Horseshoot
Well-Known Member
Hello all,
I have been craving a ginger beer. So, I decided to give a try at a recipe for a home brewed ginger beer. My requirements were: Lots of ginger bite. Dry crisp beer flavor. Yet enough residual sweetness to balance the ginger bite, and enough hop presence to define it as a beer (not an alcoholic soda.) I wanted an easy summertime drinker.
We normally brew 10 gallon batches, on our gas-fired HERMS system. But, I made the recipe as a 5 gallon batch, since it was a trial. I will extrapolate to 10 gallon batches, as needed.
I came up with this, for the 5 gallon batch:
Pre boil volume: 7.5 gallons
Post boil volume: 6 gallons
Transfered: 5.5 gallons
Kegged: 5 gallons
Expected pre-boil gravity: 1.026
Expected OG: 1.046
Expected FG: 1.012
Expected ABV: 4.5%
IBU 17.3
We hit all of the targets dead on.
US 2-row malt 7 pounds
US Carapils malt 1 pound
Lactose 1 pound (20 min from end of boil.)
Brown Sugar 1 pound (20 min from end of boil.)
US Cascade 6.8%, all of boil, in hop spider. (60 min).
Ginger Root 8 oz, shredded in food processor, (20 min from end of boil.) (in hop spider.)
The juice and zest of 2 limes (20 min from end of boil.) (in hop spider.)
The juice and zest of 2 lemons (20 min from end of boil.) (in hop spider.)
8oz ginger root (shredded in food processor), boiled in 16 oz water for 15 minutes. Strain. Cool. Add the ginger tea to keg.
Mash Schedule: 150 F for 60 minutes. Raise to 170 F for mash out. Sparge to volume.
US-05, properly hydrated. Pitched at 64 F. Allowed to ferment 2 weeks at 64 F, in controlled chamber. Racked into sanitized keg, on top of ginger "tea". Force carbonated to 2.5 volumes of CO2.
Brewed on 04/16/2016. As of today, it has been carbonating for 4 days. And it is delicious!
I have seen people "back sweeten ginger beers, with artificial sweeteners. But, I hate artificial sweeteners, and some of my friends get ill with them. So, I tried to think of a way to add some sweetness, without being too sweet, and without worry that the beer would continue to ferment, after kegging. This seems to have worked.
Mike
I have been craving a ginger beer. So, I decided to give a try at a recipe for a home brewed ginger beer. My requirements were: Lots of ginger bite. Dry crisp beer flavor. Yet enough residual sweetness to balance the ginger bite, and enough hop presence to define it as a beer (not an alcoholic soda.) I wanted an easy summertime drinker.
We normally brew 10 gallon batches, on our gas-fired HERMS system. But, I made the recipe as a 5 gallon batch, since it was a trial. I will extrapolate to 10 gallon batches, as needed.
I came up with this, for the 5 gallon batch:
Pre boil volume: 7.5 gallons
Post boil volume: 6 gallons
Transfered: 5.5 gallons
Kegged: 5 gallons
Expected pre-boil gravity: 1.026
Expected OG: 1.046
Expected FG: 1.012
Expected ABV: 4.5%
IBU 17.3
We hit all of the targets dead on.
US 2-row malt 7 pounds
US Carapils malt 1 pound
Lactose 1 pound (20 min from end of boil.)
Brown Sugar 1 pound (20 min from end of boil.)
US Cascade 6.8%, all of boil, in hop spider. (60 min).
Ginger Root 8 oz, shredded in food processor, (20 min from end of boil.) (in hop spider.)
The juice and zest of 2 limes (20 min from end of boil.) (in hop spider.)
The juice and zest of 2 lemons (20 min from end of boil.) (in hop spider.)
8oz ginger root (shredded in food processor), boiled in 16 oz water for 15 minutes. Strain. Cool. Add the ginger tea to keg.
Mash Schedule: 150 F for 60 minutes. Raise to 170 F for mash out. Sparge to volume.
US-05, properly hydrated. Pitched at 64 F. Allowed to ferment 2 weeks at 64 F, in controlled chamber. Racked into sanitized keg, on top of ginger "tea". Force carbonated to 2.5 volumes of CO2.
Brewed on 04/16/2016. As of today, it has been carbonating for 4 days. And it is delicious!
I have seen people "back sweeten ginger beers, with artificial sweeteners. But, I hate artificial sweeteners, and some of my friends get ill with them. So, I tried to think of a way to add some sweetness, without being too sweet, and without worry that the beer would continue to ferment, after kegging. This seems to have worked.
Mike
