# Ginger Beer Force Carbonation



## ausdb (30/12/04)

I have just kegged a deliverance ginger beer kit into a keg and want to have it drinkable by friday night

The fridge is at 5C what sort of pressure should I use?

Cheers

Ausdb


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## JasonY (30/12/04)

No idea? But I will be keen to hear how the kit tastes!


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## Batz (30/12/04)

While in Adelaide I tried a Coopers ginger beer at Goliaths , best ginger beer i have had , just like the old ones made with a ginger beer plant


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## johnno (30/12/04)

Hi Batz,
I want to try one of these. Do you know if any extras were added? Or was it just per the instructions on the can.
Did Goliath make it?
If any extras were added any chance of the recipe?

cheers

johnno


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## Batz (30/12/04)

He made it as per the instructions , this one he made no alchol , kegged , carbonated and away you go.


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## sosman (30/12/04)

ausdb said:


> I have just kegged a deliverance ginger beer kit into a keg and want to have it drinkable by friday night
> 
> The fridge is at 5C what sort of pressure should I use?


 A table I converted to SI units is at:
http://www.metrak.com/homebrew/co2.html

My reading is 124kPa @ 5C for 3 volumes of CO2. With ginger beer, I would err on the side of overcarbonating, but that is just me and soft drinks are generally more highly carbonated than beer IIRC.

At least that is where you want to get to. I would crash carbonate in the "usual way" and you should be right. I have had beer quite drinkable in less than 12 hours after kegging, even quicker if it went in the keg cold.


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## ausdb (30/12/04)

Goat from the fermenter it was definately gingery, my partners comment who it was for was 'thats strong' 
I made it up with a kilo of the coopers sugar/dextrose mix laying around and a few spoonfuls of brown sugar for good measure OG was only around 1.036 I need to measure the final result.

Off to the shed for a taste/carbonation test now I'll see how it is going


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## jgriffin (30/12/04)

I've kegged a couple of ginger beers, i just corbonated at 60kpa for a couple of days.
On the topic of kits, i reckon the morgans is the best. I find the coopers is too sweet, and has a chemically aftertaste - like artificial sweetner or something.


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## johnno (30/12/04)

Batz said:


> He made it as per the instructions , this one he made no alchol , kegged , carbonated and away you go.


 Sorry for the thread hijack ausdb. Hope you have that ginger beer gassed up for tomorrow.
I've just tried the Buderim Ginger refresher and its pretty good stuff. Used the kids soda stream to carbonate the water and its the best ginger cordial I have ever tried. For a non alcoholic Ginger beer this would go very nice in a keg.
But of course in the brewing tradition I will make a Coopers kit up. Not sure if I will make it alcoholic or not.
Arghh..this stuff is burning the back of my throat. Talk about gingery spice...mmmm

cheers johnno


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## sosman (30/12/04)

Since everyone is talking kit ginger beer, I thought I would at least post my "AG" ginger beer recipe (goto http://metrak.com/brewsta/recipes/ and click on the ginger beer print button for a nicely formatted version)


Brewsta: Ginger Beer

recipe volume	12.0
boil volume	12.0
total gravity	115.61
IBU	0.0

OG	1.036
BG	1.036
mash efficiency	85.0%
BU:GU	0.000

So easy to make I have never attempted a ginger beer kit. I have noticed that quite a few of the kits have artificial sweetners in them. The trick with ginger beer is timing, bottle before it has finished fermenting and then drink before the bottles explode - what could be easier.
Fermentables
name	quantity	potential	use	colour
Sugar Cane	1.14	1.046	extract	0
Hops
name	form	AA	Qty	time	IBU
Other Ingredients
name	quantity	notes
Lemon juice	0.0	4 lemons
Lemon zest	0.0	from 4 lemons, use a fine grater.
Fresh grated ginger	0.24	More or less to taste.
Citric acid	0.01	None
Ale yeast	0.01	I had a pack of wander yeast from supermarket handy.
Yeast nutrient	0.002	The comprehensive kind, not just DAP


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## Backlane Brewery (30/12/04)

Sosman, I can't get that to come up- the link is fine but nothing happens when I click the print icon.  
FWIW, we have made three batches of non-alcoholic ginger beer. One was a Brigalow kit, which was pretty bad and hasn't improved after 5 months in the bottle. Artificially sweetened & watery.
The other two were from an old Women's Weekly type cook book, made with sultanas, lemon juice sugar water & dried ginger. You feed it more sugar & ginger every day for two weeks then dilute to taste and bottle. It is excellent fiery stuff, though both batches have had a couple of bottle explosions.
Not sure what process goes on in this- there is no yeast to ferment anything, but the "plant" gives off bubbles, and some sort of activity continues in the bottle. Anyone know?


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## sosman (30/12/04)

BLB,

The sultanas have wild yeast on the skins, that's what fires up the "plant" or wild yeast starter.

For the link you can't get to work - what browser are you running? I just realized it works fine with Mozilla but IE doesn't seem to want to view the XML. I will have to look into it, I needed to speak to Bill regarding something else too.

cheers


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## NRB (30/12/04)

sosman said:


> For the link you can't get to work - what browser are you running? I just realized it works fine with Mozilla but IE doesn't seem to want to view the XML.


Yeah, IE here and no go 

Sorry to whore... better get this back on topic. I'm planning a ginger beer recipe tomorrow. I've got an old recipe from my late grandmother that looks fairly good as a non-alcoholic version, but will myself be doing a kit for some punch. I think Doc's recipe will be first, followed by GMK's. Hopefully both excellent drops.

