Newest Threads

**smh** · 11-30-2010, 04:19 AM

Hi all,
So I'm new to this whole process and am not a stickler for recipes. I am a stickler for cleanliness, etc. so I'm not sloppy. I wanted to make an alcoholic ginger beer/ale (whatever), so followed this procedure:

Boiled ~4L spring water, added ~1Kg white sugar, 2 big roots of grated ginger (maybe 2 cups), 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient (because I have it) and 6 tsp of lemon juice. I let this sit until it reached ~70degrees C and immersed in a cold water bath to cool to 37degrees C. I added 1/4 packet of Wyeast Dry mead (4632) yeast, stirred well. All of this was strained through cheesecloth into a 4L milk jug (cleaned etc etc). I only have one airlock which is tending to my first mead, so I plugged the top of the bottle with sterilized cheese cloth.

Initial SG was 1.094.
This yeast can tolerate 18% ABV, so could end up being fairly potent if I understand this correctly.

All this for my question:
If I want this to be carbonated, when should I bottle? Should I let the fermentation finish completely? Or should I bottle at a specified SG to get the carbonation I desire? I plan on bottling this in old, cleaned 2L pop bottles.

Hopefully this starts some nice discussion. Look forward to replies.

S

MarzBock · 11-30-2010, 01:03 PM

I don't think I'd call that a Beer or an Ale... Maybe Ginger Cider. That's a LOT of ginger for just 4L of water. I probably used the same amount for a 5gal batch.

check this recipe:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/ginger-ale-3rd-place-2009-hbt-bjcp-comp-141080/

I brewed this as-is, well mostly.. I changed the hops to use what I had on hand. Been in the bottles almost 3 weeks now. I popped one tester and it was good.. still tasted like beer with a nice ginger snap finish.

Flywheel · 11-30-2010, 01:13 PM

I like lots of ginger, I think it'll be good, hot, but good.

Here's my Creamy Ginger Ale recipe, I haven't fermented it ever, but have been meaning to, it make a nice hot "soft drink."

Per gallon of water:
1 banana
1 cup golden raisins
.5# grated ginger root - fresh (yep .5 pound per gallon of water)
juice and zest from 2 limes
8oz honey
16 oz sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cloves

I usually make a slurry out of all of the ingredients (except water and honey) in the food processor, add to water, then simmer it all on the stove for a few hours. Adding honey at flameout.

With that SG, I would think you can bottle prime like you would beer. It may take a while, but I think it should prime up OK.

EoinMag · 11-30-2010, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarzBock

I don't think I'd call that a Beer or an Ale... Maybe Ginger Cider. That's a LOT of ginger for just 4L of water. I probably used the same amount for a 5gal batch.

check this recipe:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/ginger-ale-3rd-place-2009-hbt-bjcp-comp-141080/

I brewed this as-is, well mostly.. I changed the hops to use what I had on hand. Been in the bottles almost 3 weeks now. I popped one tester and it was good.. still tasted like beer with a nice ginger snap finish.

It's a ginger ale, what you've posted there is a recipe for an Ale with ginger.

**smh** · 12-07-2010, 08:16 PM

So, not much progress, but I have noticed that despite filtering there is substantial sediment on the bottom of the vessel. I assume that this is just fine ginger gratings.

Should I rack off of this, or will it matter?

dvdanny · 12-07-2010, 09:31 PM

I did something very similar to that once, except i used 50/50 Honey and DME, about 1# of each for 2.5 gallons. I boiled about 1/2 cup of ginger, pitched US-05 and then dry hopped with another 1/2 cup after about a week in the Mr. Beer fermenter. The beer was supper light in body, which is what i was going for, only about 3% alcohol too so it was popular with the ladies.

Because it was so popular i considered making a season version every few months, Honey for summer, Maple Syrup for Fall, Brown Sugar w/ Caramel malts for Winter and Wheat DME for spring. Never got around to it because I wasn't such a fan of it myself (I love ginger but the beer was too light and watery for my taste).

PT Ray · 12-07-2010, 09:51 PM

I'd let it ferment out then prime each 2-liter with about 14 grams of sugar before filling.

**smh** · 12-21-2010, 07:11 PM

Update:

Tiny bit of bubbling still, but decided to rack anyhow since I'm going away for christmas. I took a reading and the SG=0.992. By my calculations thats about 16% abv. Taste is quite nice, with a good alcohol hit. Not overly hot, but gingery. Would prefer a more rounded flavour so will consider adding some juice (maybe apple) next time. I suppose I would adjust the amount of added sugar in this case to give a similar SG.

For now I placed back into the jug and plugged with cheesecloth as before. Will wait until after the holidays to bottle w/ priming.

Stardust · 12-21-2010, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smh

I added 1/4 packet of Wyeast Dry mead (4632) yeast, stirred well.

Just to make sure Im reading this correctly, you used only one-quarter of the 4632 yeast packet?

This recipes sounds tasty and refreshing. I think it would be an excellent recipe for my husband who absolutely hates the flavour of beer.

How long will you let it age? Are you going to carbonate it?

**smh** · 12-21-2010, 10:40 PM

I used somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 the packet; I didn't measure anything.

My intention was to prime 2L bottles, but I think it's too strong to make that large bottles. I'll probably prime 500mL bottles. I don't have any experience with this so it will be a wait and see approach. I think it will be nice carbonated on it's own or mixed with fruit juice.

If I were you I'd add something to this aside from just water. The flavor is a bit one dimensional so adding a small amount of juice might be nice. Perhaps sliced organic orange would also be nice.