Evil Clown Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 I am thinking of doing a Ginger Beer, but want to add a strawberry flavor to it. Could I add some Strawberry extract (assuming it has no sugars in it)to my fermenter just before bottling (when the gravity readings are constant over 2 days) and stir it in gently to try and avoid stirring up the sediments from the bottom of the fermenter. And then just bottle as normal? Or would there be too much chance of getting an infection into the brew? I only have a basic homebrew set up, so I only do a primary ferment and then bottle using carbonation drops. Hope my questions make sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snags Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Wow, sounds like a funky blend there![unsure] Let us know how it turns out! Mick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Clown Posted March 19, 2012 Author Share Posted March 19, 2012 The strawberry extract I have found so far has the following listed ingredients: Alcohol, Propylene Glycol, Strawberry juice concentrate, Natural Flavours, Water. So I am wondering, would the Strawberry juice concentrate ingredient have fermentable sugars in it that could cause over priming in the bottle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snags Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Honestly, I wouldn't stir it in just prior to bottling. Too much risk of causing infection, plus you are going to disturb all the sediment. Why not add it now, to give it time to mix through, it's not going to make much difference. Why do you want to add strawberry flavouring to Ginger beer anyway? Lemon would be more appropriate. It's going to be a very odd tasting brew. I very much doubt it would affect priming in any way if you chose to do it the way you want to. Cheers, Mick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Clown Posted March 19, 2012 Author Share Posted March 19, 2012 I tried a Ginger Beer from my good friend Dan Murphy lol, it had strawberry flavour to it and it tasted really nice and I want to try and replicate that type of flavour in my ginger beer. Maybe I should try and borrow another fermenter and rack the primary down into it with the strawberry extract already in the secondary. Leave it for a while and see if it ferments some more and then bottle later using carbonation drops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamB8 Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Has your strawb extract any preservatives in it? it could affect your carbonation if your yeasties take a disliking to it. I've never heard of a ginger beer with strawb, can you send one my way when its finished [bandit] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 You will need to ensure your strawberry extract is both sugar and preservative free. If so i don't see a problem with this provided sanitary measures are taken. However, when FG is reached, I would be more enclined to put the extract in another FV and rack the GB onto it. Then let it sit for a couple of days, take a gravity reading to ensure fermentation has not started again and if it hasn't, then go ahead and bottle it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Clown Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 Thanks for the input everyone. I ordered the strawberry extract this morning and it should arrive just before the primary ferment reaches FG. Then I'll rack it down into a secondary FV already containing the extract, let it sit for a couple of days to ensure there is no more fermentation taking place and then bottle it. I hope it works cause the strawberry ginger beer really does taste great, but at around $65 for 12 500ml bottles it is just way to expensive. Dan Murphy's now has a large range of ginger beers available but at very ridiculous pricing, but well worth sampling the odd single bottle for flavour ideas. I'll report back after bottling with an update as to the initial success or failure of the project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordEoin Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 $65 for 12 500ml bottles [surprised[surprised[surprised I don't think my liquidized body would cost that much. Although it would have a pretty high alcohol content... i hope it works out well for you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Clown Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 Well the strawberry extract arrived yesterday and I opened it up to have a smell and to add a bit to a glass of ginger beer which I had brewed earlier. It smelled or tasted nothing like strawberry [sick] so I don't think I'll add it to a 19Litre batch of Ginger Beer. Guess it's back to the drawing board on how to add the strawberry flavor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordEoin Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 I'm not sure if it will work for beer, but I don't see any reason not. it worked on a gallon of wine I made and also in a basic ginger beer in made in an empty 2l coke bottle (juice of a lemon, few cups of sugar, grated ginger, bread yeast) sounds dodgy but works out to be a fantastic soft drink, but i digress.... DO you have capri sun there? They have a range of pure fruit juices with no aditives, unfortunately they dont have a strawberry only onebut they have this summer fruits oneLINK 100% summer fruit juice from concentrate (Apple 75%, Blackcurrant 10%, Red Grape 9%, Cherry 4%, Strawberry 1%, Aronia, Lemon). the strawberry content is low, but you still get the taste, the appl and lemon get hidden by the ginger. i chucked it in with the original ingredients, but if you work out the sugar content you I see no reason why it couldnt be used to prime... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zippee Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Had a taste of the Strawb GB tonight, the strawb flavour was fresh, and just wondering if a rack over a fresh mash of berries for a cuppla days wouldn't impart the right flavour? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Clown Posted March 24, 2012 Author Share Posted March 24, 2012 The rack over fresh berries may well do the job, but I figure you would probably need a good couple of kg of strawberries to get the flavor. I may give that a go one time when strawberries are going cheap. I have been working on the quick cheap option, but it doesn't seem to work. Maybe I should just reside to the fact that if you want a job done right you may as well do it right the 1st time and that may involve $$ lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Of The Dans Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 I've tried the strawberry ginger beer you've mentioned, and I agree, it's bloody great. Let me know how it goes, and what you've used, because I reckon if I nailed it, the minister for war and finance would be a very happy lady indeed!