Morgans Ginger Beer Question

[farkris]

Here's a quick question -

I was going to brew some Morgans Ginger beer (with the addition of some spices and ginger) and was just wondering how sweet it is? I really like Bundaberg/Cascade ginger beer softdrink, and was (probably dreaming...) hoping to make an alchohol version with a high level of sweetness.

I have lactose to add, but was wondering if anyone knows how sweet the kit is already when making the alchoholic, fully fermented out (bottled) version?

Thanks.

 

[Chaddy00]

Personally I hate all of the Ginger beer kits with artificial sweeteners. All of the ones I have tried are very sweet and have a really bad after taste which I worked to be the artificial sweetener, after making my own ginger beer from scratch with no bad after taste. My advice If you have already got the kit is to water it down with a few more litres and adding some fresh ginger.

 

[bum]

My advice If you have already got the kit is to water it down with a few more litres

This is the advice you give to someone chasing something close to a Bundaberg GB? Terrible.

Yeah, some people say they can't stand the artificial sweenteners (and some people will also never put down a straight beer kit so I don't see why they look at these any differently). The key to covering up the artificial sweetener after-effects (much like kit twang) is a bunch of extras. GravityGuru has a well regarded kit GB recipe in the recipeDB so give it a quick once over. My own kit based recipe is pretty close to his - I use a Coopers tin (your Muntons should work fine), 750gm of raw sugar, 250 g dark brown sugar (not regular brown sugar but you can get it at the supermarket), a bottle of Buderim's Ginger Refresher and a kilo of fresh ginger - any spice additions you wish to add will pretty much only improve the kit but it'll take you further away from a Bundaberg GB, me, I add a whole tonne of spices but that might not be for everyone.

A good GB can be made from a tin but not only a tin and a kilo - anyone who tells you otherwise when you're chasing something close to a Bundaberg GB is an ignorant dickhead (if you were after a bone dry GB that is a different matter, of course).

Haters, please be advised that I am currently drinking a kit-free GB I made (2.5kg ginger, raw sugar fermentables, spice additions, US05) and it is rough as guts and much less ginger bite than the rough kit recipe above. Will never do a kit-free GB again.

 

[Newbiebrewer]

+1 to bums suggestion, but gravityguru's recipe can get a bit pricey,you could forgo the spirits but I would have no idea how it would taste.