Ginger beer adventures

[drewbert]

As some have expressed a desire to see how my recent foray into Ginger Beer fermenting has gone, and the fact it was living in the whats in your fermenter thread, ive made a separate home for it here.

So to review, the recipe:

• 250g ginger (grated)

• 1 /3 cinamon stick 

• 2 cloves 

• 1 lemon (diced)

• 700g raw sugar 
• 1/4 teaspoon yeast nutrient 
• 1 packet of m02 cider yeast

All ingredients bar the yeast and the nutrients were boiled together for an hour, then strained into the carboy, filling to around 5 litres of goodness.

Almost instantly was the fermentation starting. 

 

Went in on friday afternoon, bottled after 5 days on wednesday evening.

SG : 1049

FG : 0.993

Estimated alcohol is 6.825% prior to bottle conditioning with the Cooper's sugar tablets. 

Have made 5 1/2 long necks. 

Tried straight and suspect that it was quite harsh due to the lack of conditioning, but it was also VERY dry. Ginger was a bit more subtle that i would prefer, and lemon was strong.

I can tell it will be good with lemonade/sprite in a 4:1 mix 

 

Next go around will be looking at 300g of ginger and dial the lemon back to about 1/2 of one lemon. Might look into what else i can do to add the punch of the ginger up higher. But wont make any decision for round two until number one has had some conditioning. 

Edited June 12, 2019 by drewbert
terrible english

[Beer Baron]

Maybe some added lactose to help it not be so dry??

[Instigator]

1 lemon diced - seeds, pith, skin, and all?

[drewbert]

7 hours ago, Instigator said:

1 lemon diced - seeds, pith, skin, and all?

Yessir. I can look at just juicing a lemon and adding some zest...  Plenty of options available

[The Captain!!]

I personally wouldn’t ferment pith. In beer they can produce some pretty ordinary off flavours. 

[Naughty Corner Brewing]

I wouldn’t either! And my beer is not that bad!

7 hours ago, The Captain!! said:

I personally wouldn’t ferment pith. In beer they can produce some pretty ordinary off flavours. 

 

[drewbert]

After 10 days conditioning. Heat is back on the menu. It's a bit early to tell if it's much with young alcohol get. But can definately taste the ginger heat too. 

Lemon is also strong flavour, as expected from the recipe. Next iteration will only have the juice for 1 lemon instead of the whole dang thing. Also considering a shorter boil as well. 

[PeterC1525230181]

A good non-alcoholic lemonade recipe I tried used the juice and rind but not the pith. It emphasised peeling the rinds thinly and boiling that in water to extract the lemon oil. Similarly, when making a Gin and Tonic, peel the lemon or lime thinly with little or no pith and extract the oil with just the gin in the freezer in glasses, then add lemon slices and tonic and ice and serve. In cooking with rind (eg. a spag. bol. sauce) if you include the pith it becomes unpleasantly bitter. 

The point is that the pith does not contribute useful flavour.  I'd include some lemon rind in the boil but not pith. 

[drewbert]

5 minutes ago, PeterC1525230181 said:

A good non-alcoholic lemonade recipe I tried used the juice and rind but not the pith. It emphasised peeling the rinds thinly and boiling that in water to extract the lemon oil. Similarly, when making a Gin and Tonic, peel the lemon or lime thinly with little or no pith and extract the oil with just the gin in the freezer in glasses, then add lemon slices and tonic and ice and serve. In cooking with rind (eg. a spag. bol. sauce) if you include the pith it becomes unpleasantly bitter. 

The point is that the pith does not contribute useful flavour.  I'd include some lemon rind in the boil but not pith. 

Don't fear. The will be no pith anywhere near the next iteration

(☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞

[PeterC1525230181]

Just now, drewbert said:

Don't fear. The will be no pith anywhere near the next iteration

(☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞

You don't want anyone taking the pith! 

[drewbert]

2 minutes ago, PeterC1525230181 said:

You don't want anyone taking the pith! 

It would be pith-etic of them to try