Ginger beer from scratch

[jhmtaylor]

I have been lurking on this thread for a few weeks and tried to brew my first batch of GB. Unfortunately, it did not turn out well because it was very dry and had a strong metallic after-taste.

I followed the recipe from here Home Brew Alcoholic Ginger Beer - 4WD ADVENTURER. I had to improvise by replacing the Morgans Kit because it is currently not available and I used Mangrove Jack's GB kit because it was all I could get. It came with an artificial sweetener and I suspect that was the source of the metallic after-taste. I have been informed that some sanitiser can also cause metallic after-taste but I was using a no-rinse version which is supposed to not affect the taste. I don't know?
Assuming I can buy a Morgans kit soon, I would like some thoughts on the recipe in the above link. The author talks about sweetness and the effect of using raw sugar vs brown sugar and honey. I would have thought the sugar in all three would have been consumed in the fermentation process and sweetness should be nil. What am I missing? Before I contact the author I would like to understand what is happening with the sweetness and the sugars. He appears to have been doing it for a long time and it apparently works.

 

[Nick the Knife]

I have been lurking on this thread for a few weeks and tried to brew my first batch of GB. Unfortunately, it did not turn out well because it was very dry and had a strong metallic after-taste.

I followed the recipe from here Home Brew Alcoholic Ginger Beer - 4WD ADVENTURER. I had to improvise by replacing the Morgans Kit because it is currently not available and I used Mangrove Jack's GB kit because it was all I could get. It came with an artificial sweetener and I suspect that was the source of the metallic after-taste. I have been informed that some sanitiser can also cause metallic after-taste but I was using a no-rinse version which is supposed to not affect the taste. I don't know?
Assuming I can buy a Morgans kit soon, I would like some thoughts on the recipe in the above link. The author talks about sweetness and the effect of using raw sugar vs brown sugar and honey. I would have thought the sugar in all three would have been consumed in the fermentation process and sweetness should be nil. What am I missing? Before I contact the author I would like to understand what is happening with the sweetness and the sugars. He appears to have been doing it for a long time and it apparently works.

Hi @jhmtaylor

Sorry to hear your first batch of GB worked out not so well - alas I had the same end result albeit from my choosing the wrong artificial sweetener to use.

Thoughts? Well I'd firstly find out if your no rinse sanitiser was an issue - post it up? Anything thats phosphoric acid based should not have been a problem and in 2023 you should not be using the old school ones.

The article is well written - but the only thing you can really take away from it is that it gives a result the author likes. Will you feel the same? No idea.

Chillis and spices can be very polarising in GB - so unless you know you'll like these I'd either cut back on them to very low amounts or omit entirely as you can always stick a tiny bit in the glass at serving.

I'd also question his boiling a lot of those aromatics e.g Kaffir lime leaves as you're losing the majority of the aromatic chemicals out of those by this. Adding at much lower temps for a period of time will pasteurise them just fine.

Not that its a big point but Brown sugar gives higher end alcohol content than raw (by weight?) - as stated in the article appears to be untrue. As stated in this link raw sugar is 99% sugars(so fermentable), brown sugar (which is white sugar with molasses added) is 96%. Raw sugar has more calories per gram too. So it's splitting hairs but would seem unlikely to be true IMHO.

The key thing in the recipe is as shown from @livo 's efforts (and also mine) the big variable if you're bottle conditioning is whether your palate will like or despise the artificial sweetener used in the kit (or from a recipe as I did adding later). Some folks love them - others find them undrinkable (as I did).

Seems that the ingredients are pretty unremarkable - and it uses Sucralose as it's sweetener - which is a common artifical sweetener, is whats used in 'Splenda'. So I would try that first to see if you 'like' or hate it - as there's nothign much you can do later if it's not to your liking.
https://www.haurakihomebrew.co.nz/products/morgans-ginger-beer-kit

 

[livo]

Well, I've read his recipe and the comments following it. We'd have to look into the ppg of Brown Sugar V Raw Sugar to ascertain if his calculations regarding ABV are correct, but his photographs show hydrometer readings indicating there is a difference. I'm not sure about honey fermentability and residual sweetness from it or the sugar. I really can't vouch for any of his assertions about sweetness variation from one sugar over another. They are both cane sugar containing more or less molasses as far as I know, so I'd expect them both to ferment out pretty dry without the artificial sweeteners from the kit.

Metallic taste, I'm not sure about but I suppose it could be the artificial sweeteners. What are they?

You don't mention which sugar you used or how much honey. Did you add the spices? Personally, I wouldn't until I'd tried it without them.

What I have found so far is that bucket fermented GB from scratch ferments out dry. Adding Lactose reduces dryness but does very little to raise "sugary" sweetness. The Brigalow kit provides good sweetness, and I can't taste the artificial sweeteners in it, but it has near zero ginger flavour. I've not tried the MJ kit or the Morgan's so I can't comment on either of them or any difference between them.

