# 1st Time Ginger Beer (newbie)



## Kazzarry (21/8/10)

Hello Everyone



Recently I tried some home brew ginger beer and I really enjoyed it. I goggled how to make Ginger beer and I came up with this link

Website- http://www.instructables.com/id/Ginger-Bee...oholic-Version/

And I have pretty much been following all the instructions and my plant is almost ready

Now after doing some reading on these forums I havnt seen anyone who seems to be doing the same thing (making a Plant). Now Im a complete noob at this home brewing thing so is their anywhere I can find a simple noobs guide to how to brew alcoholic ginger beer maybe with pics kind of step by step?



Im really interested in this home brewing and Im keen to learn more about how to brew



Ps I have a Plastic 30l barrel with a tap and an air lock



So guys where can a newbie get started J


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## Flash_DG (21/8/10)

kazzarry said:


> Hello Everyone
> Recently I tried some home brew ginger beer and I really enjoyed it. I goggled how to make Ginger beer and I came up with this link
> Website- http://www.instructables.com/id/Ginger-Bee...oholic-Version/
> And I have pretty much been following all the instructions and my plant is almost ready
> ...


Hey,


I have been using this method (plant) for awhile now. I have tried others and nothing comes close for taste and consistency. Problem with making it alcoholic is that the yeast will strip away all the sugar and and makes for some nasty bottle bombs if you're not careful.
In the end we just added a dash of spirits (vodka for me) to give it a kick.
edit to remove spaces


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## Kazzarry (21/8/10)

Ok cool so it dose work

Just wondering once my plant is done how much plant liquid i should add to the sugar water?
Whats the Ratio?
Also since i spend 30bucks on this brewing kit with the air lock and stuff how would i use it?
Instead of going straight from the pant to bottles should i put it in the barrel and then into bottles?

Sorry about the simple minded questions i just want to get this right 
Thank


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## BjornJ (21/8/10)

No stupid questions here, we are all trying to learn more :lol: 

Just add all of your yeast starter ("plant") to the fermenting ginger beer.
It is common when making beer to ferment it out (until the yeast has eaten all the sugar it is able to) in the fermenter, the 30 litre bucket you have before bottling.
This makes sure you know it is "done" before you add a small amount of sugar to each bottle.
By doing it this way the yeast will eat the little sugar that is in each bottle, and carbonate the beer as the bubbles now have nowhere to go. If you just bottle while it is still fermenting, you will get more "stuff" in the bottom of each bottle, and you risk exploding bottles if you do not let pressure out all the time.

The first thing to improve would probably be dropping the bread/bakers yeast and try a beer yeast, it will give cleaner flavors I think.

Maybe even go to Woolworths or a homebrew shop if there is one near you and pick up a can of Coopers Ginger Beer. This is "ready made" ginger beer in syrup form, you just dilute it with tap water, add raw sugar and away you go. You even get beer yeast with the can.


Let us know how it goes, the end result is all that matters!

Bjorn


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## Kazzarry (21/8/10)

Ok well im going to use my 30L tub and ill mix my plant with about 6L of sugar water and then see how that goes 
If it doesn't work ill try the copper kit

Oh and one more question
What sort of bottles should i use i was thinking of using coke bottles just coz we have a lot of them in the recycling

Thanks


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## BjornJ (21/8/10)

the bottles really doesn't matter, as long as they are very clean.

You really need to sanitise the bottles, this is easily done with a $1 spray bottle.
Buy some no-rinse sanitiser (I bought iodphor from the home brew shop) and mix it with water in a spray bottle from BigW.
You then spray the bottles, leave them for a while and that's it. I give them a quick rinse as well, but this is not supposed to be necessary.
You want the bottles to be sanitised before you put your brew in there.

There are two common ways to carbonating your brew, putting sugar/carbonation drops in each bottle, or "bulk priming".

The first option means that you put some sugar in each bottle. If you use beer stubbies/coke bottles, this is easily done if you buy carbonation drops at Woolworths/BigW. One "lolly" or carbonation drop per bottle, two for longnecks.

If you bulk prime, you calculate how much sugar to add for the volume of finished beer you have.
You then dissolve this sugar in some boiling water, then transfer your finished brew onto this sugar water and let it mix. Since the sugar is now dissolved in the brew, you can bottle in any mix of bottles you have available without worring about putting too little or too much sugar in for that size bottle.


For ease, grab the carbonation drops if this is an option. And REALLY plan to sanitise the bottles. 

Bjorn


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## Kazzarry (21/8/10)

Ahh thank you 

iv seen carb drops in my local Wool worth's 

also in the kit i bough it came with a pack of "Copper Tun" sterilizer would this work? I was planning on using this for the 30L barrel, could i then fill each of the bottles with a little of the liquid?

Thanks Kaz


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## BjornJ (22/8/10)

Any sterilizer or sanitiser will do, shouldn't be a problem.

Just pick up one of those spray bottles and mix the sanitiser/sterilizer with water. It will say how much water to add. This is an easy way to sanitise as you just spray everything with the solution rather than having to fill the entire 30 litre fermenter with it.


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## Flash_DG (22/8/10)

BjornJ said:


> Maybe even go to Woolworths or a homebrew shop if there is one near you and pick up a can of Coopers Ginger Beer. This is "ready made" ginger beer in syrup form, you just dilute it with tap water, add raw sugar and away you go. You even get beer yeast with the can.
> 
> Bjorn



Problem with these can ginger beer brews is they use artificial sweeteners.


