Gingerbread recipe anyone!??

hello everyone! I am a beginner in brewing, that's why I registered! My father in law asked me to do a batch of a gingerbread beer! I can't find any and I want to impress him!

Can someone help me please? It would be great.
(I don't have the equipement yet to do all grain!) thanks in advance everyone!

bigloubrew!

I got this recipe from my LHBS, and i just bottled itlast week (my 4th batch). I have yet to taste it, but the hydrometer sample smelled/tasted very similar to gingerbread. It's a partial mash, so you'll need an extra 1.5 gallon pot and colander in addition to your brewing equipment.

4.0 lbs. Pilsen light malt extract
3.3 lbs. Munich liquid malt extract

1.0 lbs. Biscuit malt (mash)
18 oz. 10L Crystal (mash)
10 oz. Special B (mash)

1/2 oz palisades hops for 60 min
1/2 oz palisades hops for 10 min
1/2 tsp Irish moss (if used) for 15 min

2 cinnamon sticks (crushed, not ground) 7 min
12 all spice pods (crushed) 7 min
6 clove flowers (crushed) 7 min
3 slices fresh ginger about the size of a silver dollar (1 min)
1 pkg Wyeast 1728 (Scottish ale)
Priming malt for bottling (if bottling)

Heat grains and 1 gal water to 155. Hold @ 155 for 25 min
Strain grains into brew pot
Sparge (rinse) grains with 3 quarts water heated to 175
Add water to brew pot to 3+ gallon level
Add malts and extracts and until water in brew pot comes to boil
Boil for 60 min and add ingredients for time shown above
Cool to 68-70 degrees and add to primary fermentor (leave spices out) with water to 5+ gal mark
Aerate wort very well and pitch yeast.
Keep at 64-68 until fermentation is complete, and transfer to a secondary if desired.

OG - 1.068
FG - 1.018
IBU - 19

That looks great! Thanks i'll try this!!

Keep me posted on your bottled batch!
Thanks again topher 79!

Sure thing! I'll let you know how it tastes when I crack one open. Also, I was looking over the recipe and made an edit: The second hop addition should be done with 10 minutes left in the boil...

Just wondering, you said it's your fourth batch of this recipe? Did it worked before or it's your fourth time you try? I have to brew this week and I dont want to miss! The father in law would not be proud!

I meant to say that this was my fourth batch overall. I know where you are coming from with trying get some points with the father in-law...I still try and do the same thing!!! The beer smelled amazing, and the hydro sample was really good, heck the wife even liked it. The owner of the LHBS said that it was a recipe that people always came in to get and brew for the holidays. I have brewed 4 other store only recipes (Blonde, IPA, Pumpkin, Festive, and ESB) I Haven't tried the ESB yet (as I just brewed it this weekend), but all the other brews have been on point and liked by family and friends. I guess for the sake of helping a fellow brewer out, I could go home and crack one open to let you know how it's coming along, lol. The beer is still pretty green (bottled on 09/23).

ahahaha thanks! I am at my fourth batch to! I will try a batch of a safe rasberry fruit beer recipe for my mother in law! I will score two in a row I hope! ahahah! Thanks again for your recipe! I'll keep you posted on the result! Good luck with yours!

Last questions: how much time in fermenter? Do you suggest to do a second one? How much time in bottle?

And a 5 gallon recipe?
Thanks again!

1) I would leave in the primary 10 days, or until you get the same gravity reading after checking at 2-3 different times.

2) As far as the secondary goes, it's a pretty split topic here. Some do, some don't. I found it's all up to preference. Personally, I secondary my beers. I put this one in the secondary for 2.5 weeks after about 11 days in the primary.

3) I would prime with priming malt, and bottle condition for 3 weeks before drinking.

4) This recipe is for a 5 gallon batch.

You're more than welcome!

Hey bigloubrew!

So, I just cracked open one of the gingerbread brews, and wow...it's a good brew! While it's undercarbed (as it's only conditioned for 9 days), it tastes great. It has a mellow ginger and mild toast note upfront, with a bready malt note at the end. I had the wife try it, and I had to wrestle it back from her!!!! I've attached a photo of what it looks like after bottling. A couple of notes, I forgot to add Irish moss, and boiled the ginger for 7 min, not 1 min as indicated on the recipe. I think this gave it the ginger flavor I was going for.

ahahah great!! It looks great! I hope I'll succeed to! The only thing is that I already purchased my gingerbread ingredients...I will follow the way mentioned in Radical brewing from Randy Mosher! It's pretty the same has yours: 1 tsp cinnamon, .5 tsp groung ginger, .25 allspice and .25 cloves! He mentioned to add all at the end of boil! I'll follow your recipe and add this for the gingerbread taste!

Hope I'll succeed to! It should, it looks pretty much the same!

If you wanna do a kit adventure in homebrewing have a really good kit I have brewed it before and for sure doing it again this year. http://www.homebrewing.org/Gingerbread-Brown-Christmas-Spiced-Ale-Special_p_1758.html

So finaly!? Success?

Ruckface
Got the gingerbread kit from adventures in homebrewing it has pumpkin spice in it not gingerbread spice; is this right?
I was thinking of adding 1/2 cup molasses for more of a gingerbread taste, what do you think.
Anyone else brew this one and have a comment?

