Alcoholic ginger beer - recipe suggestions for first batch

Ravelleman · 05-07-2012 9:05pm #1

I´m hoping to make some alcoholic ginger beer in about two weeks time and need a definitive recipe that I can use for the first run.

I want to make about 20 litres and achieve an ABV of about 4%, without using a kit.

It seems relatively easy to make it from first principles of brewing, not to mention much cheaper, but I´d like some tips on how to make it.

Is yeast the best way to achieve this level of fermentation? I´ve been reading about ginger beer plants and kefir water grain versions but these seem to be only mildly alcoholic.

Should I go with spray malt? Can anyone recommend any more ingredients to give it more flavour?

What has worked for you?

Degsy · 06-07-2012 11:57am

Easy Peasy.

The recipie i would use is as follows:

2kg of fresh ginger root

2kilos of sugar or malt extract

10 lemons

Champagne yeast

Chop and boil the ginger in 2 litres of water.

Dissolve the sugar in your fermentor in boiling water

Add your lemons

Add the ginger and boiling water

Top up to 20 litres untill the mixture is "blood temperature"

Pitch your yeast

Cover.

Leave it two weeks to ferment then strain it into a secondary vessel(preferably with a tap)...prime the mixture with sugar,leave it to settle a few days then decant it into bottles.

Simples!

calvin_zola · 06-07-2012 12:25pm

do you add the lemon juice or the 10 lemons choped whole

Degsy · 06-07-2012 12:48pm

calvin_zola wrote: »

do you add the lemon juice or the 10 lemons choped whole

You can do either..some people report that the lemon skins give it too much "zest" whereas other people like it like that.

I personally like the skins as the juice from even 20 lemons doesnt look like much in a 20 litre brew.

A recipie like this is all about experimenting..you could make say 10 litres with the skins and the other 10 without and see which your prefer.

Likewise you could make some with sugar and some with spraymalt,some people like to add cinamon or cloves..the posibilities are endless and it costs peanuts to make.

Ravelleman · 06-07-2012 1:01pm

Fantastic, this is exactly wat I was looking for.

How much dextrose should I add for bottle conditioning?

Degsy · 06-07-2012 1:05pm

Ravelleman wrote: »

Fantastic, this is exactly wat I was looking for.

How much dextrose should I add for bottle conditioning?

Batch prime it in your secondary..i'd say 100g of sugar mixed with warm water chucked into the brew should do it...again is all about experimenting.

Ravelleman · 06-07-2012 1:27pm

Thanks, I'm really looking forward to this now!

calvin_zola · 06-07-2012 1:49pm

Degsy wrote: »

You can do either..some people report that the lemon skins give it too much "zest" whereas other people like it like that.

I personally like the skins as the juice from even 20 lemons doesnt look like much in a 20 litre brew.

A recipie like this is all about experimenting..you could make say 10 litres with the skins and the other 10 without and see which your prefer.

Likewise you could make some with sugar and some with spraymalt,some people like to add cinamon or cloves..the posibilities are endless and it costs peanuts to make.

I'm going to make this in the next week or so. Thanks for the info

Khannie · 06-07-2012 4:48pm

That's similar enough to the recipe I used for mine. There was a call for some powdered ginger in mine too. Ended up a bit spicy for my liking. My own rule is 10g of sugar / dextrose at priming time per litre for a nice fizzy drink. Adjust downwards according to your taste (I like very fizzy).

Westwood · 08-07-2012 1:23am

I used this today.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/11/nigel-slater-classic-ginger-beer-recipe

pretty simple and doubled ingredients for a 5 litre plastic water bottle size fermenter. I boiled everything and added molasses sugar and will let cool for 24 hours till tomorrow and then will sieve into the fermenter and pitch yeast. leave for 2 weeks and bottle condition depending on size of bottle for a small batch like this 5 litres. Ill prob use 500ml bottles with half teaspoon in each.

sharingan · 08-07-2012 2:21pm

Ravelleman wrote: »

Fantastic, this is exactly wat I was looking for.

