Reed's Jamaican style ginger "beer" beer

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beta pleated sheet

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Alright, so, in case anyone's not familiar with this beverage, it's a ginger ale (like the soda), the "real" kind. You know, loads of spicy ginger. This particular kind is sweetened with honey and pineapple juice. The honey flavor is almost as intense as the ginger, and the pineapple kind of hits you at the end with some of the residual ginger heat.

I want to make a beer (extract + grains, or mini mash) that has some of these flavors. Honey malt would have to be a must, maybe some light crystal and I'd like to keep it close to a pale ale sort of color.

Now, there are a couple of things that have me scratching my head. Namely hops. I'm thinking since it has citrusy flavors cascade or something in that family is a natural choice. But since the citrus is so subtle, should I cut out the pineapple juice so it doesn't compete with the ginger?

Another thing is using spices. I've only made one spiced beer (a black ginger ale), and that time I was following a recipe. So, I'm understandably a little unsure about amounts and when to add. Would it be a good idea to add the ginger to secondary, like you do when dry hopping?

Well, theoretically, I could just add the soda to the wort, since it's perservative free, but I don't know if I can get my hands on enough of it. Besides, figuring things out like this is more fun!
 
If you likde the black ginger ale...start with that as you base recipe and using a program like beer calculus or beertools, and start replacing the malts and grains in that recipe with lighter ones...

How was that one hopped?

Another thought....Do you like redstripe? Try digging for a clone of that and use it as a base.

I'd like to see the recipe you come up with and hear about your results...
 
Hops = Amarillo is one option .... Cascade is usually called "Grapefruit-y" whereas Amarillo seems to be half grapefruit, half pineapple. My Amarillo-Simcoe-Pacific Gem IPA that is currently in primary smells of pineapple fruit punch.

I will lurk, this looks interesting, and beta is cool. :D
 
Amarillo, honey malt, split the ginger half at 15 minutes & in the secondary. About a pound seems to be a goodly amount.
 
Simcoe is another good hop choice for some pineapple character. Skip the juice completely and use a pretty hefty late addition of Simcoe and maybe a little Amarillo as your sole hops addition.
 
I added ginger to two separate brews at the end of the boil - I used .5 oz for a five gallon batch.

The one that had more ginger flavor was ginger that had been frozen then thawed before I added it. It was a bit like ginger pulp. The ginger that I used that had not been frozen added less to the beer.

The two ginger beers I made also had moscobado sugar and a small amount of coriander. I like ginger beer - but just a touch of flavor and aroma.
 
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