Hi All, I'm completely new to brewing/fermenting any kind of drink so if I sound like a noob, then so be it haha!
I've been itching to try and make my own Ginger Ale/Ginger Beer for a long time and recently got up the guts to try to do it.
Well I've gotten a few different recipes and they all seem to be pretty similar, so I gave it a go with this recipe here...
1 Gallon of spring water
2 Cups of Sucanat (unrefined brown sugar, very tasty)
1 whole lemon worth of juice
lots of Ginger (I don't recall the exact amount, it was alot as I like very spicy ginger ale)
1/2 Tablespoon of Yeast (Baker's yeast)
I followed all the normal steps in making it, I boiled my ginger for about 4 minutes and let it simmer for about 3 or 4. after it cooled I put it in the jug that I got my water in (I'm poor) along with my sucanat and then my yeast. I shook it up nicely and it took on this nice sort of dark beer/malt look to it. It certainly LOOKED tasty (looked being the key word here).
I punched a little hole in the lid to let the CO2 out and put a cheesecloth under the lid and screwed it back on. It smelled ok at this point, it actually kind of had a nice lemony/ginger smell to it.
But here's the fun bit. I was told to watch it until there was a steady stream of bubbles inside the jug (about 2 1/2 hours is all it took). Well bubbles started fizzing and I felt it was time to bottle them. I got some of the plastic kind of Sprite style bottles and got about 8 bottles worth of the stuff.
Well I let the bottles build up a good bit of pressure (they were about rock hard) and put them in the fridge before I went to work. I came back from work and they were nice and cold.
And then..... taste testing time! The batch I finished today was my second attempt but the first time I did it I had the same result.
The taste was.... less than stellar, there was no sweetness whatsoever, the ginger was non-existent, and there was this really weird sort of Ammonia/Sulfur/alcohol/yeast taste to it. It wasn't rancid tasting, but it was pretty darn hard to get down, I gagged every time I tried it. Although the fizziness was great! everything else...... wasn't.
I've tried twice and each time I get the same results, any help?
If it helps at all, the kind of taste I'm going to try to go for is Blenheim/Reeds. Not quite as spicy as Blenheim's number 3 but not quite as sweet as Reeds Extra ginger brew.
I've been itching to try and make my own Ginger Ale/Ginger Beer for a long time and recently got up the guts to try to do it.
Well I've gotten a few different recipes and they all seem to be pretty similar, so I gave it a go with this recipe here...
1 Gallon of spring water
2 Cups of Sucanat (unrefined brown sugar, very tasty)
1 whole lemon worth of juice
lots of Ginger (I don't recall the exact amount, it was alot as I like very spicy ginger ale)
1/2 Tablespoon of Yeast (Baker's yeast)
I followed all the normal steps in making it, I boiled my ginger for about 4 minutes and let it simmer for about 3 or 4. after it cooled I put it in the jug that I got my water in (I'm poor) along with my sucanat and then my yeast. I shook it up nicely and it took on this nice sort of dark beer/malt look to it. It certainly LOOKED tasty (looked being the key word here).
I punched a little hole in the lid to let the CO2 out and put a cheesecloth under the lid and screwed it back on. It smelled ok at this point, it actually kind of had a nice lemony/ginger smell to it.
But here's the fun bit. I was told to watch it until there was a steady stream of bubbles inside the jug (about 2 1/2 hours is all it took). Well bubbles started fizzing and I felt it was time to bottle them. I got some of the plastic kind of Sprite style bottles and got about 8 bottles worth of the stuff.
Well I let the bottles build up a good bit of pressure (they were about rock hard) and put them in the fridge before I went to work. I came back from work and they were nice and cold.
And then..... taste testing time! The batch I finished today was my second attempt but the first time I did it I had the same result.
The taste was.... less than stellar, there was no sweetness whatsoever, the ginger was non-existent, and there was this really weird sort of Ammonia/Sulfur/alcohol/yeast taste to it. It wasn't rancid tasting, but it was pretty darn hard to get down, I gagged every time I tried it. Although the fizziness was great! everything else...... wasn't.
I've tried twice and each time I get the same results, any help?
If it helps at all, the kind of taste I'm going to try to go for is Blenheim/Reeds. Not quite as spicy as Blenheim's number 3 but not quite as sweet as Reeds Extra ginger brew.