Ginger Beer Brewing " How To" Thread

Koffee_Kosmo

As the title says
This is a specific Ginger Beer Brewing Thread

It covers
DIY or Kits
Brewing
Growing Ginger Plants
Recipes
Really good resources & links you have come across

Funny stories eg - best exploding bottle story ;D

Koffee_Kosmo

First post A recipe supplied by member Bean Flying that uses coffee in the recipe Home Style Ginger Beer - with coffee Ginger Beer Plant 1 cup cold water 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee powder 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1 teaspoon honey 1 teaspoon sugar Combine all ingredients in a screw top jar. Feed plant each day for 7 days with additional 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1 teaspoon honey, and 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee powder. To make ginger beer: Dissolve 3 cups sugar in 4 cups hot water. Add 3 1/2 litres cold water and 1/2 cup strained lemon juice. Add to this the strained liquid from screw top jar (strain through fine muslin cloth). Pour into clean, dry, airtight bottles; seal tops. The best bottles to use have clamp tops. Keep 3-4 weeks before using. Makes approx 5 litres. To keep plant alive: Halve the residue strained into muslin, returned to jar with 1 cup water; let stand 1 week, feeding each day as before. And his revisions - because he does not like instant coffee Notes I question this recipe though in a few spots I

Koffee_Kosmo

I have come across an easy recipe on the net Fresh ginger is used not a ginger plant I will test this recipe and report back with feedback Video Part 1 of 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uQ_wks9Gkw&list=HL1324119365&feature=mh_lolz Video 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUmFM994kak&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL ------------------------------------------------------ Also an almost identical recipe on a wiki - if you prefer to read it over watching it http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Ginger-Ale KK

beanflying

Funny this resurfaced over a conversation in the local bakery a few weeks back with one of the older employees about making GB so I mentioned I as a teenager I brewed my own and would find my old recipe and get her a copy. As above it was a bit like mad science as a kid feeding this living thing splitting adding brewing then putting under the house and making sure not to many exploded (there was some of that 😃) Actually tempted by this again and having some spare Coopers stubbies laying around due to the seasonal increase in beer consumption to give it a go again. Non Alcoholic up to 10+% seems possible these days with ease so a bit of a browse around (the die hards even have FORUMS dedicated to it) kits bottles brews specials all seem like a bit of extra brewing fun. Stay tuned 🙂

RichardM

Ok, so I did a single bottle of ginger beer tonight. 1.25L bottle. I just whacked the following in. No boiling, no complications, just to see how it'll go with the basics: Sugar: 125g Lemon Juice: 65g (one lemon) Lemon rind: 1g Fresh grated Ginger: 10g Water: 1065g Bakers yeast: 2g So will report back once the bottle gets hard and carbonated and I taste it 🙂 (should be about 4 days I'd guess).

Koffee_Kosmo

RichardM wrote:

Ok, so I did a single bottle of ginger beer tonight. 1.25L bottle. I just whacked the following in. No boiling, no complications, just to see how it'll go with the basics: Sugar: 125g Lemon Juice: 65g (one lemon) Lemon rind: 1g Fresh grated Ginger: 10g Water: 1065g Bakers yeast: 2g So will report back once the bottle gets hard and carbonated and I taste it 🙂 (should be about 4 days I'd guess).

I will wait for that report with eagerness Ginger beer happens to be one of my favourite beverages KK

RichardM

Koffee Kosmo wrote:

I will wait for that report with eagerness Ginger beer happens to be one of my favourite beverages KK

Right. At lunchtime today, decided the bottle was had enough, and didn't want to risk it, so put it in the fridge. Opened just now after work. Result: Bubbles a bit too coarse, and a bit "fresh" tasting. Certainly didn't taste "yeasty" but I think less yeast (probably 1g...but will use teaspoon measurements next time) would be better, as it would give it more time before it is fully carbonated. Sweetness is pretty well perfect. Could probably drop to maybe 100g if you prefer it a bit dryer (which I will next time) Lemonyness - this comes down to personal taste. I like it quite lemony. It's not acidic at this amount of lemon, but maybe start with what I did and go up/down from there. Spiciness - a touch under what I'd like, but probably similar to the commercial ones. The only thing I really dislike about this is the chunks of ginger left in it are a bit too hard, thus I strained it into my glass. This would probably soften with more "brew" time, but also, I think next time I'll boil the ginger/sugar/water mix to soften it and extract more flavour, then add the lemon juice and yeast once cool. So, when this bottle is empty, I will try the following: Sugar: 100g Lemon Juice: 65g (one lemon) Lemon rind: 1/4 teaspoon Fresh grated Ginger: 10g Water: 1100mL Bakers yeast: 1/4 teaspoon Mix water with ginger, lemon rind and sugar. Boil 5 minutes. Allow to cool, add lemon juice and bakers yeast. Pour into 1.25L bottle, leave 48 hours in a warm spot or until bottle is firm like a drum.

RichardM

Sugar: 125g Lemon Juice: 65g (one lemon) Lemon rind: 2g Fresh grated Ginger: 15g Water: 1100mL Bakers yeast: 1/4 teaspoon Mix water with ginger, lemon rind, lemon juice and sugar. Boil, covered, 5 minutes. Allow to cool to <40 degrees, add lemon juice and yeast. Strain into 1.25L bottle, leave 48 hours in a warm spot or until bottle is firm like a drum. ^^^^ This is a winner. The wife said "Whatever you did this time, do it again". It just has a mild spicy "burn" that I love, and a touch of bitterness from the lemon rind, but not too much. The only thing I'll do next time is leave it an extra 24 hours (so make it 3 days) just to add a touch more fizz). I'm beginning to question why people did the ginger beer "plant" in their homes at all. I'm thinking it might have been due to the cost of yeast in the past, so keeping it "alive" meant you didn't have to use as much.

Koffee_Kosmo

I will give it a go Richard when time permits Plus I am saving some glass 750 ml Bundaberg GB bottles to use :thumb: KK

RichardM

Koffee Kosmo wrote:

I will give it a go Richard when time permits Plus I am saving some glass 750 ml Bundaberg GB bottles to use :thumb: KK

Just experience from my childhood, but glass bottles are a pain...because you can't tell when it's ready, and if they overpressure, the lid just blows off. If the same happens with a plastic bottle, you can see it stretching for a few days first. Plastic lids are also easier to unscrew slowly and you can see when it's about to become a fountain in a clear bottle, but can't in a dark bottle like Bundaberg.

Koffee_Kosmo

RichardM wrote:

Just experience from my childhood, but glass bottles are a pain...because you can't tell when it's ready, and if they overpressure, the lid just blows off. If the same happens with a plastic bottle, you can see it stretching for a few days first. Plastic lids are also easier to unscrew slowly and you can see when it's about to become a fountain in a clear bottle, but can't in a dark bottle like Bundaberg.

I intend making a few litres of Ginger Beer at a time Yes I will be using at least one plastic bottle as a guide to progress (see videos posted above) The rest of the mixture will be in the glass bottles KK

Springbok

Reminds me of my national service army days in Africa - we used to brew Ginger beer in large plastic containers and we kept these in steel trunks at the bottom of our beds - one day at Inspection we were given the order - "open trunks" so that the officer could see that all was neat and tidy in there - anyway this particular day - the brew "blew" and bottle tops were popping off like rifle shots and hitting the ceiling and spraying sticky ginger beer all over the floor walls and trunks - While it was funny both at the time and afterwards ..we ran a lot that day as i remember and we had another 3 inspections that lasted well into the night.....