Hitachino Ginger Brew - anyone tried a clone?

[NYCBrewGuy]

I've been a big fan of Hitachino beers (my favorite is the Red Rice Ale) for a while. Browsing WholeFoods today I noticed Hitachino Real Ginger Brew and in the mood for something different gave it a shot. Wow. Very tasty. I know some people on here have experimented with ginger in their beers. Wonder if anyone has (a) tried this Hitachino and (b) has an idea for a clone. Strangely, their website does not list this beer, though it does give a lot of info on their other brews.

Anyone have an idea?

 

[phecke]

Sorry for the resurrection of a thread over a year old, but I just had this beer today and would like to give making something similar a shot. I've already used ginger in beers before, but the predominant flavor was ginger and I find it to be more subdued in the Hitachino. Also, I found some more peppery type notes along with big malt sweetness.

So anybody have some suggestions? My thoughts are below:

I'm thinking a Pilsen base with a 20L Munich or a CaraMunich/CaraVienne to try to get some of that dark orange color and sweetness. Very lightly hopped with something delicate and earthy, maybe Fuggles and/or Saaz. And I would use fresh ginger, sliced or minced into the boil at about 10-15 minutes, probably about 2-4oz range. As for yeast I would try something pretty clean, maybe a Wyeast 1450 or 1338.

 

[Beerzilla]

*Bump*

I too like this beer a lot. I went over to their website and got some useful information. I'm new to brewing so I dunno if I could replicate this but if anyone has some ideas, let's give it a shot!

Malt:Marris Otter,Munich,Crystal,Chocolate
Hop:Chinook,Perle,Styrian Golding
Additional ingredients:Ginger (DUH!)
(OG): 1.078
ABV: 8.0%
IBU: 18

They also go on to say that they have tried to recreate the original ginger beer of England and use a tons of ginger from Kochi prefecture.

Hope someone has some ideas!

 

[phecke]

Should have posted this when I made a go at this over the summer, but here's what I did:

11lb Marris Otter
1.5lb 20L Crystal
1lb 40L Crystal
.5lb 80L Crystal

1oz Saaz 30min
.75oz Fuggle 10min

3oz fresh sliced ginger 30min
1oz fresh sliced ginger 10min

WLP002 English Ale yeast at 68 degrees for 2.5 weeks

Came out very good, everybody enjoyed it. It wasn't as spicy as the Hitachino and was a little darker. I'd cut back or out the 80L next time and maybe use a different "less clean" yeast.

 

[ScumbagBrewingCo]

Fantastic beer! I first tried this beer last year while staying in Hiroshima City, JP and it has stuck with me ever since.
This recipe is as close as I can get to the real thing! If you can do better let me know.

11lb Crisp Marris Otter
1.5lb Munich Malt 10L (light)
1lb Breiss Crystal 10L
.5lb Crisp Chocolate 2 Row

1.078 OG (Same as Kiuchi Brewery's Website Stats)

0.5oz Chinook pellets 30min
0.5oz Perle pellets 10min
0.5oz Styrian Golding pellets 10 min

17.9~18 IBUs (Same as Kiuchi Brewery)

3oz fresh sliced ginger 30min
1oz fresh sliced ginger 10min

WLP002 English Ale yeast at 68 degrees for 2.5 weeks
6.9~7.0% ABV (again exact specs as Kiuchi!)

Dry hop with 1-2oz fresh ginger (Optional. According to your taste)

You could also try extracting and cloning Kiuchi's yeast strain from a bottle of Ginger Brew, but since this is an original English-style ginger ale, the English Ale Yeast will suffice.

 

[ScumbagBrewingCo]

I almost forgot the Final Gravity should be at 1.026

Please feel free to message me if you would like me to write a recipe for any other beers that you may have trouble cloning.

Cheers!

 

[SaintDetritus]

I figured two years ought to be enough time for you fine ladies and gents to get the kinks out of the recipe, but I was curious as to what kind of ginger you were using. Out of curiosity, has anyone tried using blue ginger rather than the standard yellow? It might be a bit more subdued than the in-your-face-freshness of the yellow stuff. It would probably add a few peppery notes as well, just to try something different. I'm working on a riff of the Hitachino White, and I'm thinking about using their ginger as a guideline as well. Though I'm curious about subbing out some of the wheat and replacing it with jaggery, as well as adding Thai basil to my dry-hop. I've been itching to do something with Sorachi Ace, so I'm thinking this might be a nice utilization. Any advice?