The beer recipe I posted turned out great!!! It has a good bready taste with a hint of ginger and spice. I also hit my gravity numbers, so it's right around 6.7%

giraffeman said:

Ruckface
Got the gingerbread kit from adventures in homebrewing it has pumpkin spice in it not gingerbread spice; is this right?

Click to expand...

The only difference in my pumpkin recipe vs. my gingerbread was that to make the gingerbread the allspice was 3x more, the cloves were 1 additional clove, the nutmeg was omitted, and the cinnamon was reduced by half

I think there kit comes with 20 grams of their ginger bread spice I modified it to give my new batch for spice

Ruckface said:

I think there kit comes with 20 grams of their ginger bread spice I modified it to give my new batch for spice

Click to expand...

Awesome! I'm interested to hear how it turns out.

Its been a week fermenting now so soon we will know. It was great last year but I upped the spice I like my beers with a lot of flavor

Thanks for the recipe, Topher79.

I wanted to do a version of this using all grain so I was hoping someone could give it a once over and let me know if it looked good. I also subbed the Palisade hops for Cascade and the Scottish Ale yeast for Nottingham as I have those on hand.

Grain Bill:
5.5 lbs 2-Row Pale Malt
4.5 lbs Munich Malt
1 lb 2.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt 10L
1 lb Victory Malt
10 oz Special B Malt

Hops:
1 oz Cascade 6.2% AA [60 Min]
1 oz Cascade 6.2% AA [10 Min]

Adjuncts:
1 Whirlfloc tab [15 Min]
2 crushed cinnamon sticks [7 Min]
6 crushed cloves [7 Min]
12 crushed all spice pods [7 min]
1 oz grated ginger [7 min]

Yeast:
Danstar dry Nottingham

Batch Size: 5.25 G
Efficiency: 75%
OG: 1.064
Est FG: 1.014
Est ABV: 6.6%
IBUs (Rager): 26.1
Color: 17.3 SRM

UtahNate said:

Thanks for the recipe, Topher79.

I wanted to do a version of this using all grain so I was hoping someone could give it a once over and let me know if it looked good. I also subbed the Palisade hops for Cascade and the Scottish Ale yeast for Nottingham as I have those on hand.

Click to expand...

I think the hop substitution will be okay, but I think the Scottish Ale yeast would provide more of a malty flavor. Have you brewed this yet? If so, how did it turn out?

I am not too sure on the grain bill, as I am still in the extract realm.

Also, I am still drinking this one, and it is developing nicely. I added my ginger too early, so I have been waiting for it to mellow out. I still have 11-12 bombers, and plan on bringing them to family over the holidays.

UtahNate said:

Thanks for the recipe, Topher79.

I wanted to do a version of this using all grain so I was hoping someone could give it a once over and let me know if it looked good. I also subbed the Palisade hops for Cascade and the Scottish Ale yeast for Nottingham as I have those on hand.

Grain Bill:
5.5 lbs 2-Row Pale Malt
4.5 lbs Munich Malt
1 lb 2.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt 10L
1 lb Victory Malt
10 oz Special B Malt

Hops:
1 oz Cascade 6.2% AA [60 Min]
1 oz Cascade 6.2% AA [10 Min]

Adjuncts:
1 Whirlfloc tab [15 Min]
2 crushed cinnamon sticks [7 Min]
6 crushed cloves [7 Min]
12 crushed all spice pods [7 min]
1 oz grated ginger [7 min]

Yeast:
Danstar dry Nottingham

Batch Size: 5.25 G
Efficiency: 75%
OG: 1.064
Est FG: 1.014
Est ABV: 6.6%
IBUs (Rager): 26.1
Color: 17.3 SRM

Click to expand...

Might have to give this a shot!!

Topher79 said:

I think the hop substitution will be okay, but I think the Scottish Ale yeast would provide more of a malty flavor. Have you brewed this yet? If so, how did it turn out?

I am not too sure on the grain bill, as I am still in the extract realm.

Also, I am still drinking this one, and it is developing nicely. I added my ginger too early, so I have been waiting for it to mellow out. I still have 11-12 bombers, and plan on bringing them to family over the holidays.

Click to expand...

The more I think about the yeast substitution, the more I think you're right. I haven't brewed this yet, mostly because I wasn't sure about that. A bit late to brew this in time for Christmas, but seasons and styles be damned... I will be brewing this using the recipe I posted, but will use the recommended yeast.

UtahNate said:

A bit late to brew this in time for Christmas, but seasons and styles be damned... I will be brewing this using the recipe I posted, but will use the recommended yeast.

Click to expand...

I hear ya! I just bottled a cherry stout a couple of weeks ago, and transferred a Indian Brown Ale to the secondary last night. I'm hoping they are ready for Christmas with family and friends, but if not, I'll just some beers out of the pipeline to hand out!

I hope the yeast works for you. Mine has a great flavor, and it has been a hit with everyone so far.

Good luck on your brew!

Alright my gingerbread beer is done and wow it is amazing!!! It's all kegged up and chillin out lol. I only made one huge mistake and can't find my sheet that my og was written on just gonna have to use my built in meter to gauge how potent it is lol. Happy holidays all

Heck yeah!