Coopers Ginger Beer Help!

[gsxrmck]

A few weeks ago I made my first Coopers ginger beer. I followed the instructions on the can (1 kg raw sugar and made up to 20 litres). It tastes acceptable with a reasonably strong ginger flavour but it's a bit too sweet. Also, I'm not rapt in the artificial sweeteners, but as I said, the taste is acceptable to me. The big problem is that the alcohol content is far too low. I can drink a litre of the stuff and not feel all too merry. I want to be falling over after a litre. I decided to make another batch but this time I used 2 kg of raw sugar and made it up to 22 litres. The extra alcohol and extra volume may counteract the over sweetness. I'm hoping that all the sugar ferments as I certainly don't want it any sweeter. In future I'll probably experiment with grated raw ginger, lemon etc.

Hi,
i tested out my ginger beer recipe today after getting back from a holiday. It is down to 1.000 and I used 2kg of raw sugar with 1-1/2 packets of yeast. I will be bottling in a day or 2 so it'll be a few weeks before I try the beer. But when I do I'll post on here again and let you know how it tastes. From the hydrometer readings though it should be reasonably strong. I hope anyway.

Good luck

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

The jars of ginger are only about 50% ginger plus a heap of crap you dont want or need. With the fresh ginger i chopped it into thumb size pieces unpeeled and whizzed it in a food processor to get it to something similar in size to the stuff you get from the jar. Boiled this with the sugar, lemons, cloves, cinnamon stick for an hour. Poured this into the barrel thru pantyhose (could use a clean tea towel or muslin cloth) and go as normal. The champagne yeast ferments it out completely, you could try an ale yeast instead to leave some sweetness behind or add 500g of lactose to the boil. (Lactose takes a while to dissolve compared to dextrose or malt so a one hour boil is about right). I mix it with lemonade for the sweetness and to make it not quite so mind blowing.

Tip - go to an asian grocery store for ginger, my local sells fresh ginger for way less than the supermarkets, and you can pick up all the other ingredients there too for bugger all!

Cheers
DrSmurto

I am currently boiling up as per your recipe. Bought really fresh ginger today, the house currently has that mind blowing ginger smell throughout. I have even had the neighbours drop over and investigate. BTW you don't mention how much sugar you use to carbonate. Or is there no need. I remember when I was a kid we just bottles the stuff and waited.

BYB

 

[drsmurto]

I am currently boiling up as per your recipe. Bought really fresh ginger today, the house currently has that mind blowing ginger smell throughout. I have even had the neighbours drop over and investigate. BTW you don't mention how much sugar you use to carbonate. Or is there no need. I remember when I was a kid we just bottles the stuff and waited.

BYB

Depends of what FG is. I let mine ferment out to 1.000 and then bulk primed with 170g of dextrose.

Did you go with the lactose or not? I prefer leaving it out, yeah its dry but damn tasty. Mixed with a little lemonade to get the sweetness and its a winner. I have mates lining up wanting me to make it for them, for a small fee of course. But i want to play around with the ingredients, add some malt, some honey, vary the spices........

Cheers
DrSmurto

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

Depends of what FG is. I let mine ferment out to 1.000 and then bulk primed with 170g of dextrose.

Did you go with the lactose or not? I prefer leaving it out, yeah its dry but damn tasty. Mixed with a little lemonade to get the sweetness and its a winner. I have mates lining up wanting me to make it for them, for a small fee of course. But i want to play around with the ingredients, add some malt, some honey, vary the spices........

Cheers
DrSmurto

Sought of tweeked around with it. Maybe I did not "sparge" out enough sugar, so I made it up to 13 ltrs with a SG of 1.053. This should give it around the 5% range when finished. Added a splash of DME for good measure. Used an generic ale yeast.

BYB

 

[drsmurto]

Sought of tweeked around with it. Maybe I did not "sparge" out enough sugar, so I made it up to 13 ltrs with a SG of 1.053. This should give it around the 5% range when finished. Added a splash of DME for good measure. Used an generic ale yeast.

BYB

you may not have used enough water when you boiled up the sugar. I found that 2kg of raw sugar required at least 5L of water to fully dissolve. It doesnt dissolve anywhere as easily as dextrose.

With an SG of 1.053 i think you will end up with more than 5% altho you may not get it down to 1.000.

Cheers
DrSmurto

 

[gsxrmck]

Hi,
I just put down my brew. In total 20 litres.

2kg Raw sugar
1 lemon peeled and diced
100gm Freshly grated ginger
1 coopers ginger beer kit
1-1/2 packets yeast rehydrated.

Basically I put the 2kg of raw sugar in a big saucepan with about 1lt of water, heated until it was just about to boil then added the stocking. After that I put the coopers can in then stirred for a few mins. Then added the to the fermentor. Even the stocking with the extra lemon and ginger in it.

I did a Hydrometer test and it was 1.050. It also tasted pretty good too!! So hopefully with a couple of weeks in the fermentor then a few weeks in the botle I'll have a great Ginger beer!! I'll post my results when I've sampled a bottle or 2!!

Thanks for all the tips given in this thread.

Hi guys,
Well i tried a bottle of this stuff after being in the bottle for 3 weeks. I used 2 off the coopers carbonation drops per 750ml bottle. Lets just say that this recipe taste's pretty damn fine. Even my Mum has asked for me to take a few more bottles up to her in Newcastle so she can drink more of the stuff. (She sampled one the other day) And it does get you nicely pickled!! Anyway I hope that this helps. I'll be making this one again.

Mick

 

[Keifer]

gsxrk71000?

 

[geoffi]

I make these gb kits regularly. I find the Brigalow is actually nicer than the Coopers for my taste.

But anyway, one thing I've found that really lifts these is to use "real" yeast, rather than the sachet. I save some slurry from my AG brews and use that. I've used US-56 and Wyeast Czech Pils and am planning to use a Hefeweizen yeast next time around for something completely different. The improvement is noticeable. If you use liquid yeast or premium dried yeasts, give it a go in your ginger beer.

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

With an SG of 1.053 i think you will end up with more than 5% altho you may not get it down to 1.000.

Cheers
DrSmurto

When it is finished fermenting I will run it through the alcholiser at work for an acurate reading.

Cheers :chug:
BYB

 

[gsxrmck]

gsxrk71000?

This is my baby,
GSXR1000K4

 

[Keifer]

Sweet!, can't wait till i can get a new bike! will be looking at a 600K6 maybe even K7