Ginger Beer

[reviled]

Hey guys,

I knocked up a ginger beer over the weekend, was planning on something about 3-4%ish thats easy to drink, wasnt really sure what I was doing so I threw in some ingrediants and hoped for the best, this is what I came up with...

30g Ground Ginger,
Juice of 5 lemons,
500g Honey,
1.5kg White Sugar

Boiled all the ingredients for 15 mins, then topped up in a fermenter to 21 litres and took an SG reading of 1040, then I pitched a packet of Safbrew 33 and about 200mls of S-05 slurry, and waited, and waited more, and went to bed, and woke up this morning and nothings happening I was thinking, is there a major lack of nutrients for the yeast? Do I need to do anything, or do I just need to wait patiently???

I know if it was beer I would be worrying about now, 2 days after pitching, but this may be different?

Cheers

 

[zabond]

not sure about the lack of fermentation but only 30grms of powdered ginger seems pretty light on,my last GB had 500grs of fresh ginger pulped + 50 grm powdered +1 bottle of bundy gingerbeer cordial plus a few extras and it wasn't over gingery
Russ

 

[chappo1970]

not sure about the lack of fermentation but only 30grms of powdered ginger seems pretty light on,my last GB had 500grs of fresh ginger pulped + 50 grm powdered +1 bottle of bundy gingerbeer cordial plus a few extras and it wasn't over gingery
Russ

Got to agree with Zabond... sounds very light on with the ginger.

Have you taken a second hydro reading as yet? That might be the tell tale sign to confirm fermentation? Sounds like you pitched enough yeast.

Did one myself yesterday and I used 1kg of fresh organic ginger pulped, 3 x Lemons and limes (off my tree's), 1kg of Ironbark honey and 1kg of brown sugar. Pitched Safbrew 33 rehydrated. Was nicely bubbling away this morning when I checked.

 

[reviled]

I thought at the time that 30g wasnt going to be enough, but thought id give it a shot anyways, I was quite surprised when I tasted the hydro sample it was still quite gingery, smell was really gingery as well...

Havnt taken a sample yet, I will when I get home and see what it comes up with...

 

[chappo1970]

I thought at the time that 30g wasnt going to be enough, but thought id give it a shot anyways, I was quite surprised when I tasted the hydro sample it was still quite gingery, smell was really gingery as well...

Havnt taken a sample yet, I will when I get home and see what it comes up with...

Maybe the powder is a concentrate? I have got to admit I have never used powder only done fresh oh! and a kit ages ago which IMO wasn't very good because of the artificial sweetners twang it had :angry: . I hope it's kicking for you when you get home mate...

 

[reviled]

Maybe the powder is a concentrate? I have got to admit I have never used powder only done fresh oh! and a kit ages ago which IMO wasn't very good because of the artificial sweetners twang it had :angry: . I hope it's kicking for you when you get home mate...

Yeah the missus was making ginger crunch and got me to go buy some ground ginger which got me thinking, I was told to use dry root ginger but couldnt really find anything that was called that, just either fresh, ground, or crushed, so I went for the ground stuff, not sure if its concentrated or not.. She only used 4 tspoons in her recipe which IMO is far too sweet, but thats not a drink

Definately wanted to keep away from the kits cos ive heard nothing but bad things about em

Faark, I went home at lunch to pitch some yeast on my IPA, and still nothing Maybe I should throw another pack of safbrew 33 in there, ill take a grav reading before I do..

 

[chappo1970]

Certainly wants to be stubborn reviled... maybe threaten it with the kitchen sink if it doesn't kick soon? :lol:

 

[mwd]

Thinks you might need some yeast nutrient in there looking at other GB threads.

 

[yardy]

i've had luck with champagne yeast in a GB,

mine normally goes

.750gm fresh ginger, grated
GB Kit
1 kg LME
.500 Brown Sugar and a few other bits and bobs

Yard

 

[reviled]

i've had luck with champagne yeast in a GB,

mine normally goes

.750gm fresh ginger, grated
GB Kit
1 kg LME
.500 Brown Sugar and a few other bits and bobs

Yard

Whats it taste like with the malt extract in there? I thought of steeping some crystal but decided against it to keep things easy...

Its kicked off, albeit slow as fu*k, woke up this morning, the IPA which was pitched at lunch time yesterday is farting away like an indian eating a vindaloo, but the GB, one bloop every 15 or so mins...

