Ginger Beer Recipe - Scratch Brew No Kit

[bluc]

Was thinking of back sweetening with something anyone have suggestions on what to use and how much? Thinking maybe lactose?

 

[Kingy]

I've tried stevia once and was *********. Now I just crash chill when it starts to get dry to halt fermentation and keg. I like mine dry tho as well. Depends how I'm feeling at the time.
I've also add a bottle of buderim ginger cordial to the keg. That worked good to from memory (was a few years ago I think)
I might actually make a ginger up next. Thx mate cheers.

 

[bluc]

I have decided Im going to stop the yeast chemically "potassium metabisulfite and potassium sorbate" then add brown sugar. Still looking into how its done.

 

[indica86]

Won't be able to bottle carb then.

 

[bluc]

Won't be able to bottle carb then.

No I have a tap a draft bottling system and will force carb. I should have said that's what I was going to do... cheers

 

[wynnum1]

Purchased a nearly out of date wine kit that has wine stabilizer its in one sachet looking at other sites is potassium sorbate and to use a campden tablet first and 750 grams of sugar 23 liters to sweeten think may leave out and drink dry of post sweeten.

 

[MetalDan]

What didnt work well about adding the Stevia Kingy? Also does anyone know if the cordial has any fermentable sugars or is it all unfermentable?

 

[Kingy]

I seem to remember having to add a shitload of stevia and still didn't sweeten up. Yes the cordial will ferment unless added to the keg.

 

[bluc]

Think i stuffed my first attempt tastes like a horrible ginger wine maybe the yeast i used guessing this aint gunna get better with time on co2...

 

[Silk]

Would adding some crystal malt as steeping grain before the other additions help to add some sweetness/body? Given that crystal contains some unfermentables.
?

 

[Simdop]

I seem to remember having to add a shitload of stevia and still didn't sweeten up. Yes the cordial will ferment unless added to the keg.

Would using dark malt extract instead of sugar give it too much of a beer flavour do you think?

 

[bluc]

Couple of thought I like how my beer turned out following the recipe but think it would be better without so much citrus. Has a fairly strong "wine" taste rather than a beer. Also I regretted back sweetening. Tap a draft bottles work for force carbonation but think bottle conditioning is better.all and all happy but think I can do better with few small changes!

 

[Silk]

Would using dark malt extract instead of sugar give it too much of a beer flavour do you think?

I don't think I would go with Dark malt extract, but, I'm sure light malt extract would be fine. One of the guys at Bacchus Brewing suggested LME to me, so definitely worth a shot.

I'm about to put on a trial with 400g of steeped 10L Caramalt, dark brown sugar, chilli, buderim ginger refresher, 800g ginger (200g of which will be dry hopped) etc etc. See how it turns out.
Next one (depending on the outcome of the first one), I'm thinking of using DLME.

 

[Middo]

Hi guys,

I made a modified double batch using Chappos as the base. Not much changed, just reduced the cinnamon by a couple sticks, added a few Habaneros and increased the honey and brown sugar for a 6.8% finish. Fermented out over 2 1/2 weeks very dry, sugars have all fermented out nicely.

I'm kegging this shortly after a few days cold crashing. I don't have the issue using fermentable sugars and was thinking of using honey to backsweeten. I have bee hives so honey is free but I don't want it to dominate too much. Interested to hear what other fermentables ppl use to backsweeten. I know cidering can work well with pommie or pear juice. Curious to know if there's another magic option for my first ginger beer.

 

[Middo]

Hi guys,

I made a modified double batch using Chappos as the base. Not much changed, just reduced the cinnamon by a couple sticks, added a few Habaneros and increased the honey and brown sugar for a 6.8% finish. Fermented out over 2 1/2 weeks very dry, sugars have all fermented out nicely.

I'm kegging this shortly after a few days cold crashing. I don't have the issue using fermentable sugars and was thinking of using honey to backsweeten. I have bee hives so honey is free but I don't want it to dominate too much. Interested to hear what other fermentables ppl use to backsweeten. I know cidering can work well with pommie or pear juice. Curious to know if there's another magic option for my first ginger beer.

 

[Middo]

I should add thanks to Chappos base, tasted soooo damn good before fermenting. Habaneros really makes it so damn good, it's just a gentle burn that follows on from the ginger punch.

If you're in Brisbane, farmers markets are your friend. Picked up 3kg of ginger for $25 total after a little haggling. Lemons & limes near cost me the same. I used us05. Can't wait to keg it.

 

[DigitalGiraffe]

I've frozen 1.5kg of ginger and just went to peel it using the edge of a spoon. Far less waste than a peeler but do I really need to peel it if I am putting it in a blender and boiling for an hour? It took close to 15minutes to clean 4 tiny sections. I'd estimate it would take me close to 4 hours to peel it all thoroughly.

