Coopers Ginger Beer

[Simon7]

Evenin' folks

Thinking of doing a Coopers Ginger Beer next, I know it's a Summer drink but I've got the taste for the commercial version (Franks, 89p 500ml at Home Bargains) and I fancy giving the kit a bash.

Now if I was doing an Ale kit for the first time I'd brew to 20/21 litres using 1kg Spraymalt or BKE and then if I liked it I'd tinker with it a bit the next time I did it, but I'd appreciate anyone's advice/experiences on this one to save me the time

Am I right in thinking you use brewing sugar? I fancy getting it to about 4.5-5%, how much would I need? Would honey work as a fermentable with this kit?

Thanks for reading

[EoinMag]

I have one of these maturing at the moment, I do all-grain but wanted to try this out for the wife. I did it with brewing sugar and made it to 20l then added about a cup of demerara and a good splash of ruddles ginger compound concentrate.

The main disappointment with this is the sweeteners that they have it made with. They're very pronounced almost to the point of being unpleasant, but if you have no issue with sweeteners then it won't be an issue.

[Simon7]

I have one of these maturing at the moment, I do all-grain but wanted to try this out for the wife. I did it with brewing sugar and made it to 20l then added about a cup of demerara and a good splash of ruddles ginger compound concentrate.

The main disappointment with this is the sweeteners that they have it made with. They're very pronounced almost to the point of being unpleasant, but if you have no issue with sweeteners then it won't be an issue.

Cheers for the advice, think I'll probably give it a miss

[Paddy Bubbles]

Why do a Coopers kit at all? I'm sure there's plenty of recipes for Ginger Beer out there. Most involve root ginger, sugar, cream of tartar, lemons and yeast. I plan to do a ginger beer in the next few months but I won't be using a kit. (I don't think I want to make 5 gallons of ginger beer anyway...)

[brianboru]

I got a free ginger beer kit ( mixed up order but they resent my correct stuff and left me with the ginger beer !) not into it myself and my wife only dirnks wien on occasion.. what can i try as i dont go for the alco pop things. having said tha ti never had alco ginger beer ie crabbies etc but they seem to be glorified alco pops. could i mic it with a pale ale kit or would that be a waste of pale ale kit:? if all comes to all i can make it as per kit and keep it for parties where people who dont like ale are around ?

[Paddy Bubbles]

Waste of a good kit I'd say - that Pale Ale is lovely. I think the trick to a good ginger beer is using a recipe with lots of pungent ginger and plenty of astringency from the lemon zest to balance out the sugar. Grown-up ginger beer.

[brianboru]

cheers Paddy im fond of the pale ale with a lash of cascade alright.... do you have a recipie for what you said above ( or link to one on here )..i have ground ginger is that any good or would fresh stuff be better....definitly need to drown out the artificial sweetners alright...

[Paddy Bubbles]

Brian, I'll look it up for you and post it in the next couple of days. The recipe is in an old homebrewing book and it might take me a while to find it.

There's a "River Cottage" recipe for ginger beer out there on the net somewhere. But it was criticised by homebrewers because the beer is primary fermented in the bottle.

[brianboru]

Cheers Paddy be nice to have somthing a bit different ...without it being alcopops

[Paddy Bubbles]

Right Brian, this is the recipe, pretty much verbatim from the book. I love the vagueness of some of the instructions but it might be of use to you:

- 5.5l boiling water
- 500g sugar
- 28g whole ginger (bruised)
- 2 lemons
- 8g cream of tartar
- good tablespoon of yeast

1. Remove rinds of lemon as thinly as possible.
2. Strip off every particle of white pith.
3. Cut lemons into thin slices removing pips.
4. Put the sliced lemon into an earthenware bowl with sugar, ginger and cream of tartar and pour on boiling water.
5. Allow to cool to blood heat, stir in the yeast and leave covered with a cloth in a moderately warm place for 24 hours.
6. Skim yeast from the top, then strain ginger beer carefully from the sediment.
7. Bottle. In two days the beer will be ready for use.

The recipe doesn't specify what kind of yeast to use? Bread yeast? Ale?

I like the fact that the recipe makes a small batch - I don't want to use up 40 pint bottles on ginger beer. But remember, I haven't tried this so can't vouch for how good it is.