First time kit + extras ginger beer

[Oenologystudentprefersbeer]

Ok, so after bottling my first scratch ginger beer this morning I thought it was a good time to get a kit ginger beer down while the fermenter was out

I popped down to the local hardware store, picked up a Morgan's ginger beer kit and then went past the supermarket to pick up some other goodies.

What I ended up going with was:

1 can Morgan's ginger beer kit
500g dark brown sugar
100g brown sugar (just because it was left in a packet in the pantry)
450g raw sugar (again, in pantry)
1kg brewmart ultra blend (basically coopers BE2 I think)
750g dextrose
400ml yellow box honey
750ml buderim ginger refresher
375g buderim crystallised ginger
2 cinnamon sticks
5 cloves
2 star anise
2 lemons, rolled and pressed to free juice then sliced
4 dried chilies
1 fresh chili, sliced
1/2 tbsp dried ginger
2 kaffir lime leaves
25ml ginger booster (ginger concentrate from brewmart)

Process:

First I brought 4 litres of water to the boil. I then added the sliced lemon, crystallised ginger, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, chilies, dried ginger, kaffir lime leaves and honey and boiled for 1 hour. At the thirty minute point I removed the chilies (after tasting some of the 'wort') and added the dark brown sugar, brown sugar, ginger refresher and raw sugar.

After finishing the boil and chilling my wort (in a bath tub of cold water ) I strained the wort into the fermenter, which contained the ginger kit, dectrose and ultra blend. I pulled what was left of the crystallised ginger, cinnamon stick and star anise out of the strainer and added them straight into the fermenter.

I then strained cool water into the fermenter up to the 25 liter mark.

I pitched the packet yeast at 24c (after having 4 hours previously hydrated it in a mix of 100g raw sugar and 250ml tepid water, so it was already raging ).

SG: 1.052

[Guru]

That looks like a pretty serious ginger beer that should have a bit of kick. My ginger beers generally have an OG less than 1.040. Be interested to see how this turns out.

[Oenologystudentprefersbeer]

I hope it turns out pretty serious Guru! It's actually meant to be a slightly 'lighter' ginger to soften the blow between bottles of the scratch ginger I just bottled. That started at SG 1092 and, after having to re-inoculate with some EC-1118 at 1030 because the US-05 had crapped out at this point, it went through to FG-1014!! After bottle carbonation it should end up around the 11.5% mark....

I'll let you know it turns out, I'm looking forward to having a few of them in the new year

Cheers,
OSPB

[Guru]

Not quite a summer thirst quencher like my GB is then.

[Guru]

Also welcome to the forum OSPB.

[Oenologystudentprefersbeer]

Finally bottled this brew yesterday. It went right through to an FG of 1002 . I had assumed that it would stop around the 1010 mark, my bad i guess... Looks like it's around 6.6%... Tasted pretty bloody awesome though. Can't wait for it to be carbonated!! Tasted so good I'm even shipping a case across the country for our annual 'Brewfest' in Queensland on Australia day along with some of my SPA (Straya Pale Ale) for this years proceedings I'll let you know how it turns out once it's had a few weeks in bottle, the ginger burn should have settled a little by then!

[Oliver]

OSPB,

Glad to hear it turned out well. The reason for the FG close to 1.000 is that most of your fermentables were fully fermentable - i.e. would not have left any unfermentable sugars in the brew to lift the SG. The dex, honey and sugars are pretty much fully fermentable, so the only thing adding body would have been the "ultra blend" and possibly the ginger beer kit itself.

Let us know how it is once it's carbonated.

Cheers,

Oliver