How much dextrose should I add for bottle conditioning?

The same as for any beer, a level teaspoon for every 500ml bottle.

sharingan · 08-07-2012 2:40pm

Ravelleman wrote: »

I´m hoping to make some alcoholic ginger beer in about two weeks time and need a definitive recipe that I can use for the first run.

Is yeast the best way to achieve this level of fermentation? I´ve been reading about ginger beer plants and kefir water grain versions but these seem to be only mildly alcoholic.

Should I go with spray malt? Can anyone recommend any more ingredients to give it more flavour?

I make a lot of alcoholic ginger beer, and I have also made it at very high strength (over 10% with unrefined cane sugar and spraymalt) and made it into wines (still and sparkling) with honey. Its a fun platform for experimenting.

You can make it as cheap as can be with plain sugar (~€1-1.50 per 5L) but it responds very well to using better fermentables. I like my ginger beer to have a beer consistency so I favour using spraymalt in it. Its the priciest way to make it, but it is good and full of flavour. However I tend to make it around 5-5.5% ABV, in future I will make it weaker as it is normally drank chez moi after the pub. This also makes it a bit cheaper to make.

I have good success with mixing spraymalt and unrefined cane sugar with it, this is another way to keep the costs down or bulk it up cheaply.

I use a potato/vegetable peeler to zest the lemons, I don't add the pith. I use a food processor to blend the ginger into a pulp and then boil that. I strain the result into the fermenter and bag the pulp and lemon peel into a closed muslin bag and add it to the fermenter (you dont want ginger pulp clogging up your siphon or bottling tap).

Also consider making beer with pure honey, especially those really interesting strong flavoured honeys.

Degsy · 30-07-2012 11:34am

Completely forgot about my latest batch of this stuff with the result that it was almost 4 weeks in the primary..i have to say i never tasted anythinng like it,absolutely delicious.

The colour is deep brown and there's a lovely taste of ginger and not just an overriding lemon flavour.

My conclusion from this batch is the longer you leave in the fermentor the better it will be(by a long shot!).

I'm gonna make another batch this week using spraymalt instead of sugar,it cant help but make it even better imo.:)

Ravelleman · 01-08-2012 12:40am

Hmmm, where can I get champagne yeast?

Also, where can I get 2kg of ginger without remortgaging the house?

Degsy · 01-08-2012 9:53am

Ravelleman wrote: »

Hmmm, where can I get champagne yeast?

Also, where can I get 2kg of ginger without remortgaging the house?

The yeast you can get online from homebrewcompany.ie...buy loads coz you're paying a fiver for delivery.

Ginger is available in all larger tescos and its really not very expensive,mine cost about a fiver for a few big chunks of it.

Khannie · 01-08-2012 10:35am

Ravelleman wrote: »

Also, where can I get 2kg of ginger without remortgaging the house?

Asian shops are the best spot for a large amount like that. Lidl have recently started selling ginger at around half the price that tesco charge.

Degsy · 01-08-2012 11:12am

Khannie wrote: »

Asian shops are the best spot for a large amount like that. Lidl have recently started selling ginger at around half the price that tesco charge.

Izzat so?

Interesting..must check that out!

Khannie · 01-08-2012 12:03pm

Yeah, I thought tesco were a rip for the oul' ginger.

Ravelleman · 01-08-2012 12:15pm

That's what I figured. There's a Lidl near my house so I'll check it out there. I'll get the champagne yeast in the home brew shop in Rathmines. I imagine they have it there.

Khannie · 01-08-2012 12:19pm

Pretty sure that shop in Rathmines has closed.

engrish? · 01-08-2012 2:12pm

Khannie wrote: »

Pretty sure that shop in Rathmines has closed.

It has.

Ravelleman wrote: »

That's what I figured. There's a Lidl near my house so I'll check it out there. I'll get the champagne yeast in the home brew shop in Rathmines. I imagine they have it there.

