Ginger beer from scratch

[livo]

At the HB shop today. Advice was to use lactose at only 10 g / ĺitre and plastic bottles for the first batch. Don't risk blowing good glass bottles until I know the quantities. Good advice.

Correction. I will not be using ginger paste from Indian Grocery store as it contains salt and vegetable oil.

 

[Jon54]

At the HB shop today. Advice was to use lactose at only 10 g / ĺitre and plastic bottles for the first batch. Don't risk blowing good glass bottles until I know the quantities. Good advice.

Was that to add in with all other ingredients at the start of the ferment or at the end, before bottling Livo? Guess it doesn't matter,. Being unfermentable I imagine the lactose will be present at the end anyway

 

[livo]

Correct. It can be added at any stage in fermentation. I was planning on adding it along with the priming sugar at bottling stage. It wouldn't matter if you add it into the primary ferment, but you'd need to factor the higher Specific Gravity points into your readings, but 230 grams in 23 litres wouldn't make a big difference.

I've been doing lots of reading and Ginger Beer is a thing that comes in many forms. Manufactured Soft Drink (aka Soda) is not a fermented beverage. I'm not really interested in using a GB kit as the consensus appears to be that it tastes artificial.

The use of a real Ginger Beer Plant (GBP) appears to be something that is a bit confusing, with some "recipes" using yeast to create a starter. While a proper GBP does have an active yeast culture it is wild yeast in a symbiotic colony with bacteria (think along the lines of sourdough compared to yeast bread). So, after some reading, I have now added lemon juice, pulp and zest plus 10 sultanas to my 3 day old GBP. It was just starting to move around a bit, so I've also fed it some fresh grated ginger and 1 TBSP of white sugar.

First time around I'll probably just do the bottled fermentation process (9 litres into 12 bottles) and grow the GBP up to a stage where I can use it in a Fementation Vessel as 23 - 25 litres. Surprisingly, GB made with the GBP doesn't have any other ginger and appears to be more like a lemonade with just water, sugar and lemon juice.

Once again, there is plenty to learn from scratch.

 

[Paddy Melon]

I've also been reading up on back-sweetening using lactose or erythritol. I hear the lactose adds a certain 'mouth feel' that not everyone likes. The erythritol got thumbs up from a few reviews.
PS My GB (recipe at the start of this convo) has been 7 days in the bottle. They are pressuring up but not 'hard' (brown plastic bottles).

Can't wait to get a review on the taste test.

 

[livo]

+1

 

[livo]

So here you go. You can't get much more Australian than a 1970's Margaret Fulton cookbook. This was sent to me by my sister just now.

 

[Paddy Melon]

If anyone one knows Margaret knows

 

[livo]

Most of the online (and Margaret's) recipes are for a refreshment that is made like making a sugar rich ginger / lemon tea and then adding a living culture to give it some fizz in the bottles. Loads of sugar to keep it sweet and high maintenance burping bottles daily etc. Some people try to arrest fermentation by refrigeration, and I've seen 1 video where the bottles are pasteurised to kill the yeast and leave unfermented sugar. However, it is all a bit guesswork and either good or bad luck. Not a whole lot of control and I'm not sure about longer period storage. There are so many warnings about bottles exploding if you do this or don't do that. I'm not really too interested in this approach, although I will probably try the recipe that my sister has used.

Brewed like home brew BEER beer is apparently not all that common, ie; make a large batch and ferment it out then add priming sugar to bottle condition with only enough carbonation potential to allow safe keeping and handling, or at tleast it isn't well documented. This is the path I intend on pursuing so I can see a bit of small batch experimentation going on.

 

[Gollywog]

This video may help with adjusting the final ginger flavour.
Art of drink: Ginger Syrup

 

[livo]

Experimentation has commenced.

 

[livo]

This video may help with adjusting the final ginger flavour.
Art of drink: Ginger Syrup

Thanks Gollywog. A very interesting video but I'd need to buy the percolator and retort stand etc.

 

[Jon54]

Thanks Gollywog. A very interesting video but I'd need to buy the percolator and retort stand etc.

To which I would add - a white lab coat

 

[Hyperion]

Yes I would also like to know more about brewing a proper ginger beer. Will keep an eye on this thread. Something else I would like to research later is a Radler (low alcohol beer with lemon flavour). A few articles I saw was basically a beer/lemon juice blend.

