8.5L Ginger Beer

[Andreweagle92]

Hi all, I'm fairly green to Home Brew and have made a few attempts with the Mr. Beer cans with minor success.

I was hoping I could find a recipe for an alcoholic Ginger Beer to suit the 8.5L Craft Series kit. I did my best to search the rest of the forum but all the recipes I found were for bigger batches. I assume it's a matter of adjusting the ratios to suit my kit but I didn't want the chance of over flowing or exploding the brew.

My partner doesn't drink beer and I want to try get her excited about the process of making something from scratch (and to let me keep buying new ingredients to experiment with ) Thanks in advance..

[John E Miller]

I made this one a couple of years ago:

https://www.thehopandgrain.com.au/brew-ginger-beer/

You could double the recipe to make 9L.

I really enjoyed it. Quite spicy and very dry, so I mixed a little sugar syrup to serve. 

It was a bit intense for my wifey. She preferred the Brigalow kit. 

As for overflowing - I don't think it is as much as a risk with ginger beers because they often don't have as much malt, which is what causes the big krausen I believe. Therefore you could get away with less headspace; maybe up to 11L in the craft fermenter.

Edited December 1, 2020 by John E Miller

[Andreweagle92]

Cheers for that John, I'll give it a crack before Christmas and see how we go 

[Quack Brewer]

On 12/1/2020 at 8:31 PM, John E Miller said:

I made this one a couple of years ago:

https://www.thehopandgrain.com.au/brew-ginger-beer/

You could double the recipe to make 9L.

I really enjoyed it. Quite spicy and very dry, so I mixed a little sugar syrup to serve. 

It was a bit intense for my wifey. She preferred the Brigalow kit. 

As for overflowing - I don't think it is as much as a risk with ginger beers because they often don't have as much malt, which is what causes the big krausen I believe. Therefore you could get away with less headspace; maybe up to 11L in the craft fermenter.

I've been wanting to make a Ginger Beer from scratch and did look at the recipe above.  The problem is the price of Ginger which seems to be about $39.00 a kilo anywhere I look.

If I find some cheap(er) ginger I really want to try the recipe.

I've made two batches of GB (one was a disaster, and the other quite nice)

The disaster

I managed to find a 1Kg Masterfoods Ginger (finely chopped) on sale at Costco ($5.00) and used two of those, with a 1.5Kg Black Rock Light Malt extract tin. I added some other fermentables, including brown sugar, as well as spices + chilli etc.   I added crystalised ginger to the bottles 

Seemed like a good idea at the time, but we had a hot spell (35 degrees in Septemb er) and the fermentation went crazy.  Because I was unsure of the project I bottled it in soft drink bottles.

The batch had dyfunctional carbonation (like shaking a softdrink bottle) and the brew had a strange musty flavour which must have come down to the chopped ginger (? the preservatives).

I kept it in the bottle for about 2 months, but I binned it the other day..... 

A bit of a learning experience but I'm pleased I did it....

The good batch.

Previous to that I had good luck with a Morgans Ginger Beer batch which I pimped with some LDM, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, chilli, mixed spice, and a small quantity of Coles no-name crushed ginger. It's a very nice drop, but around 7.5%.

 

 

[lynchman]

My first Ginger Beer has been actively stirring itself in the fermenter for the last 6 days. had a sip today when checking gravity. it tastes good but the reading was concerning.  it seems to be only at 2.63% ABV.

should I leave it ferment for a few extra days, mess with it, or do something different next time to increase the ABV?

Any suggestions appreciated. 

[John E Miller]

On 1/30/2021 at 8:17 PM, lynchman said:

My first Ginger Beer has been actively stirring itself in the fermenter for the last 6 days. had a sip today when checking gravity. it tastes good but the reading was concerning.  it seems to be only at 2.63% ABV.

should I leave it ferment for a few extra days, mess with it, or do something different next time to increase the ABV?

Any suggestions appreciated. 

G'day.  What was the original gravity and the gravity last time you took a reading?

What is your progress now?

Cheers, John

[John E Miller]

On 12/3/2020 at 1:06 PM, Andreweagle92 said:

Cheers for that John, I'll give it a crack before Christmas and see how we go 

How did you go with your ginger beer?

[John E Miller]

On 12/3/2020 at 2:44 PM, Quack Brewer said:

The problem is the price of Ginger which seems to be about $39.00 a kilo anywhere I look.

The price is crazy now hey?! In 2018 when I made this recipe, ginger was only $21/kilo at Coles. Today I went to buy some to make some ginger beer and it was $55/kilo. 

I am also looking at using crushed ginger from a jar, but I am a bit sus on how that will taste. They tend to be about 95% ginger, then oil, sugar, salt and acidity regulator. It is the oil that concerns me. I might give it a crack in 1L of non-alcoholic ginger beer. 

[Andreweagle92]

20 minutes ago, John E Miller said:

How did you go with your ginger beer?

 

I ended up delaying the brew until after Christmas.

