Ginger Beer

[arturobandini]

Racked this off into another demijohn today and tipped 4 litres of apple nectar (50% apple juice 50% sugar water og 1040) over the yeast/ginger root left behind. I had a taste of a mead that's also near fermenting out and the body was considerably thicker than the Ginger Beer. I made the mead up with 1 litre of red grape juice so that's got me thinking more about adding grape/grape juice for body....

[will]

I've just boiled up a fresh batch. I've tried a few different things on this one, so I'm hoping it will be interesting.

350g fresh ginger (blended in a food processor)
750g soft unrefined brown sugar
5l water
2 limes (juice of)
6 tsps of chilli flakes
4 cloves
25g cream of tartar
4 teabags (steeped for 20 mins)
Half a pack of Safale S-04 (activated in DME)

Rather than strain this lot, I just scooped it out with a jug and poured it in, so some of the ginger made its way in to the DJ for the ferment. The colour is amazing - a really dark browny-purple.

I'm most interested in knowing what the cream of tartar and the tannin from the teabags will do. Also, I've omitted the hops (normally steep 15g of Fuggles at the end) from this batch as I've figured that ginger is pretty bitter anyway, so that'll be another interesting factor to watch out for.

SG of 1.057 temp corrected.

I'm also tempted to drink the bottles a week apart from each other to see what affect maturing has. Has anyone had any experience in this?

[DREADSKIN]

just one question, what is cream of tarter and what does it do? do you get it down most home bru shops?

[will]

just one question, what is cream of tarter and what does it do? do you get it down most home bru shops?

You get it in supermarkets and it's usually used as a rising agent in baking. I've seen it in a lot of old GB recipes such as these. I've seen some say it aids head retention and others say it adds smoothness - it's a bit of an experiment as I'm not too sure what properties it will imbue on the brew

Anyone a little more knowledgeable on the matter?

[Flibblebot]

Well, I have no idea what the cream of tartar is for, but looking at Fentiman's ingredient list (IMHO, Fentiman's is the best shop-bought ginger ale you can buy), it consists of:

Fermented Ginger Root Extract (Water/Ginger Root Extract/Wort Syrup/ Yeast)
Carbonated Spring Water
Sugar
Glucose Syrup
Natural flavours: Ginger / Capsicum / Lemon / Speedwell / Juniper / Yarrow extracts
Pear Juice concentrate
Cream of Tartar
Citric Acid

So it looks as though maybe they ferment with just ginger & malt extract, and then perhaps a secondary fermentation/conditioning with the other ingredients?

[will]

Thanks for the link, Flibblebot. That's a pretty interesting ingredients list - I didn't realise that Fentiman's was actually brewed. I just assumed it was carbonated.

It is a soft drink, where's I'm after around 5% ABV, so I assume they only ferment for 24 hours to get a sparkle. But they also use carbonated spring water - I hadn't even considered this. This could be a potential solution of dryness vs carbonation. Although I don't know how you would go about adding it. Perhaps brew the same ingredients in half the water (2.5l), then rack off to another DJ with the priming sugar and 2L sparkling spring water, then bottle?

Pear juice is the other interesting ingredient.

Here's a potential recipe:

500g ginger
Malt extract to around 1.055 SG
1.5L water
1L Pear juice
2 lemons (juice of)
6tsps of chilli flakes
4 cloves
25g cream of tartar
1tsp citric acid

Ferment to dryness. Allow to settle. Rack to second DJ with 2L sparkling spring water and priming sugar. Bottle.

The malt extract should leave some residual sweetness and with the spring water and the priming sugar it be rather effervescent.

Anyone trying a batch soon?

[arturobandini]

Chilled a bottle in the fridge last night....

Delicious actually. It was well carbonated (about a teaspoon per 1/2 litre) and very gingery with some of that initial chili heat from the powder during fermentation. It was quite dry but as previously stipulated that's how I like my drinks! If this batch was nice and hot then I dread to think how my spiked bottles are. Perhaps a sample of the chili powdered version is on the cards tonight.

I'd probably serve this to someone who didn't like a dry ginger beer mixed with lemonade and over ice. Would probably be quite delicious. Furhter experimentation awaits however and will probably be the spraymalt route which leads to greatest (if most expensive) satisfaction.

[will]

It was well carbonated (about a teaspoon per 1/2 litre) and very gingery with some of that initial chili heat from the powder during fermentation. It was quite dry but as previously stipulated that's how I like my drinks! If this batch was nice and hot then I dread to think how my spiked bottles are. Perhaps a sample of the chili powdered version is on the cards tonight.

Good work! How was the body?

