Ginger Beer = Gag!

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WillKirk

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Hi All, I'm completely new to brewing/fermenting any kind of drink so if I sound like a noob, then so be it haha!

I've been itching to try and make my own Ginger Ale/Ginger Beer for a long time and recently got up the guts to try to do it.

Well I've gotten a few different recipes and they all seem to be pretty similar, so I gave it a go with this recipe here...

1 Gallon of spring water
2 Cups of Sucanat (unrefined brown sugar, very tasty)
1 whole lemon worth of juice
lots of Ginger (I don't recall the exact amount, it was alot as I like very spicy ginger ale)
1/2 Tablespoon of Yeast (Baker's yeast)

I followed all the normal steps in making it, I boiled my ginger for about 4 minutes and let it simmer for about 3 or 4. after it cooled I put it in the jug that I got my water in (I'm poor) along with my sucanat and then my yeast. I shook it up nicely and it took on this nice sort of dark beer/malt look to it. It certainly LOOKED tasty (looked being the key word here).

I punched a little hole in the lid to let the CO2 out and put a cheesecloth under the lid and screwed it back on. It smelled ok at this point, it actually kind of had a nice lemony/ginger smell to it.

But here's the fun bit. I was told to watch it until there was a steady stream of bubbles inside the jug (about 2 1/2 hours is all it took). Well bubbles started fizzing and I felt it was time to bottle them. I got some of the plastic kind of Sprite style bottles and got about 8 bottles worth of the stuff.

Well I let the bottles build up a good bit of pressure (they were about rock hard) and put them in the fridge before I went to work. I came back from work and they were nice and cold.

And then..... taste testing time! The batch I finished today was my second attempt but the first time I did it I had the same result.

The taste was.... less than stellar, there was no sweetness whatsoever, the ginger was non-existent, and there was this really weird sort of Ammonia/Sulfur/alcohol/yeast taste to it. It wasn't rancid tasting, but it was pretty darn hard to get down, I gagged every time I tried it. Although the fizziness was great! everything else...... wasn't.

I've tried twice and each time I get the same results, any help?

If it helps at all, the kind of taste I'm going to try to go for is Blenheim/Reeds. Not quite as spicy as Blenheim's number 3 but not quite as sweet as Reeds Extra ginger brew.
 
So you let it ferment 2.5 hours, then bottled it?
That's a great way to make bottle bombs.

There will be no sweetness because all the sugar would be converted.

I wouldn't use Baker's yeast.
That much lemon juice would severely alter the pH.

I've never had a ginger beer, but judging by your recipe I'm not to surprised it wasn't that great.
 
Did the lemon juice contain potasium sorbate (preservative)? If so, that can hinder fermentation and create a gross sulfury aroma. You said it had good carbonation so it appeared that it did ferment somewhat. I would try again with water, sugar, ginger and fresh lemon juice (squeezed). Try and use a 2 liter bottle with the cap on tight, once the bottles are hard put them in the fridge.
 
and if you're looking for some 'sweetness', then you'll have to back-sweeten with an artificial sweetener --or-- kill the yeast with potassium sorbate, let it sit 24 hours and add sugar.
 
When you say ginger beer, you mean like ginger ale (soda), or a ginger flavored beer? I'm assuming you mean a non-alcoholic ginger ale, since this recipe sounds very much like something I made once, a couple years back.

First, yeah, baker's yeast isn't the best thing to use. I used it too, when I made mine, and it definitely gives it a strong flavor.

If I remember correctly, when I did mine, I put it in a plastic soda bottle which I left out until the bottle was rock hard from carbonation. This took around 24 hours, but you have to watch it very carefully, because it can easily explode if you forget about it.

Then I refrigerated it. I remember it tasting okay. Not disgusting. Just like a very fresh, somewhat yeasty, ginger ale.

I think I used regular sugar in mine too. Could have been brown sugar.

When did you put the lemon juice in? If you boiled it, it may have caused it to taste off. Oh, and also, you may want to dissolve the sugar better in the boiling water.

Here's another recipe from food network for ginger ale: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/ginger-ale-recipe/index.html
 
If you were trying to make an alcoholic ginger beer, then you should have fermented more like 2-3 weeks, not 2.5 hours.

Brewing and conditioning takes mutliple weeks, if not months. It sounds like you gave this batch just a few hours or days, then tasted it. Of course it sucked....you didn't let anything happen!

