Ginger/Peach in Beer

Aubie Stout · 08-19-2009, 12:29 AM

I have designs on a ginger peach beer. Base it off a wheat beer, use a wit yeast, and load up with some ginger and peach. I did look at the ginger peach that is listed in the database, but that was done with tea. A county close to me in known for it's peaches and I was looking to use the real thing. I figured 3 lbs of fresh peaches to a 5 gallon batch.

The ginger is what has me nervous as I have never used it before.......

I found one commercial beer that seems close: The Atlantic Brewing Company's Estate Brewery in Bar Harbor, Maine

I emailed these guys and they suggested 30 lbs of fresh ginger in a sparge bag for 15 BBL's worth of beer. Can anyone scale that down to 5 gals?

Thanks,

Oldsock · 08-19-2009, 02:44 PM

Peach is a very subtle flavor in beer. I just added ~5 lbs of white peaches (pitted, sliced, and squished up a bit) to the secondary of a sour honey wheat beer. The sample I pulled after a week of fermentation had a noticeable peach aroma/flavor, but it was not over the top.

That works out to 2 lbs of ginger per bbl. A bbl is 6 times bigger than your 5 gallon batch, so you need 1/3 lb (5.33 oz). That is a lot more fresh ginger than I have heard of people using (I’ve only tried dried ginger, and 1 oz was too much). I would start off at 1-2 oz, you can always add more if you need it.

Good luck.

MattHollingsworth · 08-19-2009, 02:51 PM

Check my recipe "Gingembre et pamplemousse" in my recipe section, linked below my name for how I used ginger, if you're curious. Not a fruit beer at all, but lots of ginger character...

Beernik · 08-20-2009, 02:46 AM

I agree with at least 5lbs of peaches for a peach beer.

My ginger beer sucked in my opinion. Coworkers enjoyed it and I was happy to give it away. I think if I had to do it over I'd slice up a bunch of candied ginger instead of using raw ginger root.