Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Eating and Drinking => Homebrew => Topic started by: bearhugger1972 on January 13, 2012, 17:32
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Just made my first brew from 'scratch' using this recipe from http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/recipes-ginger-beer
I have to say it's an absolute corker and has a good kick both in the ginger and alcohol department. Got about 35 bottles and it's quite hard to leave them in the garage where i have got them stored in a couple of crates.
edit because the link here doesn't work - try this the new one
http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/ginger-beer
[a different recipe here
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=5982 ]
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Wow! Thank you Bearhugger, I love ginger beer and the alcohol will be a bonus! I shall be off to the farm shop on Sunday for my ginger! :tongue2:
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You're welcome. It's a really good recipe even for a novice such as myself. I only used 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to prime the bottles and wish i had a full teaspoon instead.
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beware the exploding bottles, my last batch one bottle exploded and took 3 others (not to mention the mess) I advise old towels over the bottles.
Grendel
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beware the exploding bottles, my last batch one bottle exploded and took 3 others (not to mention the mess) I advise old towels over the bottles.
Grendel
Ooh :ohmy:, thank you Grendel. Maybe a pressure barrel would be safer.....
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I used a plastic box with a towel over the top, and a metal bread bin for more mature bottles.
Grendel
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Tempting, will have to put it on my to do list. :)
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Let the frementation commence! :tongue2:
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Let the frementation commence! :tongue2:
Any exploding bottles yet Aunitemogs ?
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Let the frementation commence! :tongue2:
Any exploding bottles yet Aunitemogs ?
Just this evening strained it off lardman. I did have a wee sample and it tasted delish! :tongue2:
A few more days and then I shall transfer it to a pressure barrel and some empty lemonade bottles for its second ferment. Taking no chances here (don't want to waste any)! :D
So glad I invested in an extra barrel now. Woodfordes Wherry going on next week. :tongue2:
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Did you measure the sg? 110g/l of sugar seemed really high from a drinking point. Although its been over 2 decades since I did any homebrew stuff but I don't remember it being that high.
I would love to drop this as low as possible but still end up with around 4% abv adjusting sweetness at bottling/priming time.
Im still waiting for my culture to mature :(
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Did you measure the sg? 110g/l of sugar seemed really high from a drinking point. Although its been over 2 decades since I did any homebrew stuff but I don't remember it being that high.
I would love to drop this as low as possible but still end up with around 4% abv adjusting sweetness at bottling/priming time.
Im still waiting for my culture to mature :(
I forgot to measure it but thanks for the reminder. :) I shall take a reading in a few days and post it on here although I'm a newbie when it comes to this so not very good at reading the thingummy. :wacko:
I'll bung in the amount of sugar from the instructions for the second ferment and keep my fingers crossed but is there a way of controlling the sweetness of the finished product?
Are you making a ginger beer plant?
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I think we'd need to ask someone who actually knows what they're doing about fermenting it out dry or perhaps changing the yeast to one that denatures at a lower ABV %.
I had one of those ebay kits (which turned out to be little more than brewers yeast / ginger powder / sugar). Im keeping my eye on the proper one but Im not paying silly money for a science experiment.
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I think we'd need to ask someone who actually knows what they're doing about fermenting it out dry or perhaps changing the yeast to one that denatures at a lower ABV %.
I had one of those ebay kits (which turned out to be little more than brewers yeast / ginger powder / sugar). Im keeping my eye on the proper one but Im not paying silly money for a science experiment.
I found another recipe for GB in an old (1973) book and that too has 1lb sugar per gallon so I suppose it must be ok... I can't find my usual brewing book but from looking at this old one I should have taken a SG reading at the start in order to be able to work out the ABV. Guess I'll just have to do the 'falling down test'. :D
It also contains a recipe for a GB plant (sorry) ::) but that too is only bakers yeast, water, sugar and powdered ginger. Is this not the way they all start out or is there some special yeast to start them and is it supposed to taste better?
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just had a look at my hydrometer and the conversion scales that came with it and 110g/l converted into ounces per gallon is 17.8oz/g which according to the potential alchol chart fermented to dry would give a little over 6.5% abv provideing all the sugar is fermented out before primeing and bottleing then there should be no chance of explodeing bottles
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Bottled mine this morning but had to filter using a coffee filter rather than muslin as I didn't have any.