Ebay!

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Lalvin-Champagne-Yeast-EC-1118-Homebrew-/180821641837?pt=Home_Brew&hash=item2a19cf4a6d

The fiver per delivery on homebrewwest is a killer.

Ratsathome · 01-08-2012 2:26pm

The Beer Club HQ
Next Door Off Licence
Sundrive
Dublin 12
they sell homebrew stuff online or over the counter

Degsy · 01-08-2012 2:44pm

engrish? wrote: »

The fiver per delivery on homebrewwest is a killer.

Use teh delivery charge to get a few other things..if you're making ginger beer get some spraymalt instead of sugar,a hydrometer or some kit or other.

engrish? · 01-08-2012 4:16pm

Degsy wrote: »

Use teh delivery charge to get a few other things..if you're making ginger beer get some spraymalt instead of sugar,a hydrometer or some kit or other.

Yeah usually try to do that alright but I'm sometimes missing just one thing then I have to do a whole new order!

Ravelleman · 02-08-2012 2:12am

What kind of OG should I be looking for here?

Ravelleman · 02-08-2012 2:13am

engrish? wrote: »

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Lalvin-Champagne-Yeast-EC-1118-Homebrew-/180821641837?pt=Home_Brew&hash=item2a19cf4a6d

Managed to get the last sachet of this in Next Door Off Licence as Ratsathome mentioned. Cheaper too! But thanks for the tip.

For anyone that's interested, they also had Cooper's kits but they seemed quite pricey.

Also, any kind of Asian market is the best bet for buying ginger. Aldi was €6.60/kg, Superquinn €4.50/kg and the Asian shop I tried was €3.30/kg. I also bought noodles while I was there. A good call.

engrish? · 02-08-2012 12:16pm

Degsy wrote: »

Easy Peasy.

The recipie i would use is as follows:

2kg of fresh ginger root

2kilos of sugar or malt extract

10 lemons

Champagne yeast

Hey - I am going to make this at the weekend. I am going to make it in a 1 Gallon carboy. Shound I divide everything by 5 to get 4 litres? That would give me .5l space for the head etc. Do I still use an entire sachet of yeast?

So:

0.5kg Fresh Ginger Root

0.4kg Muntons Spraymalt (Medium is all I have) or 0.4kg Dextrose?

2.5 Lemons

1 Sachet of Champagne Yeast

Would that work or should I make a change?

engrish? · 03-08-2012 8:53am

engrish? wrote: »

Hey - I am going to make this at the weekend. I am going to make it in a 1 Gallon carboy. Shound I divide everything by 5 to get 4 litres? That would give me .5l space for the head etc. Do I still use an entire sachet of yeast?

So:

0.5kg Fresh Ginger Root

0.4kg Muntons Spraymalt (Medium is all I have) or 0.4kg Dextrose?

2.5 Lemons

1 Sachet of Champagne Yeast

Would that work or should I make a change?

Can anyone help me out here? Hoping to buy the supplies today!

Degsy · 03-08-2012 9:52am

engrish? wrote: »

Can anyone help me out here? Hoping to buy the supplies today!

That looks fine..you should get a nice strong brew from that!

If anything you could make up to 10 litres with those ingredients,i would say chuck in a kilo extra of sugar and another 4 lemons though.

engrish? · 03-08-2012 11:57am

Degsy wrote: »

That looks fine..you should get a nice strong brew from that!

If anything you could make up to 10 litres with those ingredients,i would say chuck in a kilo extra of sugar and another 4 lemons though.

Deadly - thanks!

Degsy · 03-08-2012 12:32pm

engrish? wrote: »

Deadly - thanks!

Get going then and let us know how you get on!:)

sharingan · 03-08-2012 12:59pm

engrish? wrote: »

Hey - I am going to make this at the weekend. I am going to make it in a 1 Gallon carboy. Shound I divide everything by 5 to get 4 litres? That would give me .5l space for the head etc. Do I still use an entire sachet of yeast?