 

[Feldon]

You can't get a much simpler ginger beer recipe than this one from the Australian Women's Weekly magazine back in 1951.

(Australian Women's Weekly, Sat 3 Mar 1951, p.50)

I presume a few wild yeast cells living on the skin of the sultanas innoculates the brew for carbonation. But perhaps not much fizz after only four days. Probably wasn't meant to be aged longer than that, so the recipe doesn't warn how long to keep before bottle bombs go off. And when fully fermented out, but before exploding, I wonder how many kids came home from school and got stuck into mum's ginger beer and got pissed.

 

[livo]

Could be worth a try as well Feldon. Tartaric acid / Cream of Tartare comes up quite frequently, as does citric acid and of course lemon juice. The sultanas also feature in a few and I dropped a few in my first attempt at creating a Ginger Beer Plant.

I was reading through some of the forum's older GB threads, and I did find mention of others using the jarred 1 kg "Indian" ginger paste. I can't find any discussion about the end results though. I'd be very interested if anybody has used it successfully. The jar I have is from Katoomba foods and it contains Ginger, sunflower oil, salt, vinegar (water added). The oil content in 3.5g and there's 835 mg sodium / 100g. I don't see too much of a problem with the salt, none at all with the vinegar, but the oil worries me. Although, if it rises to the surface in fermentation and you rack the beer off from underneath it may effectively remove most of it.

I guess I'll just start another experimental 1.5 litre brew to see what it gives. $6.60 / kg is a lot different to $25 - $35 for fresh.

Edit: If you like the commercial soda tasting GB and haven't yet sampled it, try to get your hands on a few cans of the BROOKVALE UNION GINGER BEER which is, according to the can, Produced across Australia by 4 Pines Brewing Co. One of my son's mates left a 6 pack in an esky after NYE party and they are delicious. What I'm hoping to be able to replicate, or get close to anyway. Mind you, these are a manufactured drink, not brewed from what I can tell of the ingredient list. 4% and 1 Std drink in a 330 ml can.

 

[Jon54]

Reporting in on a taste test of my GB after 2 weeks in the bottle. BLEGH! Under carbonated (I added 2 1/2 carbonation drops to each bottle), zero sweetness (expected), a mild ginger tang but also a slightly sour note, and not in a pleasant citrus way... more "hint of vinegar". Dissolving a couple of teaspoons of sugar in a large tumbler of the GB helps but not saves. I'm thinking, for the next batch, to calculate a final gravity that would retain sugars and signal 'time to bottle' in plastic, then keep an eye on pressure (squeeze test) and taste periodically.

 

[Hyperion]

How about lactose?

 

[Paddy Melon]

Reporting in on a taste test of my GB after 2 weeks in the bottle. BLEGH! Under carbonated (I added 2 1/2 carbonation drops to each bottle), zero sweetness (expected), a mild ginger tang but also a slightly sour note, and not in a pleasant citrus way... more "hint of vinegar". Dissolving a couple of teaspoons of sugar in a large tumbler of the GB helps but not saves. I'm thinking, for the next batch, to calculate a final gravity that would retain sugars and signal 'time to bottle' in plastic, then keep an eye on pressure (squeeze test) and taste periodically.

That's disappointing J, I thought the recipe looked good. Sweetness is one thing but if the dry ginger beer doesn't taste right sweetening it won't give the result we want. I guess more trial and errors will be the go. I might try small batches. I have a couple of Apple ciders to brew first then I'll attempt the GB.

 

[Jon54]

That's disappointing J, I thought the recipe looked good. Sweetness is one thing but if the dry ginger beer doesn't taste right sweetening it won't give the result we want. I guess more trial and errors will be the go. I might try small batches. I have a couple of Apple ciders to brew first then I'll attempt the GB.

Will try smaller batches for a while. Also on the lookout for a fridge to do cooler ferments in.

 

[Jon54]

That's disappointing J, I thought the recipe looked good. Sweetness is one thing but if the dry ginger beer doesn't taste right sweetening it won't give the result we want. I guess more trial and errors will be the go. I might try small batches. I have a couple of Apple ciders to brew first then I'll attempt the GB.

It's a possibility but as Paddy says above, If the basic taste is off sugar will only help so much.

Sorry Paddy - I replied to the wrong comment