Hot and spicy Ginger Beer

Disappointed in the commercial ginger sodas, I have set out to do my own. I think I have it close to what I am looking for. I thought I'd share even though it's not that different from what others are doing.

This is for 2 liters:

7oz fresh grated ginger
Zest and juice from 1/2 lemon
Zest and juice from 1/2 lime
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast (might be able to use just 1/8 tsp)

Add ginger, lemon, and lime to sauce pan and cover with 24 oz of good water. Simmer until liquid is reduced by about 1/4 or so, or a good 30 minutes. Strain and squeeze as much liquid from the remaining pulp as you can. Add liquid back to sauce pan and bring back to boil adding sugar until dissolved. Allow to cool and pour into a 2 liter bottle. Add water to fill bottle 3/4 and add yeast. Cap and shake. Loosen cap and squeeze the headspace from the bottle and tighten cap again. Let sit in a warm spot until the bottle is rock hard (less than 24 hours in my experience so far) and then place in the fridge.

A few Q's do you need to release the pressure before putting it in the fridge how long does this take and what is the finishing alcohol content?

I don't release the pressure. Just straight into the fridge. I am finding it takes less than 24 hours so keep an eye on it. Not sure alcohol content, never checked it but there is zero alcohol taste so if there is any, it's a very small amount.

I had a Ginger Beer that i kinda liked, when I was on vacation in the Carribbean. I believe it was about 5 or 6%, but had a distinct flavor. I've been curious to experiment with a ginger beer since then. I may just have to give this a test run. Thanks.

Yeah, I thought about trying it again and letting it ferment with a air lock for a week and see how that turns out.

I tried this last night with a few changes. I hadn't realized I didn't have quite enough ginger on hand, and ended up with probably 3.5 oz, or so. It still had quite the ginger aroma to it, but I'm hoping that the flavor is there. Also, I didn't have Champagne yeast, so I used Nottingham.

I followed the OP recipe as described, other than those two exceptions. I took a gravity reading before I pitched the yeast, and was at about 1.042. I figure this is a quick and cheap experiment, so if it's decent, I can tweak it out in the future, and maybe let it ferment longer so I could get about a 5% beer out of it. Then again, if it makes a good soda, I'm fine with that too. I'll try to post the results once it's done.

Okay, so its been just over 24 hours. The bottle was back to normal size but not completely hard. I tried to take a reading in the hydrometer, and there is a bit of carbonation which I think may be throwing it off (reading 1.050 tonight). I wish I would've used the refractometer last night.

Anyway, the flavor is really good. Even with only half the OP recommendation of ginger, it still has a solid ginger flavor. I'm not a regular soda drinker, and to me, it's a little over sweet at this point. That would be my only minor criticism, but the Notty might be a contributor also. I definitely like the flavor though, and will continue to play with this recipe.

I think I'm going to squeeze the head space out of the bottle again, and let it go another night. I'll try it again tomorrow.

Sounds good. I think I might make another batch tonight and let it ferment rather than just carbonate and see how that turns out.

Any updates on the alcoholic twist on the ginger beer? I am looking into gluten free beer substitute for my sister in law. I would like to try a gallon batch...

Oak_Brook_Brewing_Company said:

Any updates on the alcoholic twist on the ginger beer? I am looking into gluten free beer substitute for my sister in law. I would like to try a gallon batch...

Click to expand...

+1
anybody ever fermented this out?

I don't think anyone is active in this thread anymore. I was interested too. Let me know of you try it out, please.

Oak_Brook_Brewing_Company said:

I don't think anyone is active in this thread anymore. I was interested too. Let me know of you try it out, please.

Click to expand...

Will do. It'll be a few weeks as I have 6 batches going and my equipment is tied up in that or waiting for racking.
I think I'm going to try 1gal. Per recipe in proportion. Another just bump up water only. And try another doing the same with Apple juice??? Ferment all out to dry.

Ok i've got this on the bubble, I've altered the recipe for taste... and budget.

-200g of grated ginger,
-110 grams of soft brown sugar
-100 grams of honey
-130 grams of white sugar
-1 orange quartered
-1 cinnamon stick
-7 g of bakers yeast
-hand full of raisins
-2 tea bags
-enough water to bring the volume up to 4 litres (shy of 1 gallon).

{It might look like i'm being really fancy with my sugars, but its more a case that its all I had left.}



----METHOD----


Mix the sugars, honey, ginger, and cinnamon into a pan. Heat gently and stir until the sugar dissolves.

Meanwhile, put the raisins into a cup with 2 tea bags, add boiled water, and leave to cool down.

Once the sugar has dissolved in the concentrated ginger solution, pour over a strainer, and extract ALL of the ginger juice. ITS PRECIOUS. leave to cool. Also remove the cinnamon and put to one side.

Drop your orange slices in the to demijhon, along with the cold tea, cinnamon, and raisin/tea mix.

Reconstitute your yeast as per manufacturers instructions.

