Coopers Ginger Beer problem? I think...

samadhi · Post by **samadhi** » Saturday Sep 30, 2006 1:45 pm

I just put a Coopers Ginger beer down thursday. I used 1kg dex and 500g LDME, plus a bit of fresh ginger chopped up at 15m and 5m into a 35m boil. It would be a pretty strong brew except i lost about 200ml of the wort when i put it in the fermenter with an open tap. From now on i'll be adding a couple litres of cold water before the wort just so i pick up on that.

I seriously don't even want to wait for it to be ready for bottling, has an awesome bite (some might find it too strong) and thats after a couple of days.

ajoleary · Post by **ajoleary** » Sunday Oct 01, 2006 8:25 pm

How would Lactose go in Ginger beer. Mine is very dry and bighty which is fine, but a little sweetness would help balance it out I think.
Is there another way to make it sweeter?

MrDave · Post by **MrDave** » Sunday Oct 01, 2006 10:05 pm

Trizza wrote:I cant really taste the honey taste too much, it just seems to balance the whole thing out.
Using Brewing Sugar was a bad idea, next time i'd do it with malt or dex. Making it up to 20L made it strong!

rwh wrote:Aw, I was looking forward to doing this with the brewing sugar, cos I bought a couple of bags early on and have never used them
(worked out that they are a bad idea pretty quick ). Ah well, might still use one just to use it up, and do it to 23L because I prefer my ginger beer weaker.

What is "Brewing Sugar" if not dextrose? Is it something like Castor Sugar (finely ground sucrose) ?

I made a Ginger beer today from one of the Deliverance/TWOC kits (wasn't keen on the artificial sweeteners in the Cooper's kit)
and used about 400g of white sugar, a Cooper's Brew Enhancer 1 and about 300g of honey.
Yeah, I was pretty much cleaning out the pantry/brewing bits stash.
The OG was only 1022 or so. Not sure how smart the yeast is but hopefully it'll attenuate nicely and I'll have something nudging 3%.
Perfect for quenching the thirst... or for mixing with

Edit: Ahh, OK. Cooper's "Brewing Sugar" = sucrose + maltodextrin, as opposed to Brew Enhancer #1 being dextrose + maltodextrin. Learning is fun

ajoleary · Post by **ajoleary** » Sunday Oct 22, 2006 8:48 pm

OK - My Coopers Ginger beer is reasonable (Stock Coopers tin + 1kg Raw Sugar brew). Spicy with a very strong ginger flavour, but it lacks perhaps just a little sweetness. How would 250gm of lactose go in a Ginger Beer, just to add a little sweetness or is there something else I could use?

atropine · Post by **atropine** » Monday Oct 23, 2006 9:13 am

I reckon 500grms of lactose, or you could dump in some Splenda (sucralose) artificial sweetener tablets which actually really tastes like sugar. Splenda is the artificial sweetner in the new Coke Zero's.

breadnbutter · Post by **breadnbutter** » Monday Oct 23, 2006 2:48 pm

Trizza wrote:I made some Cooper's ginger beer with the following:
Can Coopers ginger beer
1Kg Brewing sugar
500g honey
Coopers packet yeast

2 months after bottling and its one of my best, only its got a huge head and possibly too gingery. It did have an artifical sweetner taste early on, thats gone away now.

I've had Coopers GB, made with dextrose, down for a few months now. I admit I haven't tasted it for about 3-4 weeks but that's because I hated the artificial sweetner. Interested to hear it disappeared in yours Trizza - HAS ANYONE ELSE NOTICED THIS?

Cheers, Mick

Beau · Post by **Beau** » Monday Oct 23, 2006 2:55 pm

I brewed a Coopers gb half way through August. Not great. But the beermakers gb I made is only about 3 weeks in the bottle and its much better than the Coopers gb IMO.