Everything went to plan once I put it down, I went for 4.5L with a small squeeze of lemon juice with zest plus a stick of cinnamon for the first batch. I didn't strain the boil before adding to my FV so there was a fair bit of sediment that couldn't be bottled (I think I'll strain the next one, thoughts?). After testing the SG on day 6 my tap actually started dripping very slowly so probably lost another couple hundred ml's by the time I bottled on day 11. I forgot to take an OG reading but it finished on 1003 (I have a feeling my Hydrometer has lost its calibration so I'll be buying a new one soon), it tasted nice and had a good punch when I bottled (5x750ml PETs with 2x Carb Drops in each).

Today is actually day 14 after bottling but I have decided to do 'FebFast' and won't be drinking for a month, I will give another update at the start of March when I've first tried it. Cheers.

[John E Miller]

@Andreweagle92 Good on you for doing FebFast. The ginger beer will be better by then as well. 

I reckon the lemon would be a nice addition. I don't think I strained mine, but I would in future. That may be why your tap was leaking after taking a sample: a piece of ginger may have got caught in the tap. 

You can test your hydrometer's accuracy: it should read 1.000 in pure water at room temperature (mine is calibrated to 16°C, but I think the Coopers ones might be 20°C). 

[lynchman]

8 hours ago, John E Miller said:

G'day.  What was the original gravity and the gravity last time you took a reading?

What is your progress now?

Cheers, John

hey John. OG was 1.042. I let it go for an extra couple of days in fv and it stabilised at 1.015 = 3.5%, which is a bit more respectable. thinking I should up sugar 500g to 2kg next time and maybe a bit less water? 

[John E Miller]

6 hours ago, lynchman said:

hey John. OG was 1.042. I let it go for an extra couple of days in fv and it stabilised at 1.015 = 3.5%, which is a bit more respectable. thinking I should up sugar 500g to 2kg next time and maybe a bit less water? 

Judging by those gravity measurements there's nothing saying it isn't still slowly fermenting. It is safest to leave until two readings are the same after 24 hours. If you have some of it in plastic bottles I would check them for pressure every now and then to make sure they don't feel like they are going to explode.

What was your recipe, and what size batch?

[lynchman]

Thanks John.

here is what I did..

Brigalow Ginger Beer kit.
750ml Buderim ginger refresher
3 x 230g minced ginger jars
1 cinnamon stick
8 cloves
250g honey
1.5 kg raw sugar

 Boil all except sugar up for 30 minutes (not yeast) in 4 L water. strain /filter x 2.
Add sugar and 1 x 750ml of buderim ginger beer cordial,  
cover and Cool for a few hours and add to clean, sterilised and rinsed fermenter,
top up to 23L with boiled then cooled rain water, when temp gets to about 19 C pitch US-05 yeast, NOT the yeast and nutrient that come with the tin. 

4. Allow to ferment for 7 days at 18-20 degrees C. Check FG it should be close to 1.000-1010 
5. Once fermentation is complete, bottle with 2 x carbon drops. 
6. store for at least 3 weeks. 

[Staggerinn]

Hi,

Ive been pressured by my beer sampling neighbours to make some ginger beer! 

Ive just bought powdered kit from my local HB shop and some US05.

Is GB as critical of fermentation temps? 

I know temp range is for the yeast, but I' m wondering if the effect of higher temp noticeable in a GB over a clean beer. My fermentation fridge is full up at the moment so I was wondering If I could just leave it to ferment in my brew room in the mid 20's

I would appreciate any advice on this, thanks.

[lynchman]

On 04/02/2021 at 5:32 AM, John E Miller said:

Judging by those gravity measurements there's nothing saying it isn't still slowly fermenting. It is safest to leave until two readings are the same after 24 hours. If you have some of it in plastic bottles I would check them for pressure every now and then to make sure they don't feel like they are going to explode.

What was your recipe, and what size batch?

Hey John. one week in and they are very firm in the plastic bottles. when should I worry? what can be done? should I separate them so if one goes it wont detonate the others? ✌

Edited February 10, 2021 by lynchman

[John E Miller]

7 hours ago, lynchman said:

Hey John. one week in and they are very firm in the plastic bottles. when should I worry? what can be done? should I separate them so if one goes it wont detonate the others? ✌

I would start worrying if they begin to look like this! https://community.diybeer.com/topic/15654-i-sees-it-but-i-doan-believe-it/?tab=comments#comment-232144

Are there any glass bottles? I would try to put those in the fridge to slow down the secondary fermentation (along with one PET to let you know how the glass ones are going). 

With the plastic bottles you can just twist the cap slightly to release a quick burst of pressure until it feels like it is back to how it should be, but as you can see in @worry wort's post, the PET bottles can take a little bit of abuse!

It's glass that frightens me, because you can't see or feel how close they are to blowing. That's why I like to fill at least one plastic bottle as a pressure tester. 

[John E Miller]

On 2/4/2021 at 12:37 PM, lynchman said:

 

here is what I did..

