Ginger Beer, Here I Come!

[opposition]

I've decided to make a ginger beer after several ales and lagers...

Heres the deal...

1 can beermakers GB
300gms ginger (will be finely grated without peeling)
1 lemon sliced
Half an orange sliced
5 cloves
2kg brown sugar
250gms Light Dried Malt
Sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg

Method.....

Boil ginger,lemon,orange,cloves and sugars in 2ltrs of water for 45min in muslin cloth.
Use hot liquid to dissolve GB kit.
Fill to 20ltrs
Add nutrient and yeast...

Any thoughts, mods or extras would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Dean.

 

[itguy1953]

I've decided to make a ginger beer after several ales and lagers...

Heres the deal...

1 can beermakers GB
300gms ginger (will be finely grated without peeling)
1 lemon sliced
Half an orange sliced
5 cloves
2kg brown sugar
250gms Light Dried Malt
Sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg

Method.....

Boil ginger,lemon,orange,cloves and sugars in 2ltrs of water for 45min in muslin cloth.
Use hot liquid to dissolve GB kit.
Fill to 20ltrs
Add nutrient and yeast...

Any thoughts, mods or extras would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Dean.

Make sure that the GB kit has non fermentable sugars in it, as the yeast will eventually ferment out all of the sugars you add, and make ethanol out of them.

Most kits contain artificial sugars to ensure that the resultant GB is sweet.

If you want to add your own non fermentable sugar, you can add Lactose (milk sugar). This is expensive, and it is only half as sweet as sucrose (table sugar).

BTW the Coopers GB kit has artificial sweetener in it.

Barry

 

[Bribie G]

If the ginger beer turns out very dry, a cheap and pleasant way of sweetening it up is to serve it into a jug to which you have added a good slug of Bundaberg Ginger Beer Cordial, about $2.99 from Woolies. Plus crushed ice, cocktail umbrellas, drink out of hollowed out pineapple :lol: :lol:

I note that somewhere on the forum someone just uses a couple of bottles of Bundaberg instead of the GB kit itself - it has a very sophisticated ginger flavour, would want to use say a Coopers yeast. However it would probably ferment out all the sugars in the cordial, see above.

Also if you brew it over-proof you can cut it down in the jug with some generic dry ginger soft drink, the 89c supermarket variety, doesn't taste too bad.

 

[NME69]

What? 5 cloves? cloves of what? your not talking of garlic , surely.

No you couldnt be.

 

[axl]

Don't know about the orange & Lemon addition <_<

 

[Interloper]

I have a Coopers GB done to 18 litres with 2kg of raw sugar and the kit yeast that has been furiously fermenting for nearly 3 weeks.

The SG is still dropping a couple of points a day - down to 1006 last night when I took a reading.

Could the cheap yeast be struggling to eat up the sugars? Is that why it is still going strong?

Is this surprising given I thought the higher alcohol content would finish no lower than 1010/1008? What should the FG be with 2kg of fermentables?

Also it is very carbed up in the fermenter, sparkling away with loads of bubbles. I could bottle this with no priming I reckon, it is that bubbly. I need to watch for bottle bombs with this baby!

As it is a very spicey/high alc brew I am tempted to water it down a bit. Would adding 2 litres of cooled boiled water be incorporated into the wort?

Does anyone reckon that watering it down in the fermenter at this stage would kill it?

 

[Mantis]

What? 5 cloves? cloves of what? your not talking of garlic , surely.

No you couldnt be.

I think he means the cloves of this kind
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clove

 

[rough60]

I found some old bottles yesterday and cracked one, it was ginger beer! And it was tastey, found one with a lid that wasn't rusty and it was bottled Feb 2006.
It was a 2 can and 1kg sugar.
Now to make some dark and stormy!

edit: I reckon that recipe sounds tops btw.

 

[Adric Hunter]

dont use pre ground spices, grind your own just put them trough a coffer grinder. The flavour diference is amazing!!

 

[SJW]

IMO, Dont bother, 4 bottles of Bunderburg GB Cordial for $3.99 eack into a keg with water and it does not get much better than that.

 

[mckenry]

I did GB twice - pretty stock standard. Nice beers. BUT never could get the smell out of the fermenters. Will never brew GB again. Not worth it. IMO u need to dedicate a fermenter to it.

 

[Adric Hunter]

IMO, Dont bother, 4 bottles of Bunderburg GB Cordial for $3.99 eack into a keg with water and it does not get much better than that.

