A ginger beer dilemma

[Brewmonster]

Hi,

i could use a little help please. I have always wanted to make ginger beer for as long as I can remember. I have never had the chance to... until now. *cue maniacal laughter*

I have read through the forums and I got a few recipes like this one:

~750 g of ginger
1 cinnamon stick
8 cloves
2 lemons
2kg raw sugar
1 sachet champagne yeast (EC-1118)

and this one:

1.25 kg ginger (0.75kg fresh, 0.5kg of old ginger for some added bite)
1 kg LDME
1.5 kg raw sugar
0.5kg caramalt
2 cinnamon sticks
10 cloves
1 lemon, 1 lime - finely sliced
champers yeast
20L

But they aren't really suitable for my needs.

I don't like cloves and I can't really be bothered with cinnamon sticks. Personally I would like to omit those two completely from the recipe. If something along those lines was really called for, could I substitute ground allspice instead? Could I use a bottle or two of jif lemon or lime instead of actual fruit. I also want to make a five gallon batch as I think it is worth the risk and if it is a success I will have everything down pat instead of trying to tweak things later. This is the recipe I have been mulling over in my head.

1kg ginger
1 bottle jif lemon
1 bottle jif lime
3kg white sugar
1 sachet champagne yeast
yeast nutrient
23 litres of water (5 imperial gallons)

I plan to freeze the ginger overnight so that the ice crystals that form within the cells will burst the cell membranes thus releasing more of the bite and flavour and hopefully make it easier to blend. Once blended will put gloop in a pan with 1kg of sugar and the bottles of jif and let it simmer for 2 hours. I was then thinking of putting the mixture into a sterile glass bowl and covering it with cling-film then leaving it to settle overnight. Some time the next day while pitching the yeast add 2 four pint jugs of boiling water to the fermenting bucket and the remaining 2kg of sugar. stir briskly with my sparge and then add the gloop. Top up to the five gallon mark, add the yeast nutrient and stir briskly to aerate. Then check the temprature and add the yeast when it is at a suitable level. Stir again, pop the lid on and let it bubble away for 2 weeks or until it stops bubbling. Rack the resulting liquid into 2ltr bottles, prime with a couple of teaspoons of sugar and let it mature for a minimum of 2 more weeks.

I am still virtually a brewing newbie really (about 7 beer kits to date) and I know that theory and practice are very far removed from one another. So is my theory practicable. I really don't have a clue.

[Curious Brew]

Allspice is a berry(?) in its own right and not a mixture of spices. You might end up with a unique flavour... if my chicken and rice recipe is anything to go by that is.

The substitution of citrus juice for actual fruit might be a good idea. A few of us (okay, me ) believe that the pith could be responsible for some very bitter flavours.

Why not go for minimal cinnamon and cloves in a five gallon batch, you'll not notice them but they'll add a little complexity to the brew.

Good idea on the ginger freezing, not thought of that one. I found ginger blender extremely easily using my 300W Stick Blender though.

[Andy]

I froze the ginger I used in my batch - took it out the evening before making. The ginger was oozing juice so it seemed to work! Had a taste of the fermented outcome last night and it's rough-as, hope it improves with age (is very gingery though )

[Brewmonster]

Why not go for minimal cinnamon and cloves in a five gallon batch, you'll not notice them but they'll add a little complexity to the brew.

I am not really a complex kind of guy so if it tastes gingery, a little sweet and blows my head of, I will be happy. I think I will give it a go though as I guess those flavours will add a broader base of flavour instead of just one overpowering ginger hit.

The substitution of citrus juice for actual fruit might be a good idea. A few of us (okay, me ) believe that the pith could be responsible for some very bitter flavours.

I think it could work. and it is less effort.

Good idea on the ginger freezing, not thought of that one. I found ginger blender extremely easily using my 300W Stick Blender though.

I personally don't think blending will get all of the flavour out of the ginger. With it being extremely fibrous I think the blender is just chopping those fibres into smaller chucks instead of actually bursting all the cell membranes. Freezing it for a day will burst more cell membranes thus releasing more gingery goodness without it taking away the flavour that a 2 month stint in the fridge would do. Or so the theory goes.

I froze the ginger I used in my batch - took it out the evening before making. The ginger was oozing juice so it seemed to work! Had a taste of the fermented outcome last night and it's rough-as, hope it improves with age

How long did you ferment for and what yeast did you use? I hope to get this down to a science and then everyone can enjoy cheap, high alcohol and good tasting ginger beer. I just pray my batch is passable

[drsmurto]

G'day beermonster

Those 2 recipes you listed look familiar

I add the spices as Curious-brew stated, to increase the complexity. up to 10 cloves in a 23 L batch wont over power things, nor will a cinnamon stick, or some ground cinnamon. Lime leaves are good too.

