Overall the process went well. I next time I'll probably go with 6lbs of sugar to try and hit 1.050+ before and 1.020-15 after, and maybe 3lbs of ginger. Will report back soon.
Hey cyborgmexican, curious how this turned out for you?
Overall the process went well. I next time I'll probably go with 6lbs of sugar to try and hit 1.050+ before and 1.020-15 after, and maybe 3lbs of ginger. Will report back soon.
I've made this a few times. I like a lot of ginger heat. You can reduce the ginger if you don't like it that bold. Try this:
5 gal batch
2 lbs fresh ginger, cut into slices
17 cups sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
3 cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
1 vanilla bean, split
1 packet champagne yeast
Boil 2 lb ginger for about 30 mins. Remove from heat, stir in the sugar and spices. Cool, transfer to fermenter, pitch yeast.
After fermentation is complete, rack to a secondary, crush and add 5 campden tablets to kill any remaining yeast. You can also add another lb of fresh ginger if you really like the ginger flavor. Let it sit for about 2 weeks (1 week if not using more ginger). Boil a small amount of water and add sugar needed for desired sweetness. Add to keg, then rack the ginger beer on top. Force carbonate @ 30 PSI (serving pressure).
Good luck!
After reading through all 20 pages, I'm not quite sure how people are getting these gravity numbers. For a 5 gallon batch, you'll need about 5.5lbs of cane sugar to get to 1.050 OG, with slightly more turbinado to reach the same OG....
With 5.5lbs of sugar, if you ferment all the way to dry, you should end up with a FG of about 1.013 at just shy of 5% ABV. Fermenting only to 1.02 should leave with you something just shy of 4%.
Has anyone tried making say.... 4 gallons of unflavored sugar alcohol with whatever citrus to control bacteria to about 6.5% fermented all the way dry, and then after fermentation, adding a gallon of ginger steeped water+ additional sugar to taste (which will also carbonation in-bottle), and then pasteurize? Seems like that would give you about 5% alcohol with fresh ginger taste, and good sweetness. You could even make this stuff 10% pretty easily with good sweetness and a fresh ginger flavor.
I don't understand the important of having ginger during fermentation. I guess my goal is an alcoholic ginger soda really... and fermenting soda really doesn't have the time to change the flavors of the ginger... I could be wrong.
Any thoughts?
screw it... gonna just do a fairly basic unmalted wheat beer(pils,unmalted wheat, oats)... secondary the hell out of it with some lemon juice, lemon zest, a ton of ginger... couple cinnamon sticks.. then add a lot of non-fermentables at bottling...
I am working on that right now. A month ago I started a 5 gal batch of well water with 7 lb sugar and wine yeast - EC-1118. OG was 1.09. Now it's 1.03 and it measures 5% alcohol in my Vino o meter. I plan to go down to 1.01 then add ginger and lemon. Or even cheat a little and add some Jamaican ginger beer soda if the flavor is wrong.
Thoughts? I'll let you all know how this turns out. In a perfect brew, this should turn out as a light, beery and more dry Hollows and Fentimans clone (I find crabbies far too sweet).
This is interesting because I would have worried the skin might contribute an off flavor, and you are absolutely right about how hard it is to peel that much ginger. Making my first batch tonite, here is my recipe, inspired by gingerman and the Ginger Libation label:
3 gallon batch
2lbs fresh ginger, chopped in food processor
4lbs turbinado sugar
2cups pineapple juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup key lime juice
1/2 tsp cream of tartar for head retention
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Red Star Champagne yeast
3 gallons water
Start gravity of 1.052
Brought sugar, water, and ginger to a boil, turned off the flame and let steep for 1 hour. Added juices, cream of tartar, and cayenne, then strained into fermenter. Let cool overnight and pitched yeast. If all goes well, I will stop fermentation at 1.008 and have 6% ABV and a decent amount of residual sweetness. The turbinado sugar is 95.7% fermentable, so if it tastes too sweet I will let it go a little further. My total cost for the ingredients from Whole Foods here in Charlotte NC was around $24.
**update 7/30**
OK so after 7 days of fermenting the gravity was at 1.014, the taste was wonderful, so I pulled it out, finished it, and kegged it. Just waiting on it to carbonate, should take a week, the taste is very hot and strong ginger, alcohol at 5.2%, a fair amount of sweetness, and just a slight hint of pineapple. VERY happy with how this turned out.
I've made ginger beer in the past, and it is not that different from making an extract batch of beer. Keep things simple and add only what you need. Adding some citrus for acidity is ok but I think you're overdoing it with lemon, lime, and pineapple. I've never had to add cayenne to add heat to the beer...the ginger takes care of that nicely if it is fresh. I haven't had any head at all, in any ginger beer I've ever had, so you probably could do away with the cream of tartar (never used it before though).
My recipe uses cane sugar, grated ginger, some lemon for acidity, and water. I used US-05 but you can use whatever you want.
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