Alcoholic ginger beer

Hi,
I new to beer brewing and would like to know if anyone has made an alcoholic ginger beer. I'm not comletely unskilled with brewing I've made malted whisky and other spirits when I lived in NZ and now I live in a country where distiling is frowned upon. I've done some research and all recipies are for non alcoholic types. Can anyone point me in the right direction to finding the infomation I'm looking for?

as for a commercial example, Left Hand JuJu Ginger is one that comes to mind.

As for alcoholic ginger beer, I like to get some ginger beer(soda) and add a shot of dark rum to it. (Dark & Stormy)

Not made a ginger beer yet, but I'd go easy, fresh ginger root can overpower real quick.

Ginger beer is easy. Make an inoffensive amber or pale ale, go easy on the late hops, and "dry-hop" with the freshest ginger you can find. Sliced paper-thin and placed in a cheesecloth bag, it takes about two weeks to develop a very pleasant zingy, zesty character.

Cheers,

Bob

I don't think that's what the OP is after. I just got back from NZ and ginger beer was a real treat. It's a super-sweet, cloudy version of ginger ale soda. I think z987k has the easiest solution for adding a kick. Creating a natural alcoholic ginger beer would require cider making techniques like nuking the yeast post-fermentation with campden/sorbate and back-sweetening followed by kegging for carbonation.

I've made this a few times. I like a lot of ginger heat. You can reduce the ginger if you don't like it that bold. Try this:

5 gal batch

2 lbs fresh ginger, cut into slices
17 cups sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
3 cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
1 vanilla bean, split
1 packet champagne yeast

Boil 2 lb ginger for about 30 mins. Remove from heat, stir in the sugar and spices. Cool, transfer to fermenter, pitch yeast.

After fermentation is complete, rack to a secondary, crush and add 5 campden tablets to kill any remaining yeast. You can also add another lb of fresh ginger if you really like the ginger flavor. Let it sit for about 2 weeks (1 week if not using more ginger). Boil a small amount of water and add sugar needed for desired sweetness. Add to keg, then rack the ginger beer on top. Force carbonate @ 30 PSI (serving pressure).

Good luck!

jkarp said:

I don't think that's what the OP is after. I just got back from NZ and ginger beer was a real treat. It's a super-sweet, cloudy version of ginger ale soda. I think z987k has the easiest solution for adding a kick. Creating a natural alcoholic ginger beer would require cider making techniques like nuking the yeast post-fermentation with campden/sorbate and back-sweetening followed by kegging for carbonation.

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Well traditionally Ginger beer has been soda with a hell of a ginger kick. The best I've had being Jamaican.

However there is merit to making a real beer and putting ginger in it. There are commercial examples out there.

I am new to this site and relatively new to making ginger beer but here is my third recipe, which I am bottling tomorrow. I will let you know how it turns out...

1.6kg Fresh grated ginger
30gm dried ginger
7 Lemons juice
1 tblspn Cinnamon (plus hand full of cinnamon sticks)
1 tblspn Nutmeg
500gm Airbourne honey (Vipers Bugloss)
1.5kg Black Rock Malt Extract (Amber)
1kg Brewblend No. 15 (Dextrose, Malt Extract, Corn Syrup)
500gm Lactose
5gm Yeast nutrient
1 sachet SAF S23 Lager yeast

1. Boil ginger, lemon juice, and spices for at least 1hr.
2. Turn off heat and add honey, Malt, Brewblend, and lactose – mixing well.
3. Cool to less than 25 degrees.
4. Add yeast nutrient and yeast.
OG = 1.061 (4 Nov)
FG = 1.022 (21 Dec)
Approx 5.2 ABV

