kit yeast from a dark ale, stout, lager or draught can work? I won't have time to get to the brewshop before next weekend to buy any other yeast but I would like to start this brew before then and the coopers can yeasts are all I have available.


----------



## Gormand

Made mine up yesterday, sitting in the cube right now, I didnt put enough water in the pot so ended up a bit light.

1Kg Ginger
3 small hot chillis
2 cinammon sticks
Zest of 2.5 limes and 2.5 lemons
1kg Aussie Rainforest honey
1kg brown sugar
Juice of 5 limes
Flesh of 5 lemons cut up and thrown in the boil.

Used my BIAB setup to boil the lot for an hour. Im planning on "dry hopping" 250g of ginger thinly sliced and boiled for 5 min in tiny amount of water (Adding that to fermenter as well) after 4-5 days in the fermenter. I will also aim to prime either half or all the bottles with honey. 

The small sample I took (Leftovers in the pipette from refracto sample) showed a decent amount of ginger but not overpowering (hopefully the 250g later will kick things up) chilli came through, hoping that dies down a bit otherwise the bite might be too much.

All in all excited about this. OG was only 1.030 but not sure if thats accurate, will getting better reading tonight when I put in the fermenter tonight.


----------



## bluejay

Ended up doing the brew as described in my last post.

After 3 days the sg has gone from 1.050 to 1.040. Very slow. This doesn't seem too unusual reading posts here though. Should I be worried?


How long does it usually take for it to finish? 

I would have thought using such pure sugars would have been heaven for yeasts; dont understand why it slows the process. I guess pure sugar lacks proteins and stuff that might be essential for yeast growth? Probably should have added some yeast nutrients?


----------



## unrealeous

bluejay said:


> I would have thought using such pure sugars would have been heaven for yeasts; dont understand why it slows the process. I guess pure sugar lacks proteins and stuff that might be essential for yeast growth? Probably should have added some yeast nutrients?


Could also be that you didn't aerate it enough once you cooled the batch down- yeast growth need oxygen, and after boiling a liquid, most of the oxygen is expelled.


----------



## bluejay

unrealeous said:


> Could also be that you didn't aerate it enough once you cooled the batch down- yeast growth need oxygen, and after boiling a liquid, most of the oxygen is expelled.



hmm well I did intentionally pour the liquid from a height so as to aerate it a bit. Is this not sufficient? how do others aerate it?

And if it does lack oxygen is there much I can do about it now?


----------



## Gormand

bluejay said:


> hmm well I did intentionally pour the liquid from a height so as to aerate it a bit. Is this not sufficient? how do others aerate it?
> 
> And if it does lack oxygen is there much I can do about it now?



Mine is going even slower then that. Ive gone from 1.030 (I had less sugar though) to 1.023 in over a week. Its still moving though so all good on that front, but damn its going to take a while.


----------



## Yeastie Beastie

As I have just given up alcohol I am in search of a good ginger beer and this one strikes me as one that is both good in ingredients and made by someone with a firm brewing background.
Is it as simple as removing the yeast to make it non alcoholic and obviously removing the fermenting process.
There are many recipies for non alc. ginger beer that still have yeast but is bottled after 3 hours etc. 
Do I need the yeast for the carbonation process still?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.


----------



## Endo

So I've read through the thread and think im right to give it a go.. but..

I'm going to be bottling....

So if I've read things correctly.. Throw in some lactose, and ferment it till she stops..

Based on 20l, 500grams of lactose should do the trick? Or too much?


----------



## brettprevans

Endo said:


> So I've read through the thread and think im right to give it a go.. but..
> 
> I'm going to be bottling....
> 
> So if I've read things correctly.. Throw in some lactose, and ferment it till she stops..
> 
> Based on 20l, 500grams of lactose should do the trick? Or too much?


Depends on how sweet u want it. I don't use lactose really so I'm not a font of knowledge of it. I've used 200g in a tart arse cider I was tryi g to sweeten for the missus and it did bugger all. I'd gp 400g and see if u want a sweeter ginger beer. Or wait for someone else to chime in


----------



## Endo

citymorgue2 said:


> Depends on how sweet u want it. I don't use lactose really so I'm not a font of knowledge of it. I've used 200g in a tart arse cider I was tryi g to sweeten for the missus and it did bugger all. I'd gp 400g and see if u want a sweeter ginger beer. Or wait for someone else to chime in



I want some sweetness, I'm not huge on dry ginger beers. 

Thanks for the suggestion


----------



## Baulko Brewer

Stupid Question but can't find definative answer.

I want to make this for summer, but want to make the half the batch non Alcoholic for the kids and alcoholic for me & swmbo.

is there a simple process to do this or is it easier to make two batches??


thanks in advance


----------



## Bongchitis

Endo said:


> I want some sweetness, I'm not huge on dry ginger beers.
> 
> Thanks for the suggestion



Lactose never worked for me. I use 20g Splenda (20L batch) or Stevia extract to sweeten my GB, Cider and Lemonade. Works a treat. No artificial flavour whatsoever.


----------



## chug!chug!

Happy with my results of my first two Ginger Beers.

First is too sweet after under pitching yeast but has a big ginger flavour with nice heat pushed by the chilli. Although the cinnamon smelt great
for the first few days fermentation I cannot detect it in the finished product which is dissapointing, must be dominated by the stronger flavours.

Second finished bone dry so drinking with lemonade. Will try mixing the two brews to find the right sweetness.
Has a strong kick and got bit pissed on a pint while bottling :lol:
Only added ginger and chilli to this one resulting in a more one dimensional flavour.

Plans for the third are to retry the cinnamon and experiment with pasteurisation.


----------



## KudaPucat

Chappo said:


> Ok so i finally got around to making version 2 of the Father & Son Special Ginger Beer.
> 
> Version 1 was lacking in a few areas so I have tweaked it a little and changed a few things to see if I can improve it.
> 
> Recipe
> 
> 1.5kg Fresh Ginger
> 2.0kg Brown Sugar
> 1.0kg Iron Bark Honey
> 4 Cinnamon Sticks
> 5 Large Bush Lemons
> 5 Limes
> 
> Yeast Safale S-05
> 
> Steps
> 
> Wash the ginger thoroughly
> Cut Ginger into 2cm long pieces
> Add 500ml of cold water to blender as well as the ginger. I found it's best to add a couple of pieces at a time. If you don't have a blender grating is fine but you may want to consider freezing overnight to break up the cell structure as the ginger root is very fiberous.
> Set Ginger pulp aside in the fridge for an hour to set up a little. Makes it easier to get out of the blender.
> Juice the lemons and limes. Set aside two lemons and limes for zesting.
> Zest the lemons and limes taking care not to have any white pith. I used a fish filleting knife. Then cut into thin strips.
> Crush cinnamon. I put the cinnamon sticks in a zip lock bag and used my palm to crush them. Less mess that way.
> Add all the sugar and honey to the boiler with 22lt of hot water. You will need a further 500ml of water to rinse the hoey from the pot. Stir to disolve. Boil size should now be 24lts.
> Bring up to the boil. Gentle at this stage. Boil time is 60mins.
> Add ginger pulp, zest and cinnamon to hops bag and drop it the boiler.
> Boil gently for 50mins. Scoop ginger scum from top of boil. Dunk the bag like a tea bag every so often to get as much ginger flavour to impart to the boil.
> Boil vigorously last 10mins. Keep a vigil as it will try to boil over!
> Flame out 60mins.
> Remove bag from boiler, just the remaining water seep out, don't squeeze. Scoop any scub from the top of the boil.
> Rehydrate yeast in starter.
> Cool it to pitching temp 18-20C.
> Pitch yeast.
> Ferment till steady readings.
> SG - 1057
> FG - 1012
> 
> I put it into the fermenter yeasterday. It was happily bubbling away this morning. I want to make mine a little less alcoholic so I will rack to a secondary vessle and crash chill before bottling.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!



OK, this FG of 1012, this is not residual sugars? I need to crash chill and stabilise?
If so, I trust this is not meant to be carbonated? I had hoped to carbonate it, but don't have my kegging system yet.
Any ideas?


----------



## chug!chug!

I primed and pasteurised my last batch. Carbonation was good sweetness OK but would have liked it a bit sweeter. Getting the sweetness + carbonation combo is what
I am working on.

I bottled after 4 days and added 12g of sugar to 1.5 pet bottles. After a few days the bottles felt full of pressure deforming slightly. I put these into water just off the boil for 
10 minutes which killed the yeast and warped the feet of the bottles a little but no catastrophes.


----------



## KudaPucat

chug!chug! said:


> I primed and pasteurised my last batch. Carbonation was good sweetness OK but would have liked it a bit sweeter. Getting the sweetness + carbonation combo is what
> I am working on.
> 
> I bottled after 4 days and added 12g of sugar to 1.5 pet bottles. After a few days the bottles felt full of pressure deforming slightly. I put these into water just off the boil for
> 10 minutes which killed the yeast and warped the feet of the bottles a little but no catastrophes.


What was the SG after pasteurisation?


----------



## Tanga

I've pasteurised glass bottles before. 70 degrees was enough. Perhaps put some cloth in the bottom so the hot metal doesn't warp the bottles?


----------



## chug!chug!

KudaPucat said:


> What was the SG after pasteurisation?



Im in Bali and have no measuring equipment till I get home so just guessing on taste at the moment.



Tanga said:


> I've pasteurised glass bottles before. 70 degrees was enough. Perhaps put some cloth in the bottom so the hot metal doesn't warp the bottles?



Thanks Tanga will do next time.


----------



## Tanga

No worries. I've done the same, I was worried about the quick temp change cracking the glass. When I did it at Mum's I borrowed her cake rack and dropped it in the pot before adding the bottles. Not sure if that'll work with PET though.

P.S. If you want a sweet ginger beer I recommend my alcowater and Bunderim's Ginger Refresher.


----------



## kymba

anyone tried OP recipe with s-04 or T-58? I have a 1/4 batch ready to chill and have both of these. if only i had the foresight to do a 1/2 batch and split it between the 2 yeasts - oh well


----------



## C-MOR

Last saturday i put down a version of the original post. MAGIC. I would call it dry ginger ale. I will be doing a lot more of this.

7L

600g Brown sugar
300g honey
100g golden syrips

440g gringer
2 lemon rind
some cinnamon 

wyeast 1056
1g wine yeast nutrient

Cheers Chappo 5 stars


----------



## ploto

Ginger was about $11/kg at woolies so I got a handful or four. It is young ginger which may not be as strong as the older rhizomes, but a moot point for me as being my first real GB I have nothing to go on, other than the horribly sweet kit ones a mate does. This is what I've got on hand and was toying with for a 23l batch.

1.5kg ginger. It's in the freezer now and I thought I would just give it a wash then chop it up and pound it, skin and all.

500g light dry extract
600g dextrose - from an unused pack of BE1
400g maltrose - again from the BE1
500g dark brown sugar
500g honey - It's a mild one but I have a 500g tub to spare.

3 lemongrass stalks
2 cinamon sticks
2 vanilla pods
1 lemon - zest + juice
1 lime - zest + juice
1 hot chilli

I've seen conflicting opinions on adding the dry extract but I don't want the result to be too thin or dry. If you think it is a bad idea please tell me, and why.

