Ginger Beer Recipe - Scratch Brew No Kit

[Nick the Knife]

If kegging you don’t need to sterilise the yeast before backsweeteneing if you refrigerate the keg immediately as the cold temp will halt secondary fermentation.

Lactose can get very gummy too, the fake ones are best, but you can taste them if looking.

Fair point for those kegging - as mentioned I'm bottling so alas trickier.

"Fake ones are best but you can taste them if looking"? haha not sure what you mean by this - sounds like part of a devious puzzle.

I'm pretty sure the only option is an artificial sweetener - as mentioned the bog standard Aspartame type ones likely as good as any.

 

[Liambeer]

I meant the artificial sweetener's. some people can taste or dislike them more than others. A bit of extra ginger, or lemon or something can mask them to some degree

 

[Nick the Knife]

Ok due to car issues (warranty matter with Hyundai - PITA!) I couldn;t make it into town to get the artifical sweetner. Woolies was out so grabbed 2 packets of the Coles brand ones.

Racked to secondary today (just a day short of 3 weeks) no signs of any issues. As I wasn't worried about aeration issues with hops I used a jiggle siphon to transfer. Worked very well and though I'd brought a strainer out I forgot to use it but I was able to keep it in the 'mid' level so the ginger skin on top didn't get in and the trub-ginger layer on the bottom didn't either. So very clean transfer. 24L

Boiled small amount of water, added one entire packet of the sweeteners. Added to secondary, though I considered adding half and then tasting. Slightly on the sweeter end of what I'd like but I think it'll balance with carbonation as opposed to still.

Added around 220g sugar via a syrup - stirred through for a while. Allowed to dissapate for 30mins or so while i sanitised the bottles (all Coopers 750ml). Despite the botttling wand losing it's tip and making a GUSH semi-disaster on me - still got 33 bottles. SO we'll see come 3-4 weeks.

I didn't add any extra citrus etc at bottling - felt it easier to do in the glass.

 

[mynameisrodney]

nice one. Keen to see how it turns out with the sweetener.

 

[Nick the Knife]

Ok after being royally dicked around by Coopers on their bottles ability to handle 3.x vol pressure - they all held up ok - nearly a month after bottling now - so even in winter as are stored inside I tried. Chilled for 2 days.

Priming was about at the correct level - so that was fine.

But the artificial sweetener has fucked it up completely! Is sickly sweet and tastes like that 1st generation artificial sweetener where you'd try and immediately notice the fake taste to it. I was gutted - I added some lime juice to it which improved the balance somehwhat but tipped the entire longneck down the drain.

That was one entire packet of the sweetener, which is definitely too much - but I do wonder whether any of it at all was just going to ruin the flavour - perhaps the stevia would have been better.

Haha and the wife walked over and said,"Oh no good? How many bottles of that do you have?" My reply was ,"Ah a few". And theres about 32 more.

Dunno I will try again in a few days - perhaps I was a tad harsh but I'd rather bin the lot that compromise and drink stuff I do not enjoy.

Very dissappointing as the ginger beer itself has terrific flavour - very clean and aromatic - no complaints there but that sweetener is the pits. :-( ****.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

We have been playing around a lot with Ginger beer here as we have been looking to write a blog on the subject but after doing a lot of testing this is what we have found so far.

1. Massive difference between Old and New ginger. (see attached image). The older ginger as a intense ginger flavor and spiciness. The new ginger is a bit of a waste of time as it has some good aroma but a lot of this disappears especially if you put it into the fermenter.
2. "Old" ginger you can use almost half the quantity so although it is a bit more expensive you get much more bang for buck in the actual ginger beer itself.
3. The ginger itself doesn't benefit the fermentation of sugars to create alcohol. As a result of this if you can extract ginger juice from the ginger it would make more sense as adding the fibrous roots part of the ginger simply makes it more complicated as it increases your losses and you have the complication of removing this later down the track. For instance I think you would be better off using a juicing machine to extract the ginger juice and then adding this to the end product rater than to ferment with the ginger in the fermenter. With that said if the ginger root is fermented to the point where it breaks down it can contribute some more complex ginger flavors to the overall ginger beer.
4. The ginger flavors are relatively stable and not very sensitive to oxygen. As a result you really don't have to worry about oxygen exposure unless you start using malts. In our opinion malts are not required in ginger beer.
5. Artificial sweeteners really taste horrible in ginger beer. You are better off back sweetening the ginger beer with sugar and then to prevent re-fermentation either keep in the fridge or add Ascorbic Acid and Potassium Sorbate. This is obviously difficult if you want to naturally carbonate in the bottle but to be quite frank I would just avoid all naturally carbonating in the bottle due to the bottle bomb issues. Either keg the product or carbonate in a pressure rated fermenter and transfer the carbonated product to bottle and then cap.

