Has anyone brewed "ginger saison" from extreme brewing?

jigidyjim · 05-26-2010, 04:07 PM

If so - did you strain out the ginger when you poured the wort into the fermenter, or did you leave it in?

Usually I strain my wort when pouring through the fermenter, to get all the hops n' stuff out (I don't use any hop bags). I'm not sure if the crystalized ginger needs to be in there during the fermentation, or if all the needed flavors/sugars will be extracted during the 10 minute "let the wort sit" after flameout.

Thanks.

**Airborneguy** · 05-26-2010, 04:12 PM

I haven't brewed this - BUT - it is the house brew at my friend's house. Instead of just fresh ginger though, he makes a candied ginger himself. Because it is candied, it basically dissolves during the boil and whatever doesn't is gone after fermentation.

jigidyjim · 05-26-2010, 04:15 PM

The recipe in Extreme Brewing actually calls for candied ginger not fresh ginger... so maybe within those 10 minutes sitting after flame out it will dissolve?

**Airborneguy** · 05-26-2010, 04:17 PM

I didn't even know that. According to him, it dissolves between the boil and fermentation. the question was raised by someone at our homebrew club meeting two weeks ago who made a ginger saison with fresh ginger and didn't strain it and wasn't happy with the outcome.

HalfPint · 05-26-2010, 04:23 PM

I've never used candied ginger in brewing, but I've used it in cooking a lot. If I were you I'd taste some. Personally, I love the stuff (I typically eat it by itself when I'm using it). I wouldn't worry about using a bag or anything, I'd just toss it in. I think it will dissolve after a couple of weeks of fermenting if it doesn't during the boil.

Let me know how this one turns out. I've made two recipes from that book (60 min IPA and chamomile wheat) both of which were amazing.

Good luck

jigidyjim · 05-26-2010, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HalfPint

I've never used candied ginger in brewing, but I've used it in cooking a lot. If I were you I'd taste some. Personally, I love the stuff (I typically eat it by itself when I'm using it). I wouldn't worry about using a bag or anything, I'd just toss it in. I think it will dissolve after a couple of weeks of fermenting if it doesn't during the boil.

I guess the question is - if I'm supposed to leave it in, that means I can't strain out my hops/coldbreak/etc. Should I just dump the whole thing in the fermenter this time, hops and all? The last ~15 batches I've always poured through a strainer.

jessup · 05-26-2010, 05:26 PM

i've brewed it, but dang was it a long time ago. if i remember correctly i left the ginger in the primary for the entire fermentation and then just left it behind while re-racking. i don't recall if i used a secondary or went directly into the bottle, but either way it'll be at the bottom and there's no chance it will get siphoned if you leave the chunks as pea sized as directed. it was a great recipe and i've been considering doing it again recently. esp since it's saison season

i wouldn't worry about the hops in the primary, for what it's worth i always used leave the hop residue in my batches and put most in the primary when using a bucket. it settles out with the yeast and you prob get slighyly better hop utilization since it gets all churned up during fermentation.

HalfPint · 05-26-2010, 06:48 PM

Leaving the hop crap has actually been shown to be beneficial during the yeasts growth phase. I typically never use a hop bag for anything unless it's a lot of an ingredient (such as the chamomile I used in Sam's wildflower wheat) that I wouldn't want in the final product. Just throw it all into the kettle. If you primary for say 3 weeks, it will all be compacted in the yeast cake. Just gently rack off your brew when need be.

castillo · 01-29-2012, 01:22 AM

I just brewed the ginger saison from extreme brewing last month. Today it's been two weeks since I bottled it. I tried a couple and it's pretty good. I didn't strain the wort and didn't have any issues when I racked it to secondary. I used the white labs p565 saison yeast and it fermented it down to 1.006. The only thing that bothered me about the way it turned out is the color. Came out copperish in color. But it's still good.

**passedpawn** · 01-29-2012, 01:35 AM

I made this. And, to answer the original question, I left the candied ginger in the carboy during fermentation. It will completely disappear (I've used candied ginger in other beers too).

I think it could use double the candied ginger recommended in the recipe in Extreme Brewing. I didn't pick up much (any) ginger in the final product.

(FYI, I converted the recipe to all grain)

Cheers.