I do also have a bottle of the Buderim ginger refresher cordial, but was hoping to avoid using it given all the fresh ginger on hand. 

Plan to bottle, not sure what carb levels might suit it.


----------



## ploto

I decided to drop the dry extract, went with the following:

1.5kg ginger
1kg dark brown sugar
600g dextrose (BE1)
400g maltrose (BE1)
500g honey

4 lemongrass stalks
1 cinamon stick
1 lemon - zest + juice
1 lime - zest + juice
1 kafir lime leave, sliced
1 hot chilli, sliced seeds and all
1 clove

Chopping and pounding the frozen ginger was easy and also most of the skin came off when I scrubbed it with a potato brush, although I think this was partly because it was young ginger and not the old woody stuff that is usually available.

I'm going to ferment with K-97 dry yeast as I have a couple of expired packs I don't know what else to do with. Will re-hydrate soon and if it doesn't kick off I will use S04 or Nottingham.


----------



## brettprevans

young fresh ginger gives better results.

dont wory too much about some skin. it will drop out in fermentation anyways.

@ Ploto. if you were going to drop something, why not the BE1? you may as well have dropped all the 'non scratch' ingrediants and made it from scratch. your almost there. no real extra effort needed.

see what you think of your recipe once its made then consider makign it from scratch. you wont be disappointed


----------



## ploto

I decided to keep the BE1 partly for the dextrose to make up fermentables, but also because I thought the maltrose would add a bit of body without affecting the flavour. Anyway it's been sitting in the cupboard since I got the coopers fermenter kit over a year ago and can't think of anything else to use it for.

I dropped the LDM I though might start to take the end result further away from being a straight ginger beer, and have read more negative references to it being used in GB than positive ones.

I also added a pack of kit yeast to the boil as nutrient.

Anyway thanks for the tips CM2 and I am sure I will be making more GBs down the track.

btw I saw galangal in the grocer for $10 a kilo, cheaper than ginger! I would like to make a galangal beer with it one day and at that price it is quite feasible, although it was shrink-wrapped in 100g lots and they all seemed to be about 1/3 stalk and the rhizomes were rather shrivelled. Maybe that's why it was cheap.


----------



## bum

citymorgue2 said:


> young fresh ginger gives better results.


Young ginger is juicier, sweeter and probably easier to work with. Mature is much more intense in flavour. I like to use a mix of the two when I'm able - supply down here tends to be either one or the other..

Just a quick note on young vs mature. It is sometimes mentioned around here that you should buy it in advance and let it "age". This is not the difference - that is fresh vs old and shit. Young ginger is picked sooner than mature. Regardless of the type you want to use fresh is always best.


----------



## brettprevans

Finally ginger is at a reasonable price at the ubermarket, down to just over $10 a kilo... So my version of this will be made this week. Hmmmm dark chili ginger beer


----------



## brettprevans

Finaly got this years GB down. my usual recipe (same as chappos but use half dark brown sugar and zest of all lemons limes). I froze ginger this time. Never again will I not do this. It blended up so much easier and the skin just wipes off after its thawed.

All went into pot as I strained thru hop bag into fermentor. 
12L boil then added water
Half zest juice goes in at 60min
Rest goes in at 10min

1075og

Pitched 2 cups of US05 slurry at 25C. Tenp wont be an issue as its fkn cold in melb amd the temp dropped significantly overnight.


----------



## brettprevans

citymorgue2 said:


> Finaly got this years GB down. my usual recipe (same as chappos but use half dark brown sugar and zest of all lemons limes). I froze ginger this time. Never again will I not do this. It blended up so much easier and the skin just wipes off after its thawed.
> 
> All went into pot as I strained thru hop bag into fermentor.
> 12L boil then added water
> Half zest juice goes in at 60min
> Rest goes in at 10min
> 
> 1075og
> 
> Pitched 2 cups of US05 slurry at 25C. Tenp wont be an issue as its fkn cold in melb amd the temp dropped significantly overnight.


well its only been a couple of week in the keg but I gave it a try. nice and dry but not overattenuated. very floral. more so than I would liek for a winter ginger beer. Obviously the usage of all the zest/peel and splitting the additons has had a big effect on the flavour. it would be a cracker of a summer ginger beer. not bad for winter either. 

massive ginger kick, but then again I added almost 1/2kg more than I needed to.


----------



## Shep14

As this is my first post on AHB I have to say this is a wicked forum, I have been lurking around here for a while now and I am amazed at the amount of knowledge that can be found here. After some successful extract brews im excited to move into all grain, having picked up my 40L crown urn yesterday, again the level of expertise regarding BIAB completely swayed me to this method. 

Now on topic. I bottled my ginger beer last night following Chappo's recipe. The main difference is that as I didn't have a pot large enough at the time and brewed this in 4 small batches, chilled each batch and put into the fermenter to give me 22L. I did not add yeast nutrient which I now regret and with US-05 the GB took 4weeks to finish fermenting at 18C!!! I guess GB is not the best environment for yeast...

My main concern is this brew turned out to be really dry, the FG is 1000 at 15C (vs Chappo's recipe 1012). The SG was 1052, so its going to be rocket fuel. Is the dryness a result of the fermentables being brown sugar and honey which are both highly fermentable and leaving minimal unfermented sugars behind? I read earlier in this discussion that someone else has had the same experience. Is this resolved by using a larger quantity of unfermentable sugars, a different yeast or did I stuff something up? 

I found this by doing a google search, maybe I should have pasteurised the honey instead of boil to retain some flavour. Would be intersted to know peoples thoughts.

Cheers, 
Shep


----------



## kymba

Shep14 said:


> As this is my first post on AHB I have to say this is a wicked forum, I have been lurking around here for a while now and I am amazed at the amount of knowledge that can be found here. After some successful extract brews im excited to move into all grain, having picked up my 40L crown urn yesterday, again the level of expertise regarding BIAB completely swayed me to this method.
> 
> Now on topic. I bottled my ginger beer last night following Chappo's recipe. The main difference is that as I didn't have a pot large enough at the time and brewed this in 4 small batches, chilled each batch and put into the fermenter to give me 22L. I did not add yeast nutrient which I now regret and with US-05 the GB took 4weeks to finish fermenting at 18C!!! I guess GB is not the best environment for yeast...
> 
> My main concern is this brew turned out to be really dry, the FG is 1000 at 15C (vs Chappo's recipe 1012). The SG was 1052, so its going to be rocket fuel. Is the dryness a result of the fermentables being brown sugar and honey which are both highly fermentable and leaving minimal unfermented sugars behind? I read earlier in this discussion that someone else has had the same experience. Is this resolved by using a larger quantity of unfermentable sugars, a different yeast or did I stuff something up?
> 
> I found this by doing a google search, maybe I should have pasteurised the honey instead of boil to retain some flavour. Would be intersted to know peoples thoughts.
> 
> Cheers,
> Shep



welcome aboard shep

i had the same thing happen to me - it is from all the simple sugars that the yeast can metabolise. i've heard of people backsweetening with lactose but that is for others to comment on

the way to do it is to stop the yeast at the desired gravity using heat, chemicals, or even lack of heat (fridge) if you are just kegging it - keep in mind though that if you reintroduce yeast for carbonating it will keep chewing on the sugars so you will have to kill them again when you have reached your desired carbonation level

my plan was to ferment to 1.014, transfer into keg, leave fermenting under pressure (to carbonate) to 1.010 then heat the keg in my kettle up to about 60 degrees and hold it there for a while then crash chill. however life got in the way & i was too late - it finished at about 0.990ish

if you are bottling you need to ensure there are no yeasts left alive that can continue fermenting or you'll have the bottle bombs. i think i remember reading that incider boiled up his bottles in a 44 gallon drum once the carb level was reached?


----------



## Shep14

Forgot to put this link into previous post.
http://www.honey.com/images/downloads/home_brew.pdf

Thanks kymba has left me with this idea, as I dont have the ability to keg yet. 

Can I bottle at a higher gravity say 1015, then fermentation will continue in the bottle to a more desirable gravity, say 1010, then put all the bottles in the fridge and store them there until they have been drunk? Would not have to add any priming sugar and the bottles would carbonate over that final drop to desired gravity.

As I pulled the above numbers out of my arse, my questions are: 

what would be the ideal bottling gravity, is there a formula for calculating the level of carbonation from a change in gravity? I assume you would have to open a bottle or two to check when a good level of carbination is achieved.

Also, will there be any problems not associated with carbonation levels (bottle bombs) by bottling before fermentation is finished?


----------



## bigcroc64

Ok this is my second GINGERBEER RECIPE atempt and im after some help please.

take 2 ive called it spicy jerk gingerbeer.
The other one was strong aswell to taste but 50% ice and 3 tea of disolved sugar and its not bad .

1kg of raw ginger peeled and washed
4 whole lemons
2cups of sultanas
1 med cayene chilli
BELND THE LOT .
4 tea ginger powder

4 ltrs of filtered water
1kg honey 2kg of raw sugar
500g rich brown sugar.
bring to a heat to melt the sugars,stirling consantly.
2 good teaspoons of jamaican jerk seasoning
1 tea of allspice
5 star annice
5 tea of good vanilla
4 tea of cinnamin

i THEN SIMMERED THE LOT FOR NEARLY AN HOUR THEN PUT THE LOT INTO A HOPS BAG

SG 1050

7 DAYS LATER FG1000
MY QUESTION IS when i first tasted the brew it was sweet with a nice bite , every day i tasted the brew it seemed to get sourer and stronger ,is this because the sugars are fermenting and being used by the yeast, should i remove the bag of ingredients now and let it sit for another week or 2 .Or should i wait until another 2 or 3 days with the fg at 1000 to make sure its stable.
Cheers Rob


----------



## LiquidGold

Hey all i'm about to put on my first ginger beer recipe and it will go something like this:

1 Morgans GB kit
250g fresh ginger
1kg raw sugar
250g brown sugar
200g bush honey (tea tree (_Melaleuca quinquernervia_))
juice and zest of 2 lemons
a handfull of reasonably fresh lemon myrtle leaves
2 whole cloves
1 habanero chilli (seeds and membrane chopped out)
2 satchets of coopers lid yeast


Blend the ginger, lemon juice and chilli with some water and add to pot
add hot water to around 3 litres then bring to boil
boil for 15 min
add brown sugar, cloves, lemon myrtle leaves and lemon zest and boil another 15 min
turn off the heat and add honey to dissolve
pour into fermenter along with the Morgans tin and add the raw sugar
stir thoroughly to dissolve sugars
top up with water to 20L at 20 degrees
take hydrometer reading then pitch yeast

Any suggestions, improvements or critiques would be greatly appreciated. Cheers


----------



## LiquidGold

I went ahead with this recipe but used 4 cloves and left the seeds in the chilli. before turning the heat off i also strained out the cloves and lemon myrtle leaves then put the honey in and poured everything unstrained into the fermenter. Only thing bugging me is that the 2 yeast satchets i used were from different kits - one was the Thomas Cooper's IPA kit and the other the Heritage Lager - and i noticed when putting the second one in that it appeared to be a different yeast (one was lighter in colour and finer). Will this affect the outcome?