You need to follow your same recepie as above, but let it ferment for 2-3 weeks at room temp. THEN, add about a quart of actual ginger ale to the overall mixture to backsweeten, THEN bottle. Let it condition in the bottle at room temperature for about 2-4 weeks to build carbonation. THEN refridgerate.

THEN you will have a good product. The whole process could take you as long as 6-8 weeks if you want a good ginger beer.

Go check out the cider forum if you have any questions. The process to make ginger beer would be the same as making hard cider, just with different ingredients.

Good luck!
 
I'm pretty sure he was trying to make soda and not beer. Ginger Ale and Ginger Beer are usually non-alcoholic soda beverages. The "beer" being stronger (think imperial) in ginger/bite compared to the ale. I would recommend the soda forums and check out some recipes or look for insight there https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f95/. If you are in fact making beer (alcohol) then I apologize.
 
I'm pretty sure he was trying to make soda and not beer. Ginger Ale and Ginger Beer are usually non-alcoholic soda beverages. The "beer" being stronger (think imperial) in ginger/bite compared to the ale. I would recommend the soda forums and check out some recipes or look for insight there https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f95/. If you are in fact making beer (alcohol) then I apologize.


I think you are right. This looks much more like a soda recipe. The OP is also using the yeast to carb, not ferment. But it sounds like he's simply not stopping the fermentation.
 
But it sounds like he's simply not stopping the fermentation.

With these soda recipes, putting it in the fridge is pretty much all you have to do to stop fermentation, though like you said, it's really more about carbonation than fermentation here. If anything, it actually sounds like he didn't give it enough carb time, as most recipes I've read say 24-48 hours.

I'm also quite sure he's making a soda. We're all just confused because it was in the beer section, and some of us never heard "ginger beer" in terms of soda before.

As for his off flavors, I'm really not sure. In my last post a gave a couple suggestions and questions. Not sure if any of it will help.
 
Hey guys, yes you are correct in the sense that I was not trying to make it alcoholic. I was attempting to make a soda esque ginger ale, I mentioned in the post that I'm trying to find a good recipe that reminiscent of Reeds Extra Ginger brew (not sure if you've tried it) and Blenheim Ginger Ale. Sorry for the confusion :)

Now to answer the questions....

I used squeezed lemon juice, I don't like the bottled kind as it has a weird sort of "plastic" flavor to it. So I don't think it contained Potassium sorbate.

As for what I'm trying to make I'm trying to make just straight out strong Ginger Ale, in the future I might go for Ginger flavored beer, but in this case specifically I was trying to avoid making it any sort of alcoholic, that's one reason I didn't let it sit for too long. Drathbone is correct, I'm not trying to make hooch just yet haha!

I put the lemon juice in when I boiled my ginger, from your responses it sounds like that might've been part of the reason it tasted off.

Since it seems like Baker's yeast isn't the best plan, what do you guys suggest I try to get my hands on for the carbonation? Or is there a better way to carbonate my brew?

Onipar, I'll try your suggestions and see what happens, I really want to get this recipe down and move on to other ones, I'm always up for exploring new elements.
 
For carbonation you might try US-05 as it is pretty neutral flavor-wise IMO.


I would also put it in the fridge and then not touch it for at least week or two in order to:

a) let the yeast drop out and clarify better
b) let the carbonation level balance out in the bottle for that temperature
c) let the flavors smooth out a little bit
 
I'm not sure what your goal is, but if you'd like a simple easy ginger ale recipe, check out my ginger ale recipe. It's under my avatar under "recipes". We have a few recipes in the soda database, not many, but a couple to give you an idea.

I recommend champagne yeast for soda. It's cheap, very "clean" and it works great. I wouldn't let it ferment 2 hours before bottling. You want the co2 to stay in the bottles. I'd use plastic bottles, and stick them in the fridge when they get hard.

I don't like to boil the ginger before using, although I have done it. The "spicy" ginger is from grated raw ginger, while boiling it mellows it quite a bit. I don't know what that kind of sugar is, as I just use regular table sugar for my soda.
 
Give this recipe a try:

http://www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com/2008/how-to-make-your-own-ginger-beer/

1 ounce ginger juice
2 ounces fresh lemon juice, finely strained
3 ounces simple syrup
10 ounces warm water (cold if using the soda siphon)

I've made a ton of this stuff and my whole family loves it. It also makes a great dark and stormy. When I make it I tend to put in 2 ounces of ginger juice and a bit more lemon. Yum!!!!!!!!
 
