Ginger Beer Recipe - Scratch Brew No Kit

[bum]

When you say there's no sign of fermentation does this include no movement on a hydrometer reading? This is the only way to be sure. I've only used US05 on a GB once and I don't recall an impressive or particularly rapid krausen. If you haven't done so, check the gravity and see what you're actually dealing with.

I don't think forgetting nutrient would stop it from taking off altogether. It'd just slow things down and maybe your yeasties might give up the ghost a little sooner - which would help you get your GB a little sweeter perhaps.

 

[brettprevans]

Cozm -
should be ok. slow to fire yeast is common. i used US05 in a light beer recently and there was a fart's worth of kraussen the entire time. only real way to tell was with the trusty refrac (or use a hydro in your case).

re my crack at this.
just a thought. as i peeled the ginger last night and wasnt using it until tonight, i covered the ginger water to stop it drying out. tonight I will re-use that water as my water for blending (as per chappos instructions below from 1st post). actually maybe i should have frozen the whole thing! oh well maybe next time

[*]Add 500ml of cold water to blender as well as the ginger. I found it's best to add a couple of pieces at a time. If you don't have a blender grating is fine but

 

[cozmocracker]

ok i feel a bit better now, i took a reading (which i should of thought of but im a bit of a tight arse when it comes to sampling) and its gone from 1062 to 1058, at least i get to sample it again!

thanks again guys!

 

[brettprevans]

ok i feel a bit better now, i took a reading (which i should of thought of but im a bit of a tight arse when it comes to sampling) and its gone from 1062 to 1058, at least i get to sample it again!

thanks again guys!

another reason for getting a refrac. 5ml worth per sample (or a teaspoon worth once youve lost the pippette and take samples with teaspoons :huh: )

 

[brettprevans]

Decided to reconnect with partial makers and feel the pain of BIAG and do it on the stove top in a 15 pot.... Feeling the pain all right. Stupid stove takes forever to heat. Tempted to dump into my kettle and u leash hell on it. I'm very impatient.

Oh and no wonder no one makes a double batch from scratch... Ginger takes fkn forever to blend. And u need a huge bloody hop bag for 1.6kg of Ginger. Just ad well I've got the giant craftbrewer hopsock...

On the plus side it smells great in the kitchen. Sweet and spicey

 

[brettprevans]

well all is said and done and its in the fermentor and almost at pitching temp (well it was this morning before i left for work).

- only recipe variation was 50/50 dark brown sugar and brown sugar and 2 sliced birdseye chillis went into the fermentor.
- i would definitley freeze the ginger next time to help puree it.
- definitely needs to be pureed in batches (which i did)
- i think there is too much ginger in 1 hop sock, so splitting between 2 hop socks would be the way to go OR letting it run free in the ketle and strain it out later.
- i think doing it in a 15L pot was too small for my liking, but still very doable. I will probably use my kettle next time as heating on the stove takes too long.
- have some icy cold water ready to add to fermentor once you tip in the hot 'wort'. mine was cooled down to about 32C last night with just adding cold water. i probably could have got it to pithing temp if i had of used more than 6L of icy water and the rest cool water.
- i wasnt sure about the theory of not sqeezing the ginger once finished boiling. i ignored this and 'rinsed' or 'sparged' the ginger etc in the hops sock with the cold water, so as to get every last bit of gingery goodness out of the pulp. Chappo et al , please enlighten me as to why you guys dont squeeze the hopsock or rinse it.

 

[bum]

- i wasnt sure about the theory of not sqeezing the ginger once finished boiling. i ignored this and 'rinsed' or 'sparged' the ginger etc in the hops sock with the cold water, so as to get every last bit of gingery goodness out of the pulp. Chappo et al , please enlighten me as to why you guys dont squeeze the hopsock or rinse it.

Yeah, that is a perculiar one. I've put the ginger into primary before and noticed no negative aspects added (uh, apart from at bottling). I can't see what you're gonna get bad from squeezing that wouldn't be present from processing or having in the fermenter. I'd be interested to hear the reason too.

Personally I'd be buggering the hopsock idea off. Let it loose, I say!

[EDIT: When you say 50/50 dark brown/brown sugar - what amounts are you talking for your batch size? For myself, I've noticed that the dark brown sugar gets a little overbearing beyond 500g in 23lt (with 250g being my preference) paired with raw sugar and that all brown sugar batches have been a little heavy in the body. This is all preference, obviously. Just interested to see what you went with and how it goes.]

 

[brettprevans]

[EDIT: When you say 50/50 dark brown/brown sugar - what amounts are you talking for your batch size? For myself, I've noticed that the dark brown sugar gets a little overbearing beyond 500g in 23lt (with 250g being my preference) paired with raw sugar and that all brown sugar batches have been a little heavy in the body. This is all preference, obviously. Just interested to see what you went with and how it goes.]