OG was 1042 and i pitched at 22-23 degrees celcius.


----------



## Judanero

I don't think so, imo kit yeasts are fine for GB, mixing two different ones? No biggie.

Really interested to hear the taste report on this recipe, you've got some crazy flavour additions happening in there!

A whole habanero (seeds and all)  just curious whether you've used chilli in beer before? Not having a go, just think that is going to be one extremely hot beer! I've only used the little red ones from the supermarket (most was three de-seeded in a batch)
But I couldn't imagine throwing one of my habs in, I think it'd move from enhancing the spice of the the ginger to becoming just a chilli beer.

In saying that, trying new things can produce some unexpected great results :beerbang:

Cheers


----------



## LiquidGold

Glad to hear mixing two yeasts isn't a big deal. Taste sample when getting SG reading was actually very nice and not too hot. I've been a passionate chilli grower for a couple of years now but never properly used any in a homebrew. I did put one red chilli in a bottle when bottling my first ever batch and it was so incredibly hot after 6 weeks i couldn't even finish it. The ginger i used for this recipe was dug up form the garden today by the way and in doing so i got to separate and re-plant heaps more for next time. Can't wait to try it again after fermentation :drinks:


----------



## Judanero

Good fresh ginger is the ducks! I've never put chillies in the bottle, only ever fv for at most~3 weeks...

I have put one of my Hungarian blacks in a bottle of vodka once though, trying my hand at dragons breath sort of thing.. drinkable for a month, after that waay too hot to be enjoyable. Guess the amount of time the alcohol sits on the chilli makes a difference as to the amount of capsaicin that ends up in the solution.

Definitely post back your results mate! :beer:


Cheers


----------



## LiquidGold

Yeah too right about the capsaicin i did the same with a bottle of tequila and my first ever Bhut jolokia. For some reason i decided to wait 4 weeks before unleashing it (just after the chilli began to sink) and it was just crossing the line of still being enjoyable. Should have been tasting it weekly to see the difference.

The GB is sitting on 20-22 now and i'm trying to work out what to do to keep it a bit sweet since i'm bottling. I'm pretty inexperienced with crash chilling or using heat to slow down the yeast and stuff so was hoping for an easy fix. maybe adding an unfermentable sweetener when i bottle? nothing artificial would be nice since it's pretty organic so far. Also i'd rather not make bottle bombs :unsure:

Will keep you posted

Cheers


----------



## LiquidGold

Shep14 said:


> Can I bottle at a higher gravity say 1015, then fermentation will continue in the bottle to a more desirable gravity, say 1010, then put all the bottles in the fridge and store them there until they have been drunk? Would not have to add any priming sugar and the bottles would carbonate over that final drop to desired gravity.
> 
> As I pulled the above numbers out of my arse, my questions are:
> 
> what would be the ideal bottling gravity, is there a formula for calculating the level of carbonation from a change in gravity? I assume you would have to open a bottle or two to check when a good level of carbination is achieved.


Really interested to hear a reply to this as I'm in the same boat. Just checked SG and it's on 1026 so still a while to go which is no surprise as it's only been 5 days. Basically wanted to have another taste and it went down a treat. Less sweet than first sample with a lot more ginger kick and a very light hint of chilli but not much at all considering. Hard to taste much of the other ingredients but they will probably come through at a later stage I hope.

Cheers


----------



## Jabba1701

Hi guys!

I've skimmed through this thread looking for ideas. I used Chappo's recipe from the first post, but added a bit more ginger. Also, I only used normal brown sugar (I'd never seen or heard of dark brown sugar until a few days ago when I saw some in Woolies). It has been in the fermenter doing it's thing for 7 days. I'm a shift worker so I kinda loose track of how many days have passed, so I have only just gotten around to doing a gravity reading and a bit of a taste. According to my maths it is at 3.6% It is unfortunately not very sweet at all. I am guessing this is because I left it for too long. Question is, is there any way of sweetening it up again? Do i just dump some more brown sugar in there or have I ballsed it up completely?


----------



## philmud

Jabba1701 said:


> Hi guys!
> 
> I've skimmed through this thread looking for ideas. I used Chappo's recipe from the first post, but added a bit more ginger. Also, I only used normal brown sugar (I'd never seen or heard of dark brown sugar until a few days ago when I saw some in Woolies). It has been in the fermenter doing it's thing for 7 days. I'm a shift worker so I kinda loose track of how many days have passed, so I have only just gotten around to doing a gravity reading and a bit of a taste. According to my maths it is at 3.6% It is unfortunately not very sweet at all. I am guessing this is because I left it for too long. Question is, is there any way of sweetening it up again? Do i just dump some more brown sugar in there or have I ballsed it up completely?


Seven days isn't that long, so while fermenting out all the sugars will reduce sweetness, if you'd bottled it before it was finished then it would have continued to ferment there and probably blown up at some point. 
To sweeten it up you *could* add non fermentable sweetners like stevia (and I think lactose) but I'd have a google to see if you can find some first hand advice - from what I read in the cider threads that doesn't always go well. You could sweeten it as you drink (eg. Pour onto lemonade or similar) but if your ABV calculation is right, you may not want to do that.


----------



## Jabba1701

That as what I thought would happen and I guess that is why, from what I read, a lot of the guys where crash chilling or use something to kill off the yeast. If I did something along those lines, could I just add more sugar then kill of the yeast? Adding sugar to it now would make it taste odd?


----------



## philmud

If you crash chill it you won't kill the yeast, but they'll become inactive (until/unless they warm up again, at which point they'll explode). Even if you keep the bottles below the temps at which yeast are active, the difficulty is knowing when to halt the yeast. Obviously you want carbonation, so I guess you could keep testing them till they are fizzy enough, and then cool them down. The residual sugar would make your brew sweeter, but personally I think it's too risky. I did read in the non-beer thread that someone was planning on pasteurising a cider in their dishwasher. Heat will kill the yeast dead, so maybe that'd be a better option? 

Adding sugar now won't make it taste odd necessarily as the yeast will eat it (upping your ABV % by the way) - the question is how much sugar, and how much of it do you allow to ferment?


----------



## Jabba1701

Phil Mud said:


> ...someone was planning on pasteurising a cider in their dishwasher. Heat will kill the yeast dead, so maybe that'd be a better option?...


That idea is brilliant and also so crazy it might just work! I'll be using PET bottles, so I might just keep adding sugar until i get the GB a bit sweeter than I'd like and then bottle. I can then wait until the secondary fermentation gets the bottles nice and firm then use the dishwasher trick and then whack them all in the fridge. I was considering using lactose, but i had read that it doesn't dissolve as easily and is not as sweet as the equivalent amount of sugar. And I have no idea how much I;d have to buy to sweeten my current brew.

Thanks Phil, definatly food for thought


----------



## philmud

Jabba1701 said:


> I can then wait until the secondary fermentation gets the bottles nice and firm then use the dishwasher trick and then whack them all in the fridge...
> 
> Thanks Phil, definatly food for thought


No worries, but just remember, the fermentation that continues to take place post bottling will eat sugar, so they won't be as sweet as your last taste. Also, the level of carbonation will be difficult to gauge just by feeling, but other than that, good luck and let us know how it goes!!!


----------



## Kingy

I've got all the ingredients ready to try this (my first ever) ginger beer.
Followed the recipe from the first post. 
Not quite sure what I should stop the ferment at. 
Should I just let it ferment completely or stop around the 1005 mark? I want it to be drinkable as its cost a fair bit for the ingredients lol.
I can keg or bottle.
Also could I boil in a 15 litre pot then top up to desired gravity around 20litres in fermenter.
I don't really feel like getting my 80litre pot going for a 23 litre boil that's all.


----------



## bum

Yes, the smaller boil and diluting will be fine.

If you are putting any in bottles you need to let it ferment out. Kaboom, glass in the kiddies' eyes, etc.


----------



## jbanthony

Hi there!
I know this thread is from awhile ago but I have brewed Chappo's recipe + some chilli, its still fermenting and I am a complete rookie brewer so when I bottle Im not sure exactly how to prime with sugar? Chappo if your still out there could you give me an idea of what is the normal amount of sugar you mentioned? Do I make a mix of sugar and water to add? very sorry for silly questions!
thanks heaps in advance - any advice appriciated!!!

_"On the alcoholic version bulk prime with the normal amount of sugar but on the lean ish side, even 3/4 is good. But taste test first to see how dry it is that will give you an indication of where to go bottle priming wise. There is a whack of fermentables in there and you don't want bottle bombs trust me."_


----------



## bum

"Normal" here refers to your general preference for any brew. If you normally just use a scoop/carb lolly per bottle then that will be fine for your GB.


----------



## Kingy

Has anybody had any experience using lactose in there ginger beers ?


----------



## brettprevans

Jabba1701 said:


> That idea is brilliant and also so crazy it might just work! I'll be using PET bottles, so I might just keep adding sugar until i get the GB a bit sweeter than I'd like and then bottle. I can then wait until the psecondary fermentation gets the bottles nice and firm then use the dishwasher trick and then whack them all in the fridge. I was considering using lactose, but i had read that it doesn't dissolve as easily and is not as sweet as the equivalent amount of sugar. And I have no idea how much I;d have to buy to sweeten my current brew.
> 
> Thanks Phil, definatly food for thought


please dont put PET into a hot dishwasher. Its not HDPE plastic and will shrink shrivel melt whatever. Trust me. I forgot once and absent mindless put some pet and glass bottles into wash. Lets just say I had mini bottles.


----------



## Kingy

Has anybody had any experience using lactose in there ginger beers ?

I've decided to crash chill my 2nd batch of ginger from scratch at a fg of 1014. Hopefully it stalls the yeast quickly and I end up with some retained sweetness. Tastes great from the fermenter. 3 chillies this time and can notice them coming through after the sample.


----------



## indica86

Putting one down today.
Thanks to the OP.
Ginger here is $29kg, fortunately mine has started growing, I managed to dig up about 1/2 a kg.


----------



## Linford

When kegging Chappos GB, should I carbonate at the same pressure I do for my beers? Will my normal routine of 250kpa for 24hours and then serve at 75 produce a good result? Does it like more or less carbing?

Rgds

Linford


----------



## Linford

Anyone? Cold crashing at 1020 to give me 3.8% and tasting amazing. Thanks Chappo.


----------



## bum

GB can carry a heavier carb than most beers, IMO. Certainly wouldn't undercarb it - especially one with that much body.


----------



## Linford

Cheers Bum. Will take it on board.


----------



## Glot

KISS. Dry ginger, some neutral yeast, sugar, water. After one week, bottle. Leave a day or two to carbonate but not detonate. Then into the fridge to stall fermentation. Don't let it age or the yeast tastes will come through. I also like to put one mint leaf in each bottle but that is personal taste.


----------



## Linford

Thanks Glot, but have gone with Chappos recipe, and nailed it. And it's goin in a keg. Plan on servin a few with a pint of ice and a crushed mint leave but. Maybe a splash of Absinthe on a big night! 

Rgds

Linford


----------



## bum

Glot said:


> KISS. Dry ginger, some neutral yeast, sugar, water. After one week, bottle. Leave a day or two to carbonate but not detonate. Then into the fridge to stall fermentation. Don't let it age or the yeast tastes will come through.