So:

0.5kg Fresh Ginger Root

0.4kg Muntons Spraymalt (Medium is all I have) or 0.4kg Dextrose?

2.5 Lemons

1 Sachet of Champagne Yeast

Would that work or should I make a change?

With that much ginger, you can make a lot more ginger beer than that. I used to make around 4 -5 gallons with that much ginger.

Use all of the spraymalt and top up with some dextrose (or even raw cane sugar, which is great in ginger beer), ensure that the spraymalt is dominant in terms of fermentables (ie more malt than sugar).

Just cracked open some of mine yesterday - I extracted some of the wort from crushed barley, but it was mostly spraymalt. I also hopped it a bit with some cascade that was around the house.

Its really improving a lot. Cracking little beer.

Degsy · 03-08-2012 1:11pm

sharingan wrote: »

With that much ginger, you can make a lot more ginger beer than that. I used to make around 4 -5 gallons with that much ginger.

Use all of the spraymalt and top up with some dextrose (or even raw cane sugar, which is great in ginger beer), ensure that the spraymalt is dominant in terms of fermentables (ie more malt than sugar).

Just cracked open some of mine yesterday - I extracted some of the wort from crushed barley, but it was mostly spraymalt. I also hopped it a bit with some cascade that was around the house.

Its really improving a lot. Cracking little beer.

Never thought of hopping it..sounds like a great idea.

Wonder can you make a fermentable wort from non-malted barley,ie ordinary barley either boiled or steeped?

engrish? · 03-08-2012 1:13pm

sharingan wrote: »

With that much ginger, you can make a lot more ginger beer than that. I used to make around 4 -5 gallons with that much ginger.

Use all of the spraymalt and top up with some dextrose (or even raw cane sugar, which is great in ginger beer), ensure that the spraymalt is dominant in terms of fermentables (ie more malt than sugar).

Just cracked open some of mine yesterday - I extracted some of the wort from crushed barley, but it was mostly spraymalt. I also hopped it a bit with some cascade that was around the house.

Its really improving a lot. Cracking little beer.

So ideally - for a 1 gallon mix, how much ginger and how much spraymalt would you use? I have 500g medium spraymalt and I have loads of dextrose (over 2 kilos)

My spraymalt just arrived!

Thanks!

Degsy · 03-08-2012 1:20pm

engrish? wrote: »

So ideally - for a 1 gallon mix, how much ginger and how much spraymalt would you use? I have 500g medium spraymalt and I have loads of dextrose (over 2 kilos)

Thanks!

I would say get a 10 litre fermenter and make it up to that amount,you;ve got more than enough ingredients.

A fermentor doesnt have to be fancy-shmanzy either,a plastic,food-grade bucket is all you need.

engrish? · 03-08-2012 1:23pm

Degsy wrote: »

I would say get a 10 litre fermenter and make it up to that amount,you;ve got more than enough ingredients.

A fermentor doesnt have to be fancy-shmanzy either,a plastic,food-grade bucket is all you need.

All I have though is a 1 Gallon glass carboy!

Degsy · 03-08-2012 1:28pm

engrish? wrote: »

All I have though is a 1 Gallon glass carboy!

Half the sparaymalt,half the ginger and about the same amount of lemons. Add half the yeast too.

You need to get a new fermentor..where are you based?

engrish? · 03-08-2012 1:34pm

Degsy wrote: »

Half the sparaymalt,half the ginger and about the same amount of lemons. Add half the yeast too.

You need to get a new fermentor..where are you based?

Dublin - I have some others but they are all in use. A good part of the reason I am doing this is to actually watch the fermentation in the glass carboys - I havent gotten the full experience from the plastic containers. I'm going to be putting on two other brews this weekend in my plastic ones.