 

[mblwest]

Would love to read a blog on the subject. I would like to brew a gluten free option for the celiacs in my family, tried once, was a hopeless failure.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Would love to read a blog on the subject. I would like to brew a gluten free option for the celiacs in my family, tried once, was a hopeless failure.

When you say it was a failure can you tell me what you did, what ingredients you used and also what was wrong with the end product.

It's easy to make a good gluten free ginger beer so I am sure we can find a solution for you.

 

[mblwest]

It was a while ago now but I know I used a Champagne yeast and a number of sugars, some fermentable some not. But the result was a super dry, unsweet, super yeasty taste with little ginger, undrinkable. I think I used 1kg of fresh ginger, which is not cheap! Sorry for the lack of detail, trying to search up the recipe. I have a keg system so don't need to bottle carbonate but was worried about adding sugar to the keg and having further alcohol produced, if you have a good recipe would you be willing to share?
Thanks

 

[KegLand-com-au]

It was a while ago now but I know I used a Champaign yeast and a number of sugars, some fermentable some not. But the result was a super dry, unsweet, super yeasty taste with little ginger, undrinkable. I think I used 1kg of fresh ginger, which is not cheap! Sorry for the lack of detail, trying to search up the recipe. I have a keg system so don't need to bottle carbonate but was worried about adding sugar to the keg and having further alcohol produced, if you have a good recipe would you be willing to share?
Thanks

I think we have touched on a few points here and if the ginger beer is too dry it also doesnt taste good so you need to back sweeten it at least a little bit. If you put the keg in the fridge then no need to do anything else. If you think you might have to store the keg warm or you do not have the fridge space then you will need to add potassium sorbate and ascorbic acid.

In terms of back sweetening in my opinion:
Dry = 2% sugar by weight
Medium = 5% Sugar by weight
Sweet = 10% sugar by weight

So you can use that as a guide. Also as the product is not very oxygen sensitive you can start at the low end and keep opening the lid and adding more until you get to the desired level.

1kg of fresh ginger may or may not be enough. It depends on the type of ginger but if your utilisation is not good you may need more than 2kg.

I do wonder if we should be purchasing bulk ginger and then fermenting it then passing it through a centrifuge and then taking the juice from this process to be honest as I think if we just sold this liquid it would make the process a lot easier for you guys. With a proper centrifuge we could extract close to 100% of the ginger from the root so we would be able to give you guys a liquid concentrate that would probably be more economical than you purchasing the ginger yourself at supermarket prices. If we did that then you just ferment or distill a sugar wash then add this product to it.

 

[Ballaratguy]

I’ve made a couple of batches of Kingsley Phillips recipe (minus the chilly as I hate chilie)
Both batches were awesome and easy to do. Just used US05 yeast

 

[cb341982]

I've made this https://hoppydaysbrewingsupplies.com.au/product/ginger-extreme-ginger-beer-diy-brewing-kit/ up to 20L and added 2kg of raw sugar. Fermented with EC-1118 that according to to the website was supposed to finish at around 1.0010. Mine finished at 0.096 for 6.6%ABV. Much stronger than I was anticipating, but it has a really nice ginger kick with a little heat from the ginger on the back end

 

[KegLand-com-au]

I've made this https://hoppydaysbrewingsupplies.com.au/product/ginger-extreme-ginger-beer-diy-brewing-kit/ up to 20L and added 2kg of raw sugar. Fermented with EC-1118 that according to to the website was supposed to finish at around 1.0010. Mine finished at 0.096 for 6.6%ABV. Much stronger than I was anticipating, but it has a really nice ginger kick with a little heat from the ginger on the back end

I have not tried this kit but I will get one and give it a go.

 

[mblwest]

A concentrate sounds great

 

[mblwest]

Also I am pretty sure the Morgans kit used in Kingsley's recipe has gluten in it, wish it were that simple! Everything tastes great with gluten!

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Also I am pretty sure the Morgans kit used in Kingsley's recipe has gluten in it, wish it were that simple! Everything tastes great with gluten!

Morgans are a company that specializes in canning up malt extract. As you can imagine it's pretty easy for them to make a beer kit that uses the malt extract to formulate a ginger beer kit. With that said just because it's easy it doesn't mean it's the best way to go. In my opinion there is no reason to put gluten in ginger beer. It doesn't improve the flavor.