Wow. Truly awful advice.


----------



## Kingy

Glot said:


> KISS. Dry ginger, some neutral yeast, sugar, water. After one week, bottle. Leave a day or two to carbonate but not detonate. Then into the fridge to stall fermentation. Don't let it age or the yeast tastes will come through. I also like to put one mint leaf in each bottle but that is personal taste.


 if you do everything opposite to this you will get a nice safe ginger beer. I'm not sure if you where taking the piss or not but that really is not the way to brew any sort of beer and that is destined for failure.


----------



## alkalieine

Chappo said:


> Ok so i finally got around to making version 2 of the Father & Son Special Ginger Beer.
> 
> Version 1 was lacking in a few areas so I have tweaked it a little and changed a few things to see if I can improve it.
> 
> Recipe
> 
> 1.5kg Fresh Ginger
> 2.0kg Brown Sugar
> 1.0kg Iron Bark Honey
> 4 Cinnamon Sticks
> 5 Large Bush Lemons
> 5 Limes
> 
> Yeast Safale S-05
> 
> Steps
> 
> 
> Wash the ginger thoroughly
> Cut Ginger into 2cm long pieces
> Add 500ml of cold water to blender as well as the ginger. I found it's best to add a couple of pieces at a time. If you don't have a blender grating is fine but you may want to consider freezing overnight to break up the cell structure as the ginger root is very fiberous.
> Set Ginger pulp aside in the fridge for an hour to set up a little. Makes it easier to get out of the blender.
> Juice the lemons and limes. Set aside two lemons and limes for zesting.
> Zest the lemons and limes taking care not to have any white pith. I used a fish filleting knife. Then cut into thin strips.
> Crush cinnamon. I put the cinnamon sticks in a zip lock bag and used my palm to crush them. Less mess that way.
> Add all the sugar and honey to the boiler with 22lt of hot water. You will need a further 500ml of water to rinse the hoey from the pot. Stir to disolve. Boil size should now be 24lts.
> Bring up to the boil. Gentle at this stage. Boil time is 60mins.
> Add ginger pulp, zest and cinnamon to hops bag and drop it the boiler.
> Boil gently for 50mins. Scoop ginger scum from top of boil. Dunk the bag like a tea bag every so often to get as much ginger flavour to impart to the boil.
> Boil vigorously last 10mins. Keep a vigil as it will try to boil over!
> Flame out 60mins.
> Remove bag from boiler, just the remaining water seep out, don't squeeze. Scoop any scub from the top of the boil.
> Rehydrate yeast in starter.
> Cool it to pitching temp 18-20C.
> Pitch yeast.
> Ferment till steady readings.
> SG - 1057
> FG - 1012
> 
> I put it into the fermenter yeasterday. It was happily bubbling away this morning. I want to make mine a little less alcoholic so I will rack to a secondary vessle and crash chill before bottling.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!


I'm interested in making a from scratch GB, this is a simple enough reciepe but I'm a bit confused if this will result in a alcoholic GB or not. I assumed it was alcoholic until I fully read all of the other posts that followed. I understand the dry hopping of chilli and all, but at some point some one started separating a alcoholic versus non alcoholic version. 
I'm interested in a from scratch alcoholic GB.


----------



## alkalieine

Chappo said:


> Ok so i finally got around to making version 2 of the Father & Son Special Ginger Beer.
> 
> Version 1 was lacking in a few areas so I have tweaked it a little and changed a few things to see if I can improve it.
> 
> Recipe
> 
> 1.5kg Fresh Ginger
> 2.0kg Brown Sugar
> 1.0kg Iron Bark Honey
> 4 Cinnamon Sticks
> 5 Large Bush Lemons
> 5 Limes
> 
> Yeast Safale S-05
> 
> Steps
> 
> 
> Wash the ginger thoroughly
> Cut Ginger into 2cm long pieces
> Add 500ml of cold water to blender as well as the ginger. I found it's best to add a couple of pieces at a time. If you don't have a blender grating is fine but you may want to consider freezing overnight to break up the cell structure as the ginger root is very fiberous.
> Set Ginger pulp aside in the fridge for an hour to set up a little. Makes it easier to get out of the blender.
> Juice the lemons and limes. Set aside two lemons and limes for zesting.
> Zest the lemons and limes taking care not to have any white pith. I used a fish filleting knife. Then cut into thin strips.
> Crush cinnamon. I put the cinnamon sticks in a zip lock bag and used my palm to crush them. Less mess that way.
> Add all the sugar and honey to the boiler with 22lt of hot water. You will need a further 500ml of water to rinse the hoey from the pot. Stir to disolve. Boil size should now be 24lts.
> Bring up to the boil. Gentle at this stage. Boil time is 60mins.
> Add ginger pulp, zest and cinnamon to hops bag and drop it the boiler.
> Boil gently for 50mins. Scoop ginger scum from top of boil. Dunk the bag like a tea bag every so often to get as much ginger flavour to impart to the boil.
> Boil vigorously last 10mins. Keep a vigil as it will try to boil over!
> Flame out 60mins.
> Remove bag from boiler, just the remaining water seep out, don't squeeze. Scoop any scub from the top of the boil.
> Rehydrate yeast in starter.
> Cool it to pitching temp 18-20C.
> Pitch yeast.
> Ferment till steady readings.
> SG - 1057
> FG - 1012
> 
> I put it into the fermenter yeasterday. It was happily bubbling away this morning. I want to make mine a little less alcoholic so I will rack to a secondary vessle and crash chill before bottling.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!


I'm interested in making a from scratch GB, this is a simple enough reciepe but I'm a bit confused if this will result in a alcoholic GB or not. I assumed it was alcoholic until I fully read all of the other posts that followed. I understand the dry hopping of chilli and all, but at some point some one started separating a alcoholic versus non alcoholic version. 
I'm interested in a from scratch alcoholic GB.


----------



## Kingy

Yea mate this is alcoholic and it's an awesome drink.


----------



## Jimity

Hey guys,

I've been lurking around for a little while, but haven't yet posted. I made this recipe about a month ago, and it turned out pretty good considering it was only the second brew I'd ever done (first one was an apple cider).

I've just started the prep for a 50l batch today (over 2 fermenters), ginger is pulped and in the fridge, lemons & limes are juiced etc etc.

I'm about to start boiling the first of many 10l pots of water, and I have just realised I only have 1 packet of Safale S-05. Completely slipped my mind to get more, and I won't be able to get to the brew shop in the very near future, as today is my only spare day, and my local guy is closed for the holidays. 

Would it be absolute sacrilege to split my S-05 between the and make up the difference with bakers yeast?

I'm a bit stuck, because I don't want to waste all that money I just spent on a bucket of rotten ginger if I have to wait until I can get to a brewshop that's open.

Any advice for a newbie?...

**EDIT** after having a chat to a mate who brews; he suggested tipping the S-05 yeast into about half a liter of dechlorinated water that has a few teaspoons of sugar in it, letting it sit for a few hours, to let the yeast start to multiply, then splitting it between the two fermenters. Hopefully, if I give them some nutrients, in the form of boiled bakers yeast, they will survive and the ferment will start. 
Does this sound reasonable? Being that he is a chemist, I would hope he has the right idea.


----------



## Glot

The big confusion seems to be do people want to brew beer with ginger as an additive or true original style ginger beer? The latter has nothing to do with grain. It requires a GBP which can not be home made. You can buy it or get it off someone that has some to spare. It typically doubles in quantity every month, but that varies. It is not just yeast and water or leaving the jar open to be colonised by wild yeasts.
As this is a brewer's site, then to make beer that has a ginger taste, this is the spot to find out how.
My personal opinion: After tasting real ginger beer from a GBP, then tasting something like Cooper's ginger beer from their kit, I spat the latter out.
Beer should taste like beer IMHO. Not like a ginger bread dunked in beer.
Please, these are my opinions and every one's taste is different.

Disclaimer: The above statement is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the rest of the world.


----------



## Bigdnz

Hi there,

Im very new to home brewing and Ive just made my second batch of GB.

My first batch i just used the copper tun GB kit with no extras. My second batch i have done the following after reading this page.

Morgans GB Kit
1 x Kg Dextrose
250g Dark Brown suger
250g grated Ginger($29kg in Hobart...ouch)
4 x cinnamon stcks 
SG 1025.(my first batch was 1045)


Can I add honey to it later ?? Will this damage the fermentation process ?? and what does the honey do ??

Cheers


----------



## MetalDan

Hi,

I created some ginger beer a while back with the main recipe from this thread, tastes amazing and will def make it again! The only issue I had was breaking my hydrometer when I was about to bottle, so no idea what my FG was.

I bulk primed and only put in 1/3 of the usual dex, but unfortunately they are all ripe for bottle bombs (the honey hadn't completely fermented). Opening them warm they explode, opening them cold they're ok but wayy too gassy. My plan is to chill them all in the fridge, crack them open and then put a new sterilised cap back on.

My only question is how long do I leave the cap off so excess CO2 can escape before I re-bottle? Is just a few seconds enough, or better to place the caps on lightly and leave for 5 mins?


----------



## Glot

Good luck. I will keep an eye on the news for a story about a man killed by ginger beer.
Seriously though. I have never had any luck doing that. I would just crack the seal, let the gas out then retighten. Do that a few times. A slow job as it will want to sprog up in the bottle.


----------



## Jason_brews_beer

Ok so i put down my first GB brew the other day. I had to use a kit as i dont have AG kit yet and Ginger is 25.99/kg but used most of Chappo's recipe and tweaked it a bit to cope with a kit. 

WOW!!! This thing tastes amazing! Can't wait for it to ferment out and have a taste. The dark brown sugar and honey make it look like a pale in colour, which surprised me but the chilli gives it a wicked kick. My mate who tasted keeps asking me if its ready... after 2 days!! My HBS said the yeast was a a mix of an ale yeast and some wild yeast. Don't know what it will do but I think this one is going to be a hit. 

As soon as I get my AG kit i plan to brew to Chappo's full recipe and then compare. Should be interesting


----------



## fattox

I've punched this into Beersmith, looks like an awesome recipe to use as a base. Question though, could you switch out the ginger for galangal to make a sort of citrusy style beer, and maybe ease up on the lemons and limes? I've always thought galangal would make a ripper ginger style beer, with an awesome flavour! Like a thai ginger beer


----------



## brewbienewbie

Young ginger was $4 a kilo at the markets on the weekend! I've never used the young stuff before but at that price I had to give it a go. I figure it's probably a bit milder flavour than the old stuff so I used nearly 2kg of it. I just washed it and chopped it up in the food processor then boiled it up in a saucepan with sugar and honey, a bunch of limes ($1.80 a bag! Preston markets owns!) and some spices for about half an hour. I strained out all the ginger bits and put them in a hop sock, then tossed that in the fermenter to hopefully get a bit more gingery flavour out. Made it up to 22L with cold water, OG 1.050. Nottingham yeast. I'll let you know how it turns out.


----------



## indica86

brewbienewbie said:


> Young ginger


Will have less bite but bags of flavour. It is so much nicer than the old stuff - for cooking with anyway.
I have heaps growing, anytime I want to do some cooking I just go and dig some up.

