Kit Ginger Beer

[johnno]

Was in the supermarket yesterday with the Mrs and she spotted a Brigalow kit reduced to $1.

"Can you make this?" she aked.

So to my great excitement i put it on today. Made the same thing twice about 3 years ago.

Half teaspoon Cinamon
Half teaspoon Nutmeg
About 10 cloves whole
260 gms fresh ginger
Juice of 6 lemons
1 kilo raw sugar

Boiled everything but the sugar in 4 litres water for about 20 minutes.
Diluted sugar and kit in that and topped up to 19 litres.

Just waiting for the temp to come down a bit before I pitch the supreme yeast and nutrient that comes with the kit.

I'm excited.


cheers
johnno

 

[mike_hillyer]

I made that kit many years ago and I thought it was fine. Easy to drink when you eat food. That recipe looks killer dude, sorry I've been watching rockstar supernova.

 

[Phrak]

About 10 cloves whole

G'day Johnno, looks like a great recipe, but 10 cloves of whole what exactly?

Tim

 

[johnno]

About 10 cloves whole

G'day Johnno, looks like a great recipe, but 10 cloves of whole what exactly?

Tim

Hi Phrak,

errrrr...not garlic
Should of been more clear.. just normal cloves.
Somehow got it confused and thought there was a powdered version of cloves. Hence the "10 cloves whole" bit.

There are a few recipes floating around from years ago which is where I made this version up from.

Liie I said I have made this up before and its not too bad for a kit version. The second one I made I had some up to 12 months later and they were very dry and champagne like. Probably the yeast which I have no idea what it is.

If you drink it in the first 6 months it is nice and gingery.

cheers

johnno

 

[Fents]

I just put a ginger down too for the missus.

Coopers kit with BE2.
2 Nuggets of fresh ginger grated up in the fermenter...smelt and tasted loveley out of the hydrometer reading.

I didnt even think to use lemons, nutmeg or cinnamon. Sounds like a good combo to me.

:beer:

 

[Hutch]

This has me very interested - Never done one before, but keen to try.

I have a question about the yeast. Can you substitute a quality ale yeast (like Wyeast, safale, etc.) for the sachet that comes with the kit, or am I way off the mark?
Also, do you need some nutrient for the yeast, or is this what's in the wort kit?
I feel like a K&K newby all over again

Cheers,
Hutch.

 

[Tyred]

A nutrient is supplied with the kit. At least, from what I recall, it comes with Brigalow, Coopers and Morgans kits.

I can't see any reason why you couldn't substitute another yeast for the supplied one. Can't say I actually know what is supplied with it. Appears to work quite well tho.

 

[mike_hillyer]

Good question. Any takers? I would like to know.

The brew shop bloke said when I brewed some oranges to use an all purpose champagne yeast not a beers yeast. I followed the advise and it the orange wine has come out drinkable.

 

[user 1153]

yeah I just did the Coopers basic ginger beer kit just over a month ago with a bag of dextrose. It is incredibly dry and tasty.

the old's liked it so much they asked me to brew them up a batch especially.

Edit: The Coopers kit ginger beer didn't come with any nutrient just yeast. Had no problems with fermentation.
Edit 2: My old man said it reminded him of a certain brand of ginger ale he drank as a kid.

 

[shotduck]

The Coopers kit ginger beer didn't come with any nutrient just yeast. Had no problems with fermentation.

I am fairly sure that the Coopers/Morgans kits contain a certain amount of malt, hence the lack of nutrient in the pack.

 

[lucas]

I've done a number of ginger beers in my time and can confirm there's no issue in swapping the yeast. I've done one using a starter made from the yeast under the lid of a coopers pale ale (it's apparently different to all the other ale yeasts) and another with the leftover yeast from a lager brewed with wyeast 2308. the ginger lager turned out very nice though i might add that i have added a fair wack of malt in amongst the adjuncts

 

[mike_hillyer]

Sound like malt is either required from the kit itself or as an adjunct. Cheers all!

 

[Uncle Fester]

I have a few varied ingredients that I purchased for use in a ginger beer. Not sure whether to use all/some/none of them. here's the list:

Can Coopers Ginger Beer
1Kg Brown sugar
500g LDME
about 6" of ginger root
1lt bottle of Buderim ginger beer cordial (makes 4litres)
2 Chillies
cloves/cinnamon as per Johnno's recipe above

I was thinking of going the can of goo, brown sugar, half the ginger root shredded (boiled with the brown sugar) and throwing the cordial in for good measure. Cloves and cinnamon as directed, and maybe 1 of the chillies sliced into tiny bits.


Anyone care to do a mental Beersmith/Promash calculation on this one and comment?

Not sure wheteher I will run this one through a keg, tap a draft or Grolsh bottles yet. Don't know if that changes the recomendation...


Cheers,

Fester.

 

[DrewCarey82]

Avoid Brigalow ginger beer its vile.

 

[johnno]

Bottled this yesterday.
FG was 1005. Did not take the OG because i was so excited making it.

Has a nice ginger bite.

cheers
johnno

 

[hando]

I made a kit of "Beermakers" Ginger Beer. I thought it was a bit yuk. My mate enjoyed it though. IMO Coopers is far better.

Has anyone else made Beermakers? What did you think about it?

 

[microbe]

Bottled this yesterday.
FG was 1005. Did not take the OG because i was so excited making it.

Has a nice ginger bite.

cheers
johnno

How did this turn out Johnno? I picked up one of those kits cheap the other day and this looks like a good way to "kick it up a notch". Was it?

Cheers :beer:

microbe

 

[Keifer]

I kegged my beermakers ginger beer yesterday and tried a few last nite. Ginger flavour was spot on, maybe a little less fresh ginger next time.

But it was very thick and syrupy, so i ended up putting some water in each glass first which seemed to help. It also had a strange aftertaste which was the worst part. Im hoping it will change somewhat with time in the keg, if not i'll open it up and chuck a few litres of water in to help.

Overall, it's a nice change from beer, but nowhere near as good as it could be. Guess i better drink it and try again!

 

[drsmurto]

slightly OT but thought you might be interested. Made a GB sans kit from fresh ginger. easy.

750 g fresh ginger
1 cinnamon stick
8 cloves
1 lemon
2kg raw sugar
1 sachet champagne yeast (EC-1118?)

Throw ginger in food processor and chop lemon. Boil everything up for 1 hour (not yeast) in 3-4 L water. Cool in ice water then filter into fermenter, top up to 15 L with cold water, pitch yeast.

Works out to be ~7%. Mixed 2:1 with lemonade and is very popular, so much so i have 2 bottles left! Boxing day and NYE wiped out my stocks, everyone wanted some. Have another 2 bubbling away now but added some lactose (250g) to see if i could sweeten it up a bit.

Cheers
DrSmurto

 

[johnno]

How did this turn out Johnno? I picked up one of those kits cheap the other day and this looks like a good way to "kick it up a notch". Was it?

Cheers :beer:

microbe

Hi microbe,

I just saw this.

Yep it turned out fine, once it carbed up after a couple of weeks it did not last long.

I only had a few glasses here and there as I prefer my ginger beer the wussy way with no alchohol in it.

The Mrs and friends loved it and hassled me to make more.

They must wait for the beer stocks to go up :chug:

cheers
johnno