Ginger Beer Recipe - Scratch Brew No Kit

[Kingy]

KISS. Dry ginger, some neutral yeast, sugar, water. After one week, bottle. Leave a day or two to carbonate but not detonate. Then into the fridge to stall fermentation. Don't let it age or the yeast tastes will come through. I also like to put one mint leaf in each bottle but that is personal taste.

if you do everything opposite to this you will get a nice safe ginger beer. I'm not sure if you where taking the piss or not but that really is not the way to brew any sort of beer and that is destined for failure.

 

[alkalieine]

Ok so i finally got around to making version 2 of the Father & Son Special Ginger Beer.

Version 1 was lacking in a few areas so I have tweaked it a little and changed a few things to see if I can improve it.

Recipe

1.5kg Fresh Ginger
2.0kg Brown Sugar
1.0kg Iron Bark Honey
4 Cinnamon Sticks
5 Large Bush Lemons
5 Limes

Yeast Safale S-05

Steps

• Wash the ginger thoroughly
• Cut Ginger into 2cm long pieces
• 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 you may want to consider freezing overnight to break up the cell structure as the ginger root is very fiberous.
• Set Ginger pulp aside in the fridge for an hour to set up a little. Makes it easier to get out of the blender.
• Juice the lemons and limes. Set aside two lemons and limes for zesting.
• Zest the lemons and limes taking care not to have any white pith. I used a fish filleting knife. Then cut into thin strips.
• Crush cinnamon. I put the cinnamon sticks in a zip lock bag and used my palm to crush them. Less mess that way.
• Add all the sugar and honey to the boiler with 22lt of hot water. You will need a further 500ml of water to rinse the hoey from the pot. Stir to disolve. Boil size should now be 24lts.
• Bring up to the boil. Gentle at this stage. Boil time is 60mins.
• Add ginger pulp, zest and cinnamon to hops bag and drop it the boiler.
• Boil gently for 50mins. Scoop ginger scum from top of boil. Dunk the bag like a tea bag every so often to get as much ginger flavour to impart to the boil.
• Boil vigorously last 10mins. Keep a vigil as it will try to boil over!
• Flame out 60mins.
• Remove bag from boiler, just the remaining water seep out, don't squeeze. Scoop any scub from the top of the boil.
• Rehydrate yeast in starter.
• Cool it to pitching temp 18-20C.
• Pitch yeast.
• Ferment till steady readings.

SG - 1057
FG - 1012

I put it into the fermenter yeasterday. It was happily bubbling away this morning. I want to make mine a little less alcoholic so I will rack to a secondary vessle and crash chill before bottling.

I hope you enjoy it!

I'm interested in making a from scratch GB, this is a simple enough reciepe but I'm a bit confused if this will result in a alcoholic GB or not. I assumed it was alcoholic until I fully read all of the other posts that followed. I understand the dry hopping of chilli and all, but at some point some one started separating a alcoholic versus non alcoholic version.
I'm interested in a from scratch alcoholic GB.

 

[alkalieine]

Ok so i finally got around to making version 2 of the Father & Son Special Ginger Beer.

Version 1 was lacking in a few areas so I have tweaked it a little and changed a few things to see if I can improve it.

Recipe

1.5kg Fresh Ginger
2.0kg Brown Sugar
1.0kg Iron Bark Honey
4 Cinnamon Sticks
5 Large Bush Lemons
5 Limes

Yeast Safale S-05

Steps

• Wash the ginger thoroughly
• Cut Ginger into 2cm long pieces
• 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 you may want to consider freezing overnight to break up the cell structure as the ginger root is very fiberous.
• Set Ginger pulp aside in the fridge for an hour to set up a little. Makes it easier to get out of the blender.
• Juice the lemons and limes. Set aside two lemons and limes for zesting.
• Zest the lemons and limes taking care not to have any white pith. I used a fish filleting knife. Then cut into thin strips.
• Crush cinnamon. I put the cinnamon sticks in a zip lock bag and used my palm to crush them. Less mess that way.
• Add all the sugar and honey to the boiler with 22lt of hot water. You will need a further 500ml of water to rinse the hoey from the pot. Stir to disolve. Boil size should now be 24lts.
• Bring up to the boil. Gentle at this stage. Boil time is 60mins.
• Add ginger pulp, zest and cinnamon to hops bag and drop it the boiler.
• Boil gently for 50mins. Scoop ginger scum from top of boil. Dunk the bag like a tea bag every so often to get as much ginger flavour to impart to the boil.
• Boil vigorously last 10mins. Keep a vigil as it will try to boil over!
• Flame out 60mins.
• Remove bag from boiler, just the remaining water seep out, don't squeeze. Scoop any scub from the top of the boil.
• Rehydrate yeast in starter.
• Cool it to pitching temp 18-20C.
• Pitch yeast.
• Ferment till steady readings.