Has any tried Galangal in a GB?


----------



## lael

Glot said:


> The big confusion seems to be do people want to brew beer with ginger as an additive or true original style ginger beer? The latter has nothing to do with grain. It requires a GBP which can not be home made. You can buy it or get it off someone that has some to spare. It typically doubles in quantity every month, but that varies. It is not just yeast and water or leaving the jar open to be colonised by wild yeasts.
> As this is a brewer's site, then to make beer that has a ginger taste, this is the spot to find out how.
> My personal opinion: After tasting real ginger beer from a GBP, then tasting something like Cooper's ginger beer from their kit, I spat the latter out.
> Beer should taste like beer IMHO. Not like a ginger bread dunked in beer.
> Please, these are my opinions and every one's taste is different.
> 
> Disclaimer: The above statement is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the rest of the world.


Glot - any recommendations on where to find recipes etc for a true GBP origin drink?


----------



## MCHammo

indica86 said:


> Will have less bite but bags of flavour. It is so much nicer than the old stuff - for cooking with anyway.
> I have heaps growing, anytime I want to do some cooking I just go and dig some up.
> 
> Has any tried Galangal in a GB?


I have. It ruined the batch. I usually don't mind a bit of galangal in Asian cooking, but keep it the hell away from my ginger beer. Just thinking about it has reminded me of the flavours of that ginger beer. I've still got a few bottles in the garage that I haven't tipped yet. I wonder if the galangal flavour has dissipated much after a year in the bottle?


----------



## indica86

MCHammo said:


> I have. It ruined the batch. I usually don't mind a bit of galangal in Asian cooking, but keep it the hell away from my ginger beer. Just thinking about it has reminded me of the flavours of that ginger beer. I've still got a few bottles in the garage that I haven't tipped yet. I wonder if the galangal flavour has dissipated much after a year in the bottle?


Thanks, and it is a pity because fresh galangal smells so lovely


----------



## MCHammo

indica86 said:


> Thanks, and it is a pity because fresh galangal smells so lovely


I know. That's why I was so keen to try it. And why I was so upset when it failed. 

That said, this was a GB with 75% ginger, 25% galangal. Maybe the two don't mix, and 100% galangal *might* be ok. Not hopeful, though.


----------



## Not For Horses

lael said:


> Glot - any recommendations on where to find recipes etc for a true GBP origin drink?


http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/making-ginger-beer-from-scratch.html?m=1

This was the very first return from Google.
It looks very much like the method I used as a kid. And my aunt uses. And my old neighbors. And their neighbors. I am puzzled as to where this idea came from that ginger beer plant "can not be home made".


----------



## fattox

For what it's worth I've done a little research and you can buy dried GBP online through some places in the UK. Similar to a dried brewing yeast I assume, but with the obvious addition of the necessary bugs/cultures. I think it was about 9 quid for a 50g packet, I'd be curious as to how much would actually be needed for a 23 litre batch though.


----------



## Wilkensone

Just wondering if it is possible to make the original ~20l recipe doing a 5-10L boil on a stove top and topping up with water after as I don't want to fill my 40L urn with ginger and sticky sugar/honey?

I'm hoping it would be similar to making a high OG beer and watering down to desired OG.


----------



## MCHammo

Wilkensone said:


> Just wondering if it is possible to make the original ~20l recipe doing a 5-10L boil on a stove top and topping up with water after as I don't want to fill my 40L urn with ginger and sticky sugar/honey?
> 
> I'm hoping it would be similar to making a high OG beer and watering down to desired OG.


That's what I used to do when I made ginger beer - I had a 4L boil, then diluted down to 22L or so with tap water in the fermenter. Some would advise against that (unboiled water, etc), but I never had a problem with it.


----------



## ellchaddo

Kingy said:


> Yea mate this is alcoholic and it's an awesome drink.


G'day Kingy, I'm about to start brewing this tomorrow. I'm not sure if I have the right yeast though as the pack just says premium brewing yeast 5g. The bloke at the brew shop gave me this as well as 4g yeast nutrient. Is this ok to use for this recipe? or should I go back and see if he has the specifics. 

Cheers

Also, I only have 1 kg of ginger. Do you think that is enough? I like the ginger level of a typical GB from the bottle-o. I was thinking if this wasnt enough I could leave the hopps bag in the brew for a day or so to get more flavour? Please let me know your thoughts.

Ellchaddo


----------



## ellchaddo

Alrighty put the brew on last night. tweaked the recipe to 2kg honey 1 kg sugar. was only able to boil about 8 litres of it though as i only had a pot that big soi topped the tub up with water. I also left the ginger in the mix for 24 hours, hopefully that didnt ruin things. I only used a kg of ginger. 

So has anyone got advice on how much to prime the bottles if I do so at all?

Ell


----------



## Kingy

Im not sure about leaving the ginger in there, it probly won't be a problem. 1 kg should still be enough anyways.
You could've done with more yeast but it should finish off tho maybe take a little longer,
Priming bottles for a ginger beer is no different to any other beer except if wait for a stable reading off 4 days. It helps for all the floaters to settle out aswell.


----------



## Kingy

Oh,1 kg of honey is plenty. And brown sugar is the go. Helps with colour. 
Chappos original recipe is pretty forgiving and it's great to play around with. I love the chilli in it and crash chill in the low gravitys of 1000's and keg to have very slight sweetness.


----------



## ellchaddo

Kingy said:


> Oh,1 kg of honey is plenty. And brown sugar is the go. Helps with colour.
> Chappos original recipe is pretty forgiving and it's great to play around with. I love the chilli in it and crash chill in the low gravitys of 1000's and keg to have very slight sweetness.


Cheers Beer God,

I don't think I have the gear available to crash chill. I only have a brew tub and empty bottles in a fridge. I might try some sweeteners ORI might just drink it how it is


----------



## ellchaddo

P.S. Beer God do you know of any home brew case swap or similar types of events in Newcastle?


----------



## Kingy

You can only crash chill if your kegging to stop the yeast from eating the sugars and retain some sweetness. If you crash chilled and then bottled, once it warmed up it would start fermenting again and boom. (Bottle bombs).
Having said that my last brew I added a bottle of buderim ginger Cordial (750mls) to the boil and it retained some sweetness through to the bottles.
Also saying that I do like my gingers dry Lol.
All my variations have been good except when I crash chilled to early and it was to sweet. 
I fixed that, but that's another story lol.

Not sure of any case swaps, but there's a home brew club that meets at Hamilton once a month, can't rdmember when tho.


----------



## ellchaddo

Kingy said:


> You can only crash chill if your kegging to stop the yeast from eating the sugars and retain some sweetness. If you crash chilled and then bottled, once it warmed up it would start fermenting again and boom. (Bottle bombs).
> Having said that my last brew I added a bottle of buderim ginger Cordial (750mls) to the boil and it retained some sweetness through to the bottles.
> Also saying that I do like my gingers dry Lol.
> All my variations have been good except when I crash chilled to early and it was to sweet.
> I fixed that, but that's another story lol.
> 
> Not sure of any case swaps, but there's a home brew club that meets at Hamilton once a month, can't rdmember when tho.


Cheers Kingy,

One more question. I have my brew in the fridge at 18 degrees at the moment. I wont have a fridge in two weeks as the owner of it is moving out of my place, do the bottled beers need to stay at a constant temp? or can I just leave them out after I've bottled them? 


Ellchaddo


----------



## Kingy

Just leave them out of the fridge. All good.


----------



## All.Hopped.Up

I brewed this on Monday with a few slight changes inspired by this 15 page conversation.

2kg fresh ginger
4 cinnamon sticks
3 fresh chillies (diced with seeds in)
1kg dark brown sugar
1kg brown sugar
1kg local ironbark honey
The juice and zest of 5 limes
The juice and zest of 5 lemons
Yeast nutrient (added last 10 mins of boil)
1 hour boil
US05 pitched @ 18 degrees

I put it into the fermenting fridge on Monday and it has only dropped from 1.046 to 1.042 today, I am wondering if I should pitch more yeast or if it is just being lazy and needs more time to kick in?

I know a few people have said they had a few issues with the yeast kicking in to gear, but I am not sure how long I should leave it before taking action?

It is really frustrating as I brewed a witbier two days ago and it is going off like a rocket, I was hoping it might inspire the ginger beer to get busy as the are cuddled up in the fermenting fridge. 

Any advice?


----------



## All.Hopped.Up

All.Hopped.Up said:


> I brewed this on Monday with a few slight changes inspired by this 15 page conversation.
> 
> 2kg fresh ginger
> 4 cinnamon sticks
> 3 fresh chillies (diced with seeds in)
> 1kg dark brown sugar
> 1kg brown sugar
> 1kg local ironbark honey
> The juice and zest of 5 limes
> The juice and zest of 5 lemons
> Yeast nutrient (added last 10 mins of boil)
> 1 hour boil
> US05 pitched @ 18 degrees
> 
> I put it into the fermenting fridge on Monday and it has only dropped from 1.046 to 1.042 today, I am wondering if I should pitch more yeast or if it is just being lazy and needs more time to kick in?
> 
> I know a few people have said they had a few issues with the yeast kicking in to gear, but I am not sure how long I should leave it before taking action?
> 
> It is really frustrating as I brewed a witbier two days ago and it is going off like a rocket, I was hoping it might inspire the ginger beer to get busy as the are cuddled up in the fermenting fridge.
> 
> Any advice?


Anyone?


----------



## All.Hopped.Up

So this has stalled out at 1.022 after 11 days. Would it be ok to re-pitch some more US-05 on top to bring it down further, or should I just cut my losses and put it in to the keg at 3%? I was really hoping for something a little stronger.


----------



## Kingy

Definately not finished, this beer should get down to around the 1.000 mark. I generally crash chill mine when it gets around 1.006-1.004 then keg so it retains some sweetness. Give a gentle stir and or add a pinch of yeast. What temperature do you have it at? Maybe raise it a little.


----------



## peterl1981

All.Hopped.Up said:


> Anyone?


 Any word on this one yet??


----------



## All.Hopped.Up

Kingy said:


> Definately not finished, this beer should get down to around the 1.000 mark. I generally crash chill mine when it gets around 1.006-1.004 then keg so it retains some sweetness. Give a gentle stir and or add a pinch of yeast. What temperature do you have it at? Maybe raise it a little.


I was sitting at 18 but I have bumped it up to 21 to try and get it firing again with no love. I also gave it a little stir and 24 hours later still no movement. I dumped another packet of US-05 on it this afternoon and I am hoping that I might have some luck with that.


----------



## All.Hopped.Up

lynchman said:


> Any word on this one yet??


Still no movement.


----------



## mattyg8

looking to do my first ever ginger beer soon and ive only recently started drinking it...there are a few recipes floating around in these posts and was wondering which one is more preferred?

cheers


----------



## beenabeer

Heya, anyone tried prunes etc in their ginger beer brewing? Jake


----------



## MetalDan

I tried Chappo's original recipe a few years back it was delicious, no changes to the recipe except some birdseye chilli's in the boil.