Im slightly worried now that it will have been too fine and removed all the yeast so I'll just end up with still, ginger flavoured sugar water. :unsure:
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Bottled mine this morning but had to filter using a coffee filter rather than muslin as I didn't have any.
Im slightly worried now that it will have been too fine and removed all the yeast so I'll just end up with still, ginger flavoured sugar water. :unsure:
a coffee filter altho fine isnt fine enough to take all the yeast out of it so no need to worry
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Mine's still bubbling away. ??? Hopefully will be bottling (and testing :tongue2:) this weekend.
:)
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a coffee filter altho fine isnt fine enough to take all the yeast out of it so no need to worry
Cheers for the reassurance Mike - I replaced the lid with an airlock and its not moved at all today, once I know its live I'll recap it otherwise I might as well drink it now :tongue2:
I did a sample bottle (500ml) with 2 cloves and a star anise and its wasn't too bad at all.
Mine's still bubbling away.
If you think ginger is energetic you should see this bottle of WoW - (recipe pinched from another forum) Its going off like a lava lamp !
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Ok, ready to decant into bottles and barrel now. It does taste a bit dry though (but very gingery! :tongue2:). Is there some way of sweetening the brew? Could I add extra sugar and then stop the second ferment when there is enough gas, leaving the rest for sweetening? :)
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Ok, ready to decant into bottles and barrel now. It does taste a bit dry though (but very gingery! :tongue2:). Is there some way of sweetening the brew? Could I add extra sugar and then stop the second ferment when there is enough gas, leaving the rest for sweetening? :)
What's the SG ?
From what I've read you can either stop it with stabiliser and sweeten with sugar syrup or sweeten with an agent that the yeast can't use (an artificial sweetener). How about mixing it 50/50 with a little lemonade ?
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Ok, ready to decant into bottles and barrel now. It does taste a bit dry though (but very gingery! :tongue2:). Is there some way of sweetening the brew? Could I add extra sugar and then stop the second ferment when there is enough gas, leaving the rest for sweetening? :)
not really the better thing to use would be a non fermentable sugar like the sweetners you get for tea and coffee.
youve got to think how are you going to stop the ferment without opeingng the keg and loseing all the gas
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Forgot to measure the SG again Lardman. ::) A quick slurp told me that it is deffo alcoholic though! Don't want to water it down with lemonade at this point though so maybe a mix of half and half when it comes to drinking it:tongue2:
Finally used what I had to hand Mike and piled in the sugar. May have to use some sweetener if it comes out undrinkable but would rather not.
Decanted 10 litres into lemonade bottles with 2tbsp sugar in each and the rest went into the pressure barrel with about 10oz sugar. I shall give it some time to ferment and then stick it in the shed while it's still going to stop it and hopefully keep some of the sugar in. The stuff in the barrel doesn't worry me too much as I can always re-gass it i I do need to add some sweetener. In the mean time, the stuff in the bottles will be tested on a regular basis ( :tongue2:), just to see how it's doing and I shall try to remember to check the SG this time!
:lol:
Will let you know how it comes out (if I haven't been taken out by an explosive device by then!). :)
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Forgot to measure the SG again Lardman. ::) A quick slurp told me that it is deffo alcoholic though!
Its not always about the ABV .. very occasionally its not ;)
If you're bored tonight : This thread (http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=5982) makes very interesting reading, with a good insight into the science on how to avoid bottle bombs.
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Its not always about the ABV .. very occasionally its not ;)
If you're bored tonight : This thread (http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=5982) makes very interesting reading, with a good insight into the science on how to avoid bottle bombs.
[/quote]
Page 6 (of 21!) so far....such is my life! ::) Will definitely have to investigate sweeteners. Don't want the bitter aftertaste though so I shall keep on reading, thanks Lardman... :) :)
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what i would do if using a barrel is stablise and clear it with finnins then sweeten it and force pressureise it then i could be absolutly sure of how much alcohol is in it and how sweet it is and how much pressure is in it
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Well, 2 days on and here I am, in bed with a glass of slightly sparkling ginger beer and it is fantastic! I can't believe that it's the same stuff I tasted 2 days ago. :tongue2:
Yesterday I went to T***o and bought a large box of Splenda and some glycerine. Apparently the glycerine adds a bit of body (1tsp per gallon) and the Splenda is for sweetness (thanks for the link Lardman, I read all 21 pages! :wacko:).