Here is a link to the Gingerbeer that I have made the last few years.
Ginger Ale - Home Brew Forums
The first year I made it I entered it in a few contests and scored in the mid 30's in both.
The last batch I made I changed too many things and did not turn out.
It was drinkable, just not what I was shooting for.
I now have one working that is a basic honey wheat beer, Midwest Supplies Honey Weizen kit.
I made according to the recipe and fermented for a week.
At that point I peeled and sliced up 2.5oz of fresh ginger and added to the carboy.
I will be sampling it later today to see if I need to add more, just leave it on the ginger that is there now, or rack off.
It does smell tasty so far.
Cheers,

http://www.scienceinschool.org/2008/issue8/gingerbeer/

above is an article on how to make ginger beer the old fashioned way. Apparently ginger beers were traditionally alcoholic (albiet very low ABV due to the short fermentation time) and were popular with kids in the UK. What we see here in the states today is basically just carbonated soda, but the real thing involved yeast. My hope is to make something like this but in a 3gal batch and let it ferment a few weeks instead of a couple days, hopefully I will come out with something drinkable...

I made the Austin Home Brew Ginger Ale recipe last year. I must admit that it was one of my least favorite recipes. I could hardly taste the ginger. Next time I would double or triple the dried ginger content.

I've made some ginger beers after going to Australia and New Zealand and I've had some good success with a technique similar to Bob's suggestion.

Make an amber or pale ale, but add as much fresh ginger as you can. I grated 4 oz of fresh ginger root (if you freeze the ginger, you can grate it much easier) and added half of it at 60 min and half of it and 20 min of the boil.

I've also been experimenting with candied ginger (it's generally higher quality than the typical root you find in a supermarket) and it adds just a little extra sugar to be fermented.

When I've made Ginger Ale Soda, I boiled about 1/2c of fresh grated ginger (in my blender) and the juice of 1 lemon per gallon for long enough until there was enough ginger bite for me. You might want to do the same...As I recall it may have taken 30 minutes or longer to get enough "bite" extracted..

z987k said:

Well traditionally Ginger beer has been soda with a hell of a ginger kick. The best I've had being Jamaican.

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I had some great ginger beer in Barbados and I've thought about making an alcoholic version of that. I already make soda for my kids in 2 liter bottles. Couldn't I just add enough sugar to hit 5-6% ABV and when it hits the sweetness I like, then I cap it, let it sit a day to carb, then put it in the fridge?

Forget Bourbon Porters, dose about 3/4 capfull of this nectar into any hoppy ale and you're talking about some delicious flavors. I love this stuff.

I recently made 2 batches of ginger beer (similar recipe to Moonshae's recipe) and may have a dilemma. I did not strain/filter out the 1.5lbs of ginger (or zest from 1 lemon) before racking into the primary. Its been fermenting for almost a week and appears to be fine but I'm not sure what to do at this point.

I realize that this was probably a mistake but my logic at the time was the couple times I've made mead with our homebrew club - some folks will rack directly onto oranges, limes, etc.

Thanks in advance!

I don't forsee any problems. You might get more ginger flavor and bite than you anticipated, and perhaps a bit more lemon...which could make it better! As long as the bitter white stuff from the lemon was kept out you should be fine. Even if there's some white pith in there, the bitterness it would impart probably wouldn't be too noticeable.

update: I have since made multiple ginger "wines". My favorite to date was a result of boiling about 1-1.5 lbs chopped ginger with approx. 5lbs table sugar and the juice of 10 limes. The acid in the limes made for a slightly slower fermentation, I think about 3-4 weeks instead of my usual 10 days for apple wine, but it came out tasting great! I used Red Star Champagne yeast and ended up dumping some ginger juice from my juicer at the end to give it an extra kick.

Just recently bought a copy of Kingsly Amis' "Everyday Drinking" which has cocktail recipes using ginger wine, maybe I will start another batch soon! Think of the dark and stormys you could make (damn, why didnt I think of that when I had it on hand? I guess I'm not usually a rum drinker)

I used to buy "Jamaican" ginger beer (non-alcoholic, strong soda) at the grocery store for 2.50 a bottle and figured I could brew that at home for way less. Some searching online led me to Ginger Beer Plant. I found a place in the UK http://gingerbeerplant.net/ that sells the starter and directions for use.
This kind of culture does not need sanitation like brewing yeast, just basic cleanliness so it is much simpler to brew a batch. The only problem is that the yeast will eat all the sugars in the brew given enough time. So you need to brew it like one a week or so. A bit of work, but it sure does taste good. A bit of fine tuning of my recipe and now it tastes just like it should. My mom said it tastes just how she remembers it from the grocery store decades ago when it came in crockery.

i made moonshae's recipe, but i used an ale yeaset as it's all i had. it was great, though i think the ale yeast kind of took the sweet out of it and it took forever to ferment. will be making again with the proper yeast in a week or so. and this time i will take gravity readings, i'm curious how strong it is...seems like the longer it's been bottled the more "knock me on my arse" it's gotten.