I have a batch in fermentation now which is a similar hybrid of Brigalow kit and fresh ginger, so I'll be better able to tell you how this has gone in a few weeks.

 

[jhmtaylor]

Hi @jhmtaylor

Sorry to hear your first batch of GB worked out not so well - alas I had the same end result albeit from my choosing the wrong artificial sweetener to use.

Thoughts? Well I'd firstly find out if your no rinse sanitiser was an issue - post it up? Anything thats phosphoric acid based should not have been a problem and in 2023 you should not be using the old school ones.

The article is well written - but the only thing you can really take away from it is that it gives a result the author likes. Will you feel the same? No idea.

Chillis and spices can be very polarising in GB - so unless you know you'll like these I'd either cut back on them to very low amounts or omit entirely as you can always stick a tiny bit in the glass at serving.

I'd also question his boiling a lot of those aromatics e.g Kaffir lime leaves as you're losing the majority of the aromatic chemicals out of those by this. Adding at much lower temps for a period of time will pasteurise them just fine.

Not that its a big point but Brown sugar gives higher end alcohol content than raw (by weight?) - as stated in the article appears to be untrue. As stated in this link raw sugar is 99% sugars(so fermentable), brown sugar (which is white sugar with molasses added) is 96%. Raw sugar has more calories per gram too. So it's splitting hairs but would seem unlikely to be true IMHO.

The key thing in the recipe is as shown from @livo 's efforts (and also mine) the big variable if you're bottle conditioning is whether your palate will like or despise the artificial sweetener used in the kit (or from a recipe as I did adding later). Some folks love them - others find them undrinkable (as I did).

Seems that the ingredients are pretty unremarkable - and it uses Sucralose as it's sweetener - which is a common artifical sweetener, is whats used in 'Splenda'. So I would try that first to see if you 'like' or hate it - as there's nothign much you can do later if it's not to your liking.
https://www.haurakihomebrew.co.nz/products/morgans-ginger-beer-kit

That Haurakihomebrew site has very good product information, in fact it is muc

Hi @jhmtaylor

Sorry to hear your first batch of GB worked out not so well - alas I had the same end result albeit from my choosing the wrong artificial sweetener to use.

Thoughts? Well I'd firstly find out if your no rinse sanitiser was an issue - post it up? Anything thats phosphoric acid based should not have been a problem and in 2023 you should not be using the old school ones.

The article is well written - but the only thing you can really take away from it is that it gives a result the author likes. Will you feel the same? No idea.

Chillis and spices can be very polarising in GB - so unless you know you'll like these I'd either cut back on them to very low amounts or omit entirely as you can always stick a tiny bit in the glass at serving.

I'd also question his boiling a lot of those aromatics e.g Kaffir lime leaves as you're losing the majority of the aromatic chemicals out of those by this. Adding at much lower temps for a period of time will pasteurise them just fine.

Not that its a big point but Brown sugar gives higher end alcohol content than raw (by weight?) - as stated in the article appears to be untrue. As stated in this link raw sugar is 99% sugars(so fermentable), brown sugar (which is white sugar with molasses added) is 96%. Raw sugar has more calories per gram too. So it's splitting hairs but would seem unlikely to be true IMHO.

The key thing in the recipe is as shown from @livo 's efforts (and also mine) the big variable if you're bottle conditioning is whether your palate will like or despise the artificial sweetener used in the kit (or from a recipe as I did adding later). Some folks love them - others find them undrinkable (as I did).

Seems that the ingredients are pretty unremarkable - and it uses Sucralose as it's sweetener - which is a common artifical sweetener, is whats used in 'Splenda'. So I would try that first to see if you 'like' or hate it - as there's nothign much you can do later if it's not to your liking.
https://www.haurakihomebrew.co.nz/products/morgans-ginger-beer-kit

I have checked on the sanitiser and the active ingredient is Sodium Percarbonate, so that shouldn't be a problem.

In regard to flavour, I like it except for the metallic after-taste. But if there is a next time I will experiment by omitting the chilli, lime leaves, and lemon juice.

Thanks for the link to the Hauraki Home Brew site. It has some very good information and is better than most manufacturer's sites.

 

[livo]

Lemon juice shouldn't be a problem (or Citric Acid) if you just add it after into the mix after the boiled concoction. Yeast is ok with a slightly acidic environment and the LJ won't hurt the overall ginger / lemonade flavour. Chilli, Kaffir Lime and other "Indian Spices" I'd be holding off on till you know you like the base.

 

[Jon54]

"...brown sugar (which is white sugar with molasses added)..."

