Gingered Ale ?

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MikeinCT

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I was reading in my "Joy of Homebrew" last night about an ale with an addition of Ginger root. It sounds like it might be popular around the holidays. I wonder if anyone has brew this variation?

thanks, Mike
 
I haven't brewed the recipe you're looking at, but I'm about to embark on a Ginger Wheat Ale. My plan is to use 1.5 oz of fresh ginger in my 5 gallon batch - 1 oz with 15 minutes left in the boil, and the last .5 oz at flameout.

There are a couple of commercial ales with ginger out there right now if you're interested in trying it. Left Hand Good Juju and Shiner Ruby Redbird are in my fridge right now.
 
I've brewed an all ginger beer - ginger, lemon, cream of tartar and brown sugar. after some spicing after fermentation, it's still very "meh." I want to brew another, but similar to Brandon O's Graff or something, it definitely needs to be a flavor on top and not the main flavor. I used 150g of ginger in 1G and it's very obvious.

Ginger goes really well with citrus fruit and some other fruits - basically anything jamaican-ish, naturally. Food for thought - or beer for thought I guess?
 
I have a copy of the New Joy of Home Brewing by Papazian. The book is circa 1983. But this recipe that caught my attention looks like a light porter with the addition of 2 - 4 oz of ginger root. This gets added to the wort boil. I was thinking it might make a nice holiday beer. The recipe I have is for extract but I would convert to all grain.
 
It's what I've got on tap right now...

6. Honey Ginger Ale Batch Code – A6

Date Brewed: 06/18/11

Batch Size: 5 gallons 1 hr boil

Recipe: ‎6 oz Honey Malt
8 oz Victory (biscuit) malt
Grains added @~125, raised to 148-152 & steeped for 30 minutes (1.5 gal)
Sparged with another gallon+ of water @185
6# Bulk light LME (about 1# added @ 1st boil, rest @30 min)
12 oz honey
1# Dextrose (honey/dextrose added @ 45 min)
1oz fresh ginger (grated) (added @ 50 min)
Hops:
1oz Cascade (5.7% AA) @boil w/ 1# LME
.3oz Hallertau (5.7% AA) @ 30 min
.5oz Hallertau (5.7% AA) @ 45 min
.5oz Hallertau (5.7% AA) @ 55 min

OG: 1.061 (calculated w/ BrewTarget, forgot to measure pre-pitch)

Racked: N/A

FG: = 1.005 (Calculated ABV @ 7.358%)

Bottling: Transferred to keg 7/17/11, topped off with 30# of CO2 and put in fridge hooked to gas set @10#.

Notes: Wonderful aroma, distinct ginger notes and the hop character seems just right. more to be added later as it matures

FWIW, after a couple days in the keg the ginger note is VERY distinct and it's pretty cloudy, although it's probably just pushing the sediment out in the 2 small glasses I've sampled. I really like it, but the ginger is very pronounced. Unless you REALLY like ginger, I'd be careful about adding too much. :mug:

the boil times listed are times INTO the boil, not how long they boiled...

Mals
 
I have a brown ale made with ginger snaps added to the mash tun, here.

And it is primed with priming sugar infused with ginger root boiled along with the priming sugar. I added 1.5 ounces of ginger to my priming sugar boil.

179344_10150090926959067_620469066_6194442_7703006_n.jpg


168032_10150090952399067_620469066_6194986_531233_n.jpg


As you can see it has a nice straw color as opposed to the clear you are used to. It smelled amazingly like ginger.

169063_10150091001109067_620469066_6195604_5484234_n.jpg


For years I was also trying to perfect a Ginger Orange Dortmunder, to which I added ounces of fresh ginger to the boil.
 
I still wish somebody could clone Crabbies. That stuff is amazing. And apparently, Crystallized Ginger (or Candied as you yankees call it) is meant to be better for home brewing :)
 
I still wish somebody could clone Crabbies. That stuff is amazing. And apparently, Crystallized Ginger (or Candied as you yankees call it) is meant to be better for home brewing :)
I've got a 1-gallon test batch of an attempted Crabbie's clone fermenting right now. I plan to bottle this week and keep remaking it until I get it right. Once I do, Rob, I'll let you know. :rockin:

Revvy - As always, your post was inspirational. I love the idea of infusing the priming sugar with ginger. I may do that in the ginger wheat ale I'm brewing next weekend. Thanks!
 
Revvy - As always, your post was inspirational. I love the idea of infusing the priming sugar with ginger. I may do that in the ginger wheat ale I'm brewing next weekend. Thanks!

Thanks, let me know how it works out for you.

Another thing I've wanted to play with is "dry infusing" sugar. Taking a jar and filling it with sugar and a large hunk of ginger, and just store it in the fridge for awhile, then boil the sugar as normal priming sugar.

With infusing during boil, I've also done dry chilies for my mole porter and other dry spiced. It's another level of aroma and flavor.
 
I've got a 1-gallon test batch of an attempted Crabbie's clone fermenting right now. I plan to bottle this week and keep remaking it until I get it right. Once I do, Rob, I'll let you know. :rockin:

Sweet. what's your recipe? I swear there's passion fruit or something in it..
 
There are a couple of commercial ales with ginger out there right now if you're interested in trying it. Left Hand Good Juju and Shiner Ruby Redbird are in my fridge right now.[/QUOTE]

FWIW, Shiner cuts theirs with grapefruit. Pretty tasty stuff. I've never done a ginger, so I'm no expert, but from what I understand, I should be cut with some sort of citric acid. Good luck. Let us know how it turns out!
 
Oops, sorry for the faulty quote! Here's how it should have read...

shawnbou said:
There are a couple of commercial ales with ginger out there right now if you're interested in trying it. Left Hand Good Juju and Shiner Ruby Redbird are in my fridge right now.

FWIW, Shiner cuts theirs with grapefruit. Pretty tasty stuff. I've never done a ginger, so I'm no expert, but from what I understand, I should be cut with some sort of citric acid. Good luck. Let us know how it turns out!
 
A little ginger goes a long way so be careful. I have a batch of ginger-flavoured malt drain rinser... unless it mellows an awful lot in the next little while!

B
 

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