 

[indica86]

What?
Thank **** I grow it and can just cut the skin off.

 

[Swizzle]

Weighing in on the discussion, I'm drinking the recipe below off tap at present. It's the bomb - a bit spicier than last year's efforts which had a few less chillies. It came out at 3% and is holding a nice solid white head.

Morgans Ginger Beer kit
0.5 kg fresh ginger, unpeeled, grated
10 dried chillis (Asian shop)
1 kg sugar (comprising about 60:30:10 white:brown:castor), “inverted” in a syrup with some grapefruit juice. (Inverted sugar is sucrose broken down into fructose and glucose.)
Yeast and nutrient supplied with kit (have used US05 last couple of years, didn’t have any on hand.
OG1030
Krausen next morning, 8 hours after making the wort.

​So now I'm aiming for something a bit more spiritual if you like, no kit. Plan for today's brew is:

1 kg LDME (light dried malt extract)
1.5 kg white sugar
5 tsp ginger powder
0.5 kg fresh ginger
10 dried chillies
USO5 yeast and yeast nutrient

I've conquered the camping keg this year too - cylindrical kitchen bin with ice and keg. Happy days!

 

[rhino86]

The best price I've seen for ginger was at St Ives at Goodna, was $2 a kg special. Sadly I did not about this recipie and used it in tea.
The weekend markets at Rocklea have some pretty good prices sometimes for ginger.
$22 a kg at wollie, $25 a kg at cole.

 

[bradsbrew]

Has anyone used the masterfoods ginger in a jar? The preservative is sodium metabisulphate.

 

[Lionman]

Has anyone used the masterfoods ginger in a jar? The preservative is sodium metabisulphate.

There was a post a few pages back re Costco 1KG jar of crushed ginger.

I think the consensus is it isn't ideal as they include additives, it isn't 100% ginger.


I'm putting down a GB tonight. It's my first one, hopefully, it turns out. It's inspired by this thread.

2KG raw sugar
1KG brown sugar
1KG honey
1.6KG ginger - blitzed from frozen
2 whole chilis, roughly chopped
5 lemons - juice and zest
US-05

I'll do about 4L boil for 30mins and put it all in the fermenter. Top up to 21L.

Should put me at 1.067OG or there about's. Ferment it down to 1.015 and then keg and chill. Should be around 6.5% ABV.

Hopfully there's still a bit of sweetness at 1.015.

 

[Lionman]

Made a last minute decision to use 2KG of light brown sugar. Planning on the FG to be a bit higher, around 1.02ish. ABV should be similar but a bit sweeter.

I used a food processor to blend the ginger and chili, was too easy I didn't bother peeling it.

I poured the 'wort' through a brew bag to catch all the ginger and have left that in the fermenter to continue to infuse.

It tastes really nice in the FV. Very sweet but with a big ginger hit. Hopefully, it still stands up after the yeasties dry it out a bit. Can't wait to keg it and drink it!

 

[captaincleanoff]

I brewed the recipe in the original post in this thread.

Brewed a week ago. Pitched rehydrated 05, after 3 days no action, so sprinkled another packet of 05 in. Fermenting at 18c.

A week later - still no action. Still on OG of .052

Wondering whats going on here. Lemon juice put the pH too far out? Needed yeast nutrient? Disappointed : (

 

[Hopdrop]

Hey guys,

random question, looking to do another batch of ginger beer and hunting around for somewhere selling ginger at reasonable price in Perth. I stumbled across someone selling 20kg box of ginger powder for $10!

Any obvious con's to substituting fresh ginger for powder entirely?

 

[indica86]

Any obvious con's to substituting fresh ginger for powder entirely?

Flavour. Is there a market somewhere? I'd give you some if you were near me, I have ******* heaps

 

[Lazz360]

Does this recipe require hops in the bag as well, sorry if this is a stupid question only a newbie to the brewing scene

 

[Fendercaster]

5b5bbbh

 

[technobabble66]

+1 @Fendercaster. Totally nailed it.

Personally I'd stay away from hops in a ginger beer. The bitterness clashes badly with the ginger and super dry finish you will typically get.

 

[Fendercaster]

Made a last minute decision to use 2KG of light brown sugar. Planning on the FG to be a bit higher, around 1.02ish. ABV should be similar but a bit sweeter.

I used a food processor to blend the ginger and chili, was too easy I didn't bother peeling it.

I poured the 'wort' through a brew bag to catch all the ginger and have left that in the fermenter to continue to infuse.

It tastes really nice in the FV. Very sweet but with a big ginger hit. Hopefully, it still stands up after the yeasties dry it out a bit. Can't wait to keg it and drink it!

It's been a while. How did you go with this mate.