I thought white sugar was brown sugar with the molasses removed? Or should I be saying, white sugar is *raw* sugar with the molasses removed? (and brown is as you stated?).

 

[Jon54]

"... The Brigalow kit provides good sweetness, and I can't taste the artificial sweeteners in it, but it has near zero ginger flavour. ...

I have a batch in fermentation now which is a similar hybrid of Brigalow kit and fresh ginger, so I'll be better able to tell you how this has gone in a few weeks."

I'll just reiterate that I didn't like the artificial sweetener taste in Brigalow's GB. That was the first GB I tried to brew. I still have 20 bottles which are 2-3 months old now and every few weeks I chill one down, taste it and pour it down the sink. Good carbonation and head though.

 

[livo]

Everybody is different I guess. Either that or you had a bad tin or something went wrong in your ferment. I usually hate low Cal drinks, sugar free drinks, and anything that uses the usual artificial sweeteners. I don't taste AS in it at all and for me it has no flavour other than sweet.

 

[Jon54]

Everybody is different I guess. Either that or you had a bad tin or something went wrong in your ferment. I usually hate low Cal drinks, sugar free drinks, and anything that uses the usual artificial sweeteners. I don't taste AS in it at all and for me it has no flavour other than sweet.

Those are also possibilities... and given that you don't particularly taste AS in the Brigalow but that you know when it's present in other drinks, maybe I shouldn't write off Brigalow completely.

 

[Eddy Monsoon]

LHBS was sold out of Lactose but brew was already underway, so I chucked 350g of Erythritol in 23 litres last night

The tub compares the calories of 1 teaspoon sugar with 2/3 teaspoon of Natvia so I'm assuming it translates to approx 500g Sugar

let's see how it goes..................

 

[Paddy Melon]

LHBS was sold out of Lactose but brew was already underway, so I chucked 350g of Erythritol in 23 litres last night

The tub compares the calories of 1 teaspoon sugar with 2/3 teaspoon of Natvia so I'm assuming it translates to approx 500g Sugar

let's see how it goes..................



View attachment 123286

Hi EM, I've used Erythritol in my apple cider and I can't discern any artificial taste so fingers crossed this might be the solution.

 

[Eddy Monsoon]

Hi EM, I've used Erythritol in my apple cider and I can't discern any artificial taste so fingers crossed this might be the solution.

Yep, hope so

Missus happily has it in her tea, when she could never handle the Aspatarme, Sucralose etc stuff aftertaste

The biggest ripoff though is the labelling. They say Stevia, or Monk Fruit ,in the blurb, but when you look it's 0.5% with 99.5% Erythritol

Downside might be the warning about excessive consumption has a laxative effect. .......... ...........

 

[jhmtaylor]

I've got a batch in now with the kit and added fresh ginger and lemon. For 23 litres I used 200g of ginger and 100 ml of lj. It'll be interesting to see if it ticks the boxes.

How did this batch turn out? I am going to put down two 1/2 batches next week experiment with ginger addition a sweetener.

 

[livo]

How did this batch turn out? I am going to put down two 1/2 batches next week experiment with ginger addition a sweetener.

Good. I think it is an improvement on the kit only batch. Still has good sweetness, I can't detect artificial taste and the added ginger flavour is better than the previous. I picked up another can on "Clearance" in WW the other day for only $6.95 so I'm about to do another. Shame it was the last can.

 

[jhmtaylor]

Update on my ginger beer quest after 3 weeks in the bottle.
I made 2 batches as follows. The only difference between each batch was that for sweetness I used 300 gms of Erythritol in one batch and 500 gms of lactose in the other.

• 1 can of Brigalow Ginger Beer kit,
• 1 Kg raw sugar,
• 1 bottle of Belvoir ginger cordial,
• Juice and zest from 1 lemon
• 300gms of finely chopped aged ginger. The ginger and lemon zest was in a hop bag for the duration of the fermentation stage and only added at the last minute of the preparation

Both batches have a moderate sweetness (about the same as 2 level tsp in a cup of tea) but I did notice the sweetener version had a mildly unpleasant taste which was tolerable. The lactose version had a nice mouth feel with a modest kick to it and I think the way forward.

I passed it over to the Minister for War and FInance (non-beer drinker) for her thoughts. She REALLY liked it, the sweetness level was about right but she thought it needed more ginger flavour.

For the next version, I will stick with lactose for sweetening, drop the cordial(I only used it because I had it on hand and it was going out of date), and replace it with 250 gms of raw sugar, and another 100 gms of raw ginger plus 50 gms of powdered ginger and 1 medium chilli. The cordial contained capsicum extract so the chilli should compensate for that.

There are similar recipes like this on the Internet but they call for boiling some of the ingredients and I thought that could change the flavour in an unpleasant way, and that is the reason for my cold brewing.