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## Kazzarry (29/8/10)

well i tryed using my plant but it didnt work at all i think the yeast i used was off or somthing.
But i took some of your advice and i went out and bought a GB kit from brewcraft and its been bubbeling away for just under a week and its almost time for me to add the ginger flavor satchel and i was just wondering if i can add real ginger as well just to give it a better flavor coz im sure the ginger in the kit wont be as good as real stuff 
Thanks Kazz


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## bum (29/8/10)

You most certainly can. I would have done this from the start however. Not sure how you'd do it now. Are you just going to grate some up and chuck it in? You need to put a fair whack in - we're not talking about tablespoons full here.


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## Kazzarry (29/8/10)

Maybe ill add both the kit ginger and about 100g of fresh?


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## Silo Ted (29/8/10)

how do you know it didnt work? I dont know if im thinking of ginger beer or cider but lack of a big foamy krausen isnt always an indication of a successful ferment underway. How many days did you leave it for, and was there any change in the gravity? If you dont have a hydrometer to check this, you should buy one if you want to make ginger beers in future. Then you dont have to worry about exploding bottles. I think Kmart sell some cheapies, under the brand Brigalow. 

Powdered ginger from the indian supermarket is great along with some fresh grated ginger root. There's no reason that I know of to even bother with those canned kits. Its just ginger, sugar and sweetener. Much cheaper and tastier if you source your own ingredients/ 

Sanitisation is very important so dont underestimate it during anytime of the process. Sounds like you dont need to rush off to the homebrew shop just yet so you can try making a vinegar & bleach if you are really careful about the ratios. Too much can end up ruining the flavour. Coke bottles should be fine, but after a few uses you can replace the screwcaps, available from major supermarkets

A proper brewing yeast is quite important though, and I dont know if Kmart sell a basic yeast in their HB section, so you might need to go to a homebrew shop for some, or order online. Five dollars a packet generally. Or now that you have a successful fermentation going, reserve the yeast slurry for later use. Theres lots of info here on how to do this easily.


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## bum (29/8/10)

I'm gonna disagree with much of the above.

GBs are no more prone to bottle bombs than normal beers - it is just that they take a little more patience to get to FG. You wait for FG with a GB, like any beer, and you'll have no problems at all. [EDIT: opps, this is in regard to plant GBs, innit? My bad. The advice still stands for kit and scratch GBs.]

Very much going against popular theory, I reckon it is actually much easier to turn out a good GB with a kit if you use it as a base only - think of it as a partial. My most recent GB is without a kit and is based on my most successful kit GB. So far it is tasting like gingery water and this is with 2.5kg of ginger used! A kit and kilo of fresh ginger gets a much more successful GB, IMO. 

There's no way fresh ginger to the same level of bite from a kit would be cheaper. Ginger is dear as poison.

My opinion is that a GB is one of the few times you can skimp on the yeast and not notice an enormous difference. You can easy punch out a great GB with an old Coopers yeast or something. That is unless you're aiming to make the spineless gingerwater I've described above and then I guess it would become a factor.


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## Kazzarry (29/8/10)

Ok i know the plant didn't work because i have had it fermenting in bottles for 6 days and no change in pressure 

And i have sterilized everything that has come into contact with the beer so far.
I will look into getting a Gravity thingo when i get some more funds
As for the first batch ill just follow the instructions on the kit and see how it turns out then ill try making one with independently ingredients


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## Flash_DG (29/8/10)

kazzarry said:


> Ok i know the plant didn't work because i have had it fermenting in bottles for 6 days and no change in pressure
> 
> And i have sterilized everything that has come into contact with the beer so far.
> I will look into getting a Gravity thingo when i get some more funds
> As for the first batch ill just follow the instructions on the kit and see how it turns out then ill try making one with independently ingredients


is there any sediment in the bottom of the bottles? if so give them a gentle turn, it's what I do, and if that doesn't work you can hydrate some yeast and use an eye drop or a syringe to add the yeast in to the bottles. I have done this before and the turned out fine.


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## Kazzarry (29/8/10)

Ok ill give that a go


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## Silo Ted (29/8/10)

> I'm gonna disagree with much of the above.



Yea of course you are mate. 



> GBs are no more prone to bottle bombs than normal beers



Thats not what I said at all ? The rules of bottling before fermentation cannot be understated, regardless of what hes making. 

The brewing yeast suggestion might be incorrect, but my thought was that bread yeast acts very differently as an organism. Could be wrong but in my ignorance Ill keep using brew yeast thanks. 

Proper sanitisation isnt something to disagree with either.


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## bum (29/8/10)

Silo Ted said:


> Yea of course you are mate.


Oops, I forgot to read my title again, didn't I?



Silo Ted said:


> The brewing yeast suggestion might be incorrect, but my thought was that bread yeast acts very differently as an organism. Could be wrong but in my ignorance Ill keep using brew yeast thanks.


I wasn't saying not to use brewing yeast - I clearly stated that my point was that a higher quality brewing yeast is not essential for a GB. My understanding is that bakers yeast will work ok for a plant but certainly not for a batch done in a fermenter.



Silo Ted said:


> Proper sanitisation isnt something to disagree with either.


You're quite right. That's why I didn't do it. Glad you didn't suggest that I did or you'd be looking pretty stupid right now.


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## TheWineBrewer (29/9/14)

Hey I got a great video here showing how to make copper tun ginger beer here:


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