I don't like to boil the ginger before using, although I have done it. The "spicy" ginger is from grated raw ginger, while boiling it mellows it quite a bit.

this is key! fresh ginger for the bite, fresh lemon juice, i like a small spoonful of molasses to round out the flavor, i start with 70-100 g sugar per L; 70 for semi-dry, 100 for pretty sweet. with a ginger beer plant i ferment about 2 days and it comes out to about 1% alcohol. i also use an ale yeast for an alcoholic version (4%ish), ferment until almost dry (3-4 days), back sweeten to the desired sweetness (by taste), leave overnight in the fridge to drop yeast and ginger out of suspension, carb in plastic bottles 1-2 days at room temp, and then keep them in the fridge. you could skip the fermenting and clearing steps and just add yeast to carb. i wouldn't try to keep this stuff for a long time but if you make 1 or 2 liters at a time and fridge it you can keep it for a week no problem.
 
going to give it another shot, this time using Yooper's recipe, we'll see how it goes! :)
 
I don't know if this helps, but I like to only add lemon zest to the boil, and I add my lemon juice after the boil.
Citric acid can disappear if heated too long.
 
*If* you're going to juice the ginger, then sometimes it's worthwhile to run some hot water, or simmer the ginger pulp, and add the ginger juice at the end with the lemon juice. Really gives a kick.
I like using carbonated water, but if I were going to use yeast, I'd agree with the champagne yeast. You'll see many people in here recommending that, due to the cheapness (a buck per pack of yeast vs beer yeast at 3 dollars), and it won't have the bakers yeast flavor or sulfur.
 
Ok, so I made some following Yooper's recipe, and I still think I'm doing something wrong.

It still has that strange off taste to it that I just can't stomach for some reason. I followed the recipe to the T, let it ferment for 24 hours, the bottle was hard as a rock. I stuck it in the fridge, and let it sit overnight.

It STILL had a weird and off taste to it, it didn't taste any different than before, maybe I'm using bad ingredients? I got some Red Star yeast so I'll try it with that and see what happens. Maybe the yeast I'm using now just isn't right and it's screwing up the taste of the whole thing?
 
Just wanted to share a research expedition to contribute to this thread.
I was keen to make my first ginger beer that I went down to the local brew shop today, Country Brewer (Sydney AU) and bought the Traditional Ginger Beer 600ml concentrate for $19AUD. The pack contained 600ml of concentrate, a satchel of yeast nutrient & all purpose wine yeast (Lalvin EC-1118 [10 grams]).

The instructions supplied listed two recipes - alcoholic & non-alcoholic.
ALCOHOLIC:
1- mix the ginger concentrate supplied with 1kb of raw or other brewing sugar in your fermenter. Add 2 litres of hot water & mix thoroughly until dissolved.
2- fill to total of 20 litres with cold water, add both yeast nutrient & yeast - Mix & place top onto fermenter & add water to the airlock.
3- fermentation will be apparent within 24-36 hours.
4- maintain temperature between 18-26°C for duration of fermentation.
5- fermentation can take up to 5-7 days.
6- clean & sterillise all bottles. Add sugar to bottles at a rate no greater 3g/375ml or 6g/750ml.
7- store upright away from sunlight for approximately 3-4 weeks at temps above 18°C.
8- Chill & Serve.

NON-ALCOHOLIC
1- empty ginger concentrate with 200grams of sugar into fermenter, add 1 litre of hot water & mix thoroughly.
2- fill to total of 20 litres with cold water, add yeast & nutrient & fix lid.
3- allow to stand for 30mins (to rehydrate yeast) - stir & bottle.
4- store for at least 7 days above 18°C.
5- chill before serving.


So the above two recipes confirm most of what most posters have been saying in this thread, with regards to fermentation time. Maybe the shorter fermentation time in this non-alcoholic recipe may help in retaining the sweetness.

Another interesting point is the yeast used in this kit is an all purpose wine yeast.


When putting down the batch you could definitely smell the ginger & the colour became more like Bundeburg Ginger Beer, which is what I am trying to achieve.


My aim is to make a 'Bundeburg ginger beer', both alcoholic & non-alcoholic from raw ingredients, in 20 litre batches. But this concentrate seems pretty convenient & results depending may stick to this concentrate. Will post the results in 7 days time, when the non-alcoholic batch should be ready.

MrFoodScientist - I like your blog. It looks good & straight forward. Will be checking it out further to help me research my 'Raw 20L' with regards to ingredient ratios. Good work dude. http://homemadesodaexpert.blogspot.com/
 
Just adding some simple suggestions other have made :

Switch to table sugar, I made the mistake of using brown sugar. It will be clearer and the taste wont be as offensive. As for the sulfur, it could be either be the yeast/water/contamination. Use filtered/spring water, especially if you have tap. Also, follow sterility rules.

