Got a can of Cooper's GInger Beer... can I make it better?

[Lachy]

G'day guys.

Today I popped into K-mart and found a 20% sale on all homebrew.

Perhaps foolishly, alongside all the cans of Cooper's international range I picked up, I also grabbed a can of the dreaded Cooper's Ginger Beer. Now, I've read the stories, and it sounds like it may well be garbage. However, it was cheap, and I'm really curious to see if I can make a decent ginger beer using this kit as a base.

So, any recipes, hints, tips, etc would be appreciated. Cheers!

[rwh]

I just followed the recipe on the can for non-alco GB, and it's actually pretty good, not quite up to Bundy GB, but a passable alternative. One thing I would do next time is strain out the stringy brown ginger that's in it, as it clogged by little bottler.

[Lachy]

Hmm... I was hoping to make an alcoholic ginger beer. Honestly, if I'm going to make a below-par brew, I'd like to at least get a decent buzz from it. Foul beer that doesn't induce even a hint of merriness... well, that's just adding insult to injury.

I was thinking that 1kg of 50:50 DLME/Dextrose might be a useful replacement for the kilo of sugar recommended on the can, just to give it a bit more body. Any thoughts?

I will definitely strain the mix before adding to the fermenter; thanks for the advice.

[scanman]

Do a search on some of the ginger beer recipes on here. They are great, and you surely can improve a Coopers Ginger beer Kit.

[Turner]

i made a batch but all i can taste is the f---ing bleach i used to clean the bottles out with

[KEG]

i made one a week and a half ago.. fermented out in 6 days, and is in a keg at the moment.

ingredients, made to 20l:

coopers' GB can
700g dextrose
500g honey
3 large-ish cinnamon sticks
250g maltodextrin
home brand yeast in boil as nutrient
cooper's GB kit yeast

boiled the dex, maltodextrin and cinnamon for about 20 mins. added can and honey at the end, and put into fermenter, filled to 20L. pitched at 23c, and chilled overnight down to 16-18c.

it's not bad... but even using dex instead of raw sugar (raw sugar was recommended on the can), and 500g of honey (which in theory should make it drier), it's still way too sweet.

the ginger flavour is a bit weak, but not bad. the artificial sweetener flavour is mild, and i find it quite bearable. i might add 200g of fresh grated/blended ginger root to the boil next time.

i'd add much more cinnamon next time. might use powder for cost-effectiveness, otherwise it'd need at least 5 or 6 sticks for it to be noticeable.

might add 0.5 or 1 teaspoon of nutmeg and a maybe 6 cloves as well.

[scanman]

i made a batch but all i can taste is the f---ing bleach i used to clean the bottles out with

Thats probabaly the artificial sweetener they use more likely. If you could taste bleach in your brew, I doubt it would have even brewed at all.
Yeast and bleach don't like each other.