2kg total: 1kg dark brown, 1kg brown into 24L
it was a random spur of the moment thing.

hmm didnt really think about the body impact. good point to remember in the future. I'll report back at sampling time.

 

[bum]

It should be pointed out that I'm a bit of a princess about my ginger beers. I wouldn't worry. It's all sugar still - it's not the same thing as using too much spec grain and mashing your base malt at 70, yeah? It'll still be good, I'm just talking subtle balance stuff.

 

[brettprevans]

it's not the same thing as using too much spec grain and mashing your base malt at 70, yeah? It'll still be good, I'm just talking subtle balance stuff.

or mashing at 79C like someone did recently on AHB -link. :huh: whoopsy

back on topic. I should have stuck with the stock recipe as is since ive never made gingerbeer before, but i tend to brew like i cook, ie seat of my pants, whatever inspires me at the time etc. anywho wil wait to see how she ferments out and report back on taste. im going to throw 1/2 cup of US05 yeastcake at it tonight and watch it fire.

 

[bum]

I should have stuck with the stock recipe as is since ive never made gingerbeer before,

Nah, bugger that! Carpe Diem!

GBs are pretty forgiving flavour wise and there's plenty of places to hide any flaws. Have fun with it, I say.

But then again this sort of thing http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...showtopic=42585 might not be for everyone so perhaps you'll need a grain of salt or two to go with my opinion.

 

[brettprevans]

I'll bottle a few and we can do a swap if you like. i'd be interested in tasting your experiment.

 

[bum]

I'd be happy to but you'd have to jump in your time machine for that one, I'm afraid. Batch is gone bar one bottle that I'm holding on to for a few months to see what negatives might occur over time. You can pick some leaves up cheap as and just run a test bottle or two yourself if the idea appeals. I'm sure it'd still work without my spice additions and I don't think curry and lemon would be a terrible combo either.

I'll be running a very similar recipe on my next batch but omitting the kit and trying to scale up the fresh ginger - if I can afford it. I'm expecting to have to double up to 2kg. Still I won't be able to put it down til mid May due to travel commitments so hopefully prices are looking a lot better by then.

[EDIT: typo]

 

[brettprevans]

yeast doesnt seem to havce fired. i recon i might have a few dodgy packets of American ale (us05). I other packets i used recently struggled with a light beer. ive got 1x12g pack left. when i check tonight if the yeast still hasnt fred ill chuck the 2nd pack in and hope like hell it fires. i'll also throw in some yeast nutirent for safe measure. never thought i have to do that for US05

 

[cozmocracker]

as suggested to me, have you done a hydro reading? there has been no sign of krausen or any other signs of fermention in my batch other than the hydrometer reading going down, currently sitting at 1042 from 1062 after 5 days from pitching. Currently sampling right now, let me tell you mine has a fair bit of heat in it.

 

[brettprevans]

as suggested to me, have you done a hydro reading?

bahahahahaha. yeah mate i used a refrac to measure fermentation, im not a noob. no discerable change in the refrac measurement. now it could just be taking a while to fire. I just have never experinced that from us05 before. normaly us05 goes batshit. i will wait. it could be that i didnt oxegenate it enough and thats causing some lag. but it does sounds a little dodge that 2 packs of yeast form the same batch have struggled. sounds like bad yeast to me. but will remain hopefully and check my babies tonight.

 

[Maple]

maybe your yeast are ginger-intolerant? besides, I'd say oxygenation (or lack thereof) is not your problem if pitching from dried form. did you re-hydrate prior (i never do, but hear and believe it is of benefit)

 

[cozmocracker]

sorry CM2 i wasn't questioning your knowledge or ability, its just that sometimes its the simplest things that get over looked, just as i did! well i hope it has fired up for you now.

 

[brettprevans]

sorry CM2 i wasn't questioning your knowledge or ability, its just that sometimes its the simplest things that get over looked, just as i did! well i hope it has fired up for you now.

not in the least buddy. i knew what you were meaning. its all good.
I stirred the GB up last night and took another refract reading this morning and it finally seems to have moved. very very sluggish yeast im thinking. it was a full 12g pack and the OG was ~1055, so it should have been fine. even the temp has been good (my mead is loving he warmer temps and fermenting more vigerously than previously).

oh well patience is a virtue. nah bugger that i might use my last packet of US05 up. i'll start cultering some up tonight.

 

[OLDS2006]

When I copied bum`s recipe, it took 3-4 days for the cling wrap to move.
Then left it for 10 days before chilling.