Im thinkin that a slow ferment will be good tho, it will give me a chance to taste test it every few days and crash it down when it gets to a level of dryness that I like B)

 

[bozzy]

i have a couple of q's about ginger beer so ill wack them in here instead of starting a new topic.

long story short the mother in law knows im making home brew and asked if i could make some alcoholic gingerbeer for her. (which i dont mind doing)

i got a morgans ginger beer kit from the LHBS. i asked the lady behind the counter what yeast to use and she said use the included yeast and nutrient included in the kit. wasnt really sure if this is good advice or not but oh well. see how it goes i guess.

i was planning to add 1kg of dextrose (as the tin says) and also a 750 jar of honey and the included nutrient/yeast.

should i boil any/all of this? the tin basically says chuck all in fermenter with 2l of hot water, stir, top up to 20l, add yeast and nutrient and stir again, put lid on and ferment at 22-30C for about 6 days (untill fg of 1.005)

and should i try to keep the temp at 20 or so ir are the can instructions about right?


so in short
- do i boil?
- what temp should i ferment at?

thanks
bozzy

 

[chappo1970]

A+++ for not starting a new thread! You'se is da man!

Ok no need to boil anything you have mentioned. Honey is a natural anti-bacterial agent so it's all good. I was also told by the guy I buy my bulk honey off, Ted at Mt Cotton farmers markets, that boiling honey can denature it and candy/crystalise some honey varieties.

If it's your first I suggest sticking with the morgans kit and kit nutrients and kit yeast. It's not a bad one but the artificial sweetners play havok with me.

Next time you do one try a kit and bits or scratch one. I think Yardy, BYB and reviled from memory have great recipes or you can try mine .

Ferment at 20C if you can. Most important make sure it ferments completely before bottling see in todays Posts "Bottle Bombs". GB has the be the most volitile substance known to brewers especially if bottle before it has finished. If you have a hydrometer use it! If you don't go get one first OK!

 

[bozzy]

should i go for dextrose that the kit says to use or should i use a brew enhancer? (dex + light malt + maltodextrin) ive got both here so im not fussed either way

 

[chappo1970]

That's an either/or one there Bozzy. Sorry mate. Both will do the job. I would go with the Dex and use the BE2 on a brew. Essentially a good GB needs a good whack of fermentables, steady temp and time. To give you an idea the GB I am fermenting at the moment is for Easter some 6-8 weeks away. I plan for this to take 2-3 weeks in the fermenter and then 3-5 weeks to bottle condition.

 

[bozzy]

no worries.

ill go chuck it together with the dex now.

thanks heaps for all your help

EDIT:

made it up with dex, 750g of honey, kit yeast and nutrient, can of goodies.

SG was 1.032 which was miles away from what i thaught it was going to be. i was expecting 1.040 or so. does that seem about right?

what should FG be roughlty? kit says 1.005 or below but considering i added honey id expect that would change a bit.

 

[yardy]

Whats it taste like with the malt extract in there?

Very nice but don't be tempted to go mad with it, i think (but could be wrong) the brown sugar and a touch of dex combined with the champagne yeast dries it to the point where the malt is just in the background, the big hit of fresh ginger (750gm) balances it as well.

Ask Henno, he tried it once and seemed to like it

Cheers
Yard

 

[bozzy]

wow this stuff is taking its sweet sweet time to get going. just took a SG reading. its only down to 1.028 seems very slow compared to the beer kits that ive made over the past couple of weeks.

 

[Christopher]

Hey Folks,

Long time lurker, first time poster.

Started my first Ginger beer today, improvising a bit on a non-alcoholic GB recipe.

1kg Dextrose
800g fresh ginger, grated
500g light, dry malt
500g golden syrup
350g maltodextrin
2 Limes, zested and juiced
3 tsp cream of tartar
10g powdered ginger
1 vanilla bean, split
5g dry champagne yeast

Started by boiling up the ginger, zest, juice, vanilla bean, cream of tartar & malt with 3.5l of water. Once off the boil I added the maltodextrin and set it for 20 minutes while the yeast was activated. Strained this into the fermenter, dissolved the dextrose in this, added the golden syrup & topped up to 23l. Pitched the yeast at 30c. Starting gravity was bang on 1040, the wort tasted amazing, although a little sweet of course. Got my first bubbles through the airlock after about 1 hour, now bubbling every three minutes or so.

Thanks for all the helpful hints in this thread, I'm very impressed with this forum. :beer:
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