Ginger Snap Brown Ale.

[BrewinUpNorth]

Just to clarify my second sentence.

Initially I did not anticipate the extra sugars in my recipe would up the OG. That said, I also upped the grain bill from Revvy's recipe at first thinking it was a little low....not anticipating the cookie increase....now I think I will end up with a higher alcohol brew than Revvy, which may hurt my Cookie flavor I so seek.

So, going forward, if you want more of a session beer (not what I was looking for), drop the grain bill and anticipate the cookie sugars.

 

[Revvy]

I say it in my notes on the first page, and I created a category for the cookies in beersmith, using the ppg of the same amount of turbinado sugar..

Notes
1 Lb box of ginger snaps in mash tun. 1 Box of Nabisco = 176g of sugar or 6.2 ounces. Used the calculation for 6.2 ounces turbinado sugar for a rough gravity assumption.

So it is factored in to the initial gravity of mine.

 

[Red_Zeppelin]

just hope I GET THE COOKIE! I MUST HAVE THE COOKIE FLAVOR!

COOKIECOOKIECOOKIE!!!!

 

[Revvy]

LOL...I was thinking about posting Cookie Monster myself.

 

[Xcorpia]

My batch has been in 2ry for 4 weeks. Sampled it today before adding gelatin (planning to bottle Tuesday) and the alcohol flavor mellowed out. Its tasty, but I'm going to add a spice tea to taste before bottling because the ginger mellowed out. I'm really excited about this brew .

 

[Revvy]

Awesome!!!!!!

 

[Red_Zeppelin]

Tasted my iced oatmeal sweet stout for the first time this weekend. If anything, it tastes like I used peanutbutter cookies... odd, but I'll roll with it. Peanut butter & chocolate stout, anybody?

 

[Xcorpia]

Reeses stout! LOL Doesn't sound bad at all!

 

[BrewinUpNorth]

got busy and left in primary for 4 WEEKS!!
I have a cookie flavor, but only if I look for it and think about it...I think I may have just made a great holiday beer, with a great story, but still lacking the ginger.

Incidentally currently gravity is 1.026........many unfermented sugars should be contributing.

Secondary should be no more than 2 weeks.

 

[Revvy]

got busy and left in primary for 4 WEEKS!!
I have a cookie flavor, but only if I look for it and think about it...I think I may have just made a great holiday beer, with a great story, but still lacking the ginger.

Just do what I did and boil some ginger along with your priming sugar to flavor it.

 

[RobWalker]

Are these the same as Ginger Nuts in the UK? Man, you guys don't realise how much compromise we have to make to use your recipes.

[ame]http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=Bjj&rls=org.mozilla:en-GBfficial&q=ginger+nuts&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=1051l1737l0l1820l11l5l0l0l0l0l151l574l2.3l5l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1680&bih=800&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi[/ame]

 

[Revvy]

Looks like the same type of biscuit (cookie) that I'm talking about. Round, brown and gingerry.

 

[RobWalker]

Looks good. I'm thinking of putting on an extract/partial mash version, here's how it's come up in Beersmith. Corn Sugar accounts for the biscuits, can't do much about percentages as I'm unsure how to add an adjunct.

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
2.20 lb Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 59.5 %
0.92 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 25.0 %
0.60 oz Fuggles [4.50%] (60 min) Hops 1.6 IBU
0.30 oz Fuggles [4.50%] (15 min) Hops 0.4 IBU
0.57 lb Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 15.5 %
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.051 SG (1.045-1.060 SG) Measured Original Gravity: 1.055 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.013 SG (1.010-1.016 SG) Measured Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Color: 15.1 SRM (18.0-35.0 SRM) Color [Color]
Bitterness: 1.9 IBU (20.0-45.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 1.6 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 4.9 % (4.3-6.2 %) Actual Alcohol by Volume: 5.6 %
Actual Calories: 244 cal/pint

No idea why the IBU is coming up so low, must have gone wrong somewhere. Going to modify it slightly of course, what's your opinion on the hops in yours? Does this benefit from a strong hop profile or do you think it's better to keep it subtle?

 

[Revvy]

No idea why the IBU is coming up so low, must have gone wrong somewhere. Going to modify it slightly of course, what's your opinion on the hops in yours? Does this benefit from a strong hop profile or do you think it's better to keep it subtle?

Well I'm trying to stay true to the underlying style, which is an English brown. So the ibus and the types of hops on mine are in line for an English Brown, same with the yeast I chose to use.

I'm big on having a base beer usually for my "experiments" that falls under bjcp style guidlines for contest purposes of entering them under the 23a category. They require that you indicate the underlying style when you enter them.

