Ginger Beer

[sponge]

Hey everyone

If i was to make a ginger beer using a kit, extra fresh ginger, lemon, cloves, cinnamon (ie. the normal additives you would add to a ginger beer to make it taste better and spicier), and was to add around 1.5kg of raw or brown sugar, would it be worth my while to replace some of the sugar with the liquid malt extract to try and give the ginger beer a bit more body then if i was to use all sugar?

Also, which fermentable would be good to use if i wanted to keep some sweetness to the ginger beer (not bundaberg sickly sweet) or would the sugar and malt extract combo be enough? if i remember correctly, it was lactose which didnt completely ferment and left behind some sweetness, but im always up for being corrected...


cheers, sponge

 

[beernography]

Funny u should mention this, I have been pondering this over the last few days.. I have just ploughed through my first alcoholic GB made from a Brigalow kit, lemon juice and fresh ginger with a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg, plus the recommended amount of white sugar.

It came out OK but no bite and a very weak ginger taste. I reckon the can itself would be shithouse, and next time I'd use 700g of ginger (I used about 300g I think) and more cinnamon.

I bought some lactose [topic="19686"]just before it fermented[/topic] but was too late to add it. I tried it and it's just barely sweet. I would consider adding 300g to the next brew - I'd be tempted to add the entire half kilo I have but I am not sure if adding so much lactose is a great idea. Sometimes after swilling milk I feel queer in the guts and don't want to risk it for a whole brew.

I also think 1/2kg of LME would do it good on top of the sugar for a whole brew.

Bear in mind I've only done 2 lots of GB before ;P

 

[sponge]

ok good, so it was lactose which didnt fully ferment. and thumbs up for the LME? double giggity

well i might give a GB a go tomorrow with it being such crap weather here.

i was thinking.....

Ginger beer kit
750g-1kg fresh ginger
2 lemons - zested
2 cinnamon sticks
10 cloves
500gm LME
1-1.5kg brown/raw
maybe 500gm lactose
possibly premium ale yeast (safale)???

would it be worth investing in a premium yeast or just sticking to the package yeast? which did you use for your preview brews and how did they turn out?

 

[dataphage]

ok good, so it was lactose which didnt fully ferment. and thumbs up for the LME? double giggity

well i might give a GB a go tomorrow with it being such crap weather here.

i was thinking.....

Ginger beer kit
750g-1kg fresh ginger
2 lemons - zested
2 cinnamon sticks
10 cloves
500gm LME
1-1.5kg brown/raw
maybe 500gm lactose
possibly premium ale yeast (safale)???

would it be worth investing in a premium yeast or just sticking to the package yeast? which did you use for your preview brews and how did they turn out?

For a recipe I did a while ago I used 1.1 kg fresh ginger, a bit of dried (50g or so) a bit of lactose, all light malt extract malt for fermentables, juice of 3 lemons and maltodextrin for sweetness (witha bit of lactose). A good addition is also a vanilla pod split in half and scraped out into the pot, thi really adds to the smoothness of the thing.

 

[dataphage]

Forgot to add: I used S-04 for the last (13l) batch of this I did and because of the high flocculation you can bottle condition and pour a perfectly clear ginger ale off the sediment.

The ginger tends to hide the yeast flavour characteristics so I went for temp tolerance, speed of fermentation and sedimentation. Worked very nicely!

 

[beernography]

That recipe looks doable to me Dataphage. I'll be putting down something very similar next GB day Give it a crack and let us know how it turns out.

I just used the yeast that came with the kit, don't know enough about em to go the extra mile and it was GB so I must admit it doesn't get the same loving care as beer

 

[EK]

I would recommend using the Coopers or Morgans Ginger Beer kits they have a superior taste to the Brigalow kits. I find that the Coopers or Morgans kits by them selves are a hit with anyone of my friends who try my brews. In fact people are usually happy to try my beers, but almost bowl me over to get to the fridge if I tell them there is Ginger Beer.