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Clown Posted March 26, 2012 Author Share Posted March 26, 2012 A friend of mine sampled the Strawberry extract yesterday and thinks the bottle was labeled wrong and is in fact Vanilla Extract, no wonder it tasted off. So I got in touch with the supplier and I am sending it back for them to look at and replace with actual Strawberry Extract. So the Strawberry extract path may still work. I will update this thread when I have had a chance to try it out. I really hope I can crack a cost effective way to get the strawberry flavor into the ginger beer as the commercially available strawberry ginger beer at Dan Murphys really is a bloody nice drop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zippee Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 I have a GB just about ready... and an empty FV, so I will try some over the freshly frozen berries from the supermarket :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordEoin Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 i saw on another thread somewhere that 'for the intended flavour profile, raw sugar is the recommended adjunct.' Is this normal supermarket 'granulated unrefined cane sugar'? If so, how light/dark is best? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Clown Posted March 27, 2012 Author Share Posted March 27, 2012 JohnS40 I hope it works, if it does let me know what berries and the quantity you use are please. LordEion I'm not sure of the technical reasons behind what sugars to use, but for the fermentables in the recipe I use I currently use. 1kg dex 500grams ldm 700grams of dark brown sugar. I find it quite good. By the time you add the fermentables in the GB can and the priming sugar it brings it into about 7.4% abv. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordEoin Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Wow... that must pack quite a punch... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Clown Posted March 28, 2012 Author Share Posted March 28, 2012 Well the new strawberry extract arrived today and this one had a little bit of strawberry taste to it. I mixed a little into a glass with a previously bottled bottle of Ginger Beer and I got just the hint of a strawberry flavor, nothing like the one Dan Murphy's though. I didn't have a spare Fermentation vessel so I took the risk of taking the lid of the current brew that has just about hit Final Gravity, poured in the 100ml of extract, a very gentle stir with a sanitized spoon and then back on with the lid of the fermentation vessel. Time will tell if it tastes ok, or if I have introduced an infection into the brew. Nothing ventured nothing gained, so I took the risk, I'll report back in with the results when I bottle and then after carbonation has taken place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Of The Dans Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 I have a ginger beer tin in the cupboard. I may just hold off using it until you report back on this one.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordEoin Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 You inspired me to up the sugars a bit. Kevin the delivery man showed up on my door this morning with a Ginger beer kit, and I couldn't wait til tomorrow night, so cracked into it. Ended up with: kit 500g Dextrose 800g unrefined cane sugar 500g DME Then in about a liter of water,boiled the crap out of: 250g peeled and diced ginger root zest and juice of 1 lemon 10 whole cloves teaspoon of ground cinnamon and seived the juice into the wort, topped to 20liters. OG 1.035 The house smells amazing, even SWMBO thinks so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Clown Posted April 1, 2012 Author Share Posted April 1, 2012 Well I bottled the Ginger Beer with the Strawberry Extract in it today, and I had a little sip to see what it tasted like. I could not even get a hint of a strawberry flavor, so on that basis you would need multiple bottles of Strawberry Extract to give any kind of strawberry flavor, so I will try my next batch with a few kg of real strawberries in it to see if that works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zippee Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 Ok.. been catching Tuna... BUT before i zapped off i bottled all but 10L of GB. Not finding frozen strawbs, and being tight..i opted for a couple of cans of strawbs,, Smell in the can- sweet and very much like the commercial... 2 x cans (mushed up) went in the FV... Well, fermentation has kicked in again with the added sugars,,, tastes like GB..... So, next step is to source some cheap fresh berries and add..... :) What to do with bluefin tuna and beer ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Clown Posted April 10, 2012 Author Share Posted April 10, 2012 I put down another batch of Ginger Beer last night in my attempt to get some strawberry flavor coming through. And I think this attempt has a real chance of working [happy] I found some cheap'ish fresh strawberries, so this is how I went about it. I Mashed up 2kg of fresh strawberries(after removing the green leafy bits) in a big pot, added 2 Litres of warm water and brought it to a very low simmer, and then added 1kg of raw sugar 250grams of dark brown sugar 25 grams of ginger powder and then simmered for about 20 minutes while constantly stirring. I then added the contents of the Coopers Ginger Beer can to the pot and stirred that in and simmered for another 5 minutes while continuing to stir the mix. I made sure that at no stage did the mix boil it was just warm enough to dissolve the sugars with a little steam rising but no visible bubbling. I then tipped the contents of the pot into the fermenter topped up to the 20 Litre mark, took my sample for OG and then pitched in the yeast (at 26 degrees Celcius) that came with the can. OG = 1032 (adjusted to 20 degrees Celcius). I taste tested the OG sample and it was very sweet and had a nice rich strawberry taste to it. So I figure the sweetness will fade out as the sugars are converted to alcohol and the strawberry flavor will hopefully remain. I'll report back with a taste up date when I bottle the brew in a week or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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