Ginger Snap Brown Ale.

[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....

 

[mikee]

I used about a cup with 4 cups of water. Not sure how it will affect the head, but luckily oil floats and I had only a little remaining after I racked. good luck

 

[frailn]

Thanks for posting this recipe idea, Revvy! I brewed it up yesterday, following your recipe. Only, I used the IKEA brand ginger snaps. They call them Pepparkakor. Used BIAB, even with the extra mash water volume it was super gloppy. Wort smells good, tastes good. Can't wait to see how this turns out. I will post a picture of a pint when I crack one open at Christmas!

 

[Xcorpia]

Tasted a bottle the other day and even though it was super green it tasted good. Going to wait an extra month before tasting it again.

 

[RobWalker]

How long do you reakon were looking at for bottle conditioning and ageing? I want this ready for Xmas eve

I will be making a partial mash version with an extract base...

 

[Xcorpia]

No idea whatsoever, but I'd guesstimate 2 to 3 months in the bottle.

 

[RobWalker]

Awesome. I've sorted my recipe - going to bake the cookies myself to avoid any oil/butter issues, reading this topic. That's what ginger root/golden syrup/brown sugar accounts for.

Amount Item Type % or IBU
1.00 kg Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 51.0 %
0.20 kg Lyle's Golden Syrup (0.0 SRM) Extract 10.2 %
0.50 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 25.5 %
0.06 kg Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 3.1 %
0.00 kg Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 0.0 %
50.00 gm Fuggles [4.50%] (60 min) Hops 15.3 IBU
15.00 gm Fuggles [4.50%] (60 min) Hops 4.6 IBU
10.00 gm Fuggles [4.50%] (5 min) Hops 0.6 IBU
0.50 oz Ginger Root (Boil 120.0 min) Misc
0.20 kg Brown Sugar, Dark (50.0 SRM) Sugar 10.2 %
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.055 SG (1.045-1.060 SG)
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.014 SG (1.010-1.016 SG)
Estimated Color: 19.6 SRM (18.0-35.0 SRM) Color [Color]
Bitterness: 20.5 IBU (20.0-45.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 3.4 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 5.3 % (4.3-6.2 %)

 

[ENS]

I better get on this in order to have it drinkable by xmas.

 

[RobWalker]

Put it on today, managed to bugger it up because i didn't realise the crystal malt needed other malt to convert properly and i mashed it on its own.

that said, the flavour/colour have probably come out of it, and I've topped up the missing sugar with more light dme. i finished mine with east kent gouldings along with the fuggles, and I caramelized the golden syrup and brown sugar for some more flavour. Original gravity estimate is 1.053, I recorded lower but probably through bad stirring. Should come out at a healthy 5.2%!

Any idea on amounts for ground ginger? I only added a teaspoon at the moment...

 

[RobWalker]

Hydro sample here. Thought I had an infection because it smelled absoluely awful when I opened it to syphon, but on transfer there's no off flavour so it must be all good. Maybe it's just that this is both the strongest and darkest beer I've ever made.

It's very rich and lots of ginger as I added a tablespoon, which is great for a Christmas ale. Can't really explain tasting notes because I've got no frame of reference really, but it's a strong bodied ale, caramel is definitely in there too.

I now have 2.5 gallons in the bottling bucket which shall be put into bottles soon and stickered with do not open until Xmas eve I can only apologise for the amount of posts i've made here - this is my first real sort of "group brew," hence the enthusiasm...

 

[Rivenin]

i think i'm going to do 5 gallons of this, but split it for 2.5 gallons of the gingerbread cookies, and then 2.5 gallons of anise cookies ... hrm. thoughts?

 

[BrewinUpNorth]

Well, Halloween was my birthday and after 3 shots of Tequila, 4 shots of Jack Daniels and several beers, we cracked our first Gingersnap ale.

It was putrid.

I hope it was a combination of my drunkenness and green beer, but from what I remember, I will not crack another until December, and hope it ages out a bit more.

Anyone else try one yet?

 

[frailn]

Yes, I did the same thing. Had a little too much homebrew and cracked gingersnap ale open only 1.5 weeks into the bottle. Nasty. But, I know it's super green. We will see how it is the third week of December!

 

[Xcorpia]

I've had mine bottled since September. Just popped one in the fridge to taste it tonight. Will report back later.

 

[Xcorpia]

Mine is still green. It smells like ginger snaps. I may have overspiced it with fresh ginger but hopefully it will mellow out. The carbonation is so and so. It doesn't have head but I'm not surprised. The boozy flavor is almost all gone. Gotta give it like an additional month so the flavors can marry. If I were to brew this again I'd add lactose and use just half the fresh ginger.

