New To Ginger Beer

[Nevalicious]

Hey there. Now, having brewed anough beer for the moment I want to try my hand at brewing a Ginger Beer.

I have checked out all the other threads on Alcoholic Ginger Beer and what people have suceeded in and what they have failed in and believe I have come up with a recipe to suit, but a few threads had me a little worried. Some have mentioned they have had bottles explode on them whilst conditioning. Clearly would like to avoid this!!! I dont know whether or not it is the information supplied or whether I am just a little thick, but can anyone who has brewed a successful GB please tell me whether or not this has a chance of a) being any good and b)will I have the possibility of bottle bombs (coopers tallies)

Recipe and methods as follows

Coopers Kit and Yeast
1 kg of Coopers Brewing Sugar (as its in the cupboard and I would like to see it gone)
500g LDME
250g Raw Sugar (or dark raw depending on what I can lay my hands on)
1 x 750ml Buderim Ginger Refresher
600g of coarsely grated ginger
3-4 chillis chopped and seeds included
1 x lemon, zested and squeezed

Boil 3lt water and add chillis, coarsely grated ginger, 1 kg of brew sugar, 500g LDME and zest/juice all at once (is this a good idea??? All at once??), add a standard coopers kit yeast to boil for nutrient?? and boil for 30 mins, cool and prepare kit as instructed on pack. Strain boiled fermentable etc into fermenter and pitch packet yeast at 18-20*c (or as low as possible considering the temp here at the moment!!)

Guys any help here is appreciated. This is my first attempt at a GB and love the stuff. I dont wana be too deterred by a bad/boring/unflavoured batch, let alone bottle bombs. I also know this has sorta been covered to death in various posts around the site and I have taken many notes but am starting to suffer a litlle bit of information overload...

Cheers again

Tyler

 

[superdave]

I suspect a lot of the bottle bombs are caused by people bottling early to keep some sweetness. If you want some sweetness to it add lactose, it won't be fermented at all.
How big is the brew going to be? I can't see how boiling the yeast will create nutrient; I buy nutrients from the home brew shop and add them.

 

[chappo1970]

Bottles bombs are indeed caused by bottling your brew too early. If you are really worried then bottling in PET should lessen your fears. As stated above back sweetening with lactose or killing the yeast are viable options to stop fermentation and keep some sweetness in the brew.

Boiling yeast will give you yeast nutrients for good yeast health. I add plain old bakers yeast as a nutrient to the boil.

Cheers

Chappo

 

[jivesucka]

you don't need the LDME. it a non-essential ingredient. and yes i agree with the PET option for such a brew, glass would never withstand the lethal pressure of such sugary batches such as ginger beer or apple cider. the bottles will expand and show more tenacity than you've never seen any bottle show in your life. i'm talking some epic balloons with amazing carbonation.

 

[Wolfy]

Coopers Kit and Yeast
1 kg of Coopers Brewing Sugar (as its in the cupboard and I would like to see it gone)
500g LDME
250g Raw Sugar (or dark raw depending on what I can lay my hands on)
1 x 750ml Buderim Ginger Refresher
600g of coarsely grated ginger
3-4 chillis chopped and seeds included
1 x lemon, zested and squeezed

Assuming you mean a Coopers GB Kit, (if you have not already purchased it) I'd skip that and adapt one of the recipes in Chappo's massive 'non kit' thread.
I was not happy with the last GB I made - it seems to have a 'metalic taste' to it - and I blame the kit for that.
However, from memory the kit does have a bunch of artificial sweetener, which is maybe a good thing if you want it sweet (check the ingredients).

I'm also not a fan of kit-yeast (you said you'd use it, boil it, but did not note any additional yeast) and would suggest using a well-cared-for pack of US05 for your fermentation, if you can, although I prefer a low alcohol tolerance English Ale yeast (like Wy1968) for my GB. I think CraftBrewer have a specialty dry GB-yeast I'd like to try sometime.

 

[the_yobbo]

you don't need the LDME. it a non-essential ingredient. and yes i agree with the PET option for such a brew, glass would never withstand the lethal pressure of such sugary batches such as ginger beer or apple cider. the bottles will expand and show more tenacity than you've never seen any bottle show in your life. i'm talking some epic balloons with amazing carbonation.

