1st All Root? Ginger Beer

[Oggz]

Hello brewers,

I have been growing some ginger since about October last year, almost getting ready to start pulling rhizomes.

I have read a few recipes on here, I have a few ideas of my own, but I have some questions.

1 - Do I need to do a boil up? what will this do to the ginger? will it pull flavour that sitting in the FV for two weeks wont pull out? does it convert starches into sugars? or is it just to sterilize?

I am Coeliac so using malt is out of the questions, I want this first all root brew to have a punchy ginger flavour.

2 - What should i use for the sugars? I am thinking I want 2-2.5 kg of fermentables in a 23lt batch. Should i just use dex? I have used raw sugar in the past when I have done BFW kits. I am not sure i want the "sugar" flavour that darker sugars can add(dark brown, cane, palm) I have a couple of kg of very nice honey, but don't want to waste it with the current honey shortage.

3 - I dont have a fermentation fridge so temperature control doesn't really exist apart from leaving the FV in a corner of the laundry which is on the south side of the house, I live on the Gold Coast. What yeast? I have some left over C-12 from a Mead I made last year, which is a dry wine yeast? I have used Mad Millys cider yeast when making test batches of cider from off the shelf apple juice. or will good ole US-05 work? Cider, Wine or Ale yeast? I am thinking of a dry wine yeast, I want a dry crisp finish.

4 - I tend to leave all my brews in the FV for two weeks, I like dry brews so this works for me. Should I be leaving an all root brew for longer?

5 - I am not a fan of opening the FV before I bottle, I dont have a CO2 bottle so i cant just give it a blast to purge the o2 after an opening. But, should I be degassing a brew like this?

6 - Because this is going to be an all root brew, should I be adding nutrient? using raisins? leaving it the hell alone?

I guess in the end I am a bit nervous about going all "root" brewing, I only have 8 pots growing, I am guessing each one has about 1kg worth of ginger in it, but wont know till I start pulling, takes along time to grow so I dont want to waste it. I have claimed a corner of the back yard to be my next seasons ginger patch, but thats another years wait, possibly two if i let it go feral and let it build up.

Anyway, I ramble.

Cheers
Oggz

 

[Croc_TFNQ]

Hi Oggz

I am you are a beginner I just put in an all root ginger beer to DrSmurto recipe see my post for the recipe I used it has been fermenting since Monday now and is going ballistic also the ginger smell coming from the air lock is to die for. I won't know what the taste is like for about 4 weeks yet but if it tastes like it smells it's going to be excellent.

Cheers

Croc

 

[Mutaneer]

I did an all root brew last year and it was really good.
I too like them dry

I suggest for the first one keep it very very simple.

Root,
Sugar of choice (i used some DME aswell but that's out for you.)
zest and flesh (no pith) of one lemon

I use GoFerm for my yeast both when getting it going before pitching into the wort, and also a couple of days after fermentation kicks off.

My method was only for a 10L batch
but to simply grate the ginger into a pot,
add my sugar and lemon
3Litres of water and bring up to the boil,
simmer for 1/2 an hour.
I was left with an intensely gingery/ sweet liquid

I pitched the entire thing (chunks and all) into the fermenter i figured thats also nutrient for the yeast
topped off with water and left to cool while my yeast got going in it's bowl
then pitched and sealed it up once down to temp.

I'd really like to do another one but the ginger is so damn expensive.
think i used 300-400g for the 10L batch

 

[Oggz]

Well, I bottled my first attempt today, must say, it was not quite what i expected but made sense when i went over what i did.

So the recipe when like this

1.5kg Fresh Ginger, pureed in a blender with water
Juice and zest from 5 lemons(half the zest went into the boil, half went fresh into the bag)
4 Cinnamon sticks crushed
2kg raw sugar
1kg dex
1tbls yeast nutrient
Brew Cellar English Ale yeast

So, ginger, lemon stuff and cinnamon went into a big pot for a 35min boil. Let that cool in the sink with water from the tap. Once that had cooled, chucked it into the FV where I had the sugars dissolved in some hot water.
Topped it up to 24ltrs with cold water(lifted the bag of solid bits out and the water line went down 2ltr hence the extra 2ltr)

Well, I forgot to get an OG so no idea what the ABV is but I think this one will spend some time in bottles aging, it was very bitter on the front with a sharp citric acid taste, very light ginger flavour with with a strong kick at the end which made my mouth tingle, good capsinoid rating I reckon. Glad I didn't add extra chilly to this one!

End of the day, very very dry, I think I will find this one difficult to drink.



So, Put the Second one in the FV today!

Different recipe this time, but sorta the same

1kg Fresh Ginger, pureed
2kg raw sugar
1kg dex
250gm lactose
500gm honey
5 lemons juiced
2 lemons Zested
3 Cinnamon sticks crushed
1tbls yeast nutrient
1x Brew Cellar English ale yeast

No boil this time, dissolved the sugars/lactose/honey in some hot water in the FV, bag in, ginger and cinnamon in bag, water to 24ltr mark. OG 1060

I am hoping this time the lactose and honey will leave some sweetness to it and less zest wont make it so bitter. Want to see if doing a boil will change the flavours much, I know the recipe is reasonably different in terms of how much ginger went in, but i guess we will see!

Cheers
Oggz

 

[Croc_TFNQ]

I hope it works for you. The one I just bottled all root GB very dry a good ginger kick and citrus acidic tones. Would have liked it a bit sweeter as you said but is my first attempt at an all root GB.

recipe below

I used nearly 2kg fresh ginger with about 150gm included in that of reasonably old ginger pureed in blender.
Zested 2 lemons and 1 lime removed the pith then juiced them sliced them up.
8cloves
1and 1/2 cinnamon sticks
2kg of raw sugar and 1kg dextrose
Put it all into a brew straining bag and threw it all into a 15 liter pot and boiled gentle for about 40mins.
FV is steralised and waiting for the brew to cool then I am going to top up to 24litre or so.
I have 2 sachets of champagne yeast ready to go that I was going to rehydrate before adding to FV.

I plan to drain squeeze all the juice out of the brew straining bag and discard the pulp.

 

[biss]

Hi Guys,
The better half wants an alcoholic ginger beer and I came across your posts. Never made this before and have found it hard to find a recipe. Can you tell me please, do you prime your bottles for secondary fermentation and if so, how much of what. Rather beer myself but must keep the wife happy.

Cheers for now, biss

 

[Chookers]

check this priming calculator out http://www.aussiehomebrewing.com/AlcoholChart/PrimingCalculator.html

might help