Taming the heat in ginger..

[braindead0]

In the past I've made ginger mead, generally slice up a few ounces and drop it into fermentation.. take out around 1.030 or so.. what I usually end up with is SPICY!!! Once it was really really spicy... undrinkable for me (however some liked it, and was awesome as marinade).

I searched around and all I could find was references to "Cooking ginger transforms gingerol via a reverse aldol reaction into zingerone, which is less pungent and has a spicy-sweet aroma." However no specifics on how to cook for this reaction. I tried baking for an hour at 425, boiling for 1/2 hour.. neither of which seemed to change the character of the ginger.

So I gave up and started reviewing recipes for Ginger Ale, surely however that was done would result in less heat and good flavor. I used a recipe from Alton Brown, scaled up for honey and 6 gallon batch and came up with the following:

18oz grated ginger
5# honey
1.5 quarts water

Heated the above in a pot over medium heat until it hit 150F..stirring to make sure the honey dissolved. Removed from heat and let steep for one hour. Strained ginger out with cheesecloth and squeezed out the juice (fairly gentle squeezin').

Made up full batch, 15# total honey, 5tsp yeast nutrient, 4tsp acid blend 1/2tsp tannin. 1.094SG

The must has a very nice ginger aroma and taste, there is some heat but mostly at the tip of the tongue.. not the whole mouth burning I've experienced in the past.

I should know in a few weeks if the heat is under control with this method.. if this works I have a feeling I'll use ginger more often..

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

Ok, I don't really know much of anything about meads but I am attempting to make a ginger ale soda that taste more like commercial ginger ale (aka no heat just a smooth ginger flavor).

Here is what I had to say about it. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=587834

 

[braindead0]

Thanks for the link, seems you did roughly the same process (except simmering vs. steeping without added heat). And I used a lot more ginger (not sure how much 18oz is in cups, probably 4 or so).

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

Thanks for the link, seems you did roughly the same process (except simmering vs. steeping without added heat). And I used a lot more ginger (not sure how much 18oz is in cups, probably 4 or so).

Let me know how it turns out, although I think if its close to 4 cups you might get a touch of heat.

 

[braindead0]

Bear in mind that I did not simmer for an hour, just let is steep for an hour staring at 150f.. ended up around 125f. I've tasted it and so far it's not very hot, however lots of sugar so perhaps that moderates the heat..

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

I thought about adding some sugar water to mine to mellow it out a little bit.

 

[bucketnative]

The owner of a LHBS had me try a blonde that he made with candied ginger (which is cooked) in place of fresh ginger. Flavor without the sharp heat. So, that's an option, too.

 

[braindead0]

I wonder if candied ginger just hides the heat with sugar? That's where I'm at now, must doesn't seem hot/spicy at all.. however it's very sugary.. I'll see what happens after the yeast it done with it..

 

[bucketnative]

I wonder if candied ginger just hides the heat with sugar? That's where I'm at now, must doesn't seem hot/spicy at all.. however it's very sugary.. I'll see what happens after the yeast it done with it..

The sugar is fermented out during secondary (in the case of this beer) so it's not going to hide any heat. It's the cooking process in the candied ginger that minimizes the heat.

 

[braindead0]

The sugar is fermented out during secondary (in the case of this beer) so it's not going to hide any heat. It's the cooking process in the candied ginger that minimizes the heat.

From http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/candied-ginger-recipe.html

"Place into a 4-quart saucepan with the water and set over medium-high heat. Cover and cook for 35 minutes or until the ginger is tender."

I did roughly that, the ginger root and resulting liquid were still extremely spicy at the 1/2 hour mark.

"Transfer the ginger to a colander to drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. Weigh the ginger and measure out an equal amount of sugar. Return the ginger and 1/4 cup water to the pan and add the sugar. Set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar syrup looks dry, has almost evaporated and begins to recrystallize, approximately 20 minutes. Transfer the ginger immediately to the cooling rack and spread to separate the individual pieces."

I tried boiling in water for 1 hour.. no difference in results. Granted the process isn't exactly the same but the cooking aspect should be pretty similar to above except no sugar.

I think there's more to this reverse aldol reaction, perhaps the presence of sugar is necessary.. no clue..

All I know for sure is that my must is as of now only slightly spicy (which I prefer in ginger ale/beer anyway) and fermenting nicely.

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

So I tried my soda again last night. Once I added some ice and whiskey to the ginger ale I think it turned out pretty good. Maybe your ginger beer just needs some whiskey

 

[braindead0]

or vodka.. however I"m not making ginger beer anyway.. ;-)

Was the ginger flavor prominent? Any heat at all?

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

No heat what so ever, and it did have a ginger flavor at least more than you would get from a commercial can of ginger ale, but not over powering it was actually pretty spot on once it was mixed.

Ah my apologizes mead.

 

[braindead0]

I'm hoping for a little heat, however I know I could add some if need be... I think this thread has a good start on collecting up info about ginger use for beverages of all sorts.

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

It seems to be a tricky ingredient, it probably plays a factor that the ginger I bought was super fresh and from an all organic/natural store. I also would note that I peeled the skin, nothing fancy or perfect just a once over to get 80% of it off. Then I just used a slap chopper to cut it down and put it in a volume measure cup.

 

[braindead0]

It's down to 0.992 gravity, tasted pretty darned good so far. I'll be racking off to a carboy in a day or two, wife and I will sample further.

 

[braindead0]

The ginger flavor was a bit weak, and not spicy at all. Ferment was complete at 0.992. Racked off gross lees, Added 4 oz of thinly sliced ginger and monitored over the next few days. After about 4 days I could detect a good amount of heat and more ginger flavor.

We had a tasting and determined a bit of backsweetening was in order.

Racked off the ginger, added 4 cups honey dissolved in mead, SO2/stabilizer... the usual.

Every year we have a tasting at a local bar. After about 3 months of maturing, it's really really good was likely the most popular of the 6 we produced last year.