Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer Ginger Ale

[SinDex23]

Have a batch of this made and in bottle conditioning right now. Only difference was dry hopping 1oz Citra in secondary and an additional .5# of Fresh Ginger and the zest of two Lemons.

When I tasted it going from Primary to Secondary, it just wasn't gingery enough for my liking. The fresh addition really makes the ginger linger on the palette and the front end of Citra makes the flavour pop.

Don't doubt the 2.5# of Ginger as cooking it REALLY does reduce the volatile flavours. However, you might be able to reduce the amount by adding it closer to flame out as it won't boil the compounds. Might make the flavour harsher though.

OG of 1.062 with an FG of 1.002 made me pretty pleased considering this was only my third beer and my first 5 gallon batch.

 

[fedosens]

Can I ask you, what temperature did you ferment your beer in?

Just I'm going to make a batch of ginger beer tomorrow and I'll afraid, that temperature in my flat is higher than enough.

 

[damlamb]

Can I ask you, what temperature did you ferment your beer in?

Just I'm going to make a batch of ginger beer tomorrow and I'll afraid, that temperature in my flat is higher than enough.

I did mine around 65°f i wouldnt go much over 70 though

 

[SinDex23]

Can I ask you, what temperature did you ferment your beer in?

Just I'm going to make a batch of ginger beer tomorrow and I'll afraid, that temperature in my flat is higher than enough.

I am at the mercy of Mother Nature when it comes to ferment temps, but I did this one in my basement before the summer really kicked in and was fermenting around 68-70f. I have received a lot of compliments from friends on this beer and have even had it requested for another brew. I am curious to see how it holds up in my kegerator. I suspect it will hold up well, but won't last too long.

Also, please do not make the mistake I made. Put your Ginger in a mesh bag! I wound up clogging two auto siphons because I made this rookie mistake.

 

[Dade0]

Add it to 2ndary. That is where the ginger stays true. The heat still fades a bit though.

 

[russ63gibson]

I'm going to try this next week.

 

[kneedragon76]

Starting this recipe today.

 

[Willy_Liverdye]

3lbs light DME
3lbs Honey
1lb Honey Malt
1/2lb Carapils
2lbs peeled and processed fresh ginger
1/2oz Lemon Hops at boil
1/2oz Lemon Dry Hop
American Ale Yeast

OG - 1.05
FG - 1.01

OMG!!

 

[jaydlaw]

I will attempt the op recipe over the weekend. Question, what yeast should I utilize? I read a the posts and there are a few different ones utilized.

 

[fosaisu]

I will attempt the op recipe over the weekend. Question, what yeast should I utilize? I read a the posts and there are a few different ones utilized.

I've successfully used British ale yeast (e.g. S-04 or Nottingham) several times with this recipe. But a relatively neutral yeast (e.g. US-05) would also work well. This definitely isn't a yeast-driven beer, so as long as you're not using a hefe or Belgian yeast you'll probably be happy with the results!

Note that the original recipe calls for Wyeast 1056 -- that's the same strain of yeast as the US-05 I recommended, but in liquid instead of dry form. I'm not a big fan of using liquid yeasts when there's an identical dry yeast available (dry is easier to handle and you get much more yeast per packet without having to do a starter). So if you decide to go with the neutral/American ale yeast, I'd recommend the dry US-05 over the liquid Wyeast 1056.

Good luck and happy brewing!

 

[jaydlaw]

Thanks for the reply, I was thinking of Nottingham as well.

 

[jaydlaw]

In regards to the Irish moss, is it necessary to rehydrate? If so how?

 

[fosaisu]

In regards to the Irish moss, is it necessary to rehydrate? If so how?

Nope - just toss it in for the last few mins of the boil. I always put my Whirlfloc tab (same stuff basically) in at 5 mins. It will cause some foam up when you drop it in so watch for that!

 

[bassclefbrewing]

Trying this tomorrow but i'm also worried about mother nature. It's supposed to be in the 80s. If i keep my apartment at 75 and use a swamp cooler with ice packs think i'll be okay?

Is there another strain of yeast I could do that would be okay around 72-72F?

 

[jaydlaw]

Thanks fosaisu

 

[jaydlaw]

I purchase supplies today, hopefully, I can find everything.

