# Looking for Bundaberg Ginger Beer clone recipe



## Chookers

I am looking for a recipe to make some ginger beer for my nieces, they are only kiddies so its to be a soft drink.. really wanted it to be like Bundaberg ginger beer.

I have come across a lot of recipes, my criteria are:

NO KITS!
it will be bottle conditioned for fizz
I have lactose, and no experience using it..

I also have some Dried Dark Malt Extract about 750g, around 300g Lactose, about 300g ginger root.

I wanted to make about 4L.

heres another concern. I tasted the Lactose, and to me it was not sweet in the slightest, just chalky.. does this change during fermentation.

Give me your best recipes people. I wanted it ready by Christmas.

Cheers


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## Chookers

I'm just wining it then.. lactose is not working.. is it supposed to sweeten or not.. I used a lot and it didn't get any sweeter.


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## idzy

If you find one, I am interested.


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## earle

How much dark dry malt extract did you put in? If you put 750g in 4L and let it ferment you could end up about 6.8% alc.


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## Beersuit

I have a soft ginger beer on tap at the moment. 
700g fresh crushed ginger
2kg sugar 
1 lemon cut in half
Mixed up to 15l and let sit for 2 days keg and enjoy. Don't let it get warm or something might ferment it.


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## Chookers

I was trying to do this bottle carb, I don't have a keg set up.. Im starting to think I'd better get one.. Im just short on space and I only do small batches. I have only got one fridge and its got food in it.lol

idzy, if I find one, I will post it on here.

Earle, I used:

55g of Dark DME
181g Lactose
250g Coopers Brew Enhancer 1(I know it will not be *soft* anymore)
1 Lemon chopped
60g grated ginger
1/4tsp boiled yeast
Safale S04 yeast
Water up to the 4L mark

I tried to adapt this recipe, http://www.liquorcraft.com.au/wa.asp?idWebPage=13634&idDetails=108
to a 4L version, but I got the shits with it and added the Brew Enhancer, so I know it wont be for the kids anymore.. but now they're asking for it and I gotta come up with one for them that is bottle carbed and not a bomb.

I've also got an experiment going which is my Grandmas recipe, I am trying to make it as closed fermentation rather than the open version it was originally and inoculated it with the Safale S04. I think these will both end up down the drain.

The only other way I know of doing this is the unfortunate glass bottle pasteurizing of carbed, I think I read on here somewhere put them in a pot of water heat to 70 (or heated to 70, I cant remember which now) to kill the yeast and stop fermentation.. I am pretty nervous about doing that though.. don't want explosions. I know my glass beer bottles can take 4 gas volumes max carbonation. I don't know what ginger beer would be or how that would change with raising the temps.


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## Chookers

this sparkling wine bottle can do 7 gas volumes. http://www.plasdene.com.au/shop-menu/wine/sparkling/australian-range-2/cork-4/cork-ac-750-194-ag-detail

maybe I should get some of these???


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## earle

I would be very wary of ginger beer like this in glass bottles, maybe use PET or just recycle some soft drink bottles.

Without going to the full expense of a kegging system perhaps you could get the same outcome with a stainless steel carbonation cap (about $20) and a mini charger ($30-50) which uses the little co2 bulbs. CO2 is not cheap this way but if your only doing a few litres would probably be ok.

That way you could make a soft ginger beer like beersuit's recipe and force carb. Keep it in the fridge so no fermentation occurs, don't need to stuff around with lactose or trying to figure out how to sweeten it.


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## antiphile

Chookers said:


> I'm just wining it then.. lactose is not working.. is it supposed to sweeten or not.. I used a lot and it didn't get any sweeter.


G'day Chook

I've also seen many people claim that lactose in a brew provides sweetness. In my opinion, that is the biggest load of cobblers I've heard for a long long time. In my (limited) experience, it certainly provides more body, but absolutely bugger all sweetness. I reckon you may as well use maltodextrin (unless you're making a milk stout).