I am looking to make a 5 gallon batch of ginger beer too. I'm gonna keg mine for a summer event. I'll have to make a smaller test batch sometime soon since I want to know I'll get a good 5 gallons for the event I'm brewing for at the end of the summer.

I had Crabbies Ginger Beer, which is about 5 percent alcohol content, a few times in the past couple weeks at a bar downtown. It's amazing! Really good! If you've ever had a good non-alcoholic ginger beer; it just tastes like that but there's alcohol too. They can sneak up on you. Would be a great summer treat to make though. Very refreshing! Hoping to find a good recipe online too. Will let you know if I find something too!

willberthepig said:

I am looking to make a 5 gallon batch of ginger beer too. I'm gonna keg mine for a summer event. I'll have to make a smaller test batch sometime soon since I want to know I'll get a good 5 gallons for the event I'm brewing for at the end of the summer.

I had Crabbies Ginger Beer, which is about 5 percent alcohol content, a few times in the past couple weeks at a bar downtown. It's amazing! Really good! If you've ever had a good non-alcoholic ginger beer; it just tastes like that but there's alcohol too. They can sneak up on you. Would be a great summer treat to make though. Very refreshing! Hoping to find a good recipe online too. Will let you know if I find something too!

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Thanks for pointing me to Crabbies. I wasn't aware of any alcoholic ginger beer in the US. I've been playing with a sessionable (read: 3.5%ish) ginger beer. It's pretty tasty, and makes the best Moscow Mule I've ever tasted, hands down. Here's my recipe, taken from the 'Ginger "Beer" (with wine yeast)' thread.

1. Mix 3 lbs high quality ginger into 2.5 gallons water (I do it in batches in the blender)
2. Add 10 cups turbinado sugar, or 8 c turb, 2 brown sugar. Generally, 2 cups/gallon is mildly sweet. I usually add a few squirts of honey to the boil as well. A little honey goes a long way in this recipe, btw.
3. Add 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper for a kick if you want it, pinches of sea salt and other spices. I've been adding 1 tsp cream of tartar, but I don't think that's needed after reading through threads here.
4. Boil all that for 15 minutes, then cool for 120. Strain, Transfer to fermenter, double the water, and add 1 cup each of lemon and lime juice. Add yeast (Red Star Champagne Yeast) when temp is right (I shoot for 101). Usually OG is around 1.044 here.
5. Ferment for 48 hours (stirring/aerating regularly) for "Ginger Ale" at around 1.3% ABV, or 96 hours for about 3.3%. Go longer for stronger. I haven't yet tried to fully ferment and adding late sugar yet. Alcoholic potency isn't my primary goal. 3.3 sessionable is.
6. Here is where I would advise to bottle pressurize for 24-48 hours, but since you're kegging, just keg that, leaving as much sediment on the bottom as possible. A little doesn't hurt, of course.

gingerman said:

Thanks for pointing me to Crabbies. I wasn't aware of any alcoholic ginger beer in the US. I've been playing with a sessionable (read: 3.5%ish) ginger beer. It's pretty tasty, and makes the best Moscow Mule I've ever tasted, hands down. Here's my recipe, taken from the 'Ginger "Beer" (with wine yeast)' thread.