Mabey true but i dont think that their cordial is as good as their normal bottled stuff. The only other brand that can compete withit in my opinion is Cascade, and stones alcoholic gets close but no apple

 

[solidghost]

After you guys brew the ginger beer, I was wondering whether the smell and the taste of the ginger beer will remain in the fermenter even after you have washed it very thoroughly? I had heard people complaining that the smell and taste is still around in their fermenters.

 

[rh1an5]

2nd the smell it leaves int eh fermenter.

my batch has been in bottels (plastic to stop bombs) for about 3-4 weeks, not overly carbonated, gettting better as it sits, but tasty none the less.

i think a key to remeber is that they do a lot of crazy shit to say a can of GB to make it so fizzy (ie kirks)

 

[cwbrown07]

I put down my first GB a couple of weeks ago, and it will be bottled up this weekend.

Recipie was:

1 x Morgans GB kit
1 x #10 Body Brew (from memory, 50% maltodextrin/ 50% dextrose)
1kg liquid light malt extract
8 x cloves
2 x cinnamon sticks
zest and juice of 2 lemons
1kg fresh ginger, roughly cut into discs (about 0.5 - 1cm thick)

(inspired by some strand on this site)

Place each of cloves, cinnamon, zest and juice of lemons as well as all ginger into pot along with 2l of water. Boil for 20 mins and strain (I used a colander).

Place kit, body brew and light malt extract into fermenter, pour on boiled 'wort' and stir 'til disolved. Top up to 20l, add yeast nutrient, stir well and then add re-hydrated kit yeast (pitched at about 24 degrees).

Has been fermented at 21-23 (using fridge, temp controller and heat box) for 12 days so far.

Unfortunately, my hydrometer was busted when I made it up, so no OG. However, after some fairly vigorous fermentation in the first week, it has been holding steady at 1.010 for last few days.

Currently tastes damn good (notwithstanding flat and warm). Looking forward to the carbed and chilled version.

 

[Interloper]

after some fairly vigorous fermentation in the first week, it has been holding steady at 1.010 for last few days.

Wow my Coopers GB with 2kg of brown sugar is still fermenting after nearly 3 weeks. SG at 1.006 yesterday.

Is that normal? I would have thought with more fermentables the SG would have been higher?

 

[cwbrown07]

Wow my Coopers GB with 2kg of brown sugar is still fermenting after nearly 3 weeks. SG at 1.006 yesterday.

Is that normal? I would have thought with more fermentables the SG would have been higher?

I have no idea - I have not brewed GB before, nor have I used brown sugar before. what temp is the ferment at? perhaps lower temp + brown sugar = slower fermentation process...

As regards the "vigorous" fermentation, I was somewhat shocked by it, as it involved having to top up the airlock for the first couple of days, as the gas coming out was so forceful that it was shooting water out the airlock! Given that I have never noticed the "airlock bubbling" associated with my other brewing attempts (notwithstanding plenty of condensation, change in SG, etc) it came as a bit of a surprise.

As far as my slightly higher FG seems to be concerned, I would guess that it relates to the ingredients - I added the liquid malt extract and body brew to try and get a bit more mouth-feel in the end product (less soft drink and more "Ginja" (GB from S.Aust) style)

 

[opposition]

I ended up using 2kg raw sugar instead.....

Smells awesome in fermenter.... Cant wait to taste.

 

[Rabs]

Gday all,

I Was a little disappointed with my first GB..... Morgans kit + Kg dex
Second recipe I decided to vamp up a little,

Morgans GB Kit
1 kg Dex
500g Light Malt Extract
400g brown sugar
150g corn syrup

40 min boil
300g Ginger
1 lemon + rind
20 min boil
4 cloves

Smells great and should be more potent than the previous version.

 

[Barley Belly]

After reading this and a few other threads
I'm trying my hand at another Ginger Beer

My first was a Coopers K+K, using 1kg Raw Sugar
Turned out OK, but I hoped for better.

This time I'm going with:-

Morgans GB Kit
1kg Dex
1kg Raw Sugar

300g ginger grated
1 lemon sqeezed + rind grated
6 cloves
2 crushed cinnamon sticks

Brought sugars and other ingredients to boil (Minus the Kit) in 2 litres water and let steady boil for 10 minutes
Strained sugar mix through muslin into fermenter
Added Kit
Topped up to 20l with water
Tied up muslin with boiled ginger etc and added to fermenter
Pitched dry yeast and nutrient with wort @ 22deg, whisked into wort, waited 15 minutes and gave final whisk to kick it along

Put down 7pm last night @ 20deg in my brew cupboard
OG was 1040 and it smelt and tasted nice

Was greeted with a nice steady bubbling sound when I checked to see if it had started this arvo.

Can't wait to see how it turns out

Thanks for the inspiration