High Alcohol GB - any thoughts??

[erik]

JUst wondering if anyone has any thoughts on the GB I put down tonight.

750g fresh ginger grated
1 kg Dextrose
1 kg raw brown sugar
2 kg white sugar

10g Champagne yeast

Filled up to 23L.

This is only the 3rd GB I've done and the 12th brew in total. Have a made a big mistake or will it work out okay?

[rwh]

What's the OG?

[KEG]

is that enough ginger for 23L?

my guess would have been around 1250g for that volume, but it comes down to preference as well i guess.

[drsmurto]

From my calcs that is going to be very strong. OG 1.070, FG 1.000, alc = 10%. I agree with KEG, not enough ginger. I use 750g in 15L but have upped it to 1kg for 23L. Would also suggest some extra to at least add a bit more oomph to it. Ginger by itself wont be all that good so when boiling up the ginger, add 2-3 lemons, chopped, 1 cinnamon stick and 8-10 cloves. Boil for 1 hour, filter into fermenter and away you go. Also remember that ALL of the sugar will ferment, so will leave you with a very very dry GB.

oops. you have alresdy put it down. If you arent lactose intolerant i would suggest boiling 250g lactose in 1L of water for an hour, cool and add before primary ferment done.

or just mix in a little lemonade when drinking!

Cheers and beers
DrSmurto

[morgs]

Sounds very dry to me. I would have added some light dry malt. maybe 500g.

[KEG]

^^ it would still be dry after that, but with a bit of body. the only solution for sweetness for homebrewing is either lactose or artificial sweeteners... but artificial sweeteners taste like the east end of a camel going west, so stick with lactose.
for a brew that size with that alcohol content i'd say go with 350-450g lactose, but that's just me

[geoffclifton]

750g fresh ginger grated
1 kg Dextrose
1 kg raw brown sugar
2 kg white sugar

10g Champagne yeast

Filled up to 23L.

From the experience I've gained with 2 GB brews I'd suggest that you need more ginger, less sugar and less water.

I did a kilo of ginger plus 6 tsp ground ginger on 22 litres and it was a bit watery. If the yeast runs out of steam on the sugar you'll be bottling a high FG and (can you hear me from behind my bell helmet) it may be explosive.

If you want to stay at 23l then keep the sugar, up the ginger and double the yeast.

Cheers, Geoff.

[erik]

Cheers everyone.
I ended up adding 25g of ginger powder & 50g ginger chips.
Also included 2 sachets of kit yeast in addition to the 2 champagne yeasts.
will let you know how I go.

[erik]

also rwh - OG was 1081

[rwh]

Ah, well that's not too outlandish. Should be in the 8-9% range.

[erik]

Well finally bottled this one, some 25 days fermenting. I should start racking I think...
Anyway OG was 1080 FG was 1000 - my software (including carb drops) comes in at approx 11% - what do you guys think of the calculation - the country brewer sheet that I've got doesn't have that much range.

It is 22L.

I'll let you know how it tastes in a few weeks.

[corks]

11%!?! sounds like fun.

[drsmurto]

your OG is a tad higher than the calculator but thats prob due to temp diffs etc so 11% is a reasonable estimation.

Since your champagne yeast managed to chew thru all that sugar that will be a very very dry ginger beer with not a hint of sweetness. You may find it goes down better with some lemonade, maybe even half and half as that would make it a normal 5%. At 11% you are talking white wine levels and if its easy drinking that will cause carnage!

[KEG]

^^ it would still be dry after that, but with a bit of body. the only solution for sweetness for homebrewing is either lactose or artificial sweeteners... but artificial sweeteners taste like the east end of a camel going west, so stick with lactose.
for a brew that size with that alcohol content i'd say go with 350-450g lactose, but that's just me

having now done a very similar brew myself, even 1kg of lactose left it well below the sweetness of bundaberg ginger beer. i used plenty of ginger and lemon though, so it's diluting nicely with some lemonade. alcohol reading was 7.74% for what i used.

[drsmurto]

yep. Me too. the lemonade cant out flavour a bitey ginger beer. Very refreshing drink!

[erik]

Hey All,

I had to taste this one, even if it is early. My overall impression is that this is so dry that I'll need to mix it - definately not an easy drinking beverage. So I can't see myself falling over with this one.

I think I've learnt a few lessons with this one;
1. Use more Fresh Ginger if I'm not using a kit. I'll try 1.25kg for a 23L batch next time.
2. Champagne yeast is not my friend. The only other brew I've used this yeast in is a lemonade - same dry finish and again needs to be mixed. Next time use some other yeast & decrease fermentables.
3. When I forget how dry this is - try adding Lactose as KEG suggested.

Cheers for all the advice.

This is what I'll put down in a couple of days;
1 Coopers Kit
800g Ginger
2 Kg Dextrose
1 cinnamon stick
10 cloves

& maybe some honey _ just tried honey in a kager and it was quite nice - any thoughts on honey in ginger beer?

e

[drsmurto]

Maybe this recipe is your cup of tea - i think it looks like a winner and its not even mine!

http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/vi ... php?t=4745

The malts used plus an ale yeast should leave it sweeter meaning no lactose or artificial sweetener needed! Will be my next one!