Beer with Ginger

[YoungJames]

Hello all.

I received a beer kit for Christmas that isn't really to my taste, a "Hoppy Copper Bitter".

Has anyone any advice to turn this into a Ginger flavoured Beer?.

I had thought simply to grate a fair amount of Ginger and throw it in to the FV, brew it short and hopefully end up with something similar to a Ginger Tom.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks.

James.

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[biggmatt]

Be carefull with ginger. I haver never made it in beer but I have used it in wines. Spices are strong in alcohol. They can overwelm everything.

 

[YoungJames]

Thanks for the tip mate.

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[ProfessorWoland]

Hi

There's a couple of ginger beer threads which may be of help. I can't post the links as I'm using the app on my phone but I'll do it when I'm on my laptop later (I'm subscribed to them so they should be easy for me to find.)

Feel free to remind me if I don't ad I have a memory like a sieve!

 

[Captain Damage]

I've made ginger beers a number of times, trying a few different techiques . From my experience, fresh ginger is pretty variable in heat and yield, so you might make it the same way twice, with different results. I've found the best base beer to be an American wheat style - basically a hefeweizen (50%-70% wheat, ~20 IBUs) fermented with Chico yeast. Generally, I grate 4 oz of ginger and put that in the last 10 minutes of the boil. I'll take another 4 oz and steep that in a couple ounces of vodka for a couple of days and "dry hop" with it for 5-7 days before bottling (the steeping vodka goes into the beer as well).

 

[BansheeRider]

I used ginger root in my last beer. Cut up about an ounce and threw it in the boil for the last 5 min. Then I threw in some cinnamon sticks at flame out and let the ginger/cinnamon steep for 20 min. The beer turned out great with a mild ginger flavor.

 

[HopSong]

I have only added it to apple cider.. works there.

 

[YoungJames]

Thanks for the replies so far everyone, the information is much appreciated.

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[Zuljin]

Yes, ounces, not pounds. Ginger truly is powerful stuff.

 

[aspiffymofo]

Did a ginger beer from a recipe I found on here. Had a really good ginger bite that mellowed out after about 4 weeks. Boiling the ginger takes a lot of the bite out of it. If you want to do less I suppose you could add it to the secondary.

I modified the recipe a little to work with what I had on hand:
OG:1.050
FG:1.007
ABV: 5.7%

8 lb 2-row
mash at 153 for 60min

boil:
1oz cascade @ 60
1.5lb ginger @ 30
1 lb honey @ 30
juice of 2 lemons @30
0.5lb ginger @10
zest of 2 lemons @ 10
1 ea - whirlflock @ 7
1 oz Willamette @ 5

fermented with US-05 @ 62 degrees.

Edit: It might have been this recipe that I based it off of: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/ginger-ale-3rd-place-2009-hbt-bjcp-comp-141080/

 

[Captain Damage]

Yes, ounces, not pounds. Ginger truly is powerful stuff.

It's weird how every thread on flavoring beer with ginger has a warning like this on the first page! Having used half a pound in 5 gallons, I can easily see using a pound or more. Sure it would be strong, but that's the point. I say if you like ginger, go for it - load it up! If you don't like ginger then you'll probably want to use somewhere between a tiny amount and zero. What if every thread on dry hopping had an admonition to use grams, not ounces?

Boiling the ginger takes a lot of the bite out of it.

Yes. This is why I do the vodka steep & dryhop. Keeps more of the heat.

 

[Zuljin]

I made a beer using pounds. At that point, the beer part of it was pointless. May as well have puréed ginger roots and drank that. But hey, one guy did like it. So, yeah. Pitch yeast onto a pile roots if it suits you.

 

[YoungJames]

It's weird how every thread on flavoring beer with ginger has a warning like this on the first page! Having used half a pound in 5 gallons, I can easily see using a pound or more. Sure it would be strong, but that's the point. I say if you like ginger, go for it - load it up! If you don't like ginger then you'll probably want to use somewhere between a tiny amount and zero. What if every thread on dry hopping had an admonition to use grams, not ounces?

Yes. This is why I do the vodka steep & dryhop. Keeps more of the heat.

I think im with you there, I'm considering at least a pound. Why not? I like ginger and lots of it!

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[adiochiro3]

I'd have a beer with Ginger -- but I'm more of a Mary Ann kinda guy. (Sorry -- couldn't resist.)

 

[JeffD1]

It's weird how every thread on flavoring beer with ginger has a warning like this on the first page! Having used half a pound in 5 gallons, I can easily see using a pound or more. Sure it would be strong, but that's the point. I say if you like ginger, go for it - load it up! If you don't like ginger then you'll probably want to use somewhere between a tiny amount and zero. What if every thread on dry hopping had an admonition to use grams, not ounces?

Yes. This is why I do the vodka steep & dryhop. Keeps more of the heat.

Agreed. My favorite beer I've made uses ginger (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f70/ginger-lemongrass-wheat-451321/). I've found 2oz in the boil to be barely noticeable and 3oz to be just enough to be noteworthy but not overpowering. I just cut it up into small pieces (mashed it a little with a mortar and pestle but that's not critical) and threw it in the boil for about 20 min). The first time I made ginger I was way too conservative due to everyone warning me to be careful. Ginger is not going to destroy your beer or give you terrible flavors. Yes, using a lot will give you a strong ginger flavor, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.