Coopers Ginger Beer

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

80/-

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2005
Messages
96
Reaction score
1
Anyone used one of the above extract kits ?

I'd be interested in knowing how it turned out, how much bite did it have, did you use glucose or DME, if DME what colour etc etc

I've got a tin on back order and I'm really keen to get some good, thirst quenching ginger beer on the go for the tail end of summer

Slainte !

80/-
 
I've used their stout, IPA, Pilsner, and Bitter kits. I used Dme with all three. Dark for the stout, amber for the IPA etc.. They're pretty good kits. Being from the U.S., I have a hard time with the Metrics in the instructions. What the heck, I just boil, add the extract can &DME and a little brown sugar if it seems right and hope for the best. A friend gave me a can of Ironmaster Stout extract the other day. That's made in the U.K. Don't know much else about it other than it's getting ready to be beer!! I'm thinking about adding another can of stout extract and four to six pounds of dark DME to try for an Imperial Stout. Can't hurt, and it just might help.


Good Luck
Sudsmonkey :D
 
Hi Suds - the imperial sounds interesting, let us know how it turns out.

I recon I'll use a pound of light and a pound of medium DME for the first batch - I want to keep the beer fairly light with more ginger spiceness than malty flavours.

I'll check out what it suggests when it arrives and then make up my mind.

I'll post back in a couple of months with the results

Cheers

80/-
 
Yeah I have tried the Coopers kits a few times. I particularly liked the Bavarian lager kit but they are all pretty much standard. Still, those kits were not as good as the all-grain tins that dont call for the addition of sugar. Those kits have an added premium though. You might want to consider doing a partial extract or leaping into AG.
 
I made a batch this past spring. I didn't use a kit/tin but wat I made is pretty refreshing. Here is the recipe:

2.5lbs of honey
3 lbs Muntons light DME
1 lbs cane sugar
2 lemons
2.5 lbs fresh ginger root
1 oz Willamette pellet hops
Wyeast 1056 American ale/Chico
Total boil 60 min
Add 3/4 of grated ginger,lemon juice and rinds (minus zest), and 3/4 of the honey at 30 minutes.
Add rest of ginger and honey at 50 minutes
Hops at 58 minutes

I may add some grains next time and some bittering hops instead of the lemon rinds, but this a very good summer beer. I'm going to enter it in the Schooner Contest this year in conjuntion with the Great Lakes Brew Fest in Racine.
 
DragonTail said:
I may add some grains next time and some bittering hops instead of the lemon rinds, but this a very good summer beer. I'm going to enter it in the Schooner Contest this year in conjuntion with the Great Lakes Brew Fest in Racine.

Uh-huh. So what's the winning ingredient from the competition recipe that you're leaving out? :)
 
DragonTail said:
I made a batch this past spring. I didn't use a kit/tin but wat I made is pretty refreshing. Here is the recipe:

2.5lbs of honey
3 lbs Muntons light DME
1 lbs cane sugar
2 lemons
2.5 lbs fresh ginger root
1 oz Willamette pellet hops
Wyeast 1056 American ale/Chico
Total boil 60 min
Add 3/4 of grated ginger,lemon juice and rinds (minus zest), and 3/4 of the honey at 30 minutes.
Add rest of ginger and honey at 50 minutes
Hops at 58 minutes

I may add some grains next time and some bittering hops instead of the lemon rinds, but this a very good summer beer. I'm going to enter it in the Schooner Contest this year in conjuntion with the Great Lakes Brew Fest in Racine.



is that a 5 gall batch?
 
DragonTail said:
Yes, 5 gal. It came out to about 2 cases of 12oz.'ers. enjoy :)

Please post a review. This sounds delicious and I'm thinking of brewing it this weekend. What would you think about a stick or two of cinnamon for 15-20 minutes?
 
DragonTail said:
I made a batch this past spring. I didn't use a kit/tin but wat I made is pretty refreshing. Here is the recipe:............


Sounds fantastic !! I'm bookmarking that to try out soon


80/-
 
Sorry to ask stupid question, but is cane sugar just ordinary sugar from the grocery?
 
What do you think about running some of that ginger through a juicer ro minimize the sediment? I have al electric juicer and I've had some thoughts about using it in conjunction with brewing. At least until I decide to make more traditional beers.
 
Sorry it took so long to reply. The cinnamon might be a good addition. The recipe, the way it is right now, I can really tast the ginger and that's about it. The cinnamon may or may not overpower it. I say give it a try and let us know. :)
 
I just checked my recipe and yes it was 2.5lbs of ginger. I have the recipe saved in promas and it have it entered as 40oz. I cannot find the original notes from when I made it, but I do rememberbuying two large hands of ginger and also using one small one I had at home. As for using a juicer, I just used a grater because I don't have a juicer. I just poured the cooled wort through a fine mesh strainer to get the "pulp" out.
 
SilvaRizla said:
I have the kit on order, I'll post some sort of review/brew diary when it gets here

Silva


Mine arrived last week and has been bubbling under the stairs for about 6 days now.

