Alton Brown makes ginger ale

I made alton's brown version and then i made a much more spicier version

8 oz of sugar
4 oz of ginger root
3/4 cup of water(boiling)
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of vanilla extract

after boil
4 table spoon of lemon juice

(the rest of the recipe is the same)

i like alton browns version but it was to tame

i like the spicer version but, next time i will go more ginger, more lemon juice less cinnamon

I've made this twice now and have a question. Are there different kinds of ginger? I was hoping this would turn out like the commercial ginger beer that I've tried, but both times it was much more mild.

The first time I made it, I used 1.5 oz of ginger as in the original recipe. I chopped it up with a food processor. This one hardly had any ginger flavor, and no "bite". It wasn't a bad lemon soda though...

Yesterday I made it again, with the same ginger. This time I used double the ginger (3 oz), and grated it with a microplane, creating a very fine mush. This one has a hint of a gingery bite, but nowhere near what I remember from the commercial ginger beer that I've tried.

So are there different types of ginger, and I got the kind that isn't spicy? How do I know what ginger to buy?

Thanks,
-S

I made Yuris' basic 5 gallon recipie but with 4 pounds of ginger grated in the food processor, 3.5 pounds of sugar, 9 lemons and water to top off. Needless to say, I really like the ginger bite. I'm enjoying a glass this morning with some Gosslings Rum and I am one happy lad. One VERY happy lad.

PTN

paulthenurse said:

I made Yuris' basic 5 gallon recipie but with 4 pounds of ginger grated in the food processor, 3.5 pounds of sugar, 9 lemons and water to top off. Needless to say, I really like the ginger bite. I'm enjoying a glass this morning with some Gosslings Rum and I am one happy lad. One VERY happy lad.

PTN

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Ok, so you're using between 6 and 7 ounces of ginger per 2 liters of soda, which is still twice what I last made (And quadruple AB's original recipe).

Next time, I just need MORE ginger. I already have the rum waiting.

Is everybody putting this in PET bottles? I don't want to spend more money to get more bottles. Can I use a Cleaned/Sanitized 2L bottle, say a pepsi bottle, or will I have problems since it's been opened?

I've been reusing 2L bottles from store bought soda for the last few weeks with my ginger beer and I have no problems.

Cool! Thanks.

lustreking said:

I've made this twice now and have a question. Are there different kinds of ginger? I was hoping this would turn out like the commercial ginger beer that I've tried, but both times it was much more mild.

The first time I made it, I used 1.5 oz of ginger as in the original recipe. I chopped it up with a food processor. This one hardly had any ginger flavor, and no "bite". It wasn't a bad lemon soda though...

Yesterday I made it again, with the same ginger. This time I used double the ginger (3 oz), and grated it with a microplane, creating a very fine mush. This one has a hint of a gingery bite, but nowhere near what I remember from the commercial ginger beer that I've tried.

So are there different types of ginger, and I got the kind that isn't spicy? How do I know what ginger to buy?

Thanks,
-S

Click to expand...

There is only one type of ginger as far as I know, but as ginger gets older it loses its spiciness. So make sure you have relatively fresh ginger or you will need to use more of it to get the same flavor. Fresh ginger should be really juicy when you cut it up.

Alton Brown has never let me down with a recipe, from pan seared ribeye, to prime rib (both of which I highly recommend doing, awesome!). This, however, was fair only, I enjoyed it, but like a lot of other people I like it a bit spicier. I do a cup of sugar, about 4 tablespoons of grated ginger, 1/8 teaspoon of yeast and the juice of one lemon. All of it goes in a two liter bottle with some water and sits for 48 hours. I don't know if it is leaving the ginger in the bottle, and allowing the flavors to "marry" a little better? I think next batch I will try the Alton Brown recipe, with the extra sugar, lemon juice and ginger. I do not mind having a little chunk of ginger in my ginger ale, but my wife and daughter do not like it. So it may be worthwhile to make a ginger simple syrup first?

Seriously though try the pan seared rib eye, that has become my favorite way to cook any steak, tastes so good.