SG - 1057
FG - 1012

I put it into the fermenter yeasterday. It was happily bubbling away this morning. I want to make mine a little less alcoholic so I will rack to a secondary vessle and crash chill before bottling.

I hope you enjoy it!

I'm interested in making a from scratch GB, this is a simple enough reciepe but I'm a bit confused if this will result in a alcoholic GB or not. I assumed it was alcoholic until I fully read all of the other posts that followed. I understand the dry hopping of chilli and all, but at some point some one started separating a alcoholic versus non alcoholic version.
I'm interested in a from scratch alcoholic GB.

 

[Kingy]

Yea mate this is alcoholic and it's an awesome drink.

 

[Jimity]

Hey guys,

I've been lurking around for a little while, but haven't yet posted. I made this recipe about a month ago, and it turned out pretty good considering it was only the second brew I'd ever done (first one was an apple cider).

I've just started the prep for a 50l batch today (over 2 fermenters), ginger is pulped and in the fridge, lemons & limes are juiced etc etc.

I'm about to start boiling the first of many 10l pots of water, and I have just realised I only have 1 packet of Safale S-05. Completely slipped my mind to get more, and I won't be able to get to the brew shop in the very near future, as today is my only spare day, and my local guy is closed for the holidays.

Would it be absolute sacrilege to split my S-05 between the and make up the difference with bakers yeast?

I'm a bit stuck, because I don't want to waste all that money I just spent on a bucket of rotten ginger if I have to wait until I can get to a brewshop that's open.

Any advice for a newbie?...

**EDIT** after having a chat to a mate who brews; he suggested tipping the S-05 yeast into about half a liter of dechlorinated water that has a few teaspoons of sugar in it, letting it sit for a few hours, to let the yeast start to multiply, then splitting it between the two fermenters. Hopefully, if I give them some nutrients, in the form of boiled bakers yeast, they will survive and the ferment will start.
Does this sound reasonable? Being that he is a chemist, I would hope he has the right idea.

 

[Glot]

The big confusion seems to be do people want to brew beer with ginger as an additive or true original style ginger beer? The latter has nothing to do with grain. It requires a GBP which can not be home made. You can buy it or get it off someone that has some to spare. It typically doubles in quantity every month, but that varies. It is not just yeast and water or leaving the jar open to be colonised by wild yeasts.
As this is a brewer's site, then to make beer that has a ginger taste, this is the spot to find out how.
My personal opinion: After tasting real ginger beer from a GBP, then tasting something like Cooper's ginger beer from their kit, I spat the latter out.
Beer should taste like beer IMHO. Not like a ginger bread dunked in beer.
Please, these are my opinions and every one's taste is different.

Disclaimer: The above statement is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the rest of the world.

 

[Bigdnz]

Hi there,

Im very new to home brewing and Ive just made my second batch of GB.

My first batch i just used the copper tun GB kit with no extras. My second batch i have done the following after reading this page.

Morgans GB Kit
1 x Kg Dextrose
250g Dark Brown suger
250g grated Ginger($29kg in Hobart...ouch)
4 x cinnamon stcks
SG 1025.(my first batch was 1045)


Can I add honey to it later ?? Will this damage the fermentation process ?? and what does the honey do ??

Cheers

 

[MetalDan]

Hi,

I created some ginger beer a while back with the main recipe from this thread, tastes amazing and will def make it again! The only issue I had was breaking my hydrometer when I was about to bottle, so no idea what my FG was.

I bulk primed and only put in 1/3 of the usual dex, but unfortunately they are all ripe for bottle bombs (the honey hadn't completely fermented). Opening them warm they explode, opening them cold they're ok but wayy too gassy. My plan is to chill them all in the fridge, crack them open and then put a new sterilised cap back on.

My only question is how long do I leave the cap off so excess CO2 can escape before I re-bottle? Is just a few seconds enough, or better to place the caps on lightly and leave for 5 mins?

 

[Glot]

Good luck. I will keep an eye on the news for a story about a man killed by ginger beer.
Seriously though. I have never had any luck doing that. I would just crack the seal, let the gas out then retighten. Do that a few times. A slow job as it will want to sprog up in the bottle.

 

[Jason_brews_beer]

Ok so i put down my first GB brew the other day. I had to use a kit as i dont have AG kit yet and Ginger is 25.99/kg but used most of Chappo's recipe and tweaked it a bit to cope with a kit.