EK

 

[beernography]

Orly? I tried the Cooper's one first time round, admittedly it was less shit than Brigalow. Will go morgan's next time and post about it!

 

[EK]

Bear in mind they are kits...not an 'all grain' version of a ginger beer.

I do quite enjoy the Coopers and Morgans kits, but personal taste being what it is...

Admittedly, I would like to improve the Ginger beers that I make, I just haven't got around to it.

I would like to brew something with the ginger flavor of Bundaberg Ginger Beer but with less 'soft drink sweetness'. That I would give a go if I found an appropriate recipe.

EK

 

[Fatgodzilla]

Bear in mind they are kits...not an 'all grain' version of a ginger beer.

I do quite enjoy the Coopers and Morgans kits, but personal taste being what it is...

Admittedly, I would like to improve the Ginger beers that I make, I just haven't got around to it.

I would like to brew something with the ginger flavor of Bundaberg Ginger Beer but with less 'soft drink sweetness'. That I would give a go if I found an appropriate recipe.

EK

Funny enough, that's the flavour I want - more like the 'soft drink sweetness'. With alcohol !

Just done a Brigalow GB. Thought I'd found a potential secret weapon - Budgerim Ginger Syrup. Found it at Woolies. Just add to soda water the bottles says. Added it to the Brigalow with some sugar. I actually liked the taste of the unfermented wort - Of course, all the sugar sweetness has fermented out, so probably a waste of time. Bottled the brew last week - hope it will improve - still not happy. Might try again but add the syrup on bottling to retain much of the sweetness. Or try some lactose.

There must be a reall killer recipe out there. Maybe I'll try the ginger beer tree idea again - next year.

Only Coopers I tried I tasted ordinary - not certain but have been told saccharine used for the sweetness - yuck !

 

[drag]

For kegging would it be possible to kill of the yeast by heating the fermented fluid and then add suger to the keg?
Or will it not ferment any longer in a 6 degree fridge?

 

[EK]

Thought I'd found a potential secret weapon - Budgerim Ginger Syrup.

By any chance do you mean Buderim Ginger Syrup? I hope so...I holiday every now and then in that general area. Yandina, where the Buderin Ginger factory relocated to some years ago, isn't too hard to get to when you are on the Sunshine Coast. I might pick some up when I am there next (though that is not likely to be a while)...might grab some crystalised Ginger as well...hmmm...

EK

 

[EK]

For kegging would it be possible to kill of the yeast by heating the fermented fluid and then add suger to the keg?
Or will it not ferment any longer in a 6 degree fridge?

6 degrees, I would think, would be too low for fermentation to occur. You could always contact the manufacturer and ask them.

 

[MHB]

Have a look at the new Brewcraft Ginger Beer Kit.

1.5Kg can of LME
Sachet of Ginger Extract
Sachet of Yeast
Sachet of Sweetener; as I loath all the artificial sweeteners I can leave it out.

The instructions on the package also give some very interesting suggestions including one for a honey ginger that looks interesting.

There won't be enough ginger there, I have already asked Brewcraft to make the sachets of ginger concentrate available separately - until then I will be using some Buderim Ginger refresher and/or some fresh ginger.


As usual - available from all good LHBS and well worth a look at

MHB

 

[maltedhopalong]

Earlier today I was on Google and found an Australian online shop that was selling little packets of ginger extract for about $6.50. Now I can't find it again. If I do, I will most certainly let you know.

Edit - Just found a different one: 300mL ginger "booster" for $8.50. Doesn't seem that you can buy online though.... http://www.homebrewinn.com.au/product_ginger_beer.htm

 

[maltedhopalong]

Found it: My mistake (above), it's obviously the same thing, it's on sale from Country Brewer.

http://www.countrybrewer.com.au/category61_1.htm

 

[Fatgodzilla]

Found it: My mistake (above), it's obviously the same thing, it's on sale from Country Brewer.

http://www.countrybrewer.com.au/category61_1.htm

Anyone know any reason why using grated fresh ginger or grated ginger in a jar isn't a better choice ? Dried ginger ?