-----

*Gran's Ginger Beer*

*TO MAKE PLANT:*
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups water
1 dsp ground ginger
1 large lemon (juice only)

Stir sugar until disolves, allow to stand 4 days, gently pour off water until 2 cups remain
Feed daily for 4 days with 1tsp ground ginger & 4 tsp sugar

*TO MAKE GINGER BEER:*
Stir plant slightly and strain off liquid into large pot, add:
4 cups sugar
4 cups boiling water, stir until sugar disolved then add,
6 lemons (strained juice only)
26 cups cold water

Bottle and cork, ready for use in 6 days (store in a cool place)

*PLANT:*
Halve plant and feed one half with:
2 cups cold water
1 heaped tsp ground ginger
4 tsp sugar
feed for 6 days before making more beer in same manner as before

The remaining half of plant can be given or thrown away. Bottles do sometimes explode if kept too long, so store where they can do no damage.
-----

I've never tried this recipe so can't comment on it. It's been passed down to me :unsure:


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## sosman (30/12/04)

I believe I have fixed the CGI script so it works with IE and Mozilla.

BTW the fresh wort cubes make a good sized fermenter for the home made ginger beer.


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## ausdb (30/12/04)

back on topic
Sodastream bottle has run out and its not quite carbonated up yet. Its still taking CO2 when shaking and baking at 125kPA off to Kmart for a new one and see if I can steal a fire extinguisher from somewhere!
It has a slight mediciney taste I think there is a bit of artificial sweetener used in this kit.

Its drinkable but I think I'll try from scratch next time

Ausdb


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## sosman (31/12/04)

I reckon a really neat setup for making ginger beer would be the equivlatent of a keg + oztop. Bung all the ingredients in, leave at room temperature until desired taste parameters achieved and then cool.

Trouble is, I don't have the equivalent of an oztop. Would need some sort of adjustable pressure relief valve. I guess I could just bung a gauge on it and relieve pressure manually.


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## ausdb (31/12/04)

You could try doing something with a spare keg lid possibly? Tig or braze a fitting on it that you could screw the Oztop to.


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## sosman (31/12/04)

ausdb said:


> You could try doing something with a spare keg lid possibly? Tig or braze a fitting on it that you could screw the Oztop to.


 I was thinking along those lines, or even an adapter for the gas-in QD.

I figure there must be industrial style pressure relief valves out there that probably screw straight into the 1/2" BSP.


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## Batz (20/1/05)

NRB said:


> sosman said:
> 
> 
> > For the link you can't get to work - what browser are you running? I just realized it works fine with Mozilla but IE doesn't seem to want to view the XML.
> ...


 Shouldn't there be a sultana in the plant?


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## NRB (20/1/05)

Batz said:


> Shouldn't there be a sultana in the plant?


 With this recipe apparently not. I've heard of recipes that do.

In the end I used a Doc/GMK hybrid which I've just finished bottling. I bulk primed with 130g caster sugar and 250mL Buderim Ginger Refresher cordial. I hope I don't create any bottle bombs, but Rod suggested using this as he's done on many occasions.

I can't wait to taste .


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## JasonY (23/1/05)

What was the final verdict on this kit asudb? Pondering wether to try a ginger beer sometime soon. I noticed the coopers ginger beer kit in TWOC today.


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## dreamboat (26/1/06)

I wanted to bump this to the top of the heap again..... I am looking at trying to make a non-alcoholic ginger beer, and want to have it to serve from a keg.
All this talk of making bugs and feeding every day is all well and good, but can the whole yeast process be bypassed as I have the option to force carbonate?

I was thinking a little boil of a few litres with the ginger / lemon + spice and something for sweetness... probably honey..... straight into the keg up to 18 litres or so with water, carbonate and drink. 

Any thoughts on this for a process???



dreamboat


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## deadly (26/1/06)

I do this with some lemons, cloves, grated ginger boiled in some water add to fermenter,then add kit and let it do its thing.When its done into a keg and carb a little higher than beer.


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## jgriffin (26/1/06)

dreamboat said:


> I wanted to bump this to the top of the heap again..... I am looking at trying to make a non-alcoholic ginger beer, and want to have it to serve from a keg.
> All this talk of making bugs and feeding every day is all well and good, but can the whole yeast process be bypassed as I have the option to force carbonate?
> 
> I was thinking a little boil of a few litres with the ginger / lemon + spice and something for sweetness... probably honey..... straight into the keg up to 18 litres or so with water, carbonate and drink.
> ...




Note - i have never done this myself. However the guy at my old lhbs told me that he took the Morgans ginger beer kit, added it to water, force carbonated it, and served it up as a regular on tap item for guests that wanted a NA drink. He reckoned it was a hit.


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## Tseay (27/1/06)

Just to add to the kit recipe list. Her indoors loves the following:

Coopers Ginger Beer Kit
750g Raw Sugar
300g Dextrose
approx 25g of sliced ginger steeped in Vodka for 10 minutes before adding ( Vodka and all) to fermenter.

Makes 19l

First batch i did using the ale yeast that came with the kit. The current batch I started off with an English Ale yaest, went nowhere so have added another kit yeast.

Primed first batch with 250g - far too high will plan for 200g this time(21l batch)

Cheers

T


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## Ross (27/1/06)

dreamboat said:


> I wanted to bump this to the top of the heap again..... I am looking at trying to make a non-alcoholic ginger beer, and want to have it to serve from a keg.
> All this talk of making bugs and feeding every day is all well and good, but can the whole yeast process be bypassed as I have the option to force carbonate?
> 
> I was thinking a little boil of a few litres with the ginger / lemon + spice and something for sweetness... probably honey..... straight into the keg up to 18 litres or so with water, carbonate and drink.
> ...



I'd love a good recipe as well - My wife doesn't drink alcohol & would love me to make a decent ginger beer. I tried once, but it was disgusting...

cheers Ross...


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