A lot of the judges will comment on whether the base is true to style or not.

So most of the time my odd beers like this have a known base- Ginger Orange Dortmunder, Chocolote Mole Porter, this one.....

That's usually the first step also when I am creating one of these, starting with building the base recipe.

 

[RobWalker]

That makes sense. I'm well into english brown ale anyway so that's all good, although I might tone down the overall ABV a little so it's a little more forgiving!

Hypothetically though, having tried it - for this specific brew with the ginger etc flavours - that it would benefit from a strong or weaker hop presence? I realise you want it to fall into a specific guideline, I only ask because I'm likely to only make this once and would like something everybody can enjoy over christmas.

 

[Revvy]

I want a weaker hops presence...I want to taste ginger cookies, not hops or even hoppy ginger cookies....so I want a beer that is balanced or leaning over towards malty rather than hoppy.

 

[RobWalker]

Good stuff, thanks! Will let you know how I get on when I make this.
Oh and, would I still halve the hops for half a batch? I'll be adding something for retention too - depends what the LHBS have.

 

[Revvy]

Oh and, would I still halve the hops for half a batch? I'll be adding something for retention too - depends what the LHBS have.

Yes!!!!

 

[Revvy]

Oh Rob, that's what the flaked oats are for, besides some cookie flavor they are good for head retention.

 

[RobWalker]

Yeah, I know that - my version just currently doesn't include anything. Thanks for all your help dude

 

[ENS]

this may have to be my Christmas beer.

 

[Xcorpia]

So I FINALLY bottled my batch today. Yielded 4 gallons due to trub loss. I prepped a ginger tea using 1 cup water, boiling and adding ~2 inches chopped fresh ginger root and letting it steep 15 min. Was pretty good, but in my opinion not gingery enough, so I boiled the priming sugar solution (2.5 oz table sugar in 1 cup water) along with the ginger I used for the tea. The beer came out tasting EXACTLY like the ginger snaps I used. I am extremely happy with it and can't wait to taste it nice and carbed. Since this is the beer I'm using for the Xmas exchange I will only have 7 bottles for myself.

Revvy thanks a lot for sharing your experiment. This is one tasty brew and I will definitely brew it again. I absolutely recommend this recipe.

 

[RobWalker]

Xcorpia, did you make the standard recipe with extra ginger?

 

[Xcorpia]

I tweaked Revvy's original recipe a little and used the recipe I posted I think in page 3

 

[RobWalker]

Awesome. I think I'm gonna do half a batch with your recipe, but maybe use a combination of biscuit and honey malts to bring out some sweetness. Biscuits are awesome when they're sticky and gooey so I reakon that will help

 

[Xcorpia]

Agreed. You can also add lactose.

 

[mikee]

ok, so I brewed this beer the other day and then something came up and I had to leave the house in a hurry right after the mash cycle - I got the grain out, but didn't have the chance to raise the temp over 170 to denature the enzymes.

I'm worried that those little guys just turned everything into fermentables. Is there a way to add some body to a beer post fermentation? I did measure my efficiency prior to having to bolt and it was around 75.

 

[BrewinUpNorth]

After 4 weeks in primary i was at 1.026....racked to 2ndary for 10 days and wanted to get as much beer as possible so got some sediment...also noticed many "floaters" so I racked one more time last Sunday to tertiary....low and behold, down to 1.022 and very tasty, but still floaters. Will leave another 1.5 weeks and add gelatin and ginger tea to bottle, but so far, it tastes great and is on schedule for Xmas beer!

 

[mikee]

Three weeks in primary, racked, tea, gelatin, and 2 days in the kegerator for cold crash, force carb and sample.

I had serious issues with oil in my brew so I had to toss a 1/2 gallon. Next time I'm going to brew it with some home made cookies w/o any oil or butter, they will suck for eating, but they should do the trick with the cookie flavor. Ginger tea (ginger root cut up and boiled for a few minutes) is imperative. Ginger flavor wont come through otherwise.

Aroma is definitely ginger snap - 2 boxes for me - flavor is all cookie and light ginger - im hoping the ginger will come out more as it ages. It is also imperative that you use gelatin, otherwise you will have cloudy beer. Just too much particulate from the cookies.

 

[BrewinUpNorth]

Mikee, how much ginger root did you use in your tea?
I am also wondering what the oil will do to head retention....I harken back to the days in College when I used to remove the head off of a bad pour from a keg with two swipes of my index finger on either side of my nose and a swirl in my beer. Worked like a charm, but could the same happen with residual oils?

I will be bottling this weekend....