Ginger Beer

[yardglass]

this has turned out nice, although a bit lemonny.

INGREDIENTS:
Brigalow Ginger Beer Kit
Coopers Brew Enhancer (CBE)
Grated Fresh Ginger 300gm
Lemon Zest & Juice 2 ( halve this if you're not big on lemon )
Ground Nutmeg 1 tbsp
Brown Sugar 2 tbsp
Golden Syrup 2 tbsp
Ginger Pwdr 3 tbsp
Honey 2 tbsp
Cloves 2
Cinnamon 2'' stick
Champagne Yeast 10gm (2 sachets)

METHOD:
Add CBE & Fresh Ginger to 2lt of water and bring to boil.
Boil for 20min.
While this is boiling, hydrate Nutmeg, Ginger Pwdr, Brown sugar in a cup of hot water.
@ 20min add the hydrated ingredients along with Honey, Gldn Syrup and Lemon Zest.
Boil for further 10min.
@ 30min add Kit, Cloves, Cinnamon and Lemon Juice.
Boil for further 10min.
@ 40min flame out and strain into sanitised primary, top up to 23lt, pitch Champagne Yeast.
(23lt might be too much volume for some).

it went for 17 days, bulk primed with 130gm Caster Sugar and 250ml Buderim Ginger Syrup.

also @ bottling i added one " sugar cube size " of crystalised ginger.
(pick 'n' mix section at Coles)

it doesn't taste as dry as i thought it would, very gingery, but like i said a little too much lemon but not enough to bugger it.

will be nice with some ice to kickstart xmas morn.

yardy

[Dogger Dan]

Yard, try fresh ginger next time

What an improvement

And don't add any more nutmeg, it becomes overpowering

Dogger

[yardglass]

INGREDIENTS:
Grated Fresh Ginger 300gm

yardy

errmmm.

DD, did you mean the addition at the bottle ?

yard

[Dogger Dan]

Never mind,

I didn't read enough, sorry I have a fever on the go. I just so the dried ginger and not the fresh

Dogger

[yardglass]

wow, this is a bewdy..
i've consumed copius jugs of this stuff over the last few days.

top rate heart starter in the am.

cheeers

[flotoonie]

Guys I am going to try a variation on this - thanks for the great ideas. But this is my first departure from the standard kit and kilo routine. Can you let me know if these recipes are ok?

Morgans Can
1kg dex
500g light dried malt
The following boiled up and added to the above with the dregs put in a stocking and added too - 500g fresh grated ginger, 1 big red chilli, 4 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tbsp Golden Syrup, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2tsp ground cloves, 1tsp ground nutmeg
Made to 23litres

And even though this isn't the right thread I am putting down a cider drop too. My girlfriend likes Bulmers. Will the lactose make this too sweet?

BR can
4 litres of Apple juice
6 granny apples peeled, cored, quartered, and bagged. (Do they need a filter bag because I read somewhere that they float anyway?)
250g lactose
500g Raw sugar.

Any suggestions would be very helpful
Thanks

[blandy]

I made a BR cider last year just as a kit and kilo. Final volume 18L.

Tasted pretty close to Bulmers, but I didn't get to put them next to each other.

[Biggles]

That sounds a great recipe Yardglass, will have to try it. Have you repeated or improved it in any way ?

Im a day away from bottling my first ginger beer and my first foray away from a standard kit. Day 6 today so took a sample for hydrometer test and drank it, too nice to throw away.
1 can Morgans Ginger Beer
300 gr freshly peeled and thinnly sliced ginger
6 cloves
1 whole stick of cinnanmon
4 large Tablespoon of raw sugar

I boiled 2lts of water and added half the ginger, let boil 15mins, added rest of ginger, cloves, cinnamon and sugar. After 30 mins I turned off heat and added 1kg Dex then can of morgans. When all dissolved pour into fermenter and topped up with cold water to 20L. OG1026 before pitching yeast, day 6, SG1004.

Biggles

[Chris]

Sounds pretty tasty.

[yardglass]

That sounds a great recipe Yardglass, will have to try it. Have you repeated or improved it in any way ?

Im a day away from bottling my first ginger beer and my first foray away from a standard kit. Day 6 today so took a sample for hydrometer test and drank it, too nice to throw away.
1 can Morgans Ginger Beer
300 gr freshly peeled and thinnly sliced ginger
6 cloves
1 whole stick of cinnanmon
4 large Tablespoon of raw sugar

I boiled 2lts of water and added half the ginger, let boil 15mins, added rest of ginger, cloves, cinnamon and sugar. After 30 mins I turned off heat and added 1kg Dex then can of morgans. When all dissolved pour into fermenter and topped up with cold water to 20L. OG1026 before pitching yeast, day 6, SG1004.

