First Ginger Beer Attempt

[jongylary]

Hey Guys,
I'm going to put my first ginger beer together, i have been looking around online and seen lots of variations, i'm going to run with a variation of using fresh and dry ginger with chillies, lime and lemons.
As for the chillies i have read alot of conflicting things, such as to boil them up with the lemons and limes, but being that there fresh they can leave a bit of a harsh green taste to the end product. some i see putting single birds eye chillies in the bottles... then i seen a combination of using dried chilling in the wort then using a birds eye chillie when bottling

any feed back will be great

also being that this is my first ginger beer- i am assuming (which can be a danger) i would prime the bottle similar to other beers?



Happy Bathurst Day - i look forward to all suggestions and comments.

 

[eungaibitter1]

Gday mate. I've done a number of ginger beers, my mrs loves em. I never used chilli, though it sounds a decent idea, add some bite to it maybe. I've always primed my bottles the same as a beer, they've come up sweet. I've also read champagne yeast is the go but I've not tried it yet, LHBS comes up short sadly. All the best with it, cracking summertime drop on some ice.

 

[Diggs]

I do a boil with fresh and dried, depending on how hot I am making it. So the 3 or so litres of boiling water suggested for a can is my boil. I also like vanilla and cinnamon as well. Look for the Ginger Ninja recipe on here as a great starting point.

 

[bum]

A whole chili per bottle sounds like a really dumb thing to do. I found up to 10 bird's eyes in primary was really overpowering.

Of course, enduring hot shit no one else wants to touch make some guys feel like big-dicked heroes. So if this is you put a whole chili in per bottle and pretend that you like it.

Priming as per beer is the go but be aware that a GB will finish much lower than beer (1005 and lower). Don't just see her at 1012 and assume she's ready to bottle. That's where GBs get their reputation as bottle bomb factories.

 

[krausenhaus]

A friend of mine once made a kit ginger beer and put a chilli in each bottle because someone apparently told him it was a good idea. It was completely undrinkable and he just kept it around to serve to people as a prank.

I put one small, very hot chilli in the boil for a 19L batch. It's still fermenting but the heat is becoming more apparent as it dries out and I wouldn't really want much more.

As an aside, it also tastes like shit white wine more than ginger beer. Does this kind of thing go away?

 

[jongylary]

Hey guys,
Thanks for information, i decided to skip putting chili in the fermenter, when i comes o bottling this arvo i'm looking to put a slice of chili in a few of the bottles and see how i go from there..
this is all about trial and error and making it better the second time round after all.
I'll up date you in about 6 weeks when it comes to the day of tasting.

 

[Diggs]

If you like hot food you might be disappointed with the heat, contrary to some opinions here some people enjoy hot food without it being a pissing competition.

That being said, take good notes and bump up the Chili next time if needed. Better to make something mild and drinkable than have something you can't drink.

 

[bum]

Where's the part where you post from personal experience? Lots of chili in food can be great. It is shit in a drink. If one were to pretend they liked an entire bird's eye chili sitting in a beer for weeks, yes, it absolutely is the stuff of pissing contests. It is shithouse. Anyone who recommends it is shithouse.

 

[Diggs]

From personal experience; I dont enjoy chilli in my beer at all. I do like chilli in ginger beer, I dont brew GB for me but for my wife who enjoys hot food (so do I, but im not a huge GB fan).
The last 2 batches I have done had about a little chilli and a lot. Everyone enjoyed the little bit of chilli brew and those that like chilli enjoyed the lots of chilli version. I dont have the amount of chilli used handy, but I use chilli and chilli flakes in the boil. I dont think you get lot of flavour or heat out of just dropping them in the the bottles.
I am by no means an experienced brewer, but I have made a lot of beer (and GB) that I and many others enjoy.

 

[itsposs]

G day new brewer here I ve just put down my first mix
1 can of Briglow GB (only GB localy avalible)
1 lime rind and Juice
1 lemons rind and juice
1kg dark brown suger
1 bottle of Rickford Ginger Beer Cordial
2 teaspoons of dry ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground chilli
12 sultanas
the little thingy you put in the test tube said 26mm @ the micus lvl
looking forwards to thoughts and bottling

 

[jongylary]

well cracked one bottle open about 2 weeks before schedual, just to try

well carbinated

very heavy alcholic flavour
strong ginger kick with a zesty after taste

used 1 kit bungalow ginger beer from woolies
500grams grated ginger
2 lemons -1 lime zested then sliced into 1 mil slithers
1 1/2 table spoons of cin
1 1/2 tbl spns nutmeg
3 tbl spns of ground ginger

1kg raw sugar
.5kg og dex
200g brown sug
200g of honey


i think next time i'll drop back the sugar run with more honey for a meady sort of feel

 

[hugcra]

I put chilli ( 2x birdseyes ) in my ginger beer, and its far to hot. im not a fan, may have to ditch the whole batch

 

[Kingy]

I put 4 in my last 25litre batch and it's liquid gold. If ginger wasn't so expensive I'd brew it more often.

 

[Pirate Pete]

jongylary

That is a monster of a ginger beer.

 

[jongylary]

i found a good way to increase the ginger flavour - i have thinly sliced ginger on my mandolin with the juleien (thin strips) setting adn freeze it as is - and i add a little the the glass before serving - acts as a cooler and flavour enhancer.


i'm assuming by monster you mean good?

Drink well,
Jongylary
)

 

[zeggie]

Wow that's a heap of sugar in the recipe. Must be strong

Surprised yours is carb'd after 2 weeks. The 2 batches ive made took like 6 weeks to get carb'd for some reason (and google says this is quite common)

 

[jongylary]

prob over did the sugar - i would scale is back next time i think - just got caught in the moment

 

[Kingy]

Surprised yours is carb'd after 2 weeks. The 2 batches ive made took like 6 weeks to get carb'd for some reason (and google says this is quite common)

Yea I've made 5or 6 batches now. When I keg it, I force carb and let it sit at 80kpa, takes a few days to equalize, takes about 2 weeks for the flavours to mellow out and work together and it turns into an awesome drink.
The last Batch I made a 30 litre lot. Kegged 19 and bottled the rest.
After 2 weeks it was still flat and tasted like ass,
After 4 weeks it is 3/4quarters carbed and tasting better.
I reckon about the 7-8 weeks mark this beer in the bottle would be tasting as good as the kegged beer drunk earlier.