Simple Gb Recipe?

[coloneldom]

G'day guys,
I'm looking to throw down just a simple Ginger Beer that will hopefully be ready for christmas or at least the New Years day Test match! Basically a K&K, but what is the best tin to get and are there any simple additions I can make to improve it?

Cheers!

 

[wambesi]

G'day guys,
I'm looking to throw down just a simple Ginger Beer that will hopefully be ready for christmas or at least the New Years day Test match! Basically a K&K, but what is the best tin to get and are there any simple additions I can make to improve it?

Cheers!

Not as simple as a K&K but have you tried using a plant?
There is a great post here somewhere from wildschwein which I pretty much follow now and it produces some really nice ginger beer.

 

[bruce_]

Here's a recipe from my LHBS which has turned out reasonably well

--------------------
- 1 can of Morgans ginger beer (it mentioned some others, but I can't recall which, I used Morgans)
- 1.5kg Dextrose
- 500g light honey (yellowbox)
- fresh ginger root

Peel ginger and slice into discs about 2mm thick. Boil the ginger and honey in about 1 litre of water for 10 minutes to sanitise them. Add 3 litres of boiling water and return to the boil.

Remove from the heat and add dextrose and extract, stir thoroughly and avoid scorching the extract on the base of the pot. Add this into fermenter and top with cold water to 20 litres.

Pitch the included yeast. Give the wort a stir every day (avoid splashing) until fermentation has ceased.
--------------------

If you are bottling, you can add small amounts of chilli to the bottle. It gets more heat the longer you leave it (obviously only up to a certain point).

I'd like to try adding some cinnamon and/or cloves to my next batch of this. Problem is, I'm virtually the only who drinks it and it takes up valuable keg space... Not sure it's worth going back to bottles for...

 

[bconnery]

I always added fresh ginger to mine, but my wife and I like our ginger beer gingery.
I also liked to use raw sugar with it, rather than dme or white sugar.

Here's the thread on the plant aspect...
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=16407

Oh, and I always used Brigalow. I haven't made one in years but that was what I used then...

 

[Katherine]

I find the Coopers Kit leaves a metallic taste. Does anyone know what that would be?

 

[geoffi]

I find the Coopers Kit leaves a metallic taste. Does anyone know what that would be?

The can?

Seriously, though, I find the Cooper's kit does have a strange flavour. I prefer the Brigalow.

One thing I do is use a bit of slurry from beer brewing instead of the under-the-cap yeast. I use whatever I'm brewing with. US-56 works well, but the best I've found so far is Nottingham, as it flocculates beautifully. Next one I'm going to use a Weizen yeast. Not a floccer, but the flavour might be interesting.

 

[deadly]

I find the Coopers Kit leaves a metallic taste. Does anyone know what that would be?

Artificial sweetener most cans have it nowdays.

 

[Katherine]

Artificial sweetener most cans have it nowdays.

Ive only ever tasted the metallic taste in the Ginger Beer Kit... No matter how much ginger or other spices I put in that flavour comes through. I think you are correct in saying its the artificial sweetener.

I also have problems getting very much carbonation out of Ginger Beers is that just the style? As all my other beers I have no problems.

 

[tdack]

I always added fresh ginger to mine, but my wife and I like our ginger beer gingery.
I also liked to use raw sugar with it, rather than dme or white sugar.

Here's the thread on the plant aspect...
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=16407

Oh, and I always used Brigalow. I haven't made one in years but that was what I used then...

As a kid I made ginger beer using the plant method similar to that thread, but the plant was actually kept in the toe of a stocking in a jar. Thinking about it now it just made it easier to keep the solids and liquids a bit separate.

The last canned ginger beer I made was an Brigalow and I came out really nice. I'm thinking of trying another one but using some palm sugar for a slightly different taste.

 

[coloneldom]

Thanks for the info guys, I will definitely give that recipe a crack Bruce_, cheers mate! The plant idea sounds pretty cool to, I had heard of em before but never really understood what it was. But just to clarify, you cultivate a strain of lactobasillus in a small jar or whatever, and use this to carb up whatever juices etc you add it to?

 

[wambesi]

Thanks for the info guys, I will definitely give that recipe a crack Bruce_, cheers mate! The plant idea sounds pretty cool to, I had heard of em before but never really understood what it was. But just to clarify, you cultivate a strain of lactobasillus in a small jar or whatever, and use this to carb up whatever juices etc you add it to?

Basically, its "fed" on ginger and sugar over 7-10 days, you then make your ginger beer mixture, add the strained plant and let sit at room temp until carbed then they need to be kept cool otherwise they will continue to carb.

Just did up six bottles of plant based ginger beer tonight actually, unfortunately some of my ginger begun to grow nasties so i will not be as gingery as I prefer but should still be good. I usually throw in fresh juiced orange as well as lemon to play with the flavours.

 

[coloneldom]

ahhh ok I see, this sounds awesome, would be great for christmas time and new years! Cheers mate!

 

[wambesi]

ahhh ok I see, this sounds awesome, would be great for christmas time and new years! Cheers mate!

Well I'm really hoping with the warm weather at the moment it carbs up enough for a BBQ sat lunch time.
Seriously though read the thread as linked above (if you havn't already) I pretty much do the same but have modified bits here and there, my latest plant used raisins this time. Have a go at it and see what you think, if it works out great, if not there's always other methods - which is the best thing about brewing, many different ways to get the end product.

Note about this plant method too is that it's normally very low in alc content as it only ferments a little, it's usually my "soft" drink I have before it's beer o'clock.