Biggles

thanks biggles,

only thing i would change is i was told to give the fermenter a shake before bottling to get some sediment in the bottle, which i did.

it ended up very cloudy which didn't bother me but the 'boss' thought it was an unpleasant side effect

just watch that cinnamon, it can be powerful stuff.

THIS IS A GOOD GINGER APPLE CIDER RECIPE

cheers

yard

[BenH]

just out of curiosity yardy, what alcohol percentage did this recipe end up at?

[yardglass]

not too sure, probably about 4 or 5 %, i remember you could have quite a few and not be a write off.

i'll run it through the recipe calc when i get a minute.

yard

[BenH]

sound pretty nice Yardy, one final question as I plan on putting this down next up -

How long before it was drinkable? Am I looking at a standard "yes you can drink it in 2 weeks, but 3 months is better" or will it mature at a different rate?

Cheers.

[Biggles]

Just thought Id post an update re my GB.
I opened one last night at my parents place. My mum used to brew GB the old fashioned way, with the plant etc. Anyway, my GB was fantastic. It held a head like beer, Ive never seen that in a GB before. The artificial sweetner taste which had been present at earlier tastings was all but gone. My mums comment was 'if it can be brewed like that from a can, why bother with the old fashioned way'.
From my records its about 4% ABV.

[BenH]

Awesome work Biggles.

Just laid a version of this down tonight - its been a long night, bottled a lager, brewed this one, lucky its cup day tomorra....

I did make a couple of adjustments to yardies yardstick above, namely

250g grated fresh ginger - I noted his comment of "very gingery" and reduced a little.
1 medium sized lemon, juice and zest - ditto the above comments about lemon
CBE 1 - not specified in above postings but used that one anyway...

...and made up to 21L. OG of 1043, tasted the wort and it made me want to put it straight in the fridge and drink it now. Bring on Xmas morning.

[atropine]

Just thought Id post an update re my GB.
I opened one last night at my parents place. My mum used to brew GB the old fashioned way, with the plant etc. Anyway, my GB was fantastic. It held a head like beer, Ive never seen that in a GB before. The artificial sweetner taste which had been present at earlier tastings was all but gone. My mums comment was 'if it can be brewed like that from a can, why .

hmm I hope my ginger beer gets better. I made just a standard kit of Coopers ginger beer (same as morgans) and tried a bottle for the first time 2 days ago (after 3 weeks sitting in bottles) . The artificial sweetener taste is very over powering. I can get used to that flavour and have done with using cheap artificial flavours with coffee and tea but I wouldn't' give it to friends etc to drink. Has a nice ginger flavour but that chemically artificial sweeter flavour is too strong.

[jase]

hey yardy you are a freakin genius with this one. I was looking for something like bundy with a kick & here it is, my batch is still green but after 10 days in the bottle this is magnificent.only problem is I smashed my hydrometer moving house & have'nt got a clue what strength it is, any idea, Im tippin its up around 5%?

[atropine]

I should update this in regards to my ginger beer. It's now highly delicious and I can't seem to taste the artificial sweeter any more. I've let a few people taste test it and asked if they could taste the sweeter, and they've said they could but only slightly. However I wonder if they only tasted it because they knew it was in there.

I'd say with coopers/Morgans ginger beer kits you need to leave it a minimum of 1 month conditioning. The difference between 3 weeks and 4 weeks is huge.

[drsmurto]

Am pretty keen on doing a ginger beer as something diff and yardies recipe looks like its a hit. Any comments on ferment temp? Are we talking ale or lager temps cos have had to move my lager brewing inside already (Adel) cos tin shed is now hitting 30 in the middle of the day.

also, i reckon i could get some serious points if i whipped out a batch of Bulmers clone so will give Flotoonie's a go too!

Cheers
DrSmurto

[BenH]

Drsmurto

Mine brewed at between 18 and 20. Took 9 days at that temp with around 12.5g of champers yeast. If you can get round that mark inside, then you'll have no problems I would say.

jase - mine turned out about 4.6%. Tastes slightly alcoholic, but not so's you'd notice and not enough to ruin the flavour. If I redid this one, I would up the ginger content back up to yardies original spec and keep the lemons at 1.

And may i take this opportunity to thank yardie once again for the recipe. I've cracked a few bottles over the last couple of days, owing to the 40 degree heat and ...... I've never been so refreshed in my life. It tastes very goddam awesome. Thanks Yardie yer a legend.