While I can't find the thread at the moment, I based my process off a recipe on this site to brew a non-alcoholic ginger beer and force carbonate in my keg. Batch #1 turned out excellent for my taste but lacked something.
Recipe #1 (5 gallons)
11 lemons & 1 lime: Zest was cut off and put into 5 gallons of water at 180 degrees F. Lemons were juiced then added to water. (Only used the lime because it needed to be used)
2lb of juiced ginger and the pulp to the pot at 180 degrees F.
About 1 lb of white sugar, 1lb of brown sugar were also added in addition to 1 table spoon of cream of tartar.
Mixture was covered and seeped overnight. Why overnight? I fell asleep.
I added about 1/2 lb of fresh ginger juice the following morning to the keg along with some potassium sorbate (because I had it on hand and figured it couldn't hurt preserve the soda).
Mixture was strained while being added to the keg then carbonated at 40psi.
Tasting notes of batch one:
Very dry. Very spicy. Like I said, it really fit MY preference but lacked something to tie the flavors together. It was a one-two citrus/ginger punch. I drank this batch most often in the morning in place of coffee (or at night with a bit of whiskey). Drinking it at night with, maybe, 1/2 of a shot of whiskey per 8oz added a lot of depth to the flavor.
------------------------------------------
In the name of experimentation, I used the same process but adjusted the ingredients as follows (5 gallons):
9 lemons
1.5lb of ginger (juiced and seeped)
.5lb of ginger juiced and added to keg
1.5 oz of lemongrass (chopped and seeped)
1 vanilla bean
~1 tablespoon of cloves (I added a more initially but moments after adding I noticed the powerful smell and scooped some out opting for a more subtle approach. I estimate a tablespoon was left in).
1lb dark brown sugar
2lb cane sugar
Edit: Forgot to mention I added about a tablespoon of cream of tartar and some potassium sorbate.
Kegged this morning. I'll update with tasting notes later. My goal with the vanilla and cloves was to add a slight depth to the flavor that would be similar (not replicate) to what I enjoyed about mixing whiskey with the previous batch. I increased the sugar simply for experimentation.
Recipe #1 (5 gallons)
11 lemons & 1 lime: Zest was cut off and put into 5 gallons of water at 180 degrees F. Lemons were juiced then added to water. (Only used the lime because it needed to be used)
2lb of juiced ginger and the pulp to the pot at 180 degrees F.
About 1 lb of white sugar, 1lb of brown sugar were also added in addition to 1 table spoon of cream of tartar.
Mixture was covered and seeped overnight. Why overnight? I fell asleep.
I added about 1/2 lb of fresh ginger juice the following morning to the keg along with some potassium sorbate (because I had it on hand and figured it couldn't hurt preserve the soda).
Mixture was strained while being added to the keg then carbonated at 40psi.
Tasting notes of batch one:
Very dry. Very spicy. Like I said, it really fit MY preference but lacked something to tie the flavors together. It was a one-two citrus/ginger punch. I drank this batch most often in the morning in place of coffee (or at night with a bit of whiskey). Drinking it at night with, maybe, 1/2 of a shot of whiskey per 8oz added a lot of depth to the flavor.
------------------------------------------
In the name of experimentation, I used the same process but adjusted the ingredients as follows (5 gallons):
9 lemons
1.5lb of ginger (juiced and seeped)
.5lb of ginger juiced and added to keg
1.5 oz of lemongrass (chopped and seeped)
1 vanilla bean
~1 tablespoon of cloves (I added a more initially but moments after adding I noticed the powerful smell and scooped some out opting for a more subtle approach. I estimate a tablespoon was left in).
1lb dark brown sugar
2lb cane sugar
Edit: Forgot to mention I added about a tablespoon of cream of tartar and some potassium sorbate.
Kegged this morning. I'll update with tasting notes later. My goal with the vanilla and cloves was to add a slight depth to the flavor that would be similar (not replicate) to what I enjoyed about mixing whiskey with the previous batch. I increased the sugar simply for experimentation.