Lemons are cheap and i know how much i am adding. Lemon juice in a bottle isnt just lemon juice. It also contains chemicals, mainly preservatives. Read the side of the bottle before using it.

Never had any issues with the ginger. I process it it all up, skin and all in a food processor and then boil it for anything up to an hour. The house smells like ginger for days!

I added malt and steeped the caramalt to add some sweetness. The recipe you are planning will end up dry. Very dry.

My first 4 ginger beers used only sugar for the fermentables. The champagne yeast will bring the gravity down to 1.000 or lower which is as dry as you would every want it. The 2nd recipe you listed ended up at 1.010 and has a nice subtle sweetness. I bottled this version on the weekend.

Give it a go, whatever recipe you decide on. I have no doubt you will like it but you may develop an obsession that will push you to tweak the recipe over and over again in search of the holy grail. My partner now accepts there will always be at least one 5L demi john in the kitchen bubbling away. Its when i bring in the 30L fermenters she gets unhappy.

Cheers
DrSmurto

[Brewmonster]

Hi Dr Smurto,

Thanks for your input, I really appreciate it.

Those 2 recipes you listed look familiar

To be honest they are the only decent ones I have found so far. Everywhere else on the net only seems to have recipes for the non alcoholic version. I personally see that as a serious crime

Lemons are cheap and i know how much i am adding. Lemon juice in a bottle isnt just lemon juice. It also contains chemicals, mainly I added malt and steeped the caramalt to add some sweetness. The recipe you are planning will end up dry. Very dry. preservatives. Read the side of the bottle before using it.

I think I am going to use the jif anyway as I bought a ton of the stuff to make lemon and limeade in the summer but never got round to it because the British summer sucked this year.

Never had any issues with the ginger. I process it it all up, skin and all in a food processor and then boil it for anything up to an hour. The house smells like ginger for days!

If I leave it cooking for longer than 1 hour will it kill the flavour? I also planned to leave the mixture in a clean glass bowl overnight to let the flavour develop, would that work?

I added malt and steeped the caramalt to add some sweetness. The recipe you are planning will end up dry. Very dry.

Wow it will still be dry with 3kg of sugar?!? I would of thought the yeast could only eat so much. I really want to avoid dryness so how much malt will I need for 23ltr? will half a kilo do? how long do I steep it for? I would prefer a semi-sweet to sweet end result and a high ABV.

My first 4 ginger beers used only sugar for the fermentables. The champagne yeast will bring the gravity down to 1.000 or lower which is as dry as you would ever want it. The 2nd recipe you listed ended up at 1.010 and has a nice subtle sweetness. I bottled this version on the weekend.

I guess I better be sticking closer to the second recipe then. What is LDME and will I need it? I just want to keep thing simple really.

My partner now accepts there will always be at least one 5L demi john in the kitchen bubbling away. Its when i bring in the 30L fermenters she gets unhappy.

I let the wife decide where I can brew in the house when I started. It saved an argument and she doesn't have a leg to stand on when it comes to having dissagreements about smells and odors because she is the one who told me where I should brew in the first place.

[drsmurto]

LDME is light dried malt extract. I think its what you refer to as spray malt?

If you use plain sugar as the fermentable the yeast has no trouble converting it to ethanol, malt contains more complex sugars which the yeast first has to convert to simple sugar.

When it says yeast has a 75% attenuation its not entirely true. Most yeast will be able to ferment >90% of table sugar. The value is given for complex worts which contain many different sugars.

I havent tried a full, all malt ginger beer yet as i am trying to make a lighter style ginger beer. Like grandma used to make with the ginger plant in the pantry brewing away. But alcoholic. I dont want ginger flavoured beer. Ive tried a few commercial versions and i find them very confusing - are they beer or ginger beer? they all are neither and not particularly good (IMHO).

So for a 23L batch you should aim for half and half. I used beersmith to calculate my recipe.

If you want something above 6% you would need 2kg of malt extract (i would use light stuff cos i dont reckon ginger beer should be too highly coloured) and 2kg of sugar. By my calcs that gives 6.3% abv.

How much lemon is up to you but your bottle of lemon juice should tell you how much its equivalent to. I would think that 2-3 lemons at most. Ginger - you need at least 1kg in 23L. anything up to 1.5kg would be where i would go. If you dont want to add the spice - dont. I think they work very well and give it something extra but its entirely up to you.