-1 for this post.
I'm unsure what the ginger refresher is but I assume it isn't fermentable/sugars.
From memory, the coopers gingerbeer kit suggests using 1kg of sugar to produce 3.5% alcohol.
So, adding 500g LDME plus 250g of raw sugar should lead to an additional 1.5% alcohol.

The amount of sugar in the brew isn't over the top in my opinion.

And in regards to bottle bombs, as per Superdave's comment, they should only happen if you bottle before fermentation is complete. Having a bit of yeast nutrients in there will help ensure the yeast are healthy enough to complete the fermentation. Make sure you aerate the wort well before pitching (give a good rigerous stirring), and take hydrometer readings to ensure fermentation has completed before you bottle. There's no difference between ginger beer and beer when it comes to homebrewing basics.


Edit* As per Wolfy's comment, obviously your going to need some yeast to brew the ginger beer if your going to boil the kit yeast up as nutrients. I can't make any recommendations, other than I've used a yeast packet I bought from the LHBS that said ginger beer on it. Buggered if I know what was actually in it... probably coopers kit yeast for all I know.

 

[bum]

-1 for this post.
I'm unsure what the ginger refresher is but I assume it isn't fermentable/sugars.
From memory, the coopers gingerbeer kit suggests using 1kg of sugar to produce 3.5% alcohol.
So, adding 500g LDME plus 250g of raw sugar should lead to an additional 1.5% alcohol.

The amount of sugar in the brew isn't over the top in my opinion.

No it isn't over the top but the resulting body would be. I've made many GBs with the coopers kit and a bottle of ginger refresher and I can tell you now that they do not lack in body - probably a little high for most people. 500g of LDME would make it far too chewy to be sessionable, IMO.

I do realise this beer is most likely long gone now.

Would also like to disagree with Wolfy to a certain extent. While the Coopers GB tin when done as per instructions is kinda rank it is entirely possible to make a great GB with it as a base and I think OP's recipe goes a large part of the way towards elevating this kit.

 

[the_yobbo]

No it isn't over the top but the resulting body would be. I've made many GBs with the coopers kit and a bottle of ginger refresher and I can tell you now that they do not lack in body - probably a little high for most people. 500g of LDME would make it far too chewy to be sessionable, IMO.

I do realise this beer is most likely long gone now.

Haahaa, I didn't realise this was an old thread rejuvinated. I should have checked before bothing to respond.

I've only done 2 brigalow GB's following a recipe my mate used who used a Brewcraft GB kit which was simply 500g LDME, 1kg Dex + kit. I can't speak for his brews but mine certainly turned out tasty and not over the top in body, albeit relatively low in alcohol content.

I've only just put down a coopers GB kit on Saturday which I've used a heap of left over sugars trying to clean out the old stock. 700g brewing sugar, 500g LDME, 1kg Dex, 250g Brown sugar, kit yeast. I'm not really sure what to expect from it I have to admit, but hopefully the extra body from the brewing sugar (50% maltidex/50%dex if I recall correctly). Time will tell.
"Slighty worried about body from comments by Bum"

 

[bum]

I wouldn't worry too much. Without the bottle of ginger refresher I don't think you'll get much more body than the brew I described above. Although a bit of extra fresh ginger might have helped balance it out a bit.

 

[the_yobbo]

I wouldn't worry too much. Without the bottle of ginger refresher I don't think you'll get much more body than the brew I described above. Although a bit of extra fresh ginger might have helped balance it out a bit.

Yeah, I haven't put much love into my ginger beer brewing yet. I put it down between steps in putting down a Centenarillo Ale. It all went quite well.
What does ginger refresher actually do? I've never heard of it till reading this thread. A quick google search shows it's basically a ginger cordial.
I would associate any Cordial concentrate being packed full of sweetners/sugars.
What percentage of it is fermentable? How much body does it give?
And now heading off topic a bit - is it any good in an ale to give a hint of ginger?