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## fletcher

Beersuit said:


> I have a soft ginger beer on tap at the moment.
> 700g fresh crushed ginger
> 2kg sugar
> 1 lemon cut in half
> Mixed up to 15l and let sit for 2 days keg and enjoy. Don't let it get warm or something might ferment it.


sounds awesome. if you don't mind, could you give us bit more detail about the process? i might try one myself. do you boil the ginger up first with the sugar and lemon? top up with cold water? what's the process? thanks mate!


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## Beersuit

No boil Fletcher just use a jug of boiled water to resolve the sugar. Add ginger and lemon top up with cold water. 
If you were wanting to bottle you can always add some uso5 after a day and bottle this in PET. When the bottles get solidly stiff refrigerate.


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## Chookers

Earle, that's a good idea, I actually have one like this http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/like/262130137476?limghlpsr=true&hlpht=true&ul_noapp=true&hlpv=2&chn=ps&lpid=107&ops=true&viphx=1

I always dismissed it because I thought it wouldn't carb enough.. I don't know if the gas cylinders are still available.

I will try that recipe Beersuit, thanks and I will look into hunting down some gas cylinders.


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## Chookers

been experimenting with stevia today as I'm going it in the garden.. its sweet but kinda makes you thirsty... is that a good thing.. there is a slight bitterness, but I think that would be lost in a ginger beer..


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## MaltyHops

Chookers said:


> I am looking for a recipe to make some ginger beer for my nieces, they are only kiddies so its to be a soft drink.. really wanted it to be like Bundaberg ginger beer.
> ...


You could maybe just get some _Buderim Ginger Refresher_ (no affil.) - mixed with soda/sparkl. mineral water in the right proportions, it is very close to the Bundaberg Ginger Beer.


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## Chookers

MaltyHops, "you just don't get it, do you Scott"

I have ginger cordial and soda water.. I just wanted to make my own.. if all else fails I will have something to fall back on though, thanks


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## earle

MaltyHops said:


> You could maybe just get some _Buderim Ginger Refresher_ (no affil.) - mixed with soda/sparkl. mineral water in the right proportions, it is very close to the Bundaberg Ginger Beer.
> 
> 
> w.buderimginger.com new_refresher_cordial_rgb.jpg


I was going to suggest the same but figured you wanted to make your own


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## Chookers

sorry for the Dr Evil quote.. lol

yeh, its just a stupid challenge I've set myself.. which I set myself infront of my nieces and they don't forget anything.. 5 year olds have memories like elephants.


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## Kingy

I love that buderim ginger with soda water so refreshing on a hot day. I usually brew a ginger this time of year might get my ass into gear and get one happening this weekend.


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## Chookers

is this idea for a 4lt batch wrong?

I was thinking I will try this with my stevia solution I have made up.. I know it will be quite thin if I do this, so I was thinking if I used the lactose as well it might round it out a bit.. ***any thought?***

Also thought I might try carbing it up with the Dark Dried Malt I have.. for 4L I have calculated around 30-40g.. any thoughts on this point.

Then that only leaves the flavour of the ginger, I have an acid mix with I was thinking of adding.. all by taste.. and another thought keeps popping in my head (I don't know why) but I feel like I should put vanilla essence in this thing... is that a normal thing to do with ginger beer??


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## Chookers

going to get my spare demijohn out and test this out.. I will take notes and hope for the best.


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## Chookers

alright, new approach.. this is the final one cause I've run out of demijohns.. but as soon as I get my bench capper.. I am going to try the pasteurization method to preserve sweetness and kill yeasties. 

I am not sure about it and it seems very scary. but my idea was to put the bottles in from cold water maybe on something in the pan so they are not touching the bottom, and heating the water to 60 degrees.. I have read on a number of sites that yeast will die over 55 degrees. If I raise the temp to 60 and leave it for 10mins and then allow them to cool in the pan would this kill off all the yeast and halt fermentation?

Also would my chances of explosions be less the lower my temp is?