Got myself a carbonater cap this weekend. I am gonna try this recipe next weekend.

Made this 2 days ago and it is now in the fridge cooling down. I have a question about the yeast that I see in the bottom. Do you shake it into suspension or just pour each time trying to be careful? It's not a lot (obviously) but I saw some sediment in the bottom before putting it in the fridge and assume there will be more once it chills.

I have another question. I made another 2 liter of this 2 nights ago. Just checked it to put it in the fridge and zero carbonation. The bottle is as soft as the night I filled it. I used regular dry bakers yeast from the first packet that was opened. It had been in the fridge. Is this yeast no longer usable since it has been opened? I can only imagine that the yeast is the problem.

I may be reading your post wrong, but I left mine on the counter for about a day and I was almost scared to open it. Maybe add a little more yeast and see what that does.

The 2nd batch I made I let sit for 4 days and it didn't carb very well. My 1st batch was nice and carbed (the bottle was tight) after only 24 hours. I let it sit for another 24 then put it in the fridge until chilled. It was great. This batch tasted great but little carbonation.

I was wondering if the dry yeast can go bad once you open the packet and stick it back in the fridge? I used the exact same yeast from the same packet that was stored in the fridge. Maybe I should have let the yeast come up to room temp first?

Any thoughts on making this with Stevia or Splenda?

fuzzybee said:

Any thoughts on making this with Stevia or Splenda?

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The yeast need some sugar to eat, in order to carbonate. Perhaps you could get away with SOME splenda.

I see no reason you couldn't force carbonate, though.

Yeah - I was planning on force-carbing in a keg.

I have made this recipe and it was acceptable. I also tried with active Ginger Beer Plant. This was the original Ginger Beer and it quite a unique drink. My culture died but I really enjoyed it while it was active. Once the new baby is here and our travel slows back down I'll likely try to acquire a new culture and start making Ginger Beer again.

Raj Apte has a great presentation about Ginger Beer Plant and sour ales:
http://www2.parc.com/emdl/members/apte/GingerBeer.pdf
(A veritable microbiology primer)

Fermented Treasures sells Ginger Beer Plant: Ginger Beer Plant

I made this recipe a few months ago and remembered thinking that the flavor was good, but the sourdough bread aroma from the instant bread yeast was a little off putting. I would be interested in trying this again with some ale yeast in a more fermentation friendly vessel.

I made a similar ginger ale but I did mine with thin slices of ginger and let it simmer in the syrup for about 10-15 minutes. I don't remember the quantity but it had some serious bite. Not Blenheim, but maybe half. I added a bit of molasses and some real vanilla, along with honey replacing about half the sugar.
I think this is a good candidate for my 3g corny keg. I need a longer line and a secondary regulator to get it to a better soda pressure.

My latest 3 gallon recipe:
2.5 lbs ginger root, run through my juicer
4 lemons run through the juicer (whole)
1 cup sugar
2 cups agave nectar
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup maltodextrine
2 tsp vanilla extract (homemade)
I simmered some water to dissolve the sugars, and then added half the ginger juice and the vanilla, strained that mixture into the keg, then took the pulp and a couple pints of water, heated it up into a paste, then squeezed it through a strainer to get as much of the liquid out, added the lemon juice and filled the keg with water.
I suppose juicing the ginger was not necessary and the fibers definitely clog the juicer blades, but I think that having some of the juice not get heated helps with retaining the bite. It's not carbed up yet but it does taste good.
Next time I'll probably use a little more ginger but it does seem like plenty.

Yuri_Rage said:

Yesterday's 5 gallon recipe (following the same method):

2.5 lbs grated ginger
3.5 lbs sugar
8 cups water

9.5 oz lemon juice + enough water to top up to 5 gallons

It's a little spicier than the original but not significantly different in flavor.

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Yuri,

I'd like to make a 2.5 gallon version and store in a 3 gallon keg. I have no where to chill the keg at this time. Do you, or anyone else, know if it's okay to leave it in a room temp environment hooked to the proper amount of CO2? The temp would range from 70-75 degrees.