Did anyone have suggestions for how I could make a midstrength version of this recipe (say 3.5%) and keep some sweetness in it (I bottle carb and don't get)? I was thinking drop the sugar and honey by 50% (1kg sugar, .5kg honey) and then also add some stevia, would this work?


Chappo said:


> Recipe
> 
> 1.5kg Fresh Ginger
> 2.0kg Brown Sugar
> 1.0kg Iron Bark Honey
> 4 Cinnamon Sticks
> 5 Large Bush Lemons
> 5 Limes


----------



## bluc

Was thinking of back sweetening with something anyone have suggestions on what to use and how much? Thinking maybe lactose?


----------



## Kingy

I've tried stevia once and was shithouse. Now I just crash chill when it starts to get dry to halt fermentation and keg. I like mine dry tho as well. Depends how I'm feeling at the time. 
I've also add a bottle of buderim ginger cordial to the keg. That worked good to from memory (was a few years ago I think) 
I might actually make a ginger up next. Thx mate cheers.


----------



## bluc

I have decided Im going to stop the yeast chemically "potassium metabisulfite and potassium sorbate" then add brown sugar. Still looking into how its done.


----------



## indica86

Won't be able to bottle carb then.


----------



## bluc

indica86 said:


> Won't be able to bottle carb then.


No I have a tap a draft bottling system and will force carb. I should have said that's what I was going to do... cheers


----------



## wynnum1

Purchased a nearly out of date wine kit that has wine stabilizer its in one sachet looking at other sites is potassium sorbate and to use a campden tablet first and 750 grams of sugar 23 liters to sweeten think may leave out and drink dry of post sweeten.


----------



## MetalDan

What didnt work well about adding the Stevia Kingy? Also does anyone know if the cordial has any fermentable sugars or is it all unfermentable?


----------



## Kingy

I seem to remember having to add a shitload of stevia and still didn't sweeten up. Yes the cordial will ferment unless added to the keg.


----------



## bluc

Think i stuffed my first attempt tastes like a horrible ginger wine maybe the yeast i used guessing this aint gunna get better with time on co2...


----------



## Silk

Would adding some crystal malt as steeping grain before the other additions help to add some sweetness/body? Given that crystal contains some unfermentables.
?


----------



## Simdop

Kingy said:


> I seem to remember having to add a shitload of stevia and still didn't sweeten up. Yes the cordial will ferment unless added to the keg.


Would using dark malt extract instead of sugar give it too much of a beer flavour do you think?


----------



## bluc

Couple of thought I like how my beer turned out following the recipe but think it would be better without so much citrus. Has a fairly strong "wine" taste rather than a beer. Also I regretted back sweetening. Tap a draft bottles work for force carbonation but think bottle conditioning is better.all and all happy but think I can do better with few small changes!


----------



## Silk

Simdop said:


> Would using dark malt extract instead of sugar give it too much of a beer flavour do you think?


I don't think I would go with Dark malt extract, but, I'm sure light malt extract would be fine. One of the guys at Bacchus Brewing suggested LME to me, so definitely worth a shot.

I'm about to put on a trial with 400g of steeped 10L Caramalt, dark brown sugar, chilli, buderim ginger refresher, 800g ginger (200g of which will be dry hopped) etc etc. See how it turns out.
Next one (depending on the outcome of the first one), I'm thinking of using DLME.


----------



## Middo

Hi guys, 

I made a modified double batch using Chappos as the base. Not much changed, just reduced the cinnamon by a couple sticks, added a few Habaneros and increased the honey and brown sugar for a 6.8% finish. Fermented out over 2 1/2 weeks very dry, sugars have all fermented out nicely. 

I'm kegging this shortly after a few days cold crashing. I don't have the issue using fermentable sugars and was thinking of using honey to backsweeten. I have bee hives so honey is free but I don't want it to dominate too much. Interested to hear what other fermentables ppl use to backsweeten. I know cidering can work well with pommie or pear juice. Curious to know if there's another magic option for my first ginger beer.


----------



## Middo

Hi guys, 

I made a modified double batch using Chappos as the base. Not much changed, just reduced the cinnamon by a couple sticks, added a few Habaneros and increased the honey and brown sugar for a 6.8% finish. Fermented out over 2 1/2 weeks very dry, sugars have all fermented out nicely. 

I'm kegging this shortly after a few days cold crashing. I don't have the issue using fermentable sugars and was thinking of using honey to backsweeten. I have bee hives so honey is free but I don't want it to dominate too much. Interested to hear what other fermentables ppl use to backsweeten. I know cidering can work well with pommie or pear juice. Curious to know if there's another magic option for my first ginger beer.


----------



## Middo

I should add thanks to Chappos base, tasted soooo damn good before fermenting. Habaneros really makes it so damn good, it's just a gentle burn that follows on from the ginger punch. 

If you're in Brisbane, farmers markets are your friend. Picked up 3kg of ginger for $25 total after a little haggling. Lemons & limes near cost me the same. I used us05. Can't wait to keg it.


----------



## DigitalGiraffe

I've frozen 1.5kg of ginger and just went to peel it using the edge of a spoon. Far less waste than a peeler but do I really need to peel it if I am putting it in a blender and boiling for an hour? It took close to 15minutes to clean 4 tiny sections. I'd estimate it would take me close to 4 hours to peel it all thoroughly.


----------



## indica86

What?
Thank **** I grow it and can just cut the skin off.


----------



## Swizzle

Weighing in on the discussion, I'm drinking the recipe below off tap at present. It's the bomb - a bit spicier than last year's efforts which had a few less chillies. It came out at 3% and is holding a nice solid white head.

Morgans Ginger Beer kit
0.5 kg fresh ginger, unpeeled, grated
10 dried chillis (Asian shop)
1 kg sugar (comprising about 60:30:10 white:brown:castor), “inverted” in a syrup with some grapefruit juice. (Inverted sugar is sucrose broken down into fructose and glucose.)
Yeast and nutrient supplied with kit (have used US05 last couple of years, didn’t have any on hand.
OG1030
Krausen next morning, 8 hours after making the wort.

​So now I'm aiming for something a bit more spiritual if you like, no kit. Plan for today's brew is:

1 kg LDME (light dried malt extract)
1.5 kg white sugar
5 tsp ginger powder
0.5 kg fresh ginger
10 dried chillies
USO5 yeast and yeast nutrient

I've conquered the camping keg this year too - cylindrical kitchen bin with ice and keg. Happy days!


----------



## rhino86

The best price I've seen for ginger was at St Ives at Goodna, was $2 a kg special. Sadly I did not about this recipie and used it in tea. 
The weekend markets at Rocklea have some pretty good prices sometimes for ginger. 
$22 a kg at wollie, $25 a kg at cole.


----------



## bradsbrew

Has anyone used the masterfoods ginger in a jar? The preservative is sodium metabisulphate.


----------



## Lionman

bradsbrew said:


> Has anyone used the masterfoods ginger in a jar? The preservative is sodium metabisulphate.


There was a post a few pages back re Costco 1KG jar of crushed ginger.

I think the consensus is it isn't ideal as they include additives, it isn't 100% ginger.


I'm putting down a GB tonight. It's my first one, hopefully, it turns out. It's inspired by this thread.

2KG raw sugar
1KG brown sugar
1KG honey
1.6KG ginger - blitzed from frozen
2 whole chilis, roughly chopped
5 lemons - juice and zest
US-05

I'll do about 4L boil for 30mins and put it all in the fermenter. Top up to 21L.

Should put me at 1.067OG or there about's. Ferment it down to 1.015 and then keg and chill. Should be around 6.5% ABV.

Hopfully there's still a bit of sweetness at 1.015.


----------



## Lionman

Made a last minute decision to use 2KG of light brown sugar. Planning on the FG to be a bit higher, around 1.02ish. ABV should be similar but a bit sweeter.

I used a food processor to blend the ginger and chili, was too easy I didn't bother peeling it.

I poured the 'wort' through a brew bag to catch all the ginger and have left that in the fermenter to continue to infuse.

It tastes really nice in the FV. Very sweet but with a big ginger hit. Hopefully, it still stands up after the yeasties dry it out a bit. Can't wait to keg it and drink it!


----------



## captaincleanoff

I brewed the recipe in the original post in this thread. 

Brewed a week ago. Pitched rehydrated 05, after 3 days no action, so sprinkled another packet of 05 in. Fermenting at 18c.

A week later - still no action. Still on OG of .052

Wondering whats going on here. Lemon juice put the pH too far out? Needed yeast nutrient? Disappointed : (


----------



## Hopdrop

Hey guys,

random question, looking to do another batch of ginger beer and hunting around for somewhere selling ginger at reasonable price in Perth. I stumbled across someone selling 20kg box of ginger powder for $10!

Any obvious con's to substituting fresh ginger for powder entirely?


----------



## indica86

Hopdrop said:


> Any obvious con's to substituting fresh ginger for powder entirely?



Flavour. Is there a market somewhere? I'd give you some if you were near me, I have ******* heaps


----------



## Lazz360

Does this recipe require hops in the bag as well, sorry if this is a stupid question only a newbie to the brewing scene


----------



## Fendercaster

5b5bbbh


----------



## technobabble66

+1 @Fendercaster. Totally nailed it. 

Personally I'd stay away from hops in a ginger beer. The bitterness clashes badly with the ginger and super dry finish you will typically get.


----------



## Fendercaster

Lionman said:


> Made a last minute decision to use 2KG of light brown sugar. Planning on the FG to be a bit higher, around 1.02ish. ABV should be similar but a bit sweeter.
> 
> I used a food processor to blend the ginger and chili, was too easy I didn't bother peeling it.
> 
> I poured the 'wort' through a brew bag to catch all the ginger and have left that in the fermenter to continue to infuse.
> 
> It tastes really nice in the FV. Very sweet but with a big ginger hit. Hopefully, it still stands up after the yeasties dry it out a bit. Can't wait to keg it and drink it!


It's been a while. How did you go with this mate.


----------



## Nick the Knife

Terrific thread. Am going to pop my first ever GB attempt on in a few days - I'm looking to use up a few odds 'n sods I have left over - figuring the GB, given the big flavour will be more forgiving towards them than a normal 'beer' brew.

The recipe is going to be flexible, both now and on the day.
Approx 20 - 25L brew
- 1 x 1.5kg Coopers Amber LME (quite old and looking to use it as I'm transitioning to AG)
- Approx 700ml starter (made with LME) of a couple of generic brewing yeasts
- 1kg Raw sugar (will adjust to get around a 5% ABV)
- 1.2kg of fresh ginger (all home grown, encourage others to do as super simple)
- Zest of several fresh limes and lemons
- very smallish mix of spices (cinnamon stick, allspice berries, kaffir lime leaf, peppercorns, coriander seeds)
- leaning towards NOT putting in any chilli, could see it being too noticeable but might do just one moderate one

Will freeze & blend the ginger. All ingredients except the starter & LME will be given shortish boil (only want to sterilise them so long seems of little benefit and actually would lose a lot of the volatiles in the citrus & spices). Am going to put the whole lot in the fermenter - I'm planning on racking to secondary for bulk priming anyway & as there's no hops I'm no so worried about oxidation when doing this.

Will bulk prime with white sugar - adjust depending on what the FG is.

