Recently brewed a guava sour using philly sour yeast and after kegging and carbonating the beer i sampled it and decided it needs another layer of something and decided on ginger. I want to add whole fresh ginger in the keg using mesh tea balls but am worried about not killing any wild yeast or bacteria on the ginger first. So my question is can i do a low temp pasteurization on the ginger in my oven, i don't have any vodka and i live in a town that doesn't sell liquor so that isn't really an option for me at this point. Any suggestions would be helpful
Adding ginger to keg
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Abhishek Dewan
Well-Known Member
Safe way - Make a tea by boiling ginger with water for about 10-15 minutes. Cool it and then add it slowly, while taking and tasting the samples, until you’re happy. Even if you add ginger directly, it should not be a problem as that’s how you make ginger bug starter. Most ginger bug/yeast should get neutralized with alcohol in beer I think as they have low tolerance.
Since it's a sour anyway, I'd add chopped up fresh ginger directly. No boiling, cooking, baking, they would change that fresh flavor too much.
Don't overstuff the tea ball, you want the beer to be able to permeate. A little agitation once or twice a day may help with extraction/dispersion.
Don't overstuff the tea ball, you want the beer to be able to permeate. A little agitation once or twice a day may help with extraction/dispersion.
I think if I was in your situation I would pull off a qt of the beer and steep the ginger in there for a week or so, stain and add that back into the beer. That way you can use as much or as little ginger as you want. The one time I made a ginger beer, I used a lb of fresh ginger, some in the boil, some at FO and some in a ticture with vodka. Since all of those are not options I'd try what I said above. Use the beer to make the ginger ticture/slurry. You can also make some tea with some of the ginger to get the bite without so much of the other flavors. Good luck 
mashpaddled
Well-Known Member
Ginger is antibacterial so it's not likely to be a source of contamination. I would peel it because that's the most likely location of any unwelcomed passengers. Sanitize your knife and cutting board. You could hit the ginger with sanitizer if you wanted but I wouldn't find that necessary myself.
Thank you for responding guys. I think i will add fresh ginger straight to the keg using the mesh balls as well as make a tea to enhance the ginger character because am not sure how much flavor i will extract from the fresh ginger at the lower temps i keep my keezer , so i will split the amount between both methods...again appreciate the advise cheers 
you could pull the keg out of the keezer for a few days to warm it up a bit, room temp. If you have a grater, you could basically juice the ginger and add that to the keg instead of using the tea balls. Just some thoughts. Good luckThank you for responding guys. I think i will add fresh ginger straight to the keg using the mesh balls as well as make a tea to enhance the ginger character because am not sure how much flavor i will extract from the fresh ginger at the lower temps i keep my keezer , so i will split the amount between both methods...again appreciate the advise cheers
It should extract very well and quickly, likely within 1-2 days. For that, chop your ginger very finely, almost macerated, using a clean, sanitized cutting board and a sharp chopping knife.
Don't overstuff the tea balls.
Just rock or swirl the keg a few times a day.
Purge the headspace with CO2 each time you open the lid, to prevent oxidation.
Stream CO2 through the gas post while adding things against a CO2 counter stream. Work quickly, have everything ready to go.
Workflow:
Open PRV, stream in CO2 (~10-15 psi), remove lid, add your ginger tea balls, reseat lid, close PRV, then purge a few times. 30-60 seconds...
This sounds like a plan. Really appreciate the detailed process....Cheers
Are you going to suspend/hang those tea balls or just drop them in?
If you expect the tea balls to float, you can always add a few glass marbles or a stainless nut or so to each ball to weigh them down. That should keep them submerged.
If you expect the tea balls to float, you can always add a few glass marbles or a stainless nut or so to each ball to weigh them down. That should keep them submerged.
NH, I suggest you grate the ginger for more surface area in contact with the beer.
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