Alcoholic ginger beer idea

[lunarlizard88]

So I've been making ginger beer (non-alcoholic) for a little while now and recently, my recipe has developed to the point that my friends are buying bottles from me for 2 bucks each! (ca-ching!). But of course, half of the people that I have mentioned my ginger beer to want me to make an alcoholic version. So I figured I'd try it. So heres my method. This method is sort of a guess, but can anybody tell me why this wouldn't work??

Method:

1.) Make my complete brew base, but waay OVERsweeten it
2.) Pour it into all of my 12 oz bottles with champagne yeast
3.) Put balloons (yes, balloons) over the necks of the bottles just to create an air-lock
4.) Let ferment for about 10 days, maybe releasing some of the gas pressure occasionally
5.) Cap all of the bottles, then ferment for 4 more days for carbonation
6.) Pasteurize the bottles to stop fermentation

P.S. I'm a total beginner at this. I've never made an alcoholic version of anything. This is just a guess at an easy but effective method. The idea is that I initially over-sweeten it so much that it will still be sweet after 14 days when I pasteurize.

 

[dinnerstick]

it sounds dangerous to me, you will really need to know how the fermentation is going in those bottles or you risk big explosions. also you are using a very active yeast and you are going to have a large puck of lees at the bottom, which will then be cooked when you pasteurize and will be a bitter little (or medium sized) obstacle in the bottles. this is coming from experience, i have tried it. why not convert some water jugs to primary fermenters, or get a small carboy and ferment in there, doesn't need to be anything fancy, then bottle after you reach your desired sugar level? and if you bottle a few in plastic soda bottles at least you can estimate the carb level by feeling how firm the plastic ones are. finally don't ever pasteurize over-carbed bottles, it's (really!) dangerous, they will explode. if you open one and it fizzes out the top, they are too carbed to cook.
finally, i recommend the use of a ginger beer plant such as the one available here (this is where i got mine)
http://www.retro-culture.com/ginger-beer-plant.html
it is easier than yeast to control fermentation and will give you a far tastier brew than with champagne yeast. i have a plant and i keep it going continuously so i always have fresh ginger beer. it's addictive
just my two [euro] cents. (that's $0.029)
good luck!

 

[JezzaUK]

Dinnerstick is a big fan of GBP, but must say I've never tried it, but plan to at some point in the future.

Anyway, have a look at this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f95/alcoholic-ginger-beer-input-request-231212/

I have a brew bottled at present. Used Splenda for sweetness, but need to source something else as you can notice the splend (albeit not a lot).

One thing that I think is going to make a real difference for me this time around is that I racked from primary to secondary when adding the splenda.

I then bottled and left a fair amount of lees at the bottle of the demijohn - so there should be less yeast in the bottles to run the risk of bombs. That being said, I only bottled it a couple of days ago, so early days...

 

[dinnerstick]

yep, i love my gbp. that said, it is a strange beast (that's part of the attraction), and yeast from a packet will give more predictable results. i strongly agree that one racking will make a big difference to the taste, if your fermentation vessel is small enough or fridge big enough you may even want to chuck it in the fridge for day or 2 when it has reached your target gravity (by hydrometer reading or taste test), that will bring a lot of the yeast and gunk out of suspension and clear up the brew a lot. this won't stop the yeast of course- when you rack or bottle it away from the sediment and warm it back up to room temp the yeast will resume fermentation but their activity should be reduced, depending on the strain, certainly the case with champagne yeast which in my experience crashes nicely.

 

[geneb]

I'd suggest getting yourself a fermenting bucket and/or a carboy and just following one of the existing ginger beer recipes, such as this one. Since I am assuming you don't have the ability to do a full mash you could convert it to extract using slightly less than 5 pounds of Pale Liquid Malt Extract instead of the Pale Malt then steeping the cara-pils for about 20 or 30 minutes in 155°F water.

[Obligatory Warning]Know that selling drinks containing alcohol is very much illegal. Depending on where you live, you may be permitted to give away a certain amount per year, but you will have to check your local laws to know for sure.[/Obligatory Warning]

 

[dinnerstick]

although the recipe quoted above sounds very interesting, it is for a ginger flavored beer, rather than a traditional 'ginger beer' which is not a beer; no malt or hops. the traditional ginger beer of sugar lemon ginger is many times more simple to make, especially for someone who has not brewed beer