Ginger beer using fresh ginger

[Goombabreweries]

Hi awl,

I've been on this site a million times purloining methods and tips (some used, others discarded) and thought I'd put my ginger beer recipe on here for some to use or discard.

I used to homebrew back when all I could do was a kit (and afford it), gave it up once I got out of uni, and now am back in for art form. Having said that, I did make a killer stout out of kit + grains, so although I will not return to kit, can see the point in them.

Ok, recipe as follows:

Fresh Ginger Root (800g) Fruit shop
Star Anise Fresh then crushed (2 Stars)
Cloves (5 cloves)
Wheat Grain LME 1kg
Amber Malt LME 1.5kg
Brown Sugar ¼kg
Honey ½kg health/fruit shop
Safale 04 Dry Ale Yeast (11.5g) 1 pckt
Water to 24L

Methodology:

Grate 1kg ginger using grater (make sure grater is sterilised first) - this got too difficult, so the missus grated some, I chopped other bits into small bits.
Boil 10L of water and bring down to 70º, then pitch in ginger.
Steep Ginger in slow heat for about an hour.
Put in Malt, Wheat Grain, Honey & Sugar and continue to boil for 45 minutes.
At the 15 minutes to go mark (i.e. 1¾ hr from start)put in Star Anise, Cloves. These were crushed up in a Pestle & Mortar (thus bringing out the oils) before being pitched.
Once steeping is complete, strain mixture into carboy.
Once done, put in cold water to 24L.
Rehydrate yeast and pitch in liquid once down to 30ºC (I know this is a boo-boo).

I did this Wednesday night. Forgot to take SG, but a guesstimate would be no lower than 1.060, and probably around 1.070.

Tasted it saturday night and for a really, really green batch, it was quite okay. I could already get a good feel for the eventual flavour, despite it being so raw. The honey has all but been eaten, and has offered no flavour to the brew. Sweetish still, but hadn't finished fermenting and the gravity was 1.020.

Bubbling has slowed down by Monday.

Other noteworthy thing is that we have a little granny flat at our house, that gets used for our main bedroom, the door being only about 3 metres away from the back door, and same distance away from our youngest daughter's bedroom, but private enough to be our escape. It has an aircon that more than adequately controls the flat's temperature, and it has a tile floor. Accordingly, I have kept the fermenter in the room, in an effort to combat the 30+ degree days that inflict us in Queensland, with the aircon helping to climate control. The fermenter has ranged between 20-25 degrees the whole time (with the exception at some nights, where we have had the aircon on all night and the temp has fallen below 20 degrees). Seems to have worked.

[Chris]

That's going to be fairly alcoholic. It has a good sounding balance of ingredients. Should be tasty.

[drsmurto]

Assuming the following

Wheat Grain LME 1kg - dry?
Amber Malt LME 1.5kg - liquid?
Honey ½kg - only 50% fermentable

I get this approx - OG 1.046, FG 1.010, alc - 5.5%

And that does sound like a hell of a tasty brew. The one i make is quite thin, like a bundy GB but this has me thinking, Malty GB. mmmmmm.

[N.C.]

Grating ginger by hand blows... If you've got a food processor, make the most of it!

[drsmurto]

Grating ginger by hand blows... If you've got a food processor, make the most of it!

Damn straight - no peeling or nothing!

[Goombabreweries]

Grating does blow, but I would still peel irrespective. I've read enough to say that it offers more bad than good leaving the peel on.

Both Wheat and Amber Malt were LME - liquid malt extract. I've taken readings last night (wednesday) and monday night, both sitting at 1.018, so I think it's done.

The interesting thing is that the smell over two days has improved out of sight. I'd just brushed my teeth so I didn't taste it though.

I was going to use Dark Malt Extract, but I left the recipe at home when I visited the homebrew shop, so amber it was. It smells kinda like a slightly malty sweet brew with heavy ginger and spice which dries it right out. Not that you can tell all taste from the smell.

To bottle, I'll bulk prime and I'm at 6's and 7's whether to use maltodextrose or something else. Didn't want to use Dry Malt, I wanted bubbles.

Finally, this will sit in the cupboard for at least a couple of months. I've got an "out of sight, out of mind" cupboard.

next stop will be a champagne cider (some old guy I knew years ago used to make it and I loved it), but if I have any developments, I'll be sure to let you all know.

[Goombabreweries]

OH, and I bought 2 chillis (red medium sized ones - hottish) to experiment in two bottles. I will see how it goes.

[drsmurto]

Peeling? As you wish mate but its a pointless exercide if you plan on sitting them in 70+degC water for more than a few mins....

Still a fan of your recipe tho....

[Goombabreweries]

Bottled it, and bulk primed it with 150g regular sugar in hot water.

I tasted it and it is quite dry and very sharp in flavour. Tastes like I've already put a medium/mild chilli in it. It has a sweet taste, but it finishes dry, it's quite bizarre. It offers itself as a sweetish bundy flavour to start for about 1/4 of a millisecond and then the flavour really hits. The other thing is that I tasted it warm, so cold will have a different effect, and given that it isn't a warm beer drink, needs to be cold.

The chilli if we can get it out will be good for thai cooking or something.

Plan on leaving this sit for at least a month. Hopefully two, and will limit consumption until it is at a "general use" stage.

[Goombabreweries]

Not sure if anyone cares, but after 3 or 4 weeks (can't remember now, the ginger beer killed off my brain cells) I thought I'd give you a heads up on what my recipe turned out like.

First things - taste. It tastes like a aley beer with a ginger aftertaste and spice. I'd almost say that the after-spice was the equivalent of a mild chilli beer, that sort of tang after.

Upsides - good mouth feel, well fizzed, without overdoing it, a little spicy at times, getting fruitier and wheatier with age

Downsides - a little cidery (possibly from home sugar added for priming), ginger not as prominent as I'd hoped, it needs age to bring out any real extra flavour.

It tastes good with lemonade according to anyone who has drunk it, but I would say that this beer would be for a particular taste.

Possible ideas for future:

More Ginger

Reduce Amber malt to half the quantity or less (probably down to 250g) or use a lighter malt, such as a pale malt.

Use an unfermentable sugar as sweetener.

Add more of the spices I wanted, add cardamon.

Prime with maltodextrose or brown sugar

[DavidP]

nice work!
let us know how your next batch goes!!!