Trying to brew a light ginger grapefruit beer

[kosap1]

I am trying to do a little experimenting with flavors. Recently had a great grapefruit ginger beer from the Shiner brewery in Texas and loved it.

Here is my recipe so far. What are your thoughts?


Briess Pilsen Extra Light Liquid Extract 6 lbs, 0 oz
Briess 2 Row Caramel 10 0 lbs, 8 oz
Weyermann Cara Foam 0 lbs, 4 oz
Glacier Pellets 1 oz @ 60 mins
Nelson Sauvin, NZ Pellets 1 oz @ 30 mins
Cluster Pellets 1 oz @ Dry
White Labs California Ale


My other question is that someone told me that I need to start with 1-2 pounds of ginger for a 5 gallon batch. That seems like it will be WAY to ginger-y. I was thinking maybe 3-5 ounces at 5 minutes left in the boil or so. Can anyone give me some guidance there?

 

[reed1911]

On ginger additions, it depends on when you add it. If you want the ginger flavor and not the strong feeling of spice, add it into the boil. If you want both the ginger spice as well as the flavor add it at flameout or in the secondary. I brewed an amber with 5lbs in the boil and it worked out perfect. They only issue I saw was that it needs a lot of help with head retention due to the oil content from the ginger. I'm happy with my ginger beer since it basically makes for an alcoholic ginger ale, clear, crisp, no head, and very refreshing. If you are adding at flameout or secondary you need VERY little in terms of weight. I would not use more than 2-3 oz to start with unless you want a very ginger beer.

 

[Paradingbull]

I too am a fan of the Shiner Ruby Redbird and made a clone attempt. I used about 2 oz. of fresh grated ginger at 15 minutes boil left, it was about right on the ginger. I think 1-2 pounds would be way too much. The failure of my attempt was I used 3/4 gallon of Ocean Spray Ruby Red grapefruit juice at flameout. It was too much. It turned out very close to the Shiner Redbird except for the overpowering aftertaste from the juice I added. Let me know how yours turns out, and PM me if you want the recipe I used.