 

[bum]

I can't really answer any of your questions I'm afraid as I don't have any of the data required for some questions, never put down the same brew but without the ginger refresher and haven't ever brewed an ale with ginger (although for that question there is no reason why it wouldn't work but I'm far from recommending you to do it - but that's personal taste talking).

I originally read a recipe that suggested the use of Ginger Refresher (I've never been able to work out if it was GravityGuru's own recipe or if we both built ours from the same one?) but that brew worked out well so I kept doing it. I currently have a no kit/no Ginger Refresher batch in primary. It is essentially the same recipe as my last batch (my best yet) but I removed the tin and the refresher and swapped it out for an additional 1.5kg of fresh ginger and another kilo of raw sugar. At a bit over 1 week it is tasting very harsh and thin compared my last batch. Early days of course but at this point I can't see me turning my back on the kits or refresher completely.

 

[Wolfy]

...
What does ginger refresher actually do? I've never heard of it till reading this thread. A quick google search shows it's basically a ginger cordial.
I would associate any Cordial concentrate being packed full of sweetners/sugars.
What percentage of it is fermentable? How much body does it give?
And now heading off topic a bit - is it any good in an ale to give a hint of ginger?

Read Chappo's epic "No Kit GB" thread here in the 'Non beer brewing' forum, there is lots of information there about the GB cordial (refresher).
Basically it allows for more 'kick' to be added at the time of bottling so that you don't lose the flavours during ferment etc, its one method often used control the addition of fruit flavours in various beers, but go read the thread and make your own conclusions.
I don't have a bottle here so can't tell you what is in it sorry.

 

[bum]

Mine goes into primary, for what that's worth.

 

[Wolfy]

Oh ... lol ... maybe its got lots of non fermentable sweeteners then, who knows.

 

[bum]

I just read though Chappo's thread and there's not a great deal of info about the ginger refresher. In fact, I'm the source of most of the posts about it so there's bugger all info there!

I did discover, however, that GG and I did both work off the same recipe so I can talk about my recipe as being mine without stepping on his toes. The original author however is still a mystery to me.

 

[the_yobbo]

(http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=30492)
I came to the same conclusion about info on the refresher.
It was suggested as a possibility to be added after primary/at bottling. However, I'd be concerned there'd be fermentable sugars in it which could lead to bottle bombs I reckon.
I might have to look into doing a couple of the recipes from scratch in there, althoug only after I put down the second coopers kit that I bought from coles at their clearance prices.

 

[Nevalicious]

Haha, wow this is an old thread that got revived. Finally got round to checking my email and found that it had been replied to

you don't need the LDME. it a non-essential ingredient. and yes i agree with the PET option for such a brew, glass would never withstand the lethal pressure of such sugary batches such as ginger beer or apple cider. the bottles will expand and show more tenacity than you've never seen any bottle show in your life. i'm talking some epic balloons with amazing carbonation.

As has been mentioned, wait for fermentation to fully complete and there will be no chance of bottle bombs. Yes, the LDME could be seen as non essential, but I thought it might "sweeten" the brew up as I didn't want a super dry mouth puckering GB... It worked!

Assuming you mean a Coopers GB Kit, (if you have not already purchased it) I'd skip that and adapt one of the recipes in Chappo's massive 'non kit' thread.
I was not happy with the last GB I made - it seems to have a 'metalic taste' to it - and I blame the kit for that.
However, from memory the kit does have a bunch of artificial sweetener, which is maybe a good thing if you want it sweet (check the ingredients).

I'm also not a fan of kit-yeast (you said you'd use it, boil it, but did not note any additional yeast) and would suggest using a well-cared-for pack of US05 for your fermentation, if you can, although I prefer a low alcohol tolerance English Ale yeast (like Wy1968) for my GB. I think CraftBrewer have a specialty dry GB-yeast I'd like to try sometime.

Wolfy, you're right, I didn't put in the OP about what yeast I was going to use... I ended up just using the packet coopers yeast. Whilst my beers all get a good quality dried yeast (US 05 or s04 for ex) the amount of ginger flavour in this made me think it wont matter what sort (if any) of flavours the yeast may put out. I dont tend to use the coopers yeast anymore but have found in the past, once my temperature control was sorted that it can be rather clean fermenting. I also suspect that the Craftbrewer GB yeast is just a repacked generic coopers type of ale yeast.