I've bought 1L of white grape juice to prime my bottles with once this batch has fermented out. Couldn't get any pear at my local ASDA. Is the full 1L perhaps over-priming?

[arturobandini]

Still quite thin but as I thought the gas dissolved in the brew lifted the whole thing. Some fruit juice in the must could be crucial and little bit of sweetness to the fermented product and it could be something I would happily brew time and time again.

[arturobandini]

Quick resume of the different bottling tastes -

"Dry hopped" with fresh birdseye chillies - Very strong aromatic capsicum tastes, green and fresh with ginger in the background. Lips puff out nicely due to the fiery heat.

"Dry hopped" with cracked black pepper - Spicy sweetness and a ticklish heat from the peppercorns not as overwhelming as the fresh chili and the nice ginger is very much to the fore.

Chili powder added - Didn't really mix all that well with the ginger beer but adds a welcome hotness but with too much residual powder.

Plain unadulterated - Fresh tasting, benefitted from a few weeks settling up. Lovely effervescent, refreshing, spicy and fiery drink. It feels a lot less thin than when I was necking it from the sample jar. This is probably due to the finely concentrated bubbles present in it. I had some from a champagne flute (no clean glasses...ahem.. honest) and the bead of co2 was very similar to that of champagne.

Next time I do this i'll add some shredded sultana to the mix, possibly a little white grape juice also depending. I like it dry so I'm not going to bother with unfermentable sugars.

[DREADSKIN]

gonna try this tonight.

will use wills recipie, except im gonna add one finger chili (halved with no seeds) per gallon. will go with 350 grams ginger, 5 cloves
and 500grams of soft brown sugar.

might then go out tomo and get more ginger and some of that spray malt stuff and make up another gallon and stick it in the bucket too.

planning 3 gallons, but it might just end up as 4...

any suggestions?
as ive lost my hydrometer does anyone know roughly what 500grams of soft brown will give per gallon. i want about 5%

[DREADSKIN]

also will or autro... why 25 grams of cream of tarter? there is only 50grams in the container! tho i might decide to do 4 gallons and just add the whole lot.

as im now thinking 4 gallons... 1 kilo soft brown... 500grams spraymalt and 500grams honey... hows that sound?

[arturobandini]

I didn't add cream of tartar to mine but I'd say 25g sounds about right as that should be a level teaspoon full for a 1 gallon batch. Just finished my batch off with my brother the other night. Next batch I'm going to do as follows;

1. Add some shredded sultanas/grape juice to the initial must in the hope of "beefing" up the body.
2. Potassium Sorbate/multiple racking/finings to end fermentation and remove all yeast before carbonating artificially in a Cornelius Keg.
3. Sweeten the finished ginger beer with a syrup made from boiling a small amount of ginger in water and sugar.

I wouldn't add chili powder at the bottling stage anymore as it became to throaty and a little powdery. The dry chili in the bottles was a distinctive and strong taste that I could take or leave but my girlfriend loves it so there will be a few of those for her at least. Black peppercorns were my favourite bottling additive as they added a nice smoky pepper spice that I found pleasing. Saying that though the plain unadulterated ginger beer allowed the ginger flavours to come through strongest and best.

[DREADSKIN]

alright, the deed has been done.

in the end i raided the chinese super market and ended up with 2.4 kgs of ginger... enough for 4-5 gallons i think (whatya recon?)
i stuck in a big red chilli (with the seeds out) and a wee evil finger chilli. a few peppercorn (athanku arturobandini) and 20 cloves.
i ended up just sticking the whole lot of cream of tarter in (50g) and a pot of tea made with 6 bags. my granny said i should stick in some cinnemon as she reconed it goes well with ginger. who am i to argue. so a few good shakes of that went in.
next come the power! in went a kilo of soft brown, a jar of honey and 500g of the spray malt stuff.

now as a unrepentant CiderPunk i've never made beer or ale. so, does spraymalt just stink or what? strange, but my trust in in my bru making comrades!

as for the colour it is very dark, no surprise really. smells good, tho i might take the wee evil chilli out in a day or two as i could feel it burning my nose as i smelt the juice... sweet as!

as for the raisens, going to buy 500 grams, blend with more tea and stick them in tomorrow.

any other ideas?
does spray malt smelt like u know what?

[arturobandini]

Have you ever made Ovaltine? To me it smells very similar to that; sweet and malty. This should provide a thicker mouthfeel and slight residual sweetness due to the unfermentable sugars in barley malt extract.

I like your style Dreadskin and we definitely need some updates on this Ginger Beer as it progresses...i've a feeling it's going to be heavy karma! Nice one.