1. Mix 3 lbs high quality ginger into 2.5 gallons water (I do it in batches in the blender)
2. Add 10 cups turbinado sugar, or 8 c turb, 2 brown sugar. Generally, 2 cups/gallon is mildly sweet. I usually add a few squirts of honey to the boil as well. A little honey goes a long way in this recipe, btw.
3. Add 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper for a kick if you want it, pinches of sea salt and other spices. I've been adding 1 tsp cream of tartar, but I don't think that's needed after reading through threads here.
4. Boil all that for 15 minutes, then cool for 120. Strain, Transfer to fermenter, double the water, and add 1 cup each of lemon and lime juice. Add yeast when temp is right (I shoot for 101). Usually OG is around 1.044 here.
5. Ferment for 48 hours (stirring/aerating regularly) for "Ginger Ale" at around 1.3% ABV, or 96 hours for about 3.3%. Go longer for stronger. I haven't yet tried to fully ferment and adding late sugar yet. Alcoholic potency isn't my primary goal. 3.3 sessionable is.
6. Here is where I would advise to bottle pressurize for 24-48 hours, but since you're kegging, just keg that, leaving as much sediment on the bottom as possible. A little doesn't hurt, of course.

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So which yeast strain do you use on this recipe?

Ah, minor detail.

I use Red Star Champagne Yeast. Trying a batch with their Cote de Blanc yeast today (along with some hops) for the first time. I'll report back next week how that went.

I assume with the low abv that one packet of dry yeast should be sufficient for this recipe. I have not used champagne yeast before so I don't know how well it works compared to ale yeast.

Yes that's correct. One packet is sufficient for a 5 or 5.5 gallon batch. Follow the instructions on the packet and add to 1/4 cup water at 101-105 F, wait ten minutes and add it to the ginger tea in the fermenter. I aerate with my giant spatula for a couple minutes when I first add it, and then make sure to stir a couple times a day until I'm ready to bottle. I believe the CY does a bit better with some oxygen, hence my daily stirrings, but I'm not confident in that assertion. haha

Also, I think if you were to ferment this all the way dry, given the sugar levels above, it'll go to 6.5ish percent. Haven't tried that yet though.

Sorry for not being more clear initially. Ginger beer is my first foray into fermentation, and I have no real world frame of reference with beer and its complexities and ingredients yet.

Just bottled two batches of this tonight at 100 hours of fermentation. Both got to 5%, with a decent amount of sweetness left.

Did you ferment these at room temp (upper 60's F)? How quickly did you cool the liquid after it was boiled? I was thinking about making this in the next 2 days but our temps are going to be in the upper 90's or over and it is not easy to get things cool with my wort chiller.

I was also thinking of kegging this instead of bottling so I can taste it sooner. Would you recommend cold crashing this for a day or two to get the champagne yeast to drop out? I have no experience using this type of yeast before.

msa8967 said:

Did you ferment these at room temp (upper 60's F)? How quickly did you cool the liquid after it was boiled? I was thinking about making this in the next 2 days but our temps are going to be in the upper 90's or over and it is not easy to get things cool with my wort chiller.

I was also thinking of kegging this instead of bottling so I can taste it sooner. Would you recommend cold crashing this for a day or two to get the champagne yeast to drop out? I have no experience using this type of yeast before.

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Yes I live in austin so the fermentation temp was actually around 76-78 most of the time. The temp in my house is set to 80 while I'm at work, and ive had no issues.

After boiling, I let the liquid cool to about 130-140 (about 90 min) generally, then either splarge to double the volume, or just double the volume of water without splarging if I'm in a rush. Remember that champagne yeast prefers 101-105 to be pitched, and can handle higher ferment temps than beer yeast from the little I know about that, so you may not even need to use a chiller. I certainly haven't.

I think cold crashing would help drop out the yeast for sure, but haven't tried that yet. I actually had an issue in a couple batches with not enough yeast getting into the bottles to carb them after just straight siphoning it with no cold crashing. So it seems that at least the champagne and cote de blanc yeasts settle pretty readily.

gingerman said:

Yes I live in austin so the fermentation temp was actually around 76-78 most of the time. The temp in my house is set to 80 while I'm at work, and ive had no issues.

After boiling, I let the liquid cool to about 130-140 (about 90 min) generally, then either splarge to double the volume, or just double the volume of water without splarging if I'm in a rush. Remember that champagne yeast prefers 101-105 to be pitched, and can handle higher ferment temps than beer yeast from the little I know about that, so you may not even need to use a chiller. I certainly haven't.