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## lael

Hi chookers,
I generally bottle pasteurise my apple cider. The higher the temp the lower the time you need / the greater the margin of error (more likely to kill yeast/get entire bottle hot enough). However, the hotter you pasteurise the more likely you are to blow up the bottles during the process or potentially affect the taste. 

I've done 75C for 10mins and 65C for 10mins. Both worked. I would recommend using only the coopers long necks as they are more durable or champagne bottles. 

Put the bottles into a milk crate or similar as soon as you pull them out so worst case any explosions are contained. Similarly, I leave the lid on the brew rig when the bottles are heating up. 

I've had a few bottles have their crown seals blown off during the pasturising process, but only one (a thinner 650ml type from a HB shop) explode over the three batches I've done. It is incredibly scary, and I won't use that bottle type again for cider/pasteurising. I think the shear stress on the glass from going from hot to cold (it was winter) was also not the best.

Starting to keg now, so may not pasteurise much again actually.


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## Blind Dog

Just a thought, but if you make up beersuit's recipe or similar to 3L you'll have a home made ginger cordial that you can then mix in a ratio of 1:4 with cheap as chips soda water as required. My old man used to make it that way years ago after he go fed up with the glass demijohns exploding in the cellar at night.


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## Chookers

lael, sounds like a good method.. I was interested in doing cider as well but later on if this all works out.. I would keep the lid on the pot just in case of explosions.. my long necks are from plasdene glass http://www.plasdene.com.au/shop-menu/beverage/beer/glass-2/glass-im-640-1402-am-detail I hope they will be strong enough.

fingers crossed.

At least doing it this way I'll be able to control the flavour better.


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## lael

I don't have any experience with them, but weigh one vs the coopers ones to get a weight and divide by the volume to give a rough glass weight vs volume measure. Just keep the lid on the pot and move them quickly into a milk crate. If you can line the crate with cardboard or other then do that too. The explosion I had was after pulling it from the hit water and sitting on the deck. From 75c to 15c (winters day), placed the bottle down, turned around, stepped away and bent down to pick something up and bang! It was quite honestly scary. I would encourage you to be safe rather than sorry. I'm thinking about seeing if I can get a function center to give me old champagne bottles to use for pasteurising. Seriously not worth a body full of glass shards or losing an eye.



Chookers said:


> lael, sounds like a good method.. I was interested in doing cider as well but later on if this all works out.. I would keep the lid on the pot just in case of explosions.. my long necks are from plasdene glass http://www.plasdene.com.au/shop-menu/beverage/beer/glass-2/glass-im-640-1402-am-detail I hope they will be strong enough.
> 
> fingers crossed.
> 
> At least doing it this way I'll be able to control the flavour better.


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## Airgead

Chookers said:


> I am not sure about it and it seems very scary. but my idea was to put the bottles in from cold water maybe on something in the pan so they are not touching the bottom, and heating the water to 60 degrees.. I have read on a number of sites that yeast will die over 55 degrees. If I raise the temp to 60 and leave it for 10mins and then allow them to cool in the pan would this kill off all the yeast and halt fermentation?
> 
> Also would my chances of explosions be less the lower my temp is?


You would have to make sure that was hot enough through the whole liquid, not just the hot water in the pan. The liquid inside the bottles will be significantly cooler than the liquid in the pan so just getting the pan to 60 and leaving it for 10 mins will not be enough. Even 60 is going to be enough to get a sure pasteurisation. From memory 75 for 10 mins is the minimum. If you use 60 the time gets exponentially longer. There are tables online. 

Cheers
Dave


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## lael

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/pasteurization-methods-temperatures-d_1642.html

This is the one I used last time, which is why I upped the temp from 65 to 75. After a few months the carb on the 65s were creeping up. At around 6 months I was in a rush to finish opening the batch


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## Airgead

And remember... That's the temp as measured at the centre of the bottles. So to get 75 for 15 seconds you might need 30 mins or more to let the temp ramp up. 

