Ginger Beer ''Blagged''

[EsJay_Brewing]

Hi All,

So this weekend I did not really fancy doing a full on AG brew after racking a couple of recent ones into poly pins for a party coming up. So my sister asked if I could make up some Ginger beer for her. TBH I don't really know how or what to do coupled with no internet access at the time it was blagged to say the least so this is what it was.....

1.5kg Ginger (Sliced Up)
2 x Lemons (Sliced Up)
2x Limes (Sliced Up)
1x Cinimon Stick

All the above had the skin left on and were bolied for 1 hour in 8ltrs of water in a large Burco Stainless Boiler.

After 1 hour what liquid was left was run into a FV which contained 2.5kg of sugar! then the FV was topped up with treated cold water to about 20ltrs I think.

I took a OG (In the same way as beer? is this right?) and it was 1.045

It tastes real good in its current state though I wonder what it will come out like?

As for yeast . . . . . Well I only had some nottingham and S04 to hand which I guess is no real good but then managed to get 20g of wine yeast?!?!? not really sure if this is right to use but lopped it in there anyhow with a bit of yeast neutriance.

It seems to have kicked off already......I guess I will have to wait and see how this pans out!

[Gricey]

The GB I made quickly was basically that. Ginger, sugar, lemon juice, I used bread yeast but I could taste it so probably something different next time eg gervin english ale or WLP001. Gonna put chillies in next time as well, anyway, leave that, keep relieving pressure (did it in a 2L coke bottle ) and then rack through a muslin bag into another bottle, let carb up then wang it in the fridge, easy.

[Wolfy]

...
I took a OG (In the same way as beer? is this right?) and it was 1.045

It tastes real good in its current state though I wonder what it will come out like?

As for yeast . . . . . Well I only had some nottingham and S04 to hand which I guess is no real good but then managed to get 20g of wine yeast?!?!? not really sure if this is right to use but lopped it in there anyhow with a bit of yeast neutriance.

You take gravity readings the same way as you do for your beer, all it's doing is measuring the amount of sugars in the solution.

If you like how it tastes now, you might find that you prefer your GB a little on the sweet side so - depending on how this batch turns out for you - next time you may like to try a lower attenuating ale yeast rather than a wine yeast which will generally ferment more of the sugars leaving you with a higher alcohol content but drier result.