Planning on holding off putting the cirtus juice in the fermenter as concerned it could alter pH - given I'm racking to secondary figure I can adjust there by addition if desired.

Have also omitted honey from the initial recipe as it ferments so completely (apparently 95%+) so I do think it'll be somewhat wasted - for a rather small contribution in flavour - can always add a tiny bit to it at secondary or even in the glass.

Have glass (coopers) & plastic bottles, planning on using the former but if I get a stalled brew etc can always go with the latter, just to be safe - but have never had a bottle explode on me yet.

Welcome any feedback


----------



## Hangover68

Nick the Knife said:


> Terrific thread. Am going to pop my first ever GB attempt on in a few days - I'm looking to use up a few odds 'n sods I have left over - figuring the GB, given the big flavour will be more forgiving towards them than a normal 'beer' brew.
> 
> The recipe is going to be flexible, both now and on the day.
> Approx 20 - 25L brew
> - 1 x 1.5kg Coopers Amber LME (quite old and looking to use it as I'm transitioning to AG)
> - Approx 700ml starter (made with LME) of a couple of generic brewing yeasts
> - 1kg Raw sugar (will adjust to get around a 5% ABV)
> - 1.2kg of fresh ginger (all home grown, encourage others to do as super simple)
> - Zest of several fresh limes and lemons
> - very smallish mix of spices (cinnamon stick, allspice berries, kaffir lime leaf, peppercorns, coriander seeds)
> - leaning towards NOT putting in any chilli, could see it being too noticeable but might do just one moderate one
> 
> Will freeze & blend the ginger. All ingredients except the starter & LME will be given shortish boil (only want to sterilise them so long seems of little benefit and actually would lose a lot of the volatiles in the citrus & spices). Am going to put the whole lot in the fermenter - I'm planning on racking to secondary for bulk priming anyway & as there's no hops I'm no so worried about oxidation when doing this.
> 
> Will bulk prime with white sugar - adjust depending on what the FG is.
> 
> Planning on holding off putting the cirtus juice in the fermenter as concerned it could alter pH - given I'm racking to secondary figure I can adjust there by addition if desired.
> 
> Have also omitted honey from the initial recipe as it ferments so completely (apparently 95%+) so I do think it'll be somewhat wasted - for a rather small contribution in flavour - can always add a tiny bit to it at secondary or even in the glass.
> 
> Have glass (coopers) & plastic bottles, planning on using the former but if I get a stalled brew etc can always go with the latter, just to be safe - but have never had a bottle explode on me yet.
> 
> Welcome any feedback



I would suggest not leaving your spice mix in the FV, i did and i think the cinnamon gave it a bad aftertaste.
I used a pale ale wort as a base (parti-gyle from a previous brew) and other than the bad aftertaste it came out good.


----------



## Nick the Knife

Hangover68 said:


> I would suggest not leaving your spice mix in the FV, i did and i think the cinnamon gave it a bad aftertaste.
> I used a pale ale wort as a base (parti-gyle from a previous brew) and other than the bad aftertaste it came out good.


Cheers for the reply - funny you say this as before I read this I decided last night to likely omit basically all the spices. My logic being that ideally they'd only be incredibly subtle & would only add nuance to the end flavour - the upside from them would be relatively limited. The potential downside though is you end up with a Spice beer, thats an absolute mess of flavours - also with the potential for many compounds that could hinder fermentation going into the brew.

So highly likely I don't put them in at all - or perhaps just in a bag for the initial boil only.

Still going to put all the blended up fresh ginger and citrus peel into the fermenter though - can't see any issues from that.

Have had the yeast starter on my DIY stirplate for the past 2 days - haven't used it before and surprised by how hot the fan gets. Which is figure is from the resistance on the fans electric motor that the magnets cause. So only run it in 5-10min bursts every few hours. 

Leaning towards doing the brew on SAT to take advantage of the offpeak electricity then.


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## Eddy Monsoon

Hangover68 said:


> I would suggest not leaving your spice mix in the FV, i did and i think the cinnamon gave it a bad aftertaste.



100%, Cinnamon can be very easily overdone. If you do nothing will fix it

Ended up drinking a xmas beer batch on my own


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## mynameisrodney

I'm super keen to make a ginger beer, but the price of fresh ginger is pretty high. I was hoping to substitute some of the fresh ginger for the jars of crushed ginger from coles/woolies. Does anyone know if they are a 1:1 substitute by weight?


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## Nick the Knife

mynameisrodney said:


> I'm super keen to make a ginger beer, but the price of fresh ginger is pretty high. I was hoping to substitute some of the fresh ginger for the jars of crushed ginger from coles/woolies. Does anyone know if they are a 1:1 substitute by weight?


I wouldn't think it's a 1:1 - as to start the jars are around 95% ginger - I have a 1kg one in my fridge - the rest is salt, oil, preservative etc. So on that basis you'd have to add extra.
Furthermore it'll not have the pop in flavour of fresh - so I'd say at minimum you'd have to add 25% extra.

Alternatively rather than a straight replacement Iif price is an issue (try asian stores for cheaper fresh stuff or farmers markets - as it's harvesting time for ginger now) - why not use it to 'subsidise' your fresh stuff - e.g use half fresh and half jar.

At the end of the day THE ginger is the star of the brew and cutting costs on it too much will risk a less than stellar brew IMHO.

Buy a few extra pieces of ginger, wait till nodules form on them and then plant them - come next year you'll have around 5 times + the amount and can do over again year after year. Is incredibly simple and about as low maintenance a plant as you'll find.


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## Coalface

mynameisrodney said:


> I'm super keen to make a ginger beer, but the price of fresh ginger is pretty high. I was hoping to substitute some of the fresh ginger for the jars of crushed ginger from coles/woolies. Does anyone know if they are a 1:1 substitute by weight?


The jars often have an oil base which you don't want in your beer. If you're in a city, you can often get fresh ginger at an asian supermarket for half price of the duopoly.


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## Eddy Monsoon

Used 2 of these in 23 litres recently, total 460g

Ginger is there but not powerful, so would go 3 or 4 next time

However, it's also got a slightly sour taste, which maybe to do with the 5% rapeseed oil or the citric acid, 

and the bottle conditioning hasn't carbonated much.

so in 2 minds atm


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## Nick the Knife

Coalface said:


> The jars often have an oil base which you don't want in your beer. If you're in a city, you can often get fresh ginger at an asian supermarket for half price of the duopoly.


True on both counts - was recommended earlier in the thread (or might have been another one) if you do use the jars - after adding to your boil you can generally remove the majority of the oil was skimming the scum/froth that forms on the top edges of the boil. But i do agree that Asian stores, if you're lucky enough to have on nearby are sources of top quality fresh stuff at much better pricing.

Think I'm going to edit my brew slightly - as mentioned transitioning to AG and have had 7 or so tins of Coopers LME sitting here for quite a while. Was planning on using the oldest one, an Amber and bulking out with sugar but instead will go all malt and ditch the sugar for another tin of light extract. 25L of water so will likely be around 30L in the fermenter (due to the malts, ginger etc). Will aim for 5% ABV still - might need a tad of sugar to get there.


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## Hangover68

Nick the Knife said:


> Cheers for the reply - funny you say this as before I read this I decided last night to likely omit basically all the spices. My logic being that ideally they'd only be incredibly subtle & would only add nuance to the end flavour - the upside from them would be relatively limited. The potential downside though is you end up with a Spice beer, thats an absolute mess of flavours - also with the potential for many compounds that could hinder fermentation going into the brew.
> 
> So highly likely I don't put them in at all - or perhaps just in a bag for the initial boil only.
> 
> Still going to put all the blended up fresh ginger and citrus peel into the fermenter though - can't see any issues from that.
> 
> Have had the yeast starter on my DIY stirplate for the past 2 days - haven't used it before and surprised by how hot the fan gets. Which is figure is from the resistance on the fans electric motor that the magnets cause. So only run it in 5-10min bursts every few hours.
> 
> Leaning towards doing the brew on SAT to take advantage of the offpeak electricity then.



I wouldnt leave them out, just dont add them to a hop sock and add to the fermenter like i did.


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## Nick the Knife

Hangover68 said:


> I wouldnt leave them out, just dont add them to a hop sock and add to the fermenter like i did.


Fair point. After looking at a lot of Ginger Beer recipes (alcoholic and non) very few had any spices added to them at all. So I've omitted putting them in - even in just the boil as I didn't want any Xmas cake/spice beer happening.
Ended up with the zest of 4 limes and 3 meyer lemons, peeled them and then blended the peels with some water - was the easiest way to add and ensure no pith - plus not losing any more of the oils from in them as you would by normal zesting - very fast as well with a potato peeler.
Unfortunately had a brain fart and instead of chilling the approx 10l boil in the sink, I put straight into the fermenter - assuming the cold water I'd left outside overnight would be ample to bring it down to pitch temps.......wrong.

So it's in the brew fridge trying to get down to mid 20's atleast - will brew at around 18c for 2 weeks. Was super simple to do, freezing the ginger and then blending is super quick. Handy way to get through fresh ginger too as I often am unsure on how to use it all up. All water used is filtered rainwater.


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## mynameisrodney

OK based on advice here just went down to a local Asian grocer and found ginger for $12/kg. Much more manageable! Do you bother peeling it? I'll keep some aside and plant it too.


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## Nick the Knife

mynameisrodney said:


> OK based on advice here just went down to a local Asian grocer and found ginger for $12/kg. Much more manageable! Do you bother peeling it? I'll keep some aside and plant it too.


As I said in my posts above - chop it into smallish chunks, then freeze it - defrost it in your fridge 24hrs or so before you brew - then blend or foodprocess it with some water. No need to peel, as long as it's reasonably clean i.e not covered in chunks of dirt. Honestly was super simple and peeling ginger is a PITA.

Mine smelt and tasted absolutely devine - only 2 or so days into fermenting - was going like a cracker. Sitting at 18c pretty stable in the brew fridge, though I don't have it turned on as it's cold enough in the garage for the brew to just hold it's own temp (does put out it's own heat when fermenting first few days).

You'll have to wait till Spring to plant - read up on that.


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## mynameisrodney

Yeah I ended up just washing and chucking in the food processor. Next time I'll try blender with water. After pouring it into the fermenter I noticed that all the chunks of ginger were sinking, but the chunks of skin were floating. Next time I'll try to scoop most of them off while I'm boiling. I can imagine they're not going to play nice with my floating dip tube if they don't sink when I cold crash.


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## yankinoz

Quick digression and stray thought: has anyone heard of or tasted galangal beer? If you don't know galangal, a relative of ginger, buy some at a SE Asian store and try the tea


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## mynameisrodney

I remember reading someone else contemplating it but cant remember if it was on here or somewhere else. I've used galangal in Thai cooking before, but not for a while. I don't know the taste/smell well enough on its own to guess if it would be any good, but sounds worth a try.


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## Nick the Knife

yankinoz said:


> Quick digression and stray thought: has anyone heard of or tasted galangal beer? If you don't know galangal, a relative of ginger, buy some at a SE Asian store and try the tea


It was either in this thread or another one that was about making Ginger Beer (know as I've read dozens of them before doing my brew) - a guy stated that he'd put galangal in his and it tasted terrible, specifically posted up to say do not do it. So make of that what you will.