Ok so, last question - and thanks for the advice, will I go with

0.25kg of Fresh Ginger

250g of Spraymalt & No Dextrose

2 Lemons

1/2 a sachet of champagne yeast

Does that sound right?

sharingan · 03-08-2012 1:39pm

Degsy wrote: »

Never thought of hopping it..sounds like a great idea.

Wonder can you make a fermentable wort from non-malted barley,ie ordinary barley either boiled or steeped?

You would have to malt/steep it yourself. Its doable, but a fair amount of hard work.

Last I checked, malted barley is not that expensive.

Degsy · 03-08-2012 1:41pm

engrish? wrote: »

Dublin - I have some others but they are all in use. A good part of the reason I am doing this is to actually watch the fermentation in the glass carboys - I havent gotten the full experience from the plastic containers. I'm going to be putting on two other brews this weekend in my plastic ones.

Ok so, last question - and thanks for the advice, will I go with

0.25kg of Fresh Ginger

250g of Spraymalt & No Dextrose

2 Lemons

1/2 a sachet of champagne yeast

Does that sound right?

I have a couple of spare 16 litre containers if you want em...although you cant see whats going on you can easily fit airlocks.

recipie sounds good but you really dont need to stress about weights and exact measurements when you're doing a brew like this,it'll turn out pretty good no matter what i reckon,and the beauty is tthat its very cheap to make!

Degsy · 03-08-2012 1:42pm

sharingan wrote: »

Last I checked, malted barley is not that expensive.

It isnt but dont you need a mash tun plus hot water for sparging?

I was wondering can you use the wort strained without using the mash tun?

engrish? · 03-08-2012 1:42pm

Degsy wrote: »

I have a couple of spare 16 litre containers if you want em...although you cant see whats going on you can easily fit airlocks.

recipie sounds good but you really dont need to stress about weights and exact measurements when you're doing a brew like this,it'll turn out pretty good no matter what i reckon,and the beauty is tthat its very cheap to make!

If they are going spare I'd love them - I'm becoming fanatical about brewing so I like the idea of having a few different flavours on the go at once!

Thanks again

Degsy · 03-08-2012 4:46pm

engrish? wrote: »

If they are going spare I'd love them - I'm becoming fanatical about brewing so I like the idea of having a few different flavours on the go at once!

Thanks again

No probs..pm sent.

I recomend you try "Guara Pina"..its simply fermented pineapple juice..very easy to do and suitable for a smaller container.

Ravelleman · 03-08-2012 7:08pm

I have a batch going at the moment and the yeast has been very active for the first two days. What kind of OG and FG do people normally get with this? I'm aiming for 4% ABV here.

sharingan · 06-08-2012 5:56pm

Degsy wrote: »

recipie sounds good but you really dont need to stress about weights and exact measurements when you're doing a brew like this,it'll turn out pretty good no matter what i reckon,and the beauty is tthat its very cheap to make!

Yeah, it is a hard recipe to screw up.

sharingan · 06-08-2012 6:00pm

Degsy wrote: »

It isnt but dont you need a mash tun plus hot water for sparging?

I was wondering can you use the wort strained without using the mash tun?

You don't need the mash-tun if you are using the Brew in a Bag method. You are heating the water, and taking it through the temperature changes to get the enzymes to go to work on your starch. Once you are done, lift out the bag of grain and let it drain. No need for mashing, or sparging.

engrish? · 21-08-2012 9:55am

Hey

I'm looking for a bit of advice. I brewed that Ginger beer last night, mostly following your instructions Degsey. It's 12 hours on and it doesn't seem to be fermenting. I'm wondering if the yeast was dead.

I boiled the ginger for about 10 mins. While I was doing that, I mixed 800gms of sugar and malt extract (combined) with 2 litres of boiling water. I then added the lemons (in a muslin bag) and then the ginger mix (strained through a muslin cloth which was then tied and added in to float). I then topped up with cold water. When it was about room temp (20 - 25 degrees) I pitched the yeast which I mixed in a cup with luke warm water for about 5 mins before adding. Some of it lumped a small bit, the lumps are still obvious in the mix but there are not many of them, just one or two.