WOW!!! This thing tastes amazing! Can't wait for it to ferment out and have a taste. The dark brown sugar and honey make it look like a pale in colour, which surprised me but the chilli gives it a wicked kick. My mate who tasted keeps asking me if its ready... after 2 days!! My HBS said the yeast was a a mix of an ale yeast and some wild yeast. Don't know what it will do but I think this one is going to be a hit.

As soon as I get my AG kit i plan to brew to Chappo's full recipe and then compare. Should be interesting

 

[fattox]

I've punched this into Beersmith, looks like an awesome recipe to use as a base. Question though, could you switch out the ginger for galangal to make a sort of citrusy style beer, and maybe ease up on the lemons and limes? I've always thought galangal would make a ripper ginger style beer, with an awesome flavour! Like a thai ginger beer

 

[brewbienewbie]

Young ginger was $4 a kilo at the markets on the weekend! I've never used the young stuff before but at that price I had to give it a go. I figure it's probably a bit milder flavour than the old stuff so I used nearly 2kg of it. I just washed it and chopped it up in the food processor then boiled it up in a saucepan with sugar and honey, a bunch of limes ($1.80 a bag! Preston markets owns!) and some spices for about half an hour. I strained out all the ginger bits and put them in a hop sock, then tossed that in the fermenter to hopefully get a bit more gingery flavour out. Made it up to 22L with cold water, OG 1.050. Nottingham yeast. I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

[indica86]

Young ginger

Will have less bite but bags of flavour. It is so much nicer than the old stuff - for cooking with anyway.
I have heaps growing, anytime I want to do some cooking I just go and dig some up.

Has any tried Galangal in a GB?

 

[lael]

The big confusion seems to be do people want to brew beer with ginger as an additive or true original style ginger beer? The latter has nothing to do with grain. It requires a GBP which can not be home made. You can buy it or get it off someone that has some to spare. It typically doubles in quantity every month, but that varies. It is not just yeast and water or leaving the jar open to be colonised by wild yeasts.
As this is a brewer's site, then to make beer that has a ginger taste, this is the spot to find out how.
My personal opinion: After tasting real ginger beer from a GBP, then tasting something like Cooper's ginger beer from their kit, I spat the latter out.
Beer should taste like beer IMHO. Not like a ginger bread dunked in beer.
Please, these are my opinions and every one's taste is different.

Disclaimer: The above statement is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the rest of the world.

Glot - any recommendations on where to find recipes etc for a true GBP origin drink?

 

[MCHammo]

Will have less bite but bags of flavour. It is so much nicer than the old stuff - for cooking with anyway.
I have heaps growing, anytime I want to do some cooking I just go and dig some up.

Has any tried Galangal in a GB?

I have. It ruined the batch. I usually don't mind a bit of galangal in Asian cooking, but keep it the hell away from my ginger beer. Just thinking about it has reminded me of the flavours of that ginger beer. I've still got a few bottles in the garage that I haven't tipped yet. I wonder if the galangal flavour has dissipated much after a year in the bottle?

 

[indica86]

I have. It ruined the batch. I usually don't mind a bit of galangal in Asian cooking, but keep it the hell away from my ginger beer. Just thinking about it has reminded me of the flavours of that ginger beer. I've still got a few bottles in the garage that I haven't tipped yet. I wonder if the galangal flavour has dissipated much after a year in the bottle?

Thanks, and it is a pity because fresh galangal smells so lovely

 

[MCHammo]

Thanks, and it is a pity because fresh galangal smells so lovely

I know. That's why I was so keen to try it. And why I was so upset when it failed.

That said, this was a GB with 75% ginger, 25% galangal. Maybe the two don't mix, and 100% galangal *might* be ok. Not hopeful, though.

 

[Not For Horses]

Glot - any recommendations on where to find recipes etc for a true GBP origin drink?

http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/making-ginger-beer-from-scratch.html?m=1

This was the very first return from Google.
It looks very much like the method I used as a kid. And my aunt uses. And my old neighbors. And their neighbors. I am puzzled as to where this idea came from that ginger beer plant "can not be home made".

 

[fattox]

For what it's worth I've done a little research and you can buy dried GBP online through some places in the UK. Similar to a dried brewing yeast I assume, but with the obvious addition of the necessary bugs/cultures. I think it was about 9 quid for a 50g packet, I'd be curious as to how much would actually be needed for a 23 litre batch though.

 

[Wilkensone]

Just wondering if it is possible to make the original ~20l recipe doing a 5-10L boil on a stove top and topping up with water after as I don't want to fill my 40L urn with ginger and sticky sugar/honey?

I'm hoping it would be similar to making a high OG beer and watering down to desired OG.