Add your cooled ginger concentrate to the demijohn, along with your yeast.

Top up the volume to 4 liters.


And that's as far I've got!

The raisins and tea was a last minute addition, because it wasn't bubbling as much as I'd liked.

I'm planning to leave for 4 to five days, or until fermentation finishes, then I'm nervously going to bottle condition for added carbonation.

Im hoping for an ABV of between 3 - 5, But its more likely to be less. Ill let you know how it goes!

Bump

MrRemusSpud said:

=
Mix the sugars, honey, ginger, and cinnamon into a pan. Heat gently and stir until the sugar dissolves.

Click to expand...

DUHH with enough water to cover!

So, did anyone let this ferment out... and have an alcoholic Ginger Beer...? I am very interested in how it turned out. Thanks!

Typically all you need is approximately 1 tsp sugar per 340 ml bottle to prime it for carbonation. That amount of sugar would result in very little alcohol, maybe 0.5%. This recipe has a lot more sugar and the bottle would probably explode before fully fermenting, that's why you put it in the fridge once the bottle turns hard.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Curious as to how people's experiences come out as well.

I'm interested in either:

1) A ginger beer non-alcoholic that is spicy like Reed's
2) An alcoholic ginger beer similar to Crabby's

This might be my brew project for 2014.

Hi,

I'd like to make an alcoholic, spicy ginger beer.

I've bought a 30 litre plastic fermenting tank, with an airlock on top and a tap on the side.

I've looked at various recipes but I have a couple of questions:

(1) Rather than heating the ginger/sugar etc mix, rather than straining it before adding it to the tank, would it be problematic to simply ferment the unstrained mix? Surely I'd be able to develop more flavour this way?

(2) To make it extra fizzy, I could a some sugar syrup to each bottle before sealing . . . how do I estimate the amount to add, but not explode the bottles?

(3) If I make it alcoholic (say up to 3.5%), am I safe in assuming this could be stored unrefrigerated (in sterile bottles).

Thanks!

I have brewed a batch tonight using an adapted recipe, shall see how it turns out after fermentation and will report back.

That chef guy, how did it turn out?


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

It is currently bottled and conditioning. I think my recipe lacks the fiery kick I was hoping for, I would follow one similar to MrRemusSpuds next time, I thought it important for me to discover the flavours by keeping it simple and adapting from there. The yeast ate the sugar very quick, I should've stopped it as it was very dry, nevertheless it is fixed now. I would suggest usining oranges instead of lemons, and maybe adding a few black pepper corns for that burn as it goes down my throat.

Edit

Forgot to mention, I am using a generic yeast for everything right now as I purchased some by vin classes in which it says it is great for wineAND beer, so I am putting it to the test. It is definitely a good wine yeast, mead seems to be going rather well, I just need to adjust recipes for my ginger beers and remember to stop the yeast when it gets to the sweetness I require.

I too am looking for the ultimate recipe. Vernors is my favorite non alcoholic brand. Thus far,my research has found there are about 18 different ingredients, being ginger (duh), vanilla, citric acid, spices (big help) and sugar, water, caramel. Near as I can determine, a syrup was made, then aged for 3 years, then mixed (jerked) with very carbonated water to give the extra bite. Mr Vernor was picky about the temp, below 41 F. I've been grating and boiling my ginger and I think I'm losing too many essential oils. I add 2 lbs sugar per Gallon US and red star champ yeast. At 6 bpm, (burps from my air lock) it came out very dry and flat. Another batch I used a pilsner yeast, very sweet and fizzy, stomp yer head the next day, but not there yet. Todays batch I will run 1 lb of ginger thru my juicer, put the juice aside, then steep the pulp with lemon & lime zest 6ea, plus nutmeg, allspice, cardamom, and basil. juice goes with with the lemon-lime juice. Will steep several times to pull as much flavor as possible. To each steep I will dissolve equal volumes of sugar. (basic syrup recipe), strain and discard pulp after Gleaning as much flavor as possible . On last steep I will Add the juice while temp is still above 170F, Batch into my 5 gal carboy add water and balance of sugar, substituting 2lbs light brown and then add 2 tbs vanilla extract per gal plus 1 tbs citric acid for 5 gal. perhaps caramelize 1 lb sugar and add. Will try the Red Star again and keep U posted. Yes, I back sweetened the last batch to make it palatable and add a little fizz. Am picking up a new hydro today, mine does proofs, but is for rocket fuel. Perhaps our friends in the UK have some ideas they will share. After all, they started this. God bless you!)

Why not start simply and only add details after the basics succeed, and more stuff is proven to be needed? Throwing a ton of things together doesn't make it easy to know what is cancelling out what, or covering up a problem that really needs solving in the basics.

I like Vernors and wish I could simply buy it, or else make it as directly as possible. It seems to have a simple but strong spice. It's been a decade since I have seen it for sale, and even then it was at a terrible premium. I envy folks who can buy it on sale cheap just like any other soda.