The recipe give or take I've been using now is similiar to the one at gingerbeerplant.net with some changes.

The steps I'm using are :
Boil 2000ml water with minced ginger (7 inch or more) with 200g of sugar along with 1/2-1tsp of cream of tartar. Once it's boiling for a few, reduce to medium heat for a half hour stirring or so. Turn it off, let it cool and put it into whatever you're using for the fermentation. Once it's cool enough, add the yeast (I use GBP). Then the rest is just basic. I'm still experimenting myself with making a likable batch, but the white sugar helps a lot. I've skipped out on the lemon juice though, no real reason.
 
Ok, so I made some following Yooper's recipe, and I still think I'm doing something wrong.

It still has that strange off taste to it that I just can't stomach for some reason. I followed the recipe to the T, let it ferment for 24 hours, the bottle was hard as a rock. I stuck it in the fridge, and let it sit overnight.

It STILL had a weird and off taste to it, it didn't taste any different than before, maybe I'm using bad ingredients? I got some Red Star yeast so I'll try it with that and see what happens. Maybe the yeast I'm using now just isn't right and it's screwing up the taste of the whole thing?

Part of my recipe IS the correct yeast! If you're using bread yeast, that will give it a bad flavor.
 
yooper i couldn't find your recipe in your list, do i have blurred vision or is it gone?
to add my few $0.01 on recent posts i have made similar ginger beers with all types of sugar from white refined to palm to dark brown, to my usual recipe of demerara / raw / light brown + a spoon of molasses, and there are never any off tastes like those described in the original post with any of these sugars. i use either ginger beer plant or safale 04 ale yeast. they give very different drinks, each has its merits, never get anything funky, only occasionally if left a bit too long the gbp starts to smell a bit sour (but never tastes sour) and that is never the case with s04. i never heat any of the ingredients except the sugar in a bit of H2O to dissolve
 
I'm glad I read all the way to the bottom, because that's what I was going to say... (dinnerstick, spetri)

Ginger Beer should NOT be made with yeast...
search google to grow your GBP without adding yeast, the wild ginger yeast and bacteria that will grow naturally is prime for making ginger beer...

im currently in the process of doing this myself...
and I know this thread is pretty old...
 
i use a ginger beer plant. it's made up of all sorts of organisms, in gelatinous clumps. every now and then someone tells me that it's not a ginger beer plant (it most certainly is), or that i should use this or that and i'm not doing it right (i most certainly am) and i tell them good luck and have a fine day.
 
Here's something more simpler that I tried once. Make a sugar syrup one cup water, one cup sugar. I made 20oz./600ml of ginger ale with this: put in a pot 350mL of water and 30 grams of ginger cut into pieces. Let it simmer for ten minutes then filter or take out the ginger pieces. Add 4oz. of sugar syrup and water to complete 600ml. Let cool and then bottle and add yeast. Let it ferment/ carb. till the bottle is hard and cool for atleast one day before drinking so the sediments go to the bottom. This tasted good, I used baking yeast and couldn't notice its taste since the ginger flavor is overwhelms the yeast's flavor.

Also you should sanitize the equipment you use. Take 500ml of water add 1/8 tsp bleach, mix then add 1/8 tsp of vinegar and mix. The vinegar enchances the bleach's desinfecting potency, never mix vinegar and bleach together or it will make chlorine gas, always add bleach to water, mix, then add vinegar. Then I put the BWV solution in a spray bottle and spray the bottles and any intrument that is going to be in contact with what I am brewing. Don't sanitize metals with this since the bleach will corrode them.
 
Although I am still waiting for my first batch to second-ferment in the bottle, while setting the taste I noticed that I was pretty sensitive to the lemon that I added. Somehow, the sweetness+ginger+lemon just tasted wrong and really bothered me. The good news was that with the GBP, I just waited a few more days and the lemon taste weakened and it helped a lot.

Not sure if this helps!
 
I found using brown sugar did 2 things to my GB.
1.) it's extremely effective. The sugar gets converted in hours, rather than a day or 2.
2.) it doesn't taste right, ends up like treacle flavour
 
Im trying a non alcohol ginger beer and one with kick. I dont quite know how they will turn out but the one with kick smells awesome after 3 days in the primary.

My non alcohol brew is carbing nicely and the bottles are getting harder every day (platic 1 liter bottles.