I generally boil up the ginger and sugars together so i wouldnt leave it overnight as you are risking introducing infections into the beer. An hour is more than enough. Everyone who has tried my GB has always loved the aroma. The flavour isnt over powering tho so i tend to use about 1/3 of the total of ginger as old ginger thats going wrinkly and slightly mouldy in the fridge to give it a good ginger bite.

Sorry for the long post - hope it helps.

Cheers
DrSmurto

[Brewmonster]

Wow, the doctor is in!!!

I read all of that and then I had to go off and read a bit of the terminology. I am such a newbie

I see where you are coming from with the complex sugars in the LDME adding body, flavour and helping retain some sweetness in the brew. I was kind of hoping to make this for under £5 ( finances are a little thin atm) but just the LDME alone takes it over £10. I was wondering if I could use something else to get those complex sugars.

The first thing that comes to mind are sultanas. I soak a kilo or two in warm water overnight to puff them up and rinse them in the morning vigorously to remove any added preservative (they are usually coated aren't they?) . If I then blend them with the ginger and boil that gloop up with a couple of bags of sugar for an hour, would that do the trick? would it be better to mash the sultanas up first and then strain the skins out to avoid bitterness? would either of these methods produce ginger wine instead of ginger beer?

I think it may be an experiment I have to try anyway...

[drsmurto]

Hmmmmm. Its an interesting idea but not one i would try. yes, sultanas do contain sugar, how much is a bit hit and miss and you wouldnt really know until you had your wort ready to take an SG reading.

Not to mention all the chemicals on the skins and wild yeasts. More trouble than its worth.

If you dont want to buy malt, use plain sugar. You will end up with a very dry ginger beer but if you use 4kg in 23L it will be quite strong. You could then water it down with a little bit of lemonade which will provide the sweetness. Its what i did last summer. Made a 7% batch and mixed it 2:1 with lemonade. Bewdiful. If you go down this road i would suggest adding the extra spices tho.

Cheers
DrSmurto

[Brewmonster]

Thank you very much for all your Input Drsmurto. You are certainly a man who is dedicated to his craft.

I think I am going to go down the sultana route for the fun of it. If I let em soak in warm water overnight and then vigorously rinse them in the morning, that should get rid of any nasty chemicals. The wild yeast problem is one you would experience with ginger too. That is why I presumed you boiled the hell out of it. I have definitely decided to crush them first as the skins contain tannins which will no doubt make the brew taste wine like and just in case there are any residual chemicals. If the SG reading isn't good enough I will have a few bags of sugar on standby. I am going to capitulate and add the extra spices and I am going to throw in an extra half a kilo of ginger in too as I can get it cheap enough. If it does turn out dry I will do the lemonade trick. If it tastes off I will give it all to my neighbour (who got me brewing in the first place) as both him and his wife will drink just about anything!

[mikewest]

This sounds interesting. A ginger wine with added spices. If this turns out half decent I will brew some as soon as I get a free demi-john. I have only three and they are full of Mead, Turbo cider and Coopers ginger beer (alcoholic version tester)

It sounds as if Curious-brew has a kindred spirit on the forum now

[Brewmonster]

I got the rest of the ingredients today. I read the label on the side of the bag of sultanas and it says E220 is the preservative which turns out to be Sulphur Dioxide which is a preservative used in commercial beer making anyway.

The problem is that they come coated in vegetable oil too. I think boiling them for a few minutes will cure that. I will drain them and rinse them with more hot water and then let them soak overnight. If they dont plump up to a point where they are squishable I will boil em and just mash them up in that liquid. Anyway less typing and more brewing. (darn, these sultanas are scrumtious!!!) I will post more details soon.

[drsmurto]

Brewmonster - how did you go mate? Am interested to hear what gravity readings you got form the sultanas. Always looking to add extra things to my ginger beer brewing.

[Brewmonster]

Well Drsmurto, I used 2kg of sultanas, 1kg of white sugar and 1 kg of demarara sugar. I got an og of 1051 ish (still an amateur whuen it comes to reading the hydrometer). I have taken plenty of pics of the whole process. and will post them up as soon as i have a little free time. If it is not going to be enough sugar, is it too late to add more?

[drsmurto]

1.051 will be fine. Assuming that gets to at least 1.010 you are looking at an abv of at least 5%. All good. What volume is this for?

You can add sugar later on if you want a higher alcohol content but you should dissolve it up in boiling water first and then cool it down to the same temp (or close enough) to the fermenting brew.