I used a bag of Cane Sugar as the recipe on the tin suggests (which is actually 2.2lbs v's the 2lb the recipe suggests) but I wasn't convinced about the aroma coming from the fermenter being strong enough for my tastes. So, based on the suggestion made earlier, I added a little ground cinnamon and also a couple of extra teaspoons of dried Ginger.

I was then away for the weekend and when I came back, the ferment was in full swing with a great spicy Ginger smell coming from the fermenter. I added another 1/2 lb of sugar (to get the potential abv up to nearer 4%) and gave it a gentle stir.

The instructions state fermentation should be done in a week - but mine is still going strong so I'll wait until the visible activity dies down and then do a couple of FG readings just to make sure I'm not making any glass grenades when I bottle.

It's then a matter of being patient for a few weeks before I can report back with some tasting notes.

Slainte !

80/-
 
It's still going ! SG is at 1010 now - about 2 weeks since it started fermenting.

It's still on a downwards trend so I'll just need to be patient until the fermentation stops.

80/-
 
i'm gonna brew up a batch of brewers best IPA with some fresh ginger this weekend... i'll let you know how it turns out.

i'm going to try 1 ounce in the last 10 minutes of the boil and then dry-hopping another ounce in secondary.
hopefully it won't over power the brew.
 
80/- did you put all that in the primary? i'd be surprised if it turns out ok...contamination etc.

and 2.5 lbs of ginger is a LOT.

i spoke to a microbrew guy at a recent brewfest and he told me to watch out how much ginger i add to my batch because it will definitely overpower your beer if you aren't careful.
 
My homebrew supplier suggested a saison kit and 2 tbsp. grated ginger...........I am going to give it a try as soon as i bottle up one of my batches........
 
The ginger (yes 2.5lbs.) is in the boil. This is a grain/extract recipe. I was shooting for a Ginger ale not an ale that has a ginger background to it. The idea was for an alcoholic version of ginger ale soda with few beer aspects. There are a few people in my group of friends that aren't big beer drinkers.
 
Let us know when you have the finished product. I bet that it will be something like Bleinheim Ginger Ale sold here in the Carolinas. It is so firey that you have to be ready for one.......refreshingm yes, but you had better really like hot spicy stuff!
 
I've already had a case and a half of this. The batch was done back at the begining of summer. It's not as hot as everyone is thinking. Actually its not hot at all. There is just a very good ginger flavor. Most of the heat was cooked off in the boil, and the rest in primary fermentation. I was actually thinking of adding some more, in the next batch, in the secondary (think dry hop), to get a little heat into it. :cool:
 
As coincedence would have it - I've just tasted my first bottle of the Coopers Extract based Ginger Beer.

The smell from the bottle is nice - very spicy with a hint of lime. Carbonation is not all it could be - a little sparkle but not real fizz, but that doesn't really detract from the taste.

There's a real ginger heat to the taste - not to begin with , but building up slowly after the first mouthful. Despite the FG being around 1.000, there is still quite a sweetness - probably from the artificial sweetners in the extract - personally, I could live with it being a little drier.

I'm pretty impressed - although I'll try and leave it another few weeks to see if it ages out a bit more in the bottles

80/-
 
DragonTail said:
I've already had a case and a half of this. The batch was done back at the begining of summer. It's not as hot as everyone is thinking. Actually its not hot at all. There is just a very good ginger flavor. Most of the heat was cooked off in the boil, and the rest in primary fermentation. I was actually thinking of adding some more, in the next batch, in the secondary (think dry hop), to get a little heat into it. :cool:

Haven't any of you ever cooked with fresh ginger? I use it in stirfry all the time and while super hot to the toung when it's fresh, it mellows and sweetens when cooked. Onions and Garlic are the same.

I know that DragonTail is accurately describing his brew. Sounds pretty darn good to me.
 
how did the judging go, DT?

my batch of Ginger IPA just finished fermenting - krauesen finally fell last night, so i'll be moving it to secondary tonight & dry-hopping more fresh ginger.

it took 10 days to finish fermenting! i don't use a hydrometer, so i can't tell you any readings. :eek:

there's a faint ginger smell so far, but i just won't know until i taste a little while transferring to secondary. i'm hoping to get some spiceyness out of the dry-hopping, because i just LOVE ginger! i'll be adding approx 3 ounces of thinly sliced fresh ginger.

we'll see!
 
I got a 36 from one judge and a 33 from the other. The comments I got from them were pretty good. They both suggested things that I was already going to try on the bext batch. They said it need a little more body and head, both of which I also thought. I had planned on using some speciality grains in the next batch, which should help in both cases. Otherwise they liked everything else. Good color and carbonation, and the ginger flavor was good up front. I also plan on adding some ginger to the seconday to get some finishing flavor. I did, however, win a first place with my IPA. :D
Cheers,
 
Hi guys, I feel inspired.

I'm trying my first ginger ale from a recipe I found on the web.
It only calls for a one day ferment, so I'm guessing it will be more like soda.
I've seen recipes like it stating they only have 0.5%abv.

4.5lt (8 pints) Water
1 Lemon
40g (1½oz) Root Ginger
25g (1 oz) Cream of Tartar
25g (1 oz) Brewers or Wine Yeast
450g (1lb) Sugar

I think I'll be trying the full strength stuff some time soon.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top