If they turn out nice Ill share the recipes.
 
Im trying a non alcohol ginger beer and one with kick. I dont quite know how they will turn out but the one with kick smells awesome after 3 days in the primary.

My non alcohol brew is carbing nicely and the bottles are getting harder every day (platic 1 liter bottles.

If they turn out nice Ill share the recipes.

Stupid question, but how are you making a non-alcoholic product that is naturally carbing in a bottle?
 
I just use a very small amount of yeast in it. The recipe comes from my great grandmother I think. Ginger, water, sugar and some brewers yeast. Mix it all up and let it stand for a week or two then chill and enjoy.

My non-alcoholic batch didnt turn out right. I put to much sugar in it. Im getting the original recipe from my mom sometime soon and will try again.

Here in South Africa there are many home made Ginger beers sold in the shops, all are non-alcoholic.
 
Here in South Africa there are many home made Ginger beers sold in the shops, all are non-alcoholic.

Even a small amount of yeast multiplies, and produces alcohol when fermenting, as long as it has a sugar source to ferment.

Yes, we have non-alcoholic 'ginger beer' in the US also, called ginger beer and is ginger soda pop, it is made without fermentation. We also have alcoholic versions made with yeast. Where you have yeast and fermentable sugar you will achieve alcohol. Ginger beer is a play on names across the world as it is used to market soda pop or an alcoholic brew. Ginger beer, to me, is made by using a ginger beer plant like this http://www.yemoos.com/gingerbeerproductpage.html; but ginger beer is defined in the eyes of the beholder. I have had nice alcoholic ginger brews made with bread or wine or cider yeast/ginger/sugar/lemon, or even water kefir grains, even made a ginger kombucha tea but true GBP eclipses them all for me. I will say that the ginger beer made from water kefir grains or true GBP had the least amount of alcohol, and the cultures reproduce and are reuseable and make great gifts for people who want them.
I hope your recipes come thru for you, it is great when we get a token of our childhood/youth back and it sounds like your Mom's recipe may be the missing link. If you are willing to share your Mom's recipe I would be honored. :)
 
The suggested Alton Brown Recipe is a place to start, but it needed some tweaking for us. When we used the recipe as written, the gingerale came out much spicier than Reeds and not at all sweet. We adjusted the measurements to get something a bit sweeter but still very gingery. Since then we have been making it like this:

combine 1/2 cup water with:
8 oz sugar or sugar & honey mix (up to 10oz if sharing with the kids)
3/4 oz very fresh grated ginger

Bring to a boil then let cool. Add 1/8tsp yeast (we use champagne or bread, whatever is handy) and 4 Tablespoons lemon juice.

Mix very well and pour into a 2-liter bottle. Top off the bottle with fresh water, leaving at least and inch or two at the top. (7 1/2 cups total fluid)
Cap and let rest at room temp in a dark closet for 24 hours. Then refrigerate an additional 24 hours before drinking. :mug:




When you say ginger beer, you mean like ginger ale (soda), or a ginger flavored beer? I'm assuming you mean a non-alcoholic ginger ale, since this recipe sounds very much like something I made once, a couple years back.

First, yeah, baker's yeast isn't the best thing to use. I used it too, when I made mine, and it definitely gives it a strong flavor.

If I remember correctly, when I did mine, I put it in a plastic soda bottle which I left out until the bottle was rock hard from carbonation. This took around 24 hours, but you have to watch it very carefully, because it can easily explode if you forget about it.

Then I refrigerated it. I remember it tasting okay. Not disgusting. Just like a very fresh, somewhat yeasty, ginger ale.

I think I used regular sugar in mine too. Could have been brown sugar.

When did you put the lemon juice in? If you boiled it, it may have caused it to taste off. Oh, and also, you may want to dissolve the sugar better in the boiling water.

Here's another recipe from food network for ginger ale: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/ginger-ale-recipe/index.html
 
It sounds like you have a little bit too much yeast. Also brewer's yeast makes a huge difference in final flavor.

The lemon juice should be added to the water at the same time as the syrup (after the syrup is done), but not in the syrup. However, adding zested lemon peel to the syrup helps flavor later on. You may also try adding a little lime juice when you add the lemon to round out the flavor. I agree that you should juice your own rather than from a bottle.

It's important to make sure all of the sugar fully dissolves in the syrup. Also you may want to let it cool longer (about an hour).

Don't strain the syrup until you bottle.

Finally, for sweetness, we add honey in place of some of the sugar.
 
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