NZ Style Ginger Beer - Help please

[duncanpal]

My first brew is bubbling away in the next room, a Bavarian wheat beer that came in a can with the gear. I thought it would be rude not to use free ingredients. So this recipe will be my second brew, and first original recipe.


I'm a big fan of the fizzy (soda pop for all ya'll Americans) non-alcoholic ginger beer we get in this country, but haven't seen an alcoholic version of it ever. I would describe the taste I'm after as:

Trying for an extreme ginger taste (hit or even burn may even be more appropriate words). Esentially all ginger and no beer.
Halfway between a non-alc ginger beer fizzy drink (such as Bundaberg) and ginger wine (Stone's Green Ginger Wine is the most famous I know of, can't think of what the good NZ brand is called).

I've looked a few places but can't really find a recipe I think suits. Most are for something like an amber or pale ale with ginger notes.

So I made this recipe essentially of the top of my head (sorry if the unit conversions are wrong, they're off the top of my head too):

23L (5 g) water (Right size for my fermenter)
300 gm (10ish oz) Ginger Root, thinly sliced or maybe smashed
3 kg (6.5lb?) Brown sugar
Safale 4 or 5 yeast

I would boil 3/4 of the ginger and all the sugar, put it all in the fermenter with the remaining ginger (added this late to retain the aroma), sprinkle on the yeast and RDWHAHB.
Bottle at 2 weeks and wait at least 2 more, probably 4, and more if needed.

Fizziness would come from priming sugar during bottling of course.

Specific things that come to mind:
- Would the ginger and brown sugar give my yeast enough to live on without leaving behind dirty flavours?
- Have I gone for enough ginger? (Definitely not going lower)
- My sugar quantity came from some online calculator to get 5%v/v alc. I don't think it takes into account anything from the ginger

So I would really appreciate any help with the points above, good recipes people have seen and any other suggestions/comments. Future batches will likely incorporate refinements such as spices (cloves I'm thinking) and pineapple juice but for now looking to aim for the straightest ginger taste I can.

 

[paulthenurse]

Do a search for Alton Browns Ginger ale recipe on here. Use it as a starting point and go from there. I add considerably more ginger than he does but I like a 'punch you in the face' ginger ale.

 

[duncanpal]

Well this is what I found:

2 liter bottle

1 1/2 ounces fresh ginger
6 ounces sugar
7 1/2 cups water, filtered
1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Given that he uses 1.5 oz in 2L, that most people say its a too weak and I intend to make 23L I'm thinking 300g ginger isn't nearly enough. Maybe up it to 1 kg. What difference do people think it makes to the flavour that I am going to ferment mine until its properly alcoholic rather than this weak couple of days business.

Edit: I also found this recipe (3rd post): https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/need-advice-about-very-first-ginger-ale-brew-219018/#3 which sounds sort of like what I'm after. Think I'll go alot lighter on the spices. What help is the cream of tartar? pH control?

 

[denimglen]

Hey mate, would be worth searching over at aussiehomebrewer.com. I remember seeing a thread there where some guys made something along the lines of what you're looking for.

 

[duncanpal]

Edit: Oh yeah, and I call this.... 'Bad Luck Ginger Beer' because halfway through I realised what the date was, and then several wasps decided my half full primary smelled like it offered tasty treats. And then, the first time I typed this edit I hit the wrong button and have just had to type this all out again.

Well the first batch is now underway. Given what I've seen from recipes people think are good, I changed mine a fair bit. I was also given a 'Brigalows' ginger beer kit by a friend, so I used that too.

Final Volume: 23.5L (5gal?)

Ingredients:

1x 900g Brigalows Ginger Beer kit
1kg Brewers sugar (Dextrose/Maltose mix)
1kg light brown sugar
500g ginger root (Thinly sliced)
4 lemons

I boiled 7L of water (don't have a larger pot) and put in
400g ginger,
Juice of the 4 lemons
2kg of sugars
Boil 15 mins

This went in the fermentor, along with:
Rind of 4 lemons
100g ginger
The kit
Water to make up remaining volume

Original gravity 1.039 (slightly lower than I was expecting)

I also used the dried yeast to make a starter and aerated the mix pre-pitching with alot of shaking.

Can't wait for this to hurry up and be drinkable