I think cold crashing would help drop out the yeast for sure, but haven't tried that yet. I actually had an issue in a couple batches with not enough yeast getting into the bottles to carb them after just straight siphoning it with no cold crashing. So it seems that at least the champagne and cote de blanc yeasts settle pretty readily.

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Thanks for answering all of my questions. I am going to give this a shot tomorrow.

Ginger beer is easy. Make an inoffensive amber or pale ale,

msa8967 said:

Thanks for answering all of my questions. I am going to give this a shot tomorrow.

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Nice! Let us know how it goes.

I went and tried both of my hopped ginger brews (with the Cote de Blanc and with the Champagne Yeast) last night after bottling/refrigeration. Not super impressed with the addition of hops (although they taste better with the Cote de Blanc yeast than the CY), but that may be an artifact of fermenting them too dry (5%) as well. Just not a great taste all around. Maybe they'll mellow with time. I'd say for your first batch, stick with my recipe above with Champagne Yeast and you'll be good.

Also, and this may seem obvious but it took me about 5 batches to realize it, splurge on the most expensive ginger you can find at whole foods. It makes a huge difference in the final product. Also, shoot for 2.5% ABV (48-72 hour ferment) for max ginger taste, up to maybe 3.5-4%. Just a couple tips I'd wish I'd received earlier in my experimentation.

Ginger Libation from Green River Ambrosia; it runs 8-9%, mildly sweet, and as far as I know the only way to get it is to visit Massachusetts. Being a mead, wine, and beer maker, I definitely would love to be able to reproduce their ginger beer, going to start with Gingerman's recipe in small batches.

So this was for my 2.5 gallon trial batch. Let me know if you have any comments.

1.75 lbs of fresh ginger (peeled and run through the food processor)
1 oz of crushed coriander
1/4 oz of lemon peel zest
1 gram of grains of paradise
2 cups dark brown sugar
3 cups turbo sugar

Boil for 15 minutes and champagne yeast was added at 100 F. I let this go for 4 days and then keg.

I saved all of the processed ginger and spices into jars to store cold. I have placed these in fine mesh bags in my kegs if I ever feel the ginger flavor starts to fade or needs to be sharper.

Looks solid. I like the spices. May have to try those next time. Also, good call on retaining the ginger. That could be useful if you're looking for >4% beer, as the ginger flavor is diminished significantly at higher ABV in my experience.

One thing that I've read that most of the aromatics in ginger are near the skin, so I only minimally prune my ginger before blending it skin and all. Or at least, that's how I justify skipping the pain of peeling so much ginger.

gingerman said:

Looks solid. I like the spices. May have to try those next time. Also, good call on retaining the ginger. That could be useful if you're looking for >4% beer, as the ginger flavor is diminished significantly at higher ABV in my experience.

One thing that I've read that most of the aromatics in ginger are near the skin, so I only minimally prune my ginger before blending it skin and all. Or at least, that's how I justify skipping the pain of peeling so much ginger.

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Leaving the skin on would be much less work. I will try that next time. For my ginger ale soda I placed the root and spices in a pair of panty hose stockings that I have boiled the color out of. This goes into my keg to help keep the sharp ginger edge present as I drink the soda. If I can get this session style ginger beer to come out well then I may have to add another tap line to keezer.

Well traditionally Ginger beer has been soda with a hell of a ginger kick.

gingerman said:

One thing that I've read that most of the aromatics in ginger are near the skin, so I only minimally prune my ginger before blending it skin and all. Or at least, that's how I justify skipping the pain of peeling so much ginger.