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## mynameisrodney

A bit over 24h in and smell from the fermenter is pretty good.

I ended up doing
1.5kg ginger
1kg brown sugar
1kg raw sugar
3x bird's eye chilli
Yeast nutients
US05

I'll backsweeten with some sugar in the keg.


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## Nick the Knife

mynameisrodney said:


> A bit over 24h in and smell from the fermenter is pretty good.
> 
> I ended up doing
> 1.5kg ginger
> 1kg brown sugar
> 1kg raw sugar
> 3x bird's eye chilli
> Yeast nutients
> US05
> 
> I'll backsweeten with some sugar in the keg.


3 birds eye chillis! Damn......have you popped them in before? As thats right up with the higher number I've read of folks popping in. How many litres in the fermenter?


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## mynameisrodney

Nick the Knife said:


> 3 birds eye chillis! Damn......have you popped them in before? As thats right up with the higher number I've read of folks popping in. How many litres in the fermenter?



22L in the fermenter, but I'm assuming I'll lose a fair bit due to all the crushed ginger.

I haven't used these particular ones in brewing before, but they are off my chilli tree and I use them all the time. They were small ones which is why I used 3. 

I'll see how it goes, I love spicy food, but maybe I'll be drinking the keg by myself haha.


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## BAA

So I am interested in how spicy these ginger beers come out. My favorite ginger beer is Idris from the UK, which is incredibly spicy, with an intense ginger hit. From what I understand this is achieved by over dosing the Ginger?

If that is correct how far have you gone to increse the ratio of ginger?


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## mynameisrodney

OK just sampled some from the fermenter, down to 1.020. Taste's reasonably intense to me, but I've never had Idris.

There was a bit of a kick from the chilli, but not too much for me. I made the wife try it too though and she said it was too spicy for her.


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## btrots87

I brewed this today, first ever GB. More for my wife than me, I'm not a big GB fan but I harvested about a kilo of ginger this year so seemed like a good use for it. Only made a 12L batch and it will be going into bottles because I don't want it taking up a keg for an unspecified amount of time. 

I added the dme and crystal to hopefully get some sweetness as I'll have to ferment it out completely before going in the bottles. Might need to back sweeten with some lemonade or sugar syrup but I'll see how it turns out.

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.040
Final Gravity: 1.004
ABV (standard): 4.71%
IBU (tinseth): 0
SRM (morey): 9.46
Mash pH: 0

FERMENTABLES:
0.5 kg - Dry Malt Extract - Light (33.3%)
0.75 kg - Brown Sugar (50%)

STEEPING GRAINS:
0.25 kg - New Zealand - Light Crystal Malt (16.7%)

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
800 g - Ginger, Time: 30 min, Type: Spice, Use: Boil
3 each - Lemons - juiced, Time: 30 min, Type: Flavor, Use: Boil
1 each - Lemons - zest, Time: 30 min, Type: Flavor, Use: Boil
3 each - Limes - juiced, Time: 30 min, Type: Flavor, Use: Boil
1 each - Limes - zest, Time: 30 min, Type: Flavor, Use: Boil


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## mynameisrodney

Ok so fermentation stalled at ~1.007 for me which was a bit surprising. Luckily it tasted good at that FG, so rather than trying to sort that out and then back sweeten later, I just kegged as is. That clocks it in at 3.3% so lower then planned, but not really bothered. Fermentation was never particularly vigorous even though I used a fair amount of nutrient. Could have been the yeast, first time using the kegland US-05 equivalent.

After force carbing and having a few, the chilli is definitely too much. I still like it, but it stops it from being refreshing, and I think it will be pretty divisive with guests.


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## mynameisrodney

Well I had some mates over last night and half the keg is gone. So not that divisive haha. Chilli beer works well for sitting around outside in the cold.


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## AHB_Admin

mynameisrodney said:


> Well I had some mates over last night and half the keg is gone.


Congrats. Divisive?


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## mynameisrodney

AHB_Admin said:


> Congrats. Divisive?


Well, it's a pretty strong flavour, both the ginger and the chilli , so I thought some people would hate it. But everyone that tried it went back for more, guess they're all chilli lovers.


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## Nick the Knife

mynameisrodney said:


> Ok so fermentation stalled at ~1.007 for me which was a bit surprising. Luckily it tasted good at that FG, so rather than trying to sort that out and then back sweeten later, I just kegged as is. That clocks it in at 3.3% so lower then planned, but not really bothered. Fermentation was never particularly vigorous even though I used a fair amount of nutrient. Could have been the yeast, first time using the kegland US-05 equivalent.
> 
> After force carbing and having a few, the chilli is definitely too much. I still like it, but it stops it from being refreshing, and I think it will be pretty divisive with guests.


An FG of 1.007 sounds like the yeast worked well - I don't think you'd have wanted it to have gone too much lower as it'd have given you a very dry result - which would have required as you say backsweetening, which is it's own issue. The 3.3% or so would actually be fine - but perhaps given as you say the chilli was a tad much (haha I did try and warn you! Lile salt in cooking it's always easier to add more just before you consume) so quaffing heaps could be challenging.

But folks love little more than free booze, especially stuff thats good quality - so sounds like it still went down very well. Perhaps the only adjustment you need next time is a higher OG and a lil less chilli and you're on a winner.

I've still got mine sitting passively in the brew fridge - it's been holding pretty well at 18c, though have to give it a little with a heat matt in there to keep it from sliding down a few degrees. Have given it a few 'twists' to agitate it over the past 12 or so days, but otherwise I've been impressed by how easy a non-hop beer is to do. The brew up etc was much simpler and less worry about oxygen exposure etc which will also be the case when I rack to secondary and bottle - which I'll do this weekend.


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## Nick the Knife

Hmmm well it's been 2 full weeks in the fermenter now - so went out with the intention of bottling today. My modus operandi for the past few years has been rather than taking readings 3 days in a row - to leave for 2 weeks and then take reading - bottling unless it's oddly high or doing something special.

So tested hydrometer with water and confirmed it's correct - took reading of brew and 1.012. Which would seem to me to be around where the generic yeast would get it.

I didn't like the potential of tap leaks & infections, so several brews back changed my regular primary (a Bunnings 30L blue water container) - so that the bottom bung is always in (actually chemically sealed it in place). So readings are taken using a wine thief/large turkey baster and I empty using a siphon to secondary for bulk priming and bottling.

Flavour wise - very clean, could have done with a tad more ginger perhaps - and also a tad more citrus peel - I didn't put any juice in as was worried about affecting the pH.

I've never had an alcoholic ginger beer before - and full disclosure I have a sweet tooth, but thought it could do with being backsweetened a reasonable amount. I anticipate less the trub & ginger leaving about 25L of brew. After looking my thoughts are either:

- Stevia (likely best done using the liquid concentrate, as the granulated/tablets are full of filler). That 125ml bottle would equate to 1.25kg of sugar's 'sweetness'. Downside is I hear it's flavour can throw some people, but in such a bold flavour as ginger beer I suspect this would be hidden.
or
- Lactose - via LHBS.
or
- old fashioned Aspartame based tablets - which is the same chemical used in Diet Coke etc. This seems the 'safest' in terms of not massively altering the flavour profile. Lil filler in them but nothing much that wouldn't be in a brew.

But here's where it gets tricky....as I was thinking - easy choice, lactose right? But then luckily I read that lactose ISN'T very sweet. In fact you need 5 times the amount of lactose in something to achieve the same sweetness as sucrose.

Now if I was kegging - apparently what you'd be able to do is add potassium sorbate, which makes the yeast 'sterile' (essentially it can no longer metabolise sugars). And then you can sweeten, then carbonate via CO2. But I'm bottling so need the yeast to still be doing their thing.

I don't find adding 5kg of lactose at $80 total to be a good idea. Tend to think the basic sweetener tablets might be the best choice?

Feedback welcomed.


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## Liambeer

If kegging you don’t need to sterilise the yeast before backsweeteneing if you refrigerate the keg immediately as the cold temp will halt secondary fermentation. 

Lactose can get very gummy too, the fake ones are best, but you can taste them if looking.


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## Nick the Knife

Liambeer said:


> If kegging you don’t need to sterilise the yeast before backsweeteneing if you refrigerate the keg immediately as the cold temp will halt secondary fermentation.
> 
> Lactose can get very gummy too, the fake ones are best, but you can taste them if looking.


Fair point for those kegging - as mentioned I'm bottling so alas trickier.

"Fake ones are best but you can taste them if looking"? haha not sure what you mean by this - sounds like part of a devious puzzle.

I'm pretty sure the only option is an artificial sweetener - as mentioned the bog standard Aspartame type ones likely as good as any.


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## Liambeer

I meant the artificial sweetener's. some people can taste or dislike them more than others. A bit of extra ginger, or lemon or something can mask them to some degree


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## Nick the Knife

Ok due to car issues (warranty matter with Hyundai - PITA!) I couldn;t make it into town to get the artifical sweetner. Woolies was out so grabbed 2 packets of the Coles brand ones.

Racked to secondary today (just a day short of 3 weeks) no signs of any issues. As I wasn't worried about aeration issues with hops I used a jiggle siphon to transfer. Worked very well and though I'd brought a strainer out I forgot to use it but I was able to keep it in the 'mid' level so the ginger skin on top didn't get in and the trub-ginger layer on the bottom didn't either. So very clean transfer. 24L

Boiled small amount of water, added one entire packet of the sweeteners. Added to secondary, though I considered adding half and then tasting. Slightly on the sweeter end of what I'd like but I think it'll balance with carbonation as opposed to still.

Added around 220g sugar via a syrup - stirred through for a while. Allowed to dissapate for 30mins or so while i sanitised the bottles (all Coopers 750ml). Despite the botttling wand losing it's tip and making a GUSH semi-disaster on me - still got 33 bottles. SO we'll see come 3-4 weeks.

I didn't add any extra citrus etc at bottling - felt it easier to do in the glass.


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## mynameisrodney

nice one. Keen to see how it turns out with the sweetener.


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## Nick the Knife

Ok after being royally dicked around by Coopers on their bottles ability to handle 3.x vol pressure - they all held up ok - nearly a month after bottling now - so even in winter as are stored inside I tried. Chilled for 2 days.

Priming was about at the correct level - so that was fine.

But the artificial sweetener has fucked it up completely! Is sickly sweet and tastes like that 1st generation artificial sweetener where you'd try and immediately notice the fake taste to it. I was gutted - I added some lime juice to it which improved the balance somehwhat but tipped the entire longneck down the drain.

That was one entire packet of the sweetener, which is definitely too much - but I do wonder whether any of it at all was just going to ruin the flavour - perhaps the stevia would have been better.

Haha and the wife walked over and said,"Oh no good? How many bottles of that do you have?" My reply was ,"Ah a few". And theres about 32 more.

Dunno I will try again in a few days - perhaps I was a tad harsh but I'd rather bin the lot that compromise and drink stuff I do not enjoy.

Very dissappointing as the ginger beer itself has terrific flavour - very clean and aromatic - no complaints there but that sweetener is the pits. :-( ****.


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