 

[BrewinUpNorth]

Xcorpia, the fog of my B-day wore off and you also reminded me, my carbonation was weak, and it was definitely a little boozy. I think the hydrogenated oils in the cookies killed the head....just like nose grease. The grain bill seems ok, but I think if anyone were to do this again, BAKE YOUR OWN COOKIES!

I cant believe that as a brewer, I just threw them in without taking off ingredients into consideration....what a cement head! If I do it again, I will get a recipe for the cookies and do it from scratch minus anything that should not go into beer....like friggin' OIL.

I just hope that at X-mas you and I dont end up with 2.5 cases of stink. I am about 2 weeks behind you.

 

[RobWalker]

So I snuck a quick one last night as its currently in the bottling bucket. It's quite dry with the caramelized sugars and there isn't much gingery or biscuity aromas, although it does taste quite unique. I reakon the flour etc may be imperitive to the recipe, although I did add plenty of rolled oats its sort of lacking in a baked flavour. The colour is beautiful.

Next steps are to prime with sugar boiled in ginger and possibly keg, as I doubt I could give this out to non ale drinkers for Xmas presents as i planned. I'm gonna give out a mulled version of my Toffee apple cider instead.

Still, 9 quid for a 3 gallon batch with 2 kegs to fill is cool with me! It's drinkable, so i can live with it

 

[Revvy]

So what the heck are you guys doing with my beer????? I don't know what's going on, but I've never had any issues with the oils and other stuff with this beer. I just pulled a few more bottles out to share at natl homebrew day and folks still loved it, including some bjcp judges....one guy even said it was his favorite beer he tried among all the beers (nearly 50 or 60 available today.

If you put the cookies in the mashtun you really shouldn't have any issues with any oils...I've found that the grain will absorb any oils...I've done it with the gingersnaps, mexican chocolate an even tortilla chips in beers and they've all turned out fine...the grain will act as a filter and absorb the oils....you guy's are scaring me with your posts... I still stand by what I brewed...though as this is NOT a recipe in the database I consider this a work in progress, but it's definitely not "putrid" at least the batch I brewed.....

 

[Xcorpia]

I wouldn't describe mine as putrid. Its just green and needs time for the flavors to marry. I wonder if I should move my bottles to a warmer room to activate the yeasties a bit and speed things up.

 

[RobWalker]

Anyone in the UK brewing this btw? I reakon a taste test is in order and postage to the us may be extreme....

 

[BrewinUpNorth]

Revvy....your beer?

Just an observation, but a bit over the top, nay?

I did not use your exact process....could not because I dont have a mash tun, and I detailed my BIAB process....You gave a great road map to your success as proven by your reviews, but not all of us can follow it based on what we have and use... If I had followed your steps to a "t" and used the same methods, shame on me for lack of cleanliness, and beer-god-liness.

Currently, based on what I did, I have bottles of YIKES. I hope they turn better, and maybe they will. I may rock the little world I live in on Xmas, but if on Xmas eve I sample one and it is still tastes like cat's ass, I will have failed.

Thanks again for your guidance and help, I am only trying to give further feedback to others who brew in the arcane methods I use....BTW, I am weeks away from a keggle and mash tun so I can duplicate what you are doing...until then, I am stuck in medieval times with BIAB and DME.

 

[Revvy]

Revvy....your beer?

Just an observation, but a bit over the top, nay?

I did not use your exact process....could not because I dont have a mash tun, and I detailed my BIAB process....You gave a great road map to your success as proven by your reviews, but not all of us can follow it based on what we have and use... If I had followed your steps to a "t" and used the same methods, shame on me for lack of cleanliness, and beer-god-liness.

Um I wasn't being over the top, I was being facetious....but you guys are posting words like Putrid in a thread about my recipe, and people are NOT going to know that you DIDN'T follow my recipe to a "T" on the most cursory of glances...which most people do on a forum, they don't necessarily read the entire thing.

So excuse me if even kidding I expressed some concerns....And wondered what people were doing to have such negative reactions to something that I did work hard on....and even though it's not in my database and therefore and experimented and not a vetted recipe, my name is still attached to....

 

[glickmanii]

Revvy, what are your thoughts on how long this beer would need to age/bottle prior to get the best flavor? I know that, in general, longer is better, especially when dealing with ginger and other stronger spices, but do you think that this could be deemed "ready" in a shorter timeframe. I've been thinking of a gingerbread or gingersnap brown ale for a winter beer, but haven't gotten around to brewing anything yet, and would like something that we could share around the holidays and after the new year. Any thoughts/suggestions?

 

[Justibone]

My little fermentation club was planning on making a Christmas beer. Since it is now after Thanksgiving, and this ale needs either 1) age time or 2) an all-grain set-up, I think this is not the recipe for us, at least, not this year.

Like one poster said a while back, maybe a bit of brown sugar, molasses, ginger, cloves and cinnamon could do the trick. A biscuity malt, some wheat and oats, and low attenuation yeast could also help out... but an English brown may not be the best underlying ale for that type of recipe.

