Ginger mead

[The_Dutch]

Hey all it’s been a while
So I’m trying out a few new recipes so Im looking for some help. I’d like to do a ginger mead with a hop addition. I was thinking citra hops. I was wondering if I more of a hop aroma rather than the bitterness. I am thinking about dry hopping in secondary with a half oz of citra. (this is a one gallon test)

3 lbs honey
1 large ginger root peeled and chopped
1-2 clovea
71 B yeast
Dry hop with citra hops

I am also wondering if dehydrating the ginger would be better?

 

[bernardsmith]

Hops have three qualities - bitterness, aroma and flavor. If all you are looking for is the aroma then dry hopping is the technique. If you want some flavor then you need to boil the hops for about 15-20 minutes. Bitterness is extracted when you boil the hops for 60 minutes or longer.
Not sure that you need to peel the ginger. There is a great deal of extractable flavor in the peel. What you want to do is chop the gineger very finely to allow more contact with the alcohol to extract the flavor. That said, I tend to favor making traditionals and adding spices and herbs to the secondary to use the alcohol you have produced as the solvent to extract flavors from the additions. Alcohol is a far better solvent than water and a) you have much more alcohol in the secondary than you had in the primary (that is until you racked the mead/wine) and b) if your fermentation was very vigorous odds are that much of the flavors extracted will be blown off as the sugars ferment. Adding spices and herbs to the secondary allows the flavors to stick around. But your experience may be very different..

 

[The_Dutch]

Hops have three qualities - bitterness, aroma and flavor. If all you are looking for is the aroma then dry hopping is the technique. If you want some flavor then you need to boil the hops for about 15-20 minutes. Bitterness is extracted when you boil the hops for 60 minutes or longer.
Not sure that you need to peel the ginger. There is a great deal of extractable flavor in the peel. What you want to do is chop the gineger very finely to allow more contact with the alcohol to extract the flavor. That said, I tend to favor making traditionals and adding spices and herbs to the secondary to use the alcohol you have produced as the solvent to extract flavors from the additions. Alcohol is a far better solvent than water and a) you have much more alcohol in the secondary than you had in the primary (that is until you racked the mead/wine) and b) if your fermentation was very vigorous odds are that much of the flavors extracted will be blown off as the sugars ferment. Adding spices and herbs to the secondary allows the flavors to stick around. But your experience may be very different..

So if adding In secondary would you advise dehydrating the chopped ginger?

 

[bernardsmith]

Not sure I see the benefit of using all that energy to dehydrate only to hydrate shortly afterwards. If you were intending to store the ginger for a few months - OK but if you are planning to add the ginger in the next day or two and you have it sitting in your fridge... just slice and dice it into tiny pieces and perhaps place in a hop sock or muslin bag and add this to your secondary.

 

[annhulett1]

I am learning a lot here. Keep posting. TA.

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

I make a ginger-key lime mead that's popular with my friends. I've experimented with ways of adding the ginger.

I find that if I freeze and thaw it, and then run it through my juicer and use just the juice, I get a fairly mellow ginger flavor.

By contrast, if I run it through the food processor, scrubbed but unpeeled, and add the finely chopped ginger to the fermenter, I get a "hotter" ginger flavor.

Between the two, it's mostly a matter of taste. I think I prefer the juice for regular drinking, though the whole root flavor is really nice if you happen to have a sore throat. And the whole root flavor does mellow out some when aged.

But, it takes a fair amount of ginger root to get a strong ginger flavor, I end up using a pound per gallon in the primary, and then another pound per gallon in the secondary, and it's still not too gingery.

 

[loveofrose]

What and how much to use depends on your goals. This is how I do things:

Fresh Ginger (skin on for burn)
-Use 0.25 lbs per gallon for a subtle flavor up to 1 lb per gallon for intense flavor.
-Skin contains a lot of the burn, so leave it on if that is what you are looking for.

Dried Ginger (aroma and flavor)
-Dried Ginger is great for aroma and flavor, but lacks the burn of fresh ginger. I make a tea with 24 grams (4 TBSP) dried ginger in a quart of off boil water. Brew until cool and dilute to a gallon.
-If you wish to boost aroma further, use half dried ginger and half dried galangal (Thai ginger) as described above.

Massive Ginger
-Do both of the above! Works very well for session strength meads.

For reference, I get my dried herbs from Mountain Rose Herbs.