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This is interesting because I would have worried the skin might contribute an off flavor, and you are absolutely right about how hard it is to peel that much ginger. Making my first batch tonite, here is my recipe, inspired by gingerman and the Ginger Libation label:

3 gallon batch

2lbs fresh ginger, chopped in food processor
4lbs turbinado sugar
2cups pineapple juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup key lime juice
1/2 tsp cream of tartar for head retention
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Red Star Champagne yeast
3 gallons water
Start gravity of 1.052

Brought sugar, water, and ginger to a boil, turned off the flame and let steep for 1 hour. Added juices, cream of tartar, and cayenne, then strained into fermenter. Let cool overnight and pitched yeast. If all goes well, I will stop fermentation at 1.008 and have 6% ABV and a decent amount of residual sweetness. The turbinado sugar is 95.7% fermentable, so if it tastes too sweet I will let it go a little further. My total cost for the ingredients from Whole Foods here in Charlotte NC was around $24.

**update 7/30**
OK so after 7 days of fermenting the gravity was at 1.014, the taste was wonderful, so I pulled it out, finished it, and kegged it. Just waiting on it to carbonate, should take a week, the taste is very hot and strong ginger, alcohol at 5.2%, a fair amount of sweetness, and just a slight hint of pineapple. VERY happy with how this turned out.

sneakymeade said:

This is interesting because I would have worried the skin might contribute an off flavor, and you are absolutely right about how hard it is to peel that much ginger. Making my first batch tonite, here is my recipe, inspired by gingerman and the Ginger Libation label:

3 gallon batch

2lbs fresh ginger, chopped in food processor
4lbs turbinado sugar
2cups pineapple juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup key lime juice
1/2 tsp cream of tartar for head retention
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Red Star Champagne yeast
3 gallons water
Start gravity of 1.052

Brought sugar, water, and ginger to a boil, turned off the flame and let steep for 1 hour. Added juices, cream of tartar, and cayenne, then strained into fermenter. Let cool overnight and pitched yeast. If all goes well, I will stop fermentation at 1.008 and have 6% ABV and a decent amount of residual sweetness. The turbinado sugar is 95.7% fermentable, so if it tastes too sweet I will let it go a little further. My total cost for the ingredients from Whole Foods here in Charlotte NC was around $24.

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Looks good. Let us know how it tastes. I'm curious how pineapple will taste in the GB.

Also, probably should note that I'm pretty sure the cream of tartar is an artifact from older recipes for making invert sugar, not head retention. It doesn't hurt at all to add it from my experience, but its just an acid and I don't think it aides head retention.

sneakymeade said:

This is interesting because I would have worried the skin might contribute an off flavor, and you are absolutely right about how hard it is to peel that much ginger. Making my first batch tonite, here is my recipe, inspired by gingerman and the Ginger Libation label:

3 gallon batch

2lbs fresh ginger, chopped in food processor
4lbs turbinado sugar
2cups pineapple juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup key lime juice
1/2 tsp cream of tartar for head retention
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Red Star Champagne yeast
3 gallons water
Start gravity of 1.052

Brought sugar, water, and ginger to a boil, turned off the flame and let steep for 1 hour. Added juices, cream of tartar, and cayenne, then strained into fermenter. Let cool overnight and pitched yeast. If all goes well, I will stop fermentation at 1.008 and have 6% ABV and a decent amount of residual sweetness. The turbinado sugar is 95.7% fermentable, so if it tastes too sweet I will let it go a little further. My total cost for the ingredients from Whole Foods here in Charlotte NC was around $24.

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Sorry for the double post. Couple more questions/comments for ya.

Remember to adjust your target FG a bit higher than you're aiming for if you're going to bottle carb it, as it'll take a couple days in the bottle to pressurize. Of course if you're kegging/crashing, that's a moot point.

Also, if you're bottle carbing and I haven't said it in this thread, make sure to fill a plastic bottle 80-90% full and use as a tester. This will give you a dead on accurate indicator for your glass bottles' pressure, and let you know when to refrigerate them.

And thinking more on head retention, perhaps maltodextrin would work? Haven't played with that yet. I think Splenda is mostly maltodextrin, and it couldn't hurt to add a bit to a couple bottles and see if there's a difference.

But if it's properly carbonated, there shouldn't be any issues with head retention in the recipe as is.

So on day 4 the airlock is still showing plenty of activity (bubbling). Should I just go ahead and bottle or wait a bit more?