 

[maltedhopalong]

I've used Fresh Ginger. It gets expensive, I used something like 1kg of Ginger for just one 23L batch.

I put it in a food processor then boiled it in 5L of water and strained the water into the fermenter. Next time, I'll just leave the junk in it, it's been sterilised by the boiling, you could get away with less ginger that way, make sure to strain before bottling.

 

[sponge]

Ok, so i put down my ginger beer today.

I used....

morgans kit with yeast and enzyme
~700g fresh ginger, sliced into thick rings
2 zested lemons
juice of one of the lemons
2 cinnamon sticks
10 cloves
~200g lactose
~750g LME
~1kg raw & brown sugar (only had about 800g of raw sugar so just used all that and added a little extra brown sugar)
~100g honey

Made to 19L

Yes, I do have a lot of estimations. I don't believe in using scales unless it comes to something you need them for such as baking. ^_^

I pitched the yeast quite high at around 26c just because I had soccer training and thought that esters don't really influence ginger beers and ciders the way they do ales and draughts and what-not, so I was not overly concerned with that.

OG was 1036 and tasted deliciously spicy, just the way I was hoping it would be. It was fairly sweet but a lot of that sweetness will get used by the yeast to make the alcohol and CO2. So all in all, I'm quite happy with the way it is at the moment.

Now to just hope it all ferments ok, and the lactose will leave some sweetness behind and the LME will help retain a bit of body to the GB. Fingers crosses...


P.s I boiled the fresh ginger, lemon, half the cinnamon, half the cloves, and all the fermentables for around 20min. I then strained it all (using a sterilized strainer, of course) into the fermenter after it cooled down a bit in an ice bath, and then added the other cinnamon and cloves to the fermenter itself.

How silly of me to forget that information

 

[mattemmo]

Have a look at the new Brewcraft Ginger Beer Kit.

1.5Kg can of LME
Sachet of Ginger Extract
Sachet of Yeast
Sachet of Sweetener; as I loath all the artificial sweeteners I can leave it out.

The instructions on the package also give some very interesting suggestions including one for a honey ginger that looks interesting.

There won't be enough ginger there, I have already asked Brewcraft to make the sachets of ginger concentrate available separately - until then I will be using some Buderim Ginger refresher and/or some fresh ginger.


As usual - available from all good LHBS and well worth a look at

MHB

I just made this kit up last week after the packaging promised me a nice malty finish.

I added 500 LDM, 250 Dex, 250 Malto-Dex
Lge Tbl spoon grated ginger soaked in 50ml port strained
Kit yeast
I didn't use the artificial sweetener so to make it was drier.

When tasted at bottling, I'd have to say there is bugger all ginger flavour, after reading a few peoples recipes I'd add 500gms of fresh grated to this at least or take MHB's advice and use the Buderim Refresher. It was very dry - which I don't mind, it had a nice zing which tasted as if it came from lemons - not ginger. Strange. I'm not sure that conditioning will bring out any extra ginger flavours, previous GB's have tasted pretty much the same at bottling as they do 2 months later. The colour was not to bad, probably a bit darker than a corona. I could taste the malt as well.

Ever since I tried a GB at Dux de Lux in Christchurch, NZ I've been trying to recreate it. It looked like a lager, had a head like a lager, tasted a lot of ginger and malt. So since I've wondered if it was a ginger beer at all, maybe it was a lager of sorts with ginger through it, as opposed to a GB that had lager characteristics. I guess I was looking for that with the Brewcraft kit. Has anyone tried theDux de Lux GB and know what I mean?

Anyhow if anyone has better luck with the Brewcraft kit let us know...

matt