 

[jaydlaw]

I made a boo boo. Due to a lapse of judgment, I bought a little more than a pound of ginger root rather than the 2 lbs 8 oz that the recipe requires. For some reason, I s thinking that 32oz =1lb. To adjust, cause I'm not going out to buy more ginger, I planing on saving some for later during fermentation and/ secondary.
Either that or pick up some more ginger last minute, but I can't imagine cleaning and grating another lb.

 

[jaydlaw]

Alteration #2. Instead of 3# of ginger, I'll be utilizing 40oz

 

[jaydlaw]

OK, I ended up following the recipe except for only the ginger. Since I miscalculated, I only used 1 1/4 lbs. Everything else was exact. My SG ended up being 1.068. I'm guessing that I utilized more sugar than suggested. I used 2 cups as that is what the domino sugar converter told me to utilize. I should have put ginger in bags as it kept getting caught in the suction tube. I ended up having to utilize a pitcher to move wort into carboy. All in all it was a good learning experience. I hope that I didn't infect it by using the pitcher. We will see in a couple of days. I'll keep everyone that cares posted. Also since I didn't have enough ginger, I saved some until the end for the last 2 minutes of boil and the fermenter.

 

[jaydlaw]

Well it is fermenting very nicely. fingers crossed. I am still worried about the amount of sugar/honey, but i believe that the yeast will eat that up.

 

[jaydlaw]

I'm glad that I am working from home today, my airlock (bung) blew off overnight. I didn't lose much, I taped it down and I will monitor. I need to keep adding sanitizer into air lock. I need to get a blow off tube.

 

[bassclefbrewing]

Thanks for the updates jaydlaw. Very curious how it turns out as I'm thinking of trying this myself.

 

[jaydlaw]

Thanks for the updates jaydlaw. Very curious how it turns out as I'm thinking of trying this myself.

No problem, if u do, make sure that you have a blow out tube for the first few days

 

[jaydlaw]

Thanks for the updates jaydlaw. Very curious how it turns out as I'm thinking of trying this myself.

No problem, if u do, make sure that you have a blow out tube for the first few days

 

[jaydlaw]

crap i reread the op's recipe, and it calls for .5# Light DME. I added 5#. live an learn, hope it comes out alright.

 

[jaydlaw]

Fermentation has slowed after being pretty rigorous for the last few days. There doesn't appear to be any krausen, but I'll check on it a little later to verify.

 

[jaydlaw]

I bottled today. Dealing with the ginger was hell. If you decide to brew this recipe, use hop bags or muslin bags for the ginger, otherwise you'll end up purchasing a new syphon. I'll probably crack one in a like 10 days to check up on how it's carbonating., and how it taste. The sg was 1.068, fg 1.012. Calculation say 7.36% abv.

 

[tlucarelli]

Haha @jaydlaw I was wondering about how heavy yours seemed. I tried making this with no extract so I ended up (rather unsuccessfully) trying to mash 3 lbs of 2 row and 1 lb of carapils. I've never mashed that small of a grain bill so that ended up being an interesting experience. With all said and done though I ended up with a 1.044 OG so it will be significantly lighter than yours. My assumption is something in the 1.05 range is probably a good starting point.

Other than that I followed the original recipe almost identically. I didn't use the lemon rinds because I just didn't want to deal with it. I used Amarillo and Willamette though as my 2 hops and instead of clover honey I used orange blossom honey courtesy of my LHBS. I also put the ginger in muslin bags so that helped.

I've had it fermenting about 8 or 9 days so far so I'll let it sit another 4-7 days or so then keg. I really liked the sample I took and can't wait to try it. If it comes out as good as I think it will be, I'll definitely be brewing again.

 

[jaydlaw]

I think my sample needed more hops. I'll remember that next time. I'm also thinking of an alternative for the honey. That being said, I believe that I'll like it alot more after fully carbed. I should have used muslin bags, I had them handy. Live and learn.

 

[jaydlaw]

Also I am not sure what type of honey i used, whatever was cheapest for the amount that was needed I guess. I just had the wife pick honey up, not really caring about the type especially considering the price that the recipe costs. Extracts are pricy. I think that this will be my last extract batch. Going biab for my next batch, whatever that might be.