It's still fermenting but we had to give it a go and I think I shall be buying more ginger this weekend and I shall try to remember to take a reading this time. Cheers! :tongue2:
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Mine is too sweet @ 1040 and it looks to have stopped. I've passed on a bottle incase its just my taste buds on the blink again.
Why not make 1 Gallon rather than 5, that way it it doesn't take so long to try new recipes. Morrisons / Waitrose / Trashco's all do 5ltr (1 gallon) plastic bottles of still spring water for around a pound that can easily be turned into a demijohn. I also picked up a multi pack of 8 500ml bottles of carbonated spring water to decant into.
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Why not make 1 Gallon rather than 5, that way it it doesn't take so long to try new recipes. Morrisons / Waitrose / Trashco's all do 5ltr (1 gallon) plastic bottles of still spring water for around a pound that can easily be turned into a demijohn. I also picked up a multi pack of 8 500ml bottles of carbonated spring water to decant into.
Good idea Lardman. I think this experience has definitely given me the confidence to have a go at some new recipes. The 5lts bottles are so much easier to handle too. 5 gallons is a lot to shift around. Do you have any suggestions for good recipes? :)
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Good idea Lardman. I think this experience has definitely given me the confidence to have a go at some new recipes. The 5lts bottles are so much easier to handle too. 5 gallons is a lot to shift around. Do you have any suggestions for good recipes? :)
If you're using the plastic make sure the liquid is cool before putting it in .. I found out the hard way this morning about their low melting point ! :mad:
Reports back are that it wasn't overly sweet so it may just be me (shocked). I rather liked the clove and anise they complimented the ginger very well.
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Good idea Lardman. I think this experience has definitely given me the confidence to have a go at some new recipes. The 5lts bottles are so much easier to handle too. 5 gallons is a lot to shift around. Do you have any suggestions for good recipes? :)
If you're using the plastic make sure the liquid is cool before putting it in .. I found out the hard way this morning about their low melting point ! :mad:
Reports back are that it wasn't overly sweet so it may just be me (shocked). I rather liked the clove and anise they complimented the ginger very well.
Oh dear! I hope you didn't burn yourself? :ohmy: Or loose too much (but I guess that goes without saying)! ::)
Thanks for the info, I would have done the same thing myself...
Mags :)
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Oh dear! I hope you didn't burn yourself? :ohmy: Or loose too much (but I guess that goes without saying)! ::)
No harm done ... I was quick to cool it down with 2ltrs of grape juice I had handy. Although I am considering entering the bottle for next years Turner Prize.
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If you're using the plastic make sure the liquid is cool before putting it in .. I found out the hard way this morning about their low melting point ! :mad:
crikey!! I use the plastic demijohns and have not experienced them melting yet. maybe i just heat the water enough to easily dissolve the sugar and get some steam rather than getting a rolling boil and putting straight into the plaggy dj's. hope you are ok or at least use some previous brew to numb the pain!!
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Just got another batch of ginger beer on the go. I'd forgotten how much work it is to manually grate 1.5 kg of ginger.Still, come summer time there will be some cracking drink for the barbeque.
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Just got another batch of ginger beer on the go. I'd forgotten how much work it is to manually grate 1.5 kg of ginger.Still, come summer time there will be some cracking drink for the barbeque.
I put mine in the blender ;) I've got 1gal of ginger wine on the go at the moment for a bit of a change. The last batch of GB I did tasted a little synthetic :(
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What did you use to sweeten it Lardy? :unsure:
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What did you use to sweeten it Lardy? :unsure:
That's just it - I didn't ! Im not entirely convinced a GB plant is the way to go. Next time I order some ginger I'm going to try the recipe posted.
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Mmm...I never would've gotten around to feeding one & I reckoned less than a quid for more yeast wasn't too bad...
Mine was lovely, but sadly long gone... ::) Tasted foul when I first made it :tongue2: but with some Splenda added with the sugar for second ferment 'twas great. :D
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I've still got 3ltrs under the stairs - I'll give it another taste in a bit.
The ginger wine recipe I have is much the same as your GB but with more sugar and fermented dry, stabilised and back sweetened with WGJ. I've just racked it off the sultanas and peel and measured the ABV and its 8% (10 days).
