Ginger Ale - Do You Need To Sanitise The Fresh Ginger?

[popmedium]

Hi ho there!

Just wondering if you guys worry about sanitising ginger if it's going in the fermenter? I'm making a ginger ale for Christmas and I added ginger in the boil and then again during secondary. I went to add another lot this morning (still tasted like it could do with another ginger kick) and there was a bit of dirt and such mixed in with the ginger. I put 1/2 ml of iodiser with 1 litre of water and soaked the ginger for a few minutes. I'm pretty sure this was a stupid idea but I didn't want to risk the whole batch on some but of dirt.

I googled but couldn't really find anything.

joel

 

[mkstalen]

Not a good idea to be adding fresh ginger into the fermenter. Always better to have it boiled up first.
If you really want to add it in, then I'd be peeling & grateing the ginger then boiling it for 10 minutes in a minimal amount of water, crash chilling it in the freezer down to your ferment temp, then adding it.
I'm not sure if iodiser has the potential to kill off some of your yeast...

 

[cdbrown]

Always best to boil it to kill any bugs

Take a look at this massive thread for recipes and steps http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=30492

 

[BlueSky]

Sounds like it's a bit late now & you've already done it.

But yeah, as per previous posters, boil it in a minimal amount of water to kill the nasties. If you try it again, brew 'short' by a litre or two initially and then when you add the ginger/water later you'll bring it up to the correct final volume.

If you fancy bulk priming this brew, you can boil some more fresh ginger (&/or ginger powder), filter/sieve out the big bits and then dissolve your priming sugar in same water, cool, mix with fermented beer (in another clean vessel) then bottle. Just a thought...

Edit to add: if you do the priming step, be careful not to add too much ginger... it will be a lot more 'potent' at this late stage of the process.

 

[popmedium]

Thanks a bunch guys!

Like I said, it was impulsive and I hope I haven't ruined Christmas. We will be drinking it quick so hopefully nothing too serious will grow. And the second batch will only be in the fermenter for a day or two so hopefully that will minimise the amount of bugs that get in there. My main concern with boiling it was that I would lose a lot of the flavour out of the ginger.

BlueSky I like the bulk prime idea! Very clever! That way I get a bunch of the ginger flavour, don't risk adding fresh in to the fermenter and it will pack that extra punch because it's so late in the process. Will definitely add this to my bag of tricks.

Thanks guys!

joel

 

[bum]

You'll get better flavour out of it if you boil it for an hour or so anyway.

 

[sponge]

You'll get better flavour out of it if you boil it for an hour or so anyway.

That is very true. kills two birds with one stone...


Sponge