# Ginger Beer Kit Without Artificial Sweetener ?



## yo_barry (19/1/09)

Hi to all - is anyone aware of a Ginger Beer Kit that *doesnt* contain an artificial sweetener ??

I have made up a Coopers Giner beer Kit with the following added :-

1 Kg Dextrose
250 G Light Malt
250 G Maltodex
1 Tbsp Ginger Powder

Made up to 19 Ltr.

Very Nice - BUT, I dont like to Artificial sweetener after taste

Any Suggestions / experiences ??

Cheers

Barry


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## drsmurto (19/1/09)

Replace the kit with 1kg of fresh ginger, chopped and boiled for an hour. Strain. 

Or juice the ginger.


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## jonocarroll (19/1/09)

yo_Barry said:


> Hi to all - is anyone aware of a Ginger Beer Kit that *doesnt* contain an artificial sweetener ??
> 
> I have made up a Coopers Giner beer Kit with the following added :-
> 
> ...


I made my ginger beer with a Brigalow kit (IIRC) which doesn't seem to get a great review on the tubes, but nonetheless came out great. I added an entire grated large ginger root which I boiled up with some lemon zest. The ginger kick from this more than overpowers any sweetner taste.


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## Jase71 (19/1/09)

You could probably ditch the kits completely and just use a kilo of root ginger, a fair whack of ginger powder and sugar, with a bit of yeast nutrient to get the ball rolling. 

Purely theoretical, I should point out that I havent tried this yet. Love to read more on 'all natural' GB in the ensuing replies.


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## litre_o_cola (19/1/09)

Pitched a GB 3 days ago and mine was a kit from my local.
Basic kit of juiced ginger, yeast nutrient and champers yeast.
Brewing hard at the moment, I put my ear to the fermenter and it sounds like someone dropped a handful of berocca's in there.

I added
1kg of raw sugar
100gm of grated ginger


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## Muggus (19/1/09)

I've been toying with the idea of making an "AG" Ginger Beer of sorts for a while.
Mash a small amount of ale malt at a high temp (around 70 degrees)
Do a standard 60 minute boil with a very small bittering addition of hops
Add a good heap (500g+) of freshly peeled and grated ginger root and 1kg of sugar at the end of the boil.
Ferment with an ale yeast that doesn't attenuate too high/accentuates maltiness.

Not sure if it would work, but that its something i'm considering attempting in the coming weeks.


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## yo_barry (20/1/09)

Thanks for all the detailed replies - appreciated

barry


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## dpadden (20/1/09)

Just keep in mind that all of the sugar added will be converted, hence will not add to the sweetness. Other than artificial sweeteners, the best thing to use is lactose which adds the required sweetness and is not converted by the yeast.

Most LHBS stock lactose and can give advice on how much to add. From memory it is about 500g


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## drsmurto (20/1/09)

Muggus said:


> I've been toying with the idea of making an "AG" Ginger Beer of sorts for a while.
> Mash a small amount of ale malt at a high temp (around 70 degrees)
> Do a standard 60 minute boil with a very small bittering addition of hops
> Add a good heap (500g+) of freshly peeled and grated ginger root and 1kg of sugar at the end of the boil.
> ...



Bostons Ginger Pilsner

There is no hopping in this beer but its AG and contains a huge amount of ginger plus a few other spices.

On the weekend i found time to do this but used nottingham instead as i have lent my fridge temp controller to a mate.

The smell coming out of the airlock of the ginger pilsner ale is gorgeous!

I've made no-kit ginger beerTM several times using either sugar, LDME or a combo of both and relying on fresh ginger to get the flavour etc. Best thing you can do is ditch the can of snot. As you dont need to do a full sized boil you dont need any more equipment than a decent saucepan. 

I must admit that the best 'extract' ginger beer i made was 1kg each of raw sugar and LDME plus 500g of JW caramalt steeped. It retained some sweetness that is lacking when you use all sugar.

Cheers
DrSmurto


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## mouapp12 (20/1/09)

Paddo said:


> Just keep in mind that all of the sugar added will be converted, hence will not add to the sweetness. Other than artificial sweeteners, the best thing to use is lactose which adds the required sweetness and is not converted by the yeast.
> 
> Most LHBS stock lactose and can give advice on how much to add. From memory it is about 500g


i dont understand this sucrose leaves behind a lot of sweetness in beers but with ginger beers people keep saying it dosen't leave any, in any case someone here suggested using a mead yeast or simmilar low atenuating yeast to leave behind more sweetness


i just finished a bach, but im still strugling with my new kegging system so im not sure how its come up yet


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## drsmurto (20/1/09)

mouapp said:


> i dont understand this sucrose leaves behind a lot of sweetness in beers but with ginger beers people keep saying it dosen't leave any, in any case someone here suggested using a mead yeast or simmilar low atenuating yeast to leave behind more sweetness
> 
> 
> i just finished a bach, but im still strugling with my new kegging system so im not sure how its come up yet



Sucrose is a simple sugar and so is normally fermented to dryness by standard beer/wine yeasts. If you are getting it to taste sweet it may be you are letting it finish fermenting....

By adding more complex sugars (LDME or grain derived sugars) and using a beer yeast rather than a wine yeast you will leave a % of sugar in the final product as beer yeast dont eat all the sugar. 

If you are kegging your GB and the fridge is set low (4C) then you may be able to add sugar back to the GB to sweeten it up as at that temp the yeast isnt likely to ferment the additional sugar, or if so, at a very slow rate.


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## mouapp12 (20/1/09)

DrSmurto said:


> Sucrose is a simple sugar and so is normally fermented to dryness by standard beer/wine yeasts. If you are getting it to taste sweet it may be you are letting it finish fermenting....
> 
> By adding more complex sugars (LDME or grain derived sugars) and using a beer yeast rather than a wine yeast you will leave a % of sugar in the final product as beer yeast dont eat all the sugar.
> 
> If you are kegging your GB and the fridge is set low (4C) then you may be able to add sugar back to the GB to sweeten it up as at that temp the yeast isnt likely to ferment the additional sugar, or if so, at a very slow rate.


yea adding more is the plan depending on how it turns out, im assuming all i need to do is pour it in and purge the head space

as for shugars im just going off the thing from the articles section:


> Sucrose Sugar, properly called Sucrose, is Glucose-Fructose. The most pure and common form is white table and caster sugar. It can come from Cane, Palms and Sugar Beet among others. You get a total of 4 Alcohol and 4 CO2, but the Fructose leaves a few bits over, giving the classic Sugar Twang, as Fructose is about 128% sweeter than Sugar residual Fructose can contribute to a cloying sweetness in the finished beer.
> Belgian Candied sugar comes from sugar beet as is considered an important part of some styles of beer.
> Cane sugar includes brown sugar, raw sugar, molasses, golden syrup and treacle. Cane sugar can give the beer a "cidery taste" Sugar can work as a flavour in some beers, e.g certain dark ales. You can add 400ml of Golden Syrup to a good stout batch to get a nice twist to the flavour.
> In general, avoid sucrose unless you know what you are doing.


i only used it once and it was probably the least of what went wrong with that beer


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