Ginger Beer - Too Sweet?

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dane

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Hey guys, last week I put my first Ginger Beer on - it was just starter rather than following some of the recipes in here. It was just a JADS Ginger Beer Kit, where you add 1kg of Raw Sugar (and I added 200grams of brown sugar for colours - and a slightly higher pecentage).

I just did a hydro read and its sitting at 1010 - should go down to about 1006. I had a taste of the hydro and it tastes (and smeels great_ except it is VERY sweet. I thought the extra 200 grams of Brown Sugar would add to the alcohol content rather than just going on as sweetness. Sure it has probably another couple of days in the fermenter, but any ideas why it would be so sweet - or how I can get rid of the sweetness.

I spoke to my local HBS and he said you could put a tablespoon of fresh ginger or ginger powder to get the 'bite' back into it - any comments on this?

Any other ideas?

I'm definately going to put another batch on, this time probably following the great recipes in here :)
 
Fiscus,

You can try adding a dry Enzyme.
However, this will dry the beer out and remove some body.

Can also try adding some Chalk. This should accentuate the ginger flavour and diminish the sweetness...

Use chalk in small amounts eg 1 teaspoon stir in...taste and another etc.
Don't go higher than three/four.
 
GMK - As far as I am aware, there are no fermentables in the ginger beer exracts so I don't think a dry enzyme would assist in any way with this brew, as it appears to be all simple sugars.

One method I have used in the past when brewing ginger beer is to rock the fermenter a little just prior to bottling. This will kick up some of the sediment (you don't want ALL of it) and mix it through the brew. Then before you open each bottle, invert it a couple of times to mix the sediment through again. It's completely opposite to how you would treat a beer, but with ginger beer you want a little sediment or you may well end up with a flavourless, colourless brew.

Cheers,
Pete

:chug:
 
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