Amber Ginger Ale

[Mars]

Thoughts? It's only my 4th batch or so.

Brewed with a mash and boil 2

Amber Ginger Ale
5.6% / 14.1 °P
Recipe by
Mars

All Grain


Default
72% efficiency

Batch Volume: 3 gal
Boil Time: 60 min


Mash Water: 3.08 gal

Sparge Water: 1.64 gal
Total Water: 4.72 gal
Boil Volume: 4.19 gal

Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.043


Vitals
Original Gravity: 1.057

Final Gravity: 1.014

IBU (Tinseth): 12

BU/GU: 0.21

Color: 15 SRM


Mash
Temperature — 149 °F — 60 min


Malts (6 lb)
2 lb (30.5%) — Cargill (Gambrinus) Honey Malt — Grain — 20 °L — Mash
2 lb (30.5%) — Weyermann Wayermann German Munich Malt — Grain — 10 °L — Mash
1 lb (15.3%) — Barley, Flaked — Grain — 1.8 °L — Mash
1 lb (15.3%) — Briess Victory Malt — Grain — 25 °L — Mash
Other (8.9 oz)
6.3 oz (6%) — Ginger Syrup — Liquid Extract — 13.8 °L — Boil — 10 min
2.1 oz (2%) — Ginger Root — Adjunct — 13 °L — Mash
0.6 oz (0.5%) — Birch Bark — Adjunct — 15 °L — Mash
Hops (2 oz)
2 oz (12 IBU) — Fuggle 4.7% — Mash


Yeast
1 pkg — Wyeast Labs 1318 London Ale III 75%
Fermentati
on
Primary — 68 °F — 14 days


Carbonation: 2.4 CO2-vol

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Malts (6 lb)
2 lb (30.5%) — Cargill (Gambrinus) Honey Malt — Grain — 20 °L — Mash
2 lb (30.5%) — Weyermann Wayermann German Munich Malt — Grain — 10 °L — Mash
1 lb (15.3%) — Barley, Flaked — Grain — 1.8 °L — Mash
1 lb (15.3%) — Briess Victory Malt — Grain — 25 °L — Mash

Mash
Temperature — 149 °F — 60 min

Is there enough diastatic power in the malts to get a good conversion?

Data in the Brewers Friend complete recipe calculator suggests that Weyermann Munich Type 1 (6L) may have enough DP. Munich Type 2 (10L) probably does not.

 

[Mars]

Is there enough diastatic power in the malts to get a good conversion?

Data in the Brewers Friend complete recipe calculator suggests that Weyermann Munich Type 1 (6L) may have enough DP. Munich Type 2 (10L) probably does not.

I'm super new and have only been brewing under a month. I'm not sure what that means, but I'll look it up if it doesn't come out just right, I'll take your advice and tweak it. Thank's!

Also, would you recommend brewers friend over brewfather?

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw I ran the grain bill through this Diastatic Power Calculator and the results aren't good. As the only grain out of the four with any diastatic power is the Munich with only a 60° Lintner rating, the all-up DP rating is only 20°, just half of what most consider necessary to convert what is convertible...

Cheers!

 

[Mars]

fwiw I ran the grain bill through this Diastatic Power Calculator and the results aren't good. As the only grain out of the four with any diastatic power is the Munich with only a 60° Lintner rating, the all-up DP rating is only 20°, just half of what most consider necessary to convert what is convertible...

Cheers!

Sooo like do I dump it or what? And do the birch bark, ginger and barley count for anything? Also, I guess brewfather doesn't have a feature to tell me this before I f*ck things up?

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

Did you actually measure your gravity? Or is that 1.057 just what brewfather predicted, and you don't know what the real OG is?

You definitely didn't get all the starches in your grains converted to sugars, but I don't know if that means your batch is hopeless. It's possible that you could still get those starches to convert by adding some amylase enzyme to your wort (wait for others to agree this is worthwhile first, I've been drinking)!

 

[Mars]

Sooo like do I dump it or w

Did you actually measure your gravity? Or is that 1.057 just what brewfather predicted, and you don't know what the real OG is?

You definitely didn't get all the starches in your grains converted to sugars, but I don't know if that means your batch is hopeless. It's possible that you could still get those starches to convert by adding some amylase enzyme to your wort (wait for others to agree this is worthwhile first, I've been drinking)!

Ugh I just keep screwing up

 

[day_trippr]

I wouldn't dump it until it's definitely been determined to be a lost cause. Stuff happens all the time around here that leaves folks scratching their heads, so you never know It may simply turn out to be eminently drinkable but with a lower alcohol content than planned, which isn't the worst thing in the world.

birch bark, ginger and barley count for anything

I don't think birch bark or ginger have any saccharification enzymes

Flaked barley has zero conversion power last time I checked as the process from grain to flaked uses temperatures that are intrinsically denaturing - typically the dehulled grain is hit with live steam to rapidly hydrate and soften it and then is rolled flat under heated rollers. None of that is good for preserving enzymes, so the flaked barley depends on the enzymes from elsewhere...

Cheers!

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

would you recommend brewers friend over brewfather?

No preference, I use Brewers Friend as it came out long before BrewFather. I mentioned Brewers Friend as it was the source for the DP numbers.

 

[Mars]

I wouldn't dump it until it's definitely been determined to be a lost cause. Stuff happens all the time around here that leaves folks scratching their heads, so you never know It may simply turn out to be eminently drinkable but with a lower alcohol content than planned, which isn't the worst thing in the world.



I don't think birch bark or ginger have any saccharification enzymes

Flaked barley has zero conversion power last time I checked as the process from grain to flaked uses temperatures that are intrinsically denaturing - typically the dehulled grain is hit with live steam to rapidly hydrate and soften it and then is rolled flat under heated rollers. None of that is good for preserving enzymes, so the flaked barley depends on the enzymes from elsewhere...

Cheers!

Heyo, so over the last few days, it developed a thick hazelnut or toffee colored foam (one of the jugs it's pure white). I'm reading that could either be krausen, or an infection because it failed. We did have a heat wave here the last few days, so temps were in the high seventies at points.

Do I just keep waiting? It smells pretty good tbh.

 

[Rish]

This sounds normal but a photo would help.
Just let it ride. If it smells and tastes good, you should be okay.
Do you have a way to check sg (hydrometer, refractometer)? If so, check until it is stable for a couple of readings 3 days apart then taste and, if good, package.
Also, if the abv is lower than you want, you can add sugar to bump it up at any point prior to packaging and let it ferment out.

 

[Mars]

This sounds normal but a photo would help.
Just let it ride. If it smells and tastes good, you should be okay.
Do you have a way to check sg (hydrometer, refractometer)? If so, check until it is stable for a couple of readings 3 days apart then taste and, if good, package.
Also, if the abv is lower than you want, you can add sugar to bump it up at any point prior to packaging and let it ferment out.

I'm not able to at the moment, but I'll take a reading and get a picture tomorrow

 

[Mars]

Hi all. So I never checked the gravity, but I kegged it today, and it tastes like a light ale. It's pretty decent IMHO.

Can't really taste the ginger though. I'll have to try it again with more ginger and more base grains and see what happens.

Edit: the second pour definitely has a nice lil hint of ginger