Crazy Experiment gone right

[rambler]

So a couple of months ago I had an empty fermenter (and thats just not right), and my brew supplies were mighty short. Being 300 miles out from the closest LHBS sucks! So I decied to see what would happen if I fermented corn syrup. I went and got 2 gal of plain corn syrup and because I am a homebrewer of course I had to spice it up a bit. So I also bought 5 pounds of fresh ginger and a handfull of lemons. I had a couple pounds of 2 row so I threw that in there too. I ground all of the ginger and the lemmons (with rind) in the food processor, and steeped all of it with the grains in about 6 gallons of boiled water for an hour. I pitched in some random yeast I had laying around and let it go.
I let it sit in the fermenter for about 3 weeks until it finally dried out, and then put in in a keg, which i tapped yesterday and DAMN this stuff is awesome!!!
It goes against every reinhietsgbot leaning bone in my body to make such an adjunct based "beer" but this I cant stop drinking this stuff. Its got a massive amount of ginger bite and the lemmon flavor is perfect. I will probably make it again if i can duplicate it. It ought to be perfect for the summer heat.

 

[JetSmooth]

How's the hangover?

 

[rambler]

I'll let you know tommorrow, I'm on my fourth pint now!

 

[KFH]

What's the exact recipe?

 

[rambler]

1 Gallon corn syrup
2.5 pounds fresh ginger
3 Lemmons with rind
1# 2 row

1.Grind everything and put it in a grain bag in 6 gallons of water that has just been boiled.
2.Let it steep for about an hour, or longer if you want more ginger bite.
3.Let it cool down to about 80 degrees and pitch with some yeast nutrient. The yeast nutrient is important because the lemmons will tweak the Ph and the corn syrup is pasturized so the yeast needs all the help it can get.
3. Ferment until dried out (1.003) and transfer.
4. Wait about a month, pressurize, cool and enjoy.

 

[JefeTheVol]

Sarcasm aside, sounds like you made Ginger Ale. Keep rockin'
-Jefe-

 

[Gridlocked]

Awesome, well done!
This sounds like something that would go against all of my tendencies so I should try this too.

 

[rambler]

well im pleased to report that after four (or five)pints on this stuff 0 hangover symptoms. Its only about 4.5% so 4 or 5 is pretty easy to handle

 

[Gridlocked]

Hey rambler,
Where did you find corn syrup in gallons? Is this something that's at most grocery stores?

 

[rambler]

Yeh it was in our grocery store here, and if I can find it out here in the middle of nowhere I would think you could find it where you are

 

[Gridlocked]

right on!

 

[Bradinator]

With 2.5lbs of ginger we could consider this a 'health drink' with the additional perk of getting you wobbly. I might just brew up a batch of this myself!

 

[Flywheel]

Sounds good.

 

[Veinman]

Sounds like a fun experiment. I've fermented all kinds of juices with dextrose some came out great some not so good.
If you couldn't find a gallon of corn syrup couldn't you just make your own using corn sugar and water? Heat it up to dissolve on the stove and voila! It would probably be cheaper and you could make it as high an OG as you want depending on how much ABV you want in your final beverage.

 

[KFH]

How much corn sugar is equivalent to that much corn syrup?

 

[hillhousesawdustco]

Nice work! If you try it again are you going to change/add/subtract anything? Hops/more extract/etc?

 

[rambler]

Im not sure what the sugar content is but i do know its fairly high. I will look into that

I think the next time i make it i will have to add some crean of tartar, Its supposed to give it some body. It needs it because right now it has none. The syrup ferments out pretty dry. but honestly that would be all i would change at this point. I bet one could get away with really crankin up the S.G. Like mentioned above alll you would have to do is add more syrup. If i remember correctly White Labs makes a yeast that can tolerate 25%.

This little experiment could get a little dangerous

 

[rambler]

I thought of another thing id like to try with this. Maybe priming it in a bottle with a little orange blossom honey would be good too.

 

[Veinman]

Something like this will ferment to around 1.00 or lower FG in my experience. If your goal is 4.5% ABV working backwards you need an OG of 1.035. Dextrose has a PPG of 37 so you need 15 oz of corn sugar per gallon. Rounding up to a pound per gallon would give you a OG around 1.037 and ABV around 4.85%
So for 5 gallons, 5lbs of Corn Sugar would give you an approximate OG of 1.037 and around 4.9% ABV

 

[rambler]

Excellent, thanks for the beer math. Its always nice to have a math guy around

 

[curlyfat]

It's hard for me to imagine that much ginger being palatable without some sweetness, but what do I know? I've never actually used ginger in a beer. And I love ginger-ale. And I love alcohol. It's almost worth attempting.

[wheels turning]

 

[rambler]

It definitely tastes a lot better when I stir in some sugar, but it doesn't taste bad w/o it. Its really refreshing and clean tasting. I almost think that more alcohol might throw the flavor off.

 

[Sedge]

Im not sure what the sugar content is but i do know its fairly high. I will look into that

I think the next time i make it i will have to add some crean of tartar, Its supposed to give it some body. It needs it because right now it has none.

What exactly is the cream of tartar supposed to do? It's acidic, which seems like it would thin out the mouthfeel if anything. Its usually used in pH balancing applications in food to counteract alkaline salts

 

[Veinman]

While you inspired me to try something similar.
I had 2- 1 gallon fermentors empty and a few hours to kill this afternoon so I mixed up the following recipes
Recipe 1
1 gallon batch
8 oz Ginger
1 whole lemon
8 oz 2-row
10 oz dextrose
s-05 yeast
OG: 1040

Recipe 2
8 oz Ginger
1 whole lemon
1 lb 2-row
4 oz dextrose
OG: 1040
s-05 yeast

Use a food processor to process the ginger and lemon into tiny bits, add in 2-row, 1 gallon water and simmer at 155F for an hour,
strain and cool then add washed S-05 yeast

I'm interested in seeing how the 2 recipes finish relative to each other. I'll update back here in a month.

 

[rambler]

Right on! Let me know how they come out.

 

[NorthRiverS]

The only thing I've used corn syrup for is boosting ABV.

NRS