The problem is that it's 12 hours on now and there is no action in it at all. There is no head, no bubbles in the airlock etc. I made two other kit brews last night at the same time and they are going crazy.

I bought the yeast of Homebrew.ie, in the same order they sent me two out of date bags of malt extract. The yeast seems to be in date. Do you think I should sit back and wait or should I start ordering in some new champagne yeast?

Thanks a mil

BeerNut · 21-08-2012 10:13am

I'd give it another day or two and then check the gravity if i still looks like nothing's happening.

engrish? wrote: »

the yeast which I mixed in a cup with luke warm water for about 5 mins before adding.

This doesn't sound like a very good idea. You should either rehydrate fully or just sprinkle on dry.

engrish? · 21-08-2012 11:25am

BeerNut wrote: »

I'd give it another day or two and then check the gravity if i still looks like nothing's happening.

This doesn't sound like a very good idea. You should either rehydrate fully or just sprinkle on dry.

Thanks - do you mean I should have let it sit in the water for longer?

BeerNut · 21-08-2012 2:14pm

The method I use for rehydrating yeast is:

1. Sanitise a thermometer, a pyrex measuring jug, and two small drinking glasses, one with a smaller diameter at the top than the other so they'll fit into each other, rim-to-rim, forming a seal.

2. Boil some water in the kettle.

3. Measure 100ml of boiled water in the pyrex jug and pour into the larger-rimmed glass.

4. Place the thermometer in the glass.

5. Half fill the pyrex jug with cold water and place the glass of boiled water in it, using it as a bath to cool the water in the glass to 27C. It takes about 10 minutes. Stir the boiled water with the thermometer to even out the temperature. Replacing the warmed water in the jug with fresh cold water will speed things up. Take care not to touch the inside of the glass.

6. Remove the thermometer and sprinkle the yeast sachet onto the surface of the water in the glass.

7. Place the smaller-rimmed glass on top of the other, forming a seal.

8. After ten minutes or so, swirl the contents of the glass gently. You want all the yeast to get wet and to blend smoothly. It will take a while for this to happen. You don't want yeast granules stuck to the side of the glass.

9. Give it a swirl every 5 minutes or so.

10. After about an hour, maybe more, foam will start to form on the surface of the yeast solution. The yeast is active and ready to pitch.

I usually kick this off around the beginning of my brewday so it's ready when I need it, two or three hours later.

engrish? · 21-08-2012 3:56pm

BeerNut wrote: »

The method I use for rehydrating yeast is:

1. Sanitise a thermometer, a pyrex measuring jug, and two small drinking glasses, one with a smaller diameter at the top than the other so they'll fit into each other, rim-to-rim, forming a seal.

2. Boil some water in the kettle.

3. Measure 100ml of boiled water in the pyrex jug and pour into the larger-rimmed glass.

4. Place the thermometer in the glass.

5. Half fill the pyrex jug with cold water and place the glass of boiled water in it, using it as a bath to cool the water in the glass to 27C. It takes about 10 minutes. Stir the boiled water with the thermometer to even out the temperature. Replacing the warmed water in the jug with fresh cold water will speed things up. Take care not to touch the inside of the glass.

6. Remove the thermometer and sprinkle the yeast sachet onto the surface of the water in the glass.

7. Place the smaller-rimmed glass on top of the other, forming a seal.

8. After ten minutes or so, swirl the contents of the glass gently. You want all the yeast to get wet and to blend smoothly. It will take a while for this to happen. You don't want yeast granules stuck to the side of the glass.

9. Give it a swirl every 5 minutes or so.

10. After about an hour, maybe more, foam will start to form on the surface of the yeast solution. The yeast is active and ready to pitch.

I usually kick this off around the beginning of my brewday so it's ready when I need it, two or three hours later.

Thats awesome - thanks a million.

Alcoholic ginger beer - recipe suggestions for first batch

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