Howdy from Brisbane

[LiquidGold]

Hey all

I started brewing about a year ago but my 3rd batch got ruined by an earwig falling into the wort just before pitching my yeast (i quickly grabbed it out and went ahead to no avail) . Basically got put off for almost a year until a mate got me keen again by suggesting we check out a beginners demo at the local HBS. Needless to say after tasting some great free homebrew i jumped straight back on the horse and have made 4 kit brews since (only 4 tallies left from the 1st brew).

I've experimented with specialty grain (grain tea etc) and hops with great success and am currently reading and researching about ginger beers. I am keen on doing a batch from scratch but i can only boil a few litres at a time. Also i read somewhere that it is ideal to have a fermenter used just for GBs because of residual flavour? I have already have some thoughts inspired by some recipes on here and might post a suggested recipe in the appropriate section for some feedback before going ahead.

So far i've just had the fermenter and bottles in a small room with a paved floor which has been keeping the brews between 20 - 24 usually sitting on 22 C. i have an old fridge and have only just read a mention of the STC-1000 controller and will deffinately be doing more reading/buying one off ebay.

Cheers to everyone who's bothered to read and also for all the great info/resources on here. I look forward to many good beers ahead. Brew on!

LG

 

[jimmy01]

Hi LG. Welcome

I can't definitely say whether Ginger Beer will taint other beers if you use the same fermenter. However, I can say that the fermenter that I use for GB definitely retains a ginger odour for some time after the brew. As it is an older fermenter I keep it specifically for GB.

Happy Brewing
Jimmy

 

[technobabble66]

Heya LG,

My 2nd brew was a GB. (only done that & onto my 3rd beer batch now)

It worked well, but was very dry & gingery - i added a small truckload (~ twice as much as suggested) of fresh ginger to the kit i bought (brewcraft); and i generally don't like fake sweetners, so only put 1/2 the stevia in 3 bottles & full amount in another 3, and none in the other dozen (& some of my friends are lactose intolerant, so didn't do the lactose option either).
GB you're familiar with has sugar in it to sweeten it. Unfortunately, in the homebrewing process, you have to ferment out all the fermentable sugar. So it will come out v dry. Hence the use of something unfermentable to sweeten it in the bottle.

Because it was dry, the ginger reeeeeeaally stood out - v v hot! With a sugar syrup added, it was perfect. The 1/2 stevia was dry but great. the full stevia amount was also great, but maybe a bit to obvious with the fakeness.

I also changed the recipe from 2kg dex to 1kg dex + 1 kg Brewbooster#15 to add some malt. This seemed to work ok

In hindsight, i'd stick to the recommended amount of ginger in the kit recipe, replace half the dex with straight LDME (maybe add some corn syrup & DDME), & either use half the amount of stevia in the whole batch, or have a crack at heat sterilising the bottles at the appropriate carbonation (google that, sounds a bit risky, but might work well - beware of bottle bombs!).

As you can tell, i has this deperate need to experiment & complicate things, & can't help myself but play with recipes!!

My fermenter reeked of the ginger and the yeast i used (*really* nasty yeast smell afterwards!) for months. I'm currently brewing my 2nd beer batch since since, and noticed nothing of it in the beers themselves. It might be a good idea to use a 2nd fermenter, but hasn't mattered to mine (yet).

 

[LiquidGold]

Thanks for the replies

Interesting to hear about the stevia addition and results technobabble, though i doubt i would go as far as heat sterilising just yet. Just wondering, was your batch a 23L batch and how much ginger was recommended to add? Also how much stevia was in a full amount per bottle?

I'm basically enjoying K&K brews with a bit of grain and hops added at the moment but looking to experiment a little with a batch of ginger beer. I'm interested to know more about the difference between using a GB kit as a base and just using fresh ginger, though i need to find a cheap local source for fresh ginger cos my local IGA was charging $20 a kilo today.

Cheers, LG.

 

[technobabble66]

Hey LG,

The kit was "Beer Essentials, Old Fashioned Ginger Beer" and i made it up to 18L.

Sadly, i'm a total idiot & forgot to write how much Stevia was originally in the kit (i think it might've been 15g or 25g??), so i can't help you there, i'm afraid. I'd guess a full amount might've been about 1g per 640mL bottle, (so i personally advocate about 0.5g per 640ml bottle).
I think the kit was really just stevia, a ginger-flavour-concentrate, & basic brewers yeast (i had to buy the 2kg of dry fermentables). The yeast i'd probably replace with US05 or BRY-97 anyway.
However, the ginger concentrate might save you some time. You use that plus about 100g of ginger (i used 250g - bit too much). To replace the concentrate might require quite a lot of ginger & i suspect you might need to cook it down a bit to get the same caramelised flavour.

Hope that helps

 

[edschache]

:icon_offtopic:

{shameless plug} I'm sure someone at your local brew club e.g. http://babbrewers.com/ would be able to give you some great advice on ginger beers That and you'll get to taste enough great homebrew that you'll keep going with this great hobby.

The next meeting is on the 24th (Wednesday before Anzac day) but they are normally forth Thursday of the month. Details here: http://babbrewers.com/event/2404-april-meeting-mini-comp-3-pale-ale-and-bitter

Bring a couple of bottles of your brews and we can help you out with some advice on making them better.
{/shameless plug}

As for ginger beer I've only ever made it from a can of goo from Craftbrewer. I've added fresh ginger to one batch and it was certainly an adults ginger beer so I would advise caution on the amount of ginger because it packs more of a punch than you might give it credit for.

Ed

 

[LiquidGold]

Sorry for not replying earlier

I wouldn't mind checking out one of the BABB meetings one day but holland park is a fair drive from where i live so will see how things go in the future. Thanks for the link though.

In regards to the ginger beer i went ahead and made one which was inspired by a recipe i found on here and tweaked a bit. It sat in the fermenter for at least 3 weeks and since i had a steady reading on the hydrometer i ended up simply priming it with dex at the same amount i would normal beer. I haven't tasted any since bottling but will probably have a taste this weekend.

Thanks again for the replies and apologies for leaving the thread hanging.

LG