Ended up with the following for a 3 gallon recipe:

1 pound 10 ounces of ground ginger root
2 pounds sugar
5 cups water
4.5 ounces lemon juice

Will force carb in 3 gallon keg and leave at 30 psi for 48 hours and test.

So is this alcoholic at all? Like even a little? I'd assume it would have to be with the yeast, but to what extent?

If you naturally carbonate, it winds up being less than 0.5% ABV.

cool, thanks for the number. I have a friend that just started brewing. His wife teaches biology and was wanting to make some sodas for her class.

Revvy said:

I'm going to have to make some...

But what I am really interested in is the 11% ABV Ginger Beer he mentioned.

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Seconded. I'd love to make this stuff!

Edit: Found this link:

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-REAL-ginger-beer-recipe/

Looks to be close. Around 5% ABV, not quite there. Intriguing nonetheless.

Dumb question. Do you wash and peel the ginger first?

Yuri_Rage said:

Many of us are quite aware of the Good Eats homebrewing episode that was chock full of barely useful techniques and misguided but well-intentioned advice, so spare us your opinion on that one.

However, I'd really like to hear your thoughts on Alton's ginger ale recipe. I can't find a reason not to try it. The segment starts around 7 minutes.

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I'm not sure how my question should be classified...perhaps "impertinent" is good, if in fact the term has any meaning left in this age....and I'm pretty sure it doesn't on the Internet. Nevertheless: if you didn't want anyone to bring up AB's brewing episode, why did you bring it up? Sure sounds like an invite to me.

rico567 said:

I'm not sure how my question should be classified...perhaps "impertinent" is good, if in fact the term has any meaning left in this age....and I'm pretty sure it doesn't on the Internet. Nevertheless: if you didn't want anyone to bring up AB's brewing episode, why did you bring it up? Sure sounds like an invite to me.

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Uh, perhaps because he wanted to stay on topic?

It seems that anytime anyone mentions AB on this forum in any context, it's a matter of mere minutes before the conversation degrades to, "yeah, good recipe, but did you see all of the mistakes he made on the homebrew episode?" I figured I'd cut that one off before it ever started.

Yambor44 said:

Uh, perhaps because he wanted to stay on topic?

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First rule to stay on topic: don't refer to off-topic matters.

rico567 said:

First rule to stay on topic: don't refer to off-topic matters.

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this thread hasn't been touched in a bit...but I'd figured I'd ask anyways:

I'm making my father some home-made sodas for Christmas. (going to put in glass bottles - but use splenda to sweeten with a minimal amount of sugar to carbonate)

He has always loved ginger beer, and there are few places around here where he can get it, from what I remember ginger beer was far spicier than your canada dry ginger ale. I'm not looking to ferment anything (other than needed to carbonate) but what differences are there between ginger ale and ginger beer as far as what is commercially available today - is Jamacian Ginger Beer just ginger ale with far more ginger bite in it?

Ginger beer is different from ginger ale and is trickier to make at home. You might be able to emulate it though. I know some brands of ginger beer add capsicum to their products to give it that bite (Goya comes to mind). For proper ginger beer, you need to inoculate your gingery sugary water with ginger beer plant. You can get close with yeast, but its not quite the same.

http://www.fermentedtreasures.com/gingerbp.html

Yuri_Rage said:

Yesterday's 5 gallon recipe (following the same method):

2.5 lbs grated ginger
3.5 lbs sugar
8 cups water

9.5 oz lemon juice + enough water to top up to 5 gallons

It's a little spicier than the original but not significantly different in flavor.

Click to expand...

Just kegged a batch with that recipe. Used approx 2.81# of ginger.

I will be making a batch of this once i get my kegerator

I made this today using 3oz grated ginger and champagne yeast. Hopefully it'll turn our well

Just for clarification, if I force carbonate, I don't need to use any yeast correct? I just have to recarbonate if I'm using a carb cap, correct?

Azharen said:

Just for clarification, if I force carbonate, I don't need to use any yeast correct? I just have to recarbonate if I'm using a carb cap, correct?

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If you keg it and force carbonate you do not need to add any yeast.