AG#45 - Ginger Spice Ale

[floydmeddler]

Getting the mash on now then heading to work...

Ginger Spice
21-B Seasonal/Winter Specialty Spiced Beer

Size: 25.0 L
Efficiency: 80.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%

Original Gravity: 1.052 (1.026 - 1.120)
Terminal Gravity: 1.013 (0.995 - 1.035)
Color: 18.19 (1.0 - 50.0)
Alcohol: 5.06% (2.5% - 14.5%)
Bitterness: 31.9 (0.0 - 100.0)

Ingredients:
5 kg Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt
200 g British Crystal 55°L
160 g Chocolate Malt
100 g Torrified Wheat
35 g First Gold TTS (7.2%) - added during boil, boiled 90 min
20 g Aurora (8.1%) - added during boil, boiled 10 min
150 g Ginger (fresh) - added during boil, boiled 5 min
8 g Grains of Paradise - added during boil, boiled 5 min
1 ea Fermentis S-04 Safale S-04

Watch this space...

[floydmeddler]

Got home from work and temp was at 60c. Recirculating now. Wort tastes TCP like... should I be worried? Phenols?

[floydmeddler]

In fermenters now. Trying out a yeast I slanted in 5L. The other 20L I'm fermenting with good old S04. Beautiful smells last night when the ginger was added. Really looking forward to this one!

[floydmeddler]

Damn this is tasting GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!

Everything I was hoping for already.

[WishboneBrewery]

Hope its a good one. Not much of a ginger-in-beer fan really, though real Ginger beer with nothing to do with malt and hops is great

[mysterio]

I'm inspired FM. I think I will do a pumpkin spice beer for my next brew. What do grains of paradise taste like ?

[floydmeddler]

I'm inspired FM. I think I will do a pumpkin spice beer for my next brew. What do grains of paradise taste like ?

Too early to tell what they taste like in a beer mysterio. Raw, they are peppery and pack a bit of heat. Have also used them in my current Belgian which I'll bottle next week.

Seems that a little goes a long way: http://www.ehow.com/how_5798676_add-gra ... -beer.html

Went for 1/2 tsp in the end. Ginger is amazing though. Can't wait to get this bottled.

[mysterio]

I am tempted to use powdered ginger instead of fresh, or would you recommend sticking with the fresh? Is 150g about right, or do you wish you'd used more or less?

[floydmeddler]

At the minute, I'm glad I've gone for 150g. Original plan was to use 300g! The taste is really there. Any more and it may become cloying/overpowering I reckon. Still though, early days!

As for powdered, I just don't like the idea of it and during my research (trawling the internet!) it didn't seem that popular. Had an email form a local brewery and they advised me to use 1/2 jar of Chinese stem ginger in secondary. Could also be very interesting.

[critch]

At the minute, I'm glad I've gone for 150g. Original plan was to use 300g! The taste is really there. Any more and it may become cloying/overpowering I reckon. Still though, early days!

As for powdered, I just don't like the idea of it and during my research (trawling the internet!) it didn't seem that popular. Had an email form a local brewery and they advised me to use 1/2 jar of Chinese stem ginger in secondary. Could also be very interesting.

the stem ginger in the secondry works well.

i did a ginger porter last year added fresh grated ginger at 10 mins from the end. worked it out at approx 70g per 5 gallons

it was very gingery at first but it didnt half die down in the bottle over a few months, the lads at marble use powdered ginger in the fermentor for their award winning ginger

[simco999]

Great post - I'm interested in doing a Ginger Beer at some point.

I think I'll go for fresh not powdered.

[floydmeddler]

Great post - I'm interested in doing a Ginger Beer at some point.

I think I'll go for fresh not powdered.

Go for it and let us know how it goes. Will keep updating here too

[calumrobertson]

Definately curious how this one goes - am planning on doing something similar myself next weekend but im thinking of adding some honey and lemon peel too...just not sure how much! I think i'll go for 150g ginger too...although not sure if it'll need more given the honey and lemon being in there too..

[floydmeddler]

Definately curious how this one goes - am planning on doing something similar myself next weekend but im thinking of adding some honey and lemon peel too...just not sure how much! I think i'll go for 150g ginger too...although not sure if it'll need more given the honey and lemon being in there too..

Have had fantastic results with honey. I reckon 350g of honey and swap the lemon with orange zest but that's just personal choice. Don't add the honey until secondary. If you don't do secondary, add honey to primary as soon as FG is achieved then leave for a week to ferment out. Certainly don't add it to the boil as you'll completely destroy the honey flavours. I've done this with rubbish results. Adding at the beginning of ferment doesn't give good results either as a lot of the flavours and aroma are blown out the air lock. Honey needs to be treated gently.

I always pasteurise the honey but many people don't. Let me know if you want me to outline how I go about this.

Happy brewing.

[floydmeddler]

Drinking this now. Absolutely delicious. The ginger is completely 'there' but not is an overpowering way whatsoever; less so than expected to be honest as I wanted a major hit. No heat coming through really, just a tad.

As for the grains of paradise, it's hard to tell. Will try my Belgian ale soon to see if I can detect them there.

Will defs brew this again with an extra ginger addition in secondary.