All-in-all, this looks like fun, to brew with grocery store ingredients... but I think it's more of an all-grain thing than a BIAB/extract situation.

 

[RobWalker]

Bottled today, primed with dark brown soft sugar and boiled ginger into it, about 1.5 inch piece. Added a drab of sweetener to try and get more of a sweet biscuit taste out of it too, it's very dry!

First time really bottling anything too, bottling bucket was rubbish and messy so i used the syphon attachment instead which worked a treat! Here's pics of colour etc. Will crack one open nearer Christmas

 

[Revvy]

HEHEHE I see we don't soak our labels off these days either. I've gotten so lazy about that lately...

 

[RobWalker]

Some removed fine, some would need some extra elbow grease, so meh, the beers still there!

 

[RobWalker]

Well, bust one open tonight. Not carbed properly yet, i think my house is too cold so going to find a warm spot. The flavour is fantastic, especially after boiling ginger into dark brown priming sugar. The flavour is unmistakably ginger nut, i added a little nutmeg and allspice to add some depth, so its sort of a normal xmas brew now. Also added a bit of sweetener with the priming sugar which definitely helps the biscuity flavour, and being only 65% malt mine is very dry for a beer.

Love it though. Thanks for the idea revvy! Will knock this one out again towards next xmas for sure

 

[Xcorpia]

Mine is aging very well. Loving this beer.

 

[RobWalker]

Hoping you see this Revvy - thought I would get back to you on how this turned out having drunk the last of this batch last night. I don't knock about on here much any more!

This was made in September, it's now April, so it's had a good 8 months from FV to drinking. Mine was slightly different as I basically ripped the ingredients out of a ginger snap recipe in the same quantities, as at this point I was only extract brewing. This year, I'll do a 2 gallon all grain batch, also got access to a wide range of speciality malts now so might tinker a little

So how did it turn out...well, i'll start with the basics, it was good. The malty flavour was very very rich, backed up by the ginger and caramelized sugars. The spices (lots of ginger, and a little allspice and nutmeg) faded quite rapidly however. They were just noticable when this was young, so next time I'm going to use more ginger. The very very small sweetness boost from aspartame was also quite good, although admittedly it really needed it because it wouldn't have time to age into something special and get the harsh dryness off. At the end, it added an almost cakey quality to it, so that's one to leave or take depending on your preference I guess!

The hops blended very well after time, but we probably don't really need much critique on the fuggles/goldings combination, hahah. My parents commented that it was "a lot like beer used to taste like in pubs" so I guess it gets some bonus points for authenticity! 25 IBUs did not taste very bitter at all after ageing, so for anyone who likes their beers light and aromatic like me, don't shy away from the mid twenties if you're going to brew something like this early on for christmas.

The head was insane despite the high sugar content - really frothy and loads of brown colour in there. Interestingly I had one of these about a month ago whilst building a table in the garage. I left about 1/4 pint in there overnight, came back in the morning and it was still there. What on earth? hahah.

I'm gradually building what could be called a list of "house ales" and this is going to be one of them, so thanks for the recipe! I'll put it on in the summer this year ready for the festive season. You will be pleased to know it turned a few lager boys to thinking that home brew "isn't that bad"

 

[hunter_le five]

Here's the final recipe I ended up with.

5 Gallons.

4# 4oz, Marris Otter
2# 4oz Crystal 60
1.25# Biscuit
3 ounces Flaked oats.
Mashed With.
2-14 ounce boxes Ginger Snaps (I used Kroger brand, but wanted to use Meijer's house brand. Find one that you like the flavor of. Or bake your own.)

Mashed 2.88 gallons @ 154 for 60 minutes.
Sparged 5.75 gallons @ 168

Pre-boil volume 6.5 gallons

1.2 ounces Fuggles @ 60
.64 ounces fuggles @ 15

1.55 OG.

I brewed this one today. I followed this recipe almost exactly, except that I added an extra box of ginger snaps, a few handfuls of rice-hulls, and various "Christmassy" spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, and mace). I plan on serving this one at my family's christmas gathering in December. I'll be carbing it au natural with ginger-infused brown sugar. it sure smelled good going into the fermenter!

I'm looking forward to trying it out, though I'm a bit nervous about how it will turn out. Everything that could go wrong on a brew day, did. My mash-tun sprung a massive leak, I had several stuck sparges (even with the rice hulls), the brew pot boiled-over badly when I turned my back on it for a few seconds, my copper coil chiller broke while I was trying to cool the wort, my siphon somehow jumped out of the fermenter when I was transferring from the brew pot and sprayed beer everywhere, etc, etc.

So if it turns out badly, I will be pretty sure that it was the brewer 's fault, not the recipe! :cross:I'll let you guys know how it turns out.