Brigalow Ginger Beer kit.
750ml Buderim ginger refresher
3 x 230g minced ginger jars
1 cinnamon stick
8 cloves
250g honey
1.5 kg raw sugar

I reckon your first hydrometer reading might have been off. I would expect the OG to have been closer to 1.050. 

Looks like a good recipe to me, I'll be interested to hear how it tastes.

[John E Miller]

On 2/5/2021 at 4:35 PM, Staggerinn said:

Is GB as critical of fermentation temps? 

I know temp range is for the yeast, but I' m wondering if the effect of higher temp noticeable in a GB over a clean beer.

I don't really know enough about temperatures to answer properly, but I reckon you're right that a GB has such strong flavours that the funky high temp esters might get hidden in the mix. I'd be waiting for someone else to answer who has experience of this though

[lynchman]

2 hours ago, John E Miller said:

I would start worrying if they begin to look like this! https://community.diybeer.com/topic/15654-i-sees-it-but-i-doan-believe-it/?tab=comments#comment-232144

Are there any glass bottles? I would try to put those in the fridge to slow down the secondary fermentation (along with one PET to let you know how the glass ones are going). 

With the plastic bottles you can just twist the cap slightly to release a quick burst of pressure until it feels like it is back to how it should be, but as you can see in @worry wort's post, the PET bottles can take a little bit of abuse!

It's glass that frightens me, because you can't see or feel how close they are to blowing. That's why I like to fill at least one plastic bottle as a pressure tester. 

cheers John. All in plastic and it looks like they have a lot of give in them yet. I'll check in another week and see if I should release pressure. does this mean the ABV is increasing on a second bottle ferment? 

[John E Miller]

9 minutes ago, lynchman said:

cheers John. All in plastic and it looks like they have a lot of give in them yet. I'll check in another week and see if I should release pressure. does this mean the ABV is increasing on a second bottle ferment? 

No worries. Sounds like you'll be fine. Apparently you can add an extra 0.5% to the ABV after bottle conditioning.

[Waynealford]

On 12/1/2020 at 8:31 PM, John E Miller said:

As for overflowing - I don't think it is as much as a risk with ginger beers because they often don't have as much malt, which is what causes the big krausen I believe.

My last batch was Kingsley's World Famous Ginger Beer recipe using the Morgan's tin o' goop, and did a split batch; 13L in the big fermenter with champagne yeast and 10L in the craft vessel with Saison yeast - Krausen was a good 4 inches in both!!

[Staggerinn]

4 hours ago, John E Miller said:

I don't really know enough about temperatures to answer properly, but I reckon you're right that a GB has such strong flavours that the funky high temp esters might get hidden in the mix. I'd be waiting for someone else to answer who has experience of this though

Thanks for the reply John. Fortunately the weather settled out a bit this last week and I had some relatively cool temps in the brewing room, so I just let it sit there. It's just about finished up now and tastes really quite good straight from the fermenter. I'm not sure if Im going to bottle or keg yet, probably bottle so its a bit more portable.

All the Ginger beer I have seen is quite "Murky" is that normal for the style? I will still CC and not sure if i should hit it with some gelatine?

[John E Miller]

1 hour ago, Waynealford said:

My last batch was Kingsley's World Famous Ginger Beer recipe using the Morgan's tin o' goop, and did a split batch; 13L in the big fermenter with champagne yeast and 10L in the craft vessel with Saison yeast - Krausen was a good 4 inches in both!!

There you go. I think the Morgan's ginger beer does contain malt

[John E Miller]

1 hour ago, Staggerinn said:

Thanks for the reply John. Fortunately the weather settled out a bit this last week and I had some relatively cool temps in the brewing room, so I just let it sit there. It's just about finished up now and tastes really quite good straight from the fermenter. I'm not sure if Im going to bottle or keg yet, probably bottle so its a bit more portable.

All the Ginger beer I have seen is quite "Murky" is that normal for the style? I will still CC and not sure if i should hit it with some gelatine?

That's good. All the ginger beers I have made have been cloudy, but I've seen one on YouTube that was clear 

 

[Classic Brewing Co]

On 12/1/2020 at 8:01 PM, John E Miller said:

I made this one a couple of years ago:

https://www.thehopandgrain.com.au/brew-ginger-beer/

You could double the recipe to make 9L.

I really enjoyed it. Quite spicy and very dry, so I mixed a little sugar syrup to serve. 

It was a bit intense for my wifey. She preferred the Brigalow kit. 

As for overflowing - I don't think it is as much as a risk with ginger beers because they often don't have as much malt, which is what causes the big krausen I believe. Therefore you could get away with less headspace; maybe up to 11L in the craft fermenter.

Hey John, I am thinking of doing a GB recipe & came across this, I have a Mr Beer Craft Kit free ATM so I am wondering if I would get away with 11 litres in the Craft FV without a Krausen Kollar.

Thinking it would be OK, Looks good anyway. 

Cheers

Phil