I'm sorry for a potential hijack. It'll be quick! I guess I'm really confused with the whole process of soda making. I've heard people say "if you want it sweeter, add more sugar," which flies in the face of typical beer brewing logic. Is it really as simple as cold-crashing and storing the soda in the fridge after 24 hours to prevent fermentation?
This is why it is fairly important to bottle soda in plastic if you are bottle carbonating it. Place the mixture in the bottle with your yeast and check every 12 hours or so by squeezing the bottle. Once the bottle is firm, like an unopened store bought soda, you can place it in the fridge and the yeast will go dormant stopping fermentation. If you remove the bottle from the fridge and leave it on the counter for a while the yeast can become active again.
Okay, I've got a couple of 2L bottles fermenting as we speak. I upped the ginger to 2oz per bottle rather than Alton's 1.5. Still, I was surprised at how mild it was. I was expecting spicy ginger hot, but even tasting the undiluted syrup was pretty tame. Tasty, but tame.
We are addicted to Blenheim Ginger Ale, so perhaps my expectations are off. Even the "mild" version is spicy hot. The "Old #3 Hot" (red cap) version of Blenheim's will clear your sinuses faster than wasabi. That might be coloring my expectations. Is the ginger ale like beer in that it gets sharper as it carbonates?
Chad
ETA: Also see the Blenheim Shrine and The New York Times's William Grimes for more info on the best ginger ale ever. It is amazing in cocktails. The Magnolia Grill in Durham, NC, has a Pineapple Ginger Fizz (2oz pineapple juice, 2oz high quality rum and 3oz of Blenheims) that will forever change your opinion of fruity drinks.
Okay, the ginger ale is carbed and cooled. Tasty, but more like lemon-lime soda than ginger ale. Maybe I got some overly mild ginger. Any thoughts? At this point I'll definitely make this again but probably triple the ginger per batch to see if that gets closer to what we like.
The ginger flavor was much stronger during the first two days. Now that it's about a week old, the flavor is much more mild. I definitely agree that there's room for improvement (more ginger!), but this recipe is a great starting point.
Chad, if you get a stable recipe in that ball park, PM me!
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Obsessing over: starting a local brewery, CSA produce, my wife, 4 month old and 3.5 year old, my chevy 6.5L diesel Suburban
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Yuri- Thanks for posting this. This is my first venture into making soda's but it looks tasty.
I had to dig around to find my old carbonator cap adapter, grabbed some ginger, a lemon and started making this. The only change I made was using brown sugar but this does look like something I can easily make, and might enjoy.
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In Primary: Belgium Chimay clones.
In Secondary: Braggot, pale ale, end of the world white.
Conditioning: Mead, Cider, braggot, Belgium Wheat.
On Tap: Clones, Chimay Blue, Red, Porter, malted cider.
Bottles: Far, far, too many to list.
OK, tasted my first batch yesterday, tasty but decided to make some more with much more ginger, a little more lemon juice and rinds, and just a little less sugar. Second two PET bottles has one being carbonated with C02, the other with a little WLP300 from a washed yeast batch.
Very easy to make, and I like the refreshing taste. With C02 it is totally alcohol free so I can finally bring some "home - brew?" to work and stop spending stupid amounts of money on soda's.
Thanks again for posting that video, nothing answers the questions and can kick you into gear better than a simple step by step video. For me seeing is believing.
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In Primary: Belgium Chimay clones.
In Secondary: Braggot, pale ale, end of the world white.
Conditioning: Mead, Cider, braggot, Belgium Wheat.
On Tap: Clones, Chimay Blue, Red, Porter, malted cider.
Bottles: Far, far, too many to list.
I just made this stuff as an experiment. I used 3 oz. of ginger because I knew I would need the stronger flavor. Small problem though. It stank like maybe some "rhino farts". It had a really nasty sulfur like odor. I drank it anyway. Anyone have a theory as to why my batch turned out this way?
. Anyone have a theory as to why my batch turned out this way?
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