A chemical pasteurisation using sulphites and sorbate might be more reliable. But then you are stuck bulk carbing rather than bottle conditioning. 

Cheers
Dave


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## lael

Airgead said:


> And remember... That's the temp as measured at the centre of the bottles. So to get 75 for 15 seconds you might need 30 mins or more to let the temp ramp up.
> 
> A chemical pasteurisation using sulphites and sorbate might be more reliable. But then you are stuck bulk carbing rather than bottle conditioning.
> 
> Cheers
> Dave


Good point Dave - I actually left mine for 10mins @ 75. I'm not a process engineer, so am unsure about how pressure affects heating, but I did put a temp probe into a non-capped, water filled bottle to test and in my rig found it hit 75 at around 6-7mins. Putting the bottles in drops the temp down by around 5 degrees C from memory, so I think I started upping the temp on the rig. Bottles would go in, temps drop, then heater would turn on and pull them out around 10mins later and the temp would equalise. It was certainly not exact, so I erred on the side of caution and often left bottles in longer. Of course the hotter they are - the more pressure builds up in the bottles and the more likely you are to have explosions in the pasteurising process.

I would like to build a perforated stainless 'cage' / caddy for putting the bottles in and out of the brew rig with - put them in cage, put the whole thing in the water, heat, remove the whole thing, wait to cool.
Everything is contained if anything goes bang. Use a few caddies to rotate.


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## Chookers

would there be a temp difference in the pot of water and bottles if I started them off from cold and the water in the pot from cold, so they all heat up together? or would the bottles still be cooler?.


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## Chookers

lael, thanks for the link was very helpful.. I know it was for milk, and that's probably not going to be carbonated.. that would be weird..

I am reminded of the mashing technique of turning on the oven to 70 and then off once you put your mash in.. *Same could be done with the pasteurization? *get it to 63-65 degrees and put in a preheated oven for 30-60mins and check the heat at the centre when it comes out... (then quickly put lid back, and pray for no explosions)
then let cool at its own pace.. next day put in fridge.????


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## lael

It doesn't really matter. I found the issue was going from hot to cold. I assume because the contents were hot and the air temp was fairly cold. I'm assuming that the glass has issues and breaks as the outside of it gets cold and the contents are still hot, shrinking at different rates and the glass shears and can't handle the high internal pressure. Hence my suggesting to use a thicker glass. 

Getting a tirage bell is simple enough, and pretty sure getting used champagne bottles from a function center should not be too hard.


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## lael

Chookers said:


> lael, thanks for the link was very helpful.. I know it was for milk, and that's probably not going to be carbonated.. that would be weird..
> 
> I am reminded of the mashing technique of turning on the oven to 70 and then off once you put your mash in.. *Same could be done with the pasteurization? *get it to 63-65 degrees and put in a preheated oven for 30-60mins and check the heat at the centre when it comes out... (then quickly put lid back, and pray for no explosions)
> then let cool at its own pace.. next day put in fridge.????


Certainly could and I would imagine would be safer. Depends on how quickly you want to pasteurise a batch 

The other option would be to transfer them to room temp water bucket. Water absorbs explosions etc incredibly well


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## Chookers

If its going to kill the yeast and be safe, I would be willing to wait quite awhile.. Im pretty patient.


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## idzy

I think what some people do in canning, is to place the bottles/cans/jars in the water, heat the water up and then let it naturally cool. This would resolve the hot/cold problems, but it means that the pasturisation process is more time consuming.


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## idzy

By the way, had a nice alcoholic version on tap the other day. Lick Pier Ginger Beer, 4.0%.


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## Chookers

I love Lick Pier, that would have been my next one.. now I'm going to have this weird combination of all the failures. It'll end up being close to 20L.. from previous similar experience this can go either way, some delicious awesome fluke, or some disgusting swill you wouldn't even feed your weeds.

I put this all down to learning and will not make those mistakes again.. just gotta get the flavour right.. and the feel.. its so thin. I wonder if more sugar would give it some body. Its close to ginger tea at the moment.


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