How about we do this? We work with a local brewery or food manufacturer to ferment a large vat full of ginger pulp. This fermentation of the ginger will help break down the ginger and give it a more complex flavor. We need to find a brewery with a centrifuge so we can efficiently separate the old pulp from the liquid. We then add a small amount of spice to this liquid as I think this helps to intensify the ginger flavor. We then sell and supply this pre-fermented ginger to you guys as a cloudy ginger liquid ,and I assume this pre-fermented liquid will be equivalent to about 1.5kg of ginger root but more efficiently extracted and pre-fermented, so you can add at the end of the fermentation process rather than need to add it to the fermenter at the start.

So the usage instructions would be either:

1a. For an non-alcoholic ginger beer just add water and the pre-fermented ginger product together.
1b. Alternatively ferment a sugar wash with EC1118 and yeast nutrient to create an alcoholic base. Use finings to floc out the yeast then add the pre-fermented ginger concentrate.
1c. Alternatively just use vodka or their own distilled spirit and mix with the pre-fermented ginger product.

2a. Back sweeten then carbonate in the keg.
2b. Bottle and use carbonation drops to carbonate (this would not work with 1a or 1c as you would not have any yeast at this stage. Obviously if you carbonate in the bottle then you would not want to floc out the yeast in step 1b)

I think we could sell a 1L ginger extract that is pre-fermented for about $20-$30. Would that be of interest to you guys?

 

[mblwest]

Wow, would definitely go down that road. I wouldn't use vodka though, has to be some sort of home brewing. What would be the reason in pre-fermenting though? Wouldn't you then be selling an alcoholic beverage? Or is it for preserving?

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Wow, would definitely go down that road. I wouldn't use vodka though, has to be some sort of home brewing. What would be the reason in pre-fermenting though? Wouldn't you then be selling an alcoholic beverage? Or is it for preserving?

The reasons for pre-fermenting the product would be:
1. If we pre-ferment the product it would give customers some really easy options like option 1a and 1c.
2. If we pre-ferment the product it enables us to take one further step which is to run the "sludge" containing ginger and ginger solids through a centrifuge. Most home customers do not have a centrifuge so they can't separate the ginger from the solids efficiently which results in leaving good ginger flavor behind leading to more ginger wastage.

We could just use a centrifuge to extract ginger juice from the ginger (rather than pre-fermenting it) and then sell this but, as mentioned earlier, in order to get good complex ginger flavor it's best that the ginger solids are fermented, as the fermentation process breaks the ginger down further and gives a more complex ginger characteristics. So in my opinion to achieve the best results the fermentation needs to be done before the centrifuge and the centrifuge is necessary to get maximum extraction. So either you home brewers need to purchase a centrifuge or we need to work out a way to do this for you and also look after the pre-fermentation process.

NOTE: A good quality centrifuge costs about $100k

If ginger was a cheap raw material this process would not make sense as customers can just purchase more ginger and deal with the wastage but in this instance I think the cost of pre-fermenting and centrifuge will be offset by using the ginger more efficiently.

 

[eldertaco]

If ginger was a cheap raw material this process would not make sense as customers can just purchase more ginger and deal with the wastage but in this instance I think the cost of pre-fermenting and centrifuge will be offset by using the ginger more efficiently.

I'm personally not convinced that the cost would be offset. Probably better off just to grow your own ginger in a tub in the backyard, or just wait until ginger is cheap, not long ago places near me were selling it for 10 bucks a kg or less.

I definitely agree that the ginger kits leave a lot to be desired. Last time I tried I couldn't find any that didn't have artificial sweetener in them and I agree with you that it's just an awful flavour in ginger beer.

Have you had a go with any of the ginger juice that buderim sells?

 

[KegLand-com-au]

The product that we sell would not be any more expensive than the Buderim ginger juice but it would have the advantage of having a more complex flavor and aroma due to the fact that it was already pre-fermented with the ginger solids.

Yes if you are lucky enough to get "old ginger" under $10 per kg then you might be able to make a ginger beer slightly cheaper yourself but I would say a lot of customers may not have access to such cheap ginger and this is an unusually cheap price. I certainly have not seen ginger under $10 a kg at market, Coles, Woolworths or Asian groceries for some time. Perhaps if you find some post a like to the location on the forum and this might help others source really cheap ginger.

I do like the Buderim ginger juice and have tried it before but it still lacks the flavor that you get from real fermented ginger when the solid ginger is fermented.

We definitely would not use any artificial sweeteners in our product so this would not be an issue.