No it isn't over the top but the resulting body would be. I've made many GBs with the coopers kit and a bottle of ginger refresher and I can tell you now that they do not lack in body - probably a little high for most people. 500g of LDME would make it far too chewy to be sessionable, IMO.

I do realise this beer is most likely long gone now.

Would also like to disagree with Wolfy to a certain extent. While the Coopers GB tin when done as per instructions is kinda rank it is entirely possible to make a great GB with it as a base and I think OP's recipe goes a large part of the way towards elevating this kit.

Bum... You're spot on. The GB's I make using the kit would prolly be shite if made to instructions... But add 200-500g of fresh grated ginger, and other things to taste (inc the Buderim Ginger refresher) it becomes VERY palatable :chug: and not chewy enough to not be sessionable... This weather is probably not very good for the GB's though. Also, yes, the batch is long gone mate!! hahaha

Haahaa, I didn't realise this was an old thread rejuvinated. I should have checked before bothing to respond.

I've only done 2 brigalow GB's following a recipe my mate used who used a Brewcraft GB kit which was simply 500g LDME, 1kg Dex + kit. I can't speak for his brews but mine certainly turned out tasty and not over the top in body, albeit relatively low in alcohol content.

I've only just put down a coopers GB kit on Saturday which I've used a heap of left over sugars trying to clean out the old stock. 700g brewing sugar, 500g LDME, 1kg Dex, 250g Brown sugar, kit yeast. I'm not really sure what to expect from it I have to admit, but hopefully the extra body from the brewing sugar (50% maltidex/50%dex if I recall correctly). Time will tell.
"Slighty worried about body from comments by Bum"

Dont worry Muzz. It will be killer. I like a little LDME in GB, not as thin as it would be with just sugar! Just remember, DO NOT bottle until you're certain fermentation is complete. With the brewing sugar (which contains maybe 20% malto-dextrin) and the LDME, i would expect a finishing gravity near 1005. That will vary with your OG. Mine ended up 1004. FYI

Mine goes into primary, for what that's worth.

Thats a big +1

Anywho, I have done this exact recipe now 4 times. Killer... and my mates who actually like GB's reckon its the shiz. You can also try chappos GB from scratch as mentioned above for something a little more challenging.

1 x Coopers Ginger Beer Kit
1.5kg of Dextrose (or a box of brewing sugar and about 500g extra dex)
500g LDME
1 x 750ml Bottle of Buderim Ginger Refresher (basically ginger/sugar concentrate)
350g of coarsely grated fresh ginger
5 small chillis (birds eye type) finely chopped inc seeds (i like it with a bit of spice)
Kit yeast and brewed for 2 weeks (primary only) @ 18 deg c. I also crash chill for a couple of days so I am not drinking all of the yeasties too. Add the chillis and ginger into 5 litres of boiling water and boil for 30 mins. Pour all fermentables into pot, boil a little longer then up end into a cleaned and sanitised fermenter, top up to 23 lt. Piece of piss

I ditched the idea of lemons and zest and now use this method everytime as it is easy and very repeatable.

Just for shits and giggles, the last batch I did was a double and 1 fermenter used coopers packet yeast and the other used champagne yeast (ec-118 i think). Very little difference in taste IMO

I may try a from scratch GB one day, but I'd rather invest my time in AG beer instead

Hope this helps all

Tyler

 

[JestersDarts]

4 times since feb! You love your ginger!

How long are you conditioning them for?
or just smashing them once their carbed up?

 

[Nevalicious]

4 times since feb! You love your ginger!

How long are you conditioning them for?
or just smashing them once their carbed up?

They only need to condition for a couple of weeks. I drink them early and let my beers age up because I dont want the ginger flavours/aromas and the sweet, sweet chilli finish to fade with time. I may be told I'm wrong, but I'm not so sure they need too much ageing. 2c only I guess...

If you love ginger beers, give it a crack. Its a winner!

 

[bum]

Have you tried holding on to one yet? I find my GBs improve over time more than my beers. That might be saying more about my beers than my GBs of course.