Ginger Beer/Ale Attempt

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smh

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Hi all,
So I'm new to this whole process and am not a stickler for recipes. I am a stickler for cleanliness, etc. so I'm not sloppy. I wanted to make an alcoholic ginger beer/ale (whatever), so followed this procedure:

Boiled ~4L spring water, added ~1Kg white sugar, 2 big roots of grated ginger (maybe 2 cups), 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient (because I have it) and 6 tsp of lemon juice. I let this sit until it reached ~70degrees C and immersed in a cold water bath to cool to 37degrees C. I added 1/4 packet of Wyeast Dry mead (4632) yeast, stirred well. All of this was strained through cheesecloth into a 4L milk jug (cleaned etc etc). I only have one airlock which is tending to my first mead, so I plugged the top of the bottle with sterilized cheese cloth.

Initial SG was 1.094.
This yeast can tolerate 18% ABV, so could end up being fairly potent if I understand this correctly.

All this for my question:
If I want this to be carbonated, when should I bottle? Should I let the fermentation finish completely? Or should I bottle at a specified SG to get the carbonation I desire? I plan on bottling this in old, cleaned 2L pop bottles.

Hopefully this starts some nice discussion. Look forward to replies.

S
 
I don't think I'd call that a Beer or an Ale... Maybe Ginger Cider. That's a LOT of ginger for just 4L of water. I probably used the same amount for a 5gal batch.

check this recipe:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/ginger-ale-3rd-place-2009-hbt-bjcp-comp-141080/

I brewed this as-is, well mostly.. I changed the hops to use what I had on hand. Been in the bottles almost 3 weeks now. I popped one tester and it was good.. still tasted like beer with a nice ginger snap finish.
 
I like lots of ginger, I think it'll be good, hot, but good.

Here's my Creamy Ginger Ale recipe, I haven't fermented it ever, but have been meaning to, it make a nice hot "soft drink."

Per gallon of water:
1 banana
1 cup golden raisins
.5# grated ginger root - fresh (yep .5 pound per gallon of water)
juice and zest from 2 limes
8oz honey
16 oz sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cloves

I usually make a slurry out of all of the ingredients (except water and honey) in the food processor, add to water, then simmer it all on the stove for a few hours. Adding honey at flameout.

With that SG, I would think you can bottle prime like you would beer. It may take a while, but I think it should prime up OK.
 
I don't think I'd call that a Beer or an Ale... Maybe Ginger Cider. That's a LOT of ginger for just 4L of water. I probably used the same amount for a 5gal batch.

check this recipe:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/ginger-ale-3rd-place-2009-hbt-bjcp-comp-141080/

I brewed this as-is, well mostly.. I changed the hops to use what I had on hand. Been in the bottles almost 3 weeks now. I popped one tester and it was good.. still tasted like beer with a nice ginger snap finish.


It's a ginger ale, what you've posted there is a recipe for an Ale with ginger.
 
So, not much progress, but I have noticed that despite filtering there is substantial sediment on the bottom of the vessel. I assume that this is just fine ginger gratings.

Should I rack off of this, or will it matter?
 
I did something very similar to that once, except i used 50/50 Honey and DME, about 1# of each for 2.5 gallons. I boiled about 1/2 cup of ginger, pitched US-05 and then dry hopped with another 1/2 cup after about a week in the Mr. Beer fermenter. The beer was supper light in body, which is what i was going for, only about 3% alcohol too so it was popular with the ladies.

Because it was so popular i considered making a season version every few months, Honey for summer, Maple Syrup for Fall, Brown Sugar w/ Caramel malts for Winter and Wheat DME for spring. Never got around to it because I wasn't such a fan of it myself (I love ginger but the beer was too light and watery for my taste).
 
I'd let it ferment out then prime each 2-liter with about 14 grams of sugar before filling.
 
Update:

Tiny bit of bubbling still, but decided to rack anyhow since I'm going away for christmas. I took a reading and the SG=0.992. By my calculations thats about 16% abv. Taste is quite nice, with a good alcohol hit. Not overly hot, but gingery. Would prefer a more rounded flavour so will consider adding some juice (maybe apple) next time. I suppose I would adjust the amount of added sugar in this case to give a similar SG.

For now I placed back into the jug and plugged with cheesecloth as before. Will wait until after the holidays to bottle w/ priming.
 
I added 1/4 packet of Wyeast Dry mead (4632) yeast, stirred well.

Just to make sure Im reading this correctly, you used only one-quarter of the 4632 yeast packet?

This recipes sounds tasty and refreshing. I think it would be an excellent recipe for my husband who absolutely hates the flavour of beer.

How long will you let it age? Are you going to carbonate it?
 
I used somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 the packet; I didn't measure anything.

My intention was to prime 2L bottles, but I think it's too strong to make that large bottles. I'll probably prime 500mL bottles. I don't have any experience with this so it will be a wait and see approach. I think it will be nice carbonated on it's own or mixed with fruit juice.

If I were you I'd add something to this aside from just water. The flavor is a bit one dimensional so adding a small amount of juice might be nice. Perhaps sliced organic orange would also be nice.
 
Update:

Tiny bit of bubbling still, but decided to rack anyhow since I'm going away for christmas. I took a reading and the SG=0.992. By my calculations thats about 16% abv. Taste is quite nice, with a good alcohol hit. Not overly hot, but gingery. Would prefer a more rounded flavour so will consider adding some juice (maybe apple) next time. I suppose I would adjust the amount of added sugar in this case to give a similar SG.

For now I placed back into the jug and plugged with cheesecloth as before. Will wait until after the holidays to bottle w/ priming.

Wow that's more like a ginger wine then a ginger beer, there isn't any malt in the fermentables and the high ABV. Apple juice would ferment pretty dry too, leaving very little flavor unless you used it as 100% of the liquid, then it would just be a spiced cider. I'd also consider substituting the sugar for DME as it'll give the beer more body and flavor and make it an actual beer instead of just alcohol and ginger flavor.
 
If I were you I'd add something to this aside from just water. The flavor is a bit one dimensional so adding a small amount of juice might be nice. Perhaps sliced organic orange would also be nice.

Hmm...maybe you're on to something there with the orange. I also wonder how pineapple would ferment out. I bet it would leave some residual sweetness as well as a flavour that complimented the ginger. I might even go out on a limb and suggest mango...but that is rather "out there" and I'm sure I'll get roasted by the malted barley afficiandos for even suggesting such a thing. ;)
 
My intention was to keep this malt free. My fiancée dislikes anything beery. I also just thought that using brown sugar may produce a nice flavor too..maybe?

I'm sure either pineapple or mango would be nice, the acid in either may throw things off, but I'm not sure. Anyone?
 
I just tried a commercial "ginger beer" from "crabbies". It was nice, strong hot ginger flavour, nothing malty at all. I also didn't find it overly sweet, but by the end of the bottle I wanted a beer. I wouldn't make a 5 gallon batch, but a nice small batch would be nice for variety.

I think that if you really macerate the ginger and use even more than in my original attempt you could probably come close to this with a bottle priming. I would keep the sugar in the original recipe a little lower, and shoot for something in the 7-10% range. All the etOH was a little overpowering, even after aging it out.
 
Any update on this? I've been hunting for a Crabbies clone for a while. My wife loves the stuff. I'm pretty new to brewing but I'd love to get a 5 gallon batch together. Anyone found a recipe that turned out close to Crabbies? I don't think it has any malt at all. . .it's more like a cider. If anyone can send me in the right direction, that would be sweet.
 
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