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How does it taste now? :)
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How does it taste now? :)
:ohmy: I forgot ! Hang on I'll grab a bottle !
edit... Right :
There's still give in the bottle and the beer lacks fizz, its carbonated but more stout than champagne. Still overly sugary (for my taste) but has lost the syntheticness. Probably the same as shop bought and having just polished off the 500ml its easy enough to drink and I would think around 4% abv.
I don't think the yeast were up to the task and I have a lot of un-fermented sugar in there still.
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Oh what a shame Lardman. :( Still, would probably make a good mixer now. :tongue2:
Mine was not very fizzy (more like pleasantly sparkling) but was quite potent. :wacko: The only way I could slow down the fermention was to put it somewhere cool with Splenda to sweeten as it kept turning the sugar into alcohol and was unpleasantly dry so I guess the yeast was deffo doing its job.
Hoping to make more soonish (have 1 sachet of yeast left).
Are you going to share the wine recipe? :D
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The first lot I did was very fizzy - lots of small bubbles just like champagne. This stuff isby any means unpleasant, its just not what I was aiming for.
The Ginger Wine is as per "Davie's" recipe and can be found here Ginger Wine (http://www.homewinemaking.co.uk/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1285613581) Not a quick one though, its bubbling away behind me and smells very much of orange.
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Ooh, thankie :)
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I think we'd need to ask someone who actually knows what they're doing about fermenting it out dry or perhaps changing the yeast to one that denatures at a lower ABV %.
I had one of those ebay kits (which turned out to be little more than brewers yeast / ginger powder / sugar). Im keeping my eye on the proper one but Im not paying silly money for a science experiment.
I found another recipe for GB in an old (1973) book and that too has 1lb sugar per gallon so I suppose it must be ok... I can't find my usual brewing book but from looking at this old one I should have taken a SG reading at the start in order to be able to work out the ABV. Guess I'll just have to do the 'falling down test'. :D
It also contains a recipe for a GB plant (sorry) ::) but that too is only bakers yeast, water, sugar and powdered ginger. Is this not the way they all start out or is there some special yeast to start them and is it supposed to taste better?
Ginger beer plant is a different beast to yeast. I have some growing on my windowsill - it's a symbiotic yeast and bacteria which floats about. Unlike yeast it sits in the sun, not in the dark and this keeps it in balance.
If you look around on the net, you can find a few places that do it. Mine just doesn't grow quick enough to supply people (loads of people keep asking for it! It's pretty rare!)
The difference in flavour is subtle from normal yeast - it has a more complex sweet/sour flavour. To be honest though, use brewers yeast, it's not an awful lot different!
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The real GBP looks like a lava lamp!
A few years ago it was considered extinct, but I heard the publicity caused its re-discovery and now it is making a comeback.
One day I might try to get some for myself, but until then I will use champagne yeast.
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Just having a sample taste of the brew I started. It must be at least 6.5% from the feel of it. It's going to be hard to leave the current brew in bottles to mature for the next 3+ weeks in the garage. I just bought a hydrometer so need to learn how to use it for the next batch of ginger beer i will be making. I using it on a couple of wine kits for practice. I reckon the first kit will work out at about 11%.
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Oh the tragedy! :(
Strained out my ginger beer into a sterilised container and set to ferment...nothing.
Added more sugar (in case it had run out of steam)...nothing.
Added more yeast in case it had starved to death before I added the sugar...nowt.
I gave the container a good rinse under the tap but all I can think of is that I didn't get all of the sterilising solution out. :blush:
Woe is me... :(
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Woe is me... :(
What yeast are you using ?
Get yourself a fresh sachet or good quality yeast something like the Gervin GV3 (yellow label) and follow the instructions on how to restart from here clicky (http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Restart-a-fermentation.pdf)
I can't see you killing all the yeast off by not rinsing properly, although the high temperatures recently may have seen them off especially if you're using an old packet/tub thats been kept in the open.
If you're judging fermentation by airlock traffic make sure you have a good seal ;) bit of vaseline around the grommet to be on the safe side.
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It was a fresh sachet of Youngs Champagne Yeast Lardman. The first ferment went well but now nowt. :(
Just checked it and the thermometer was reading 26deg - just realised I've left the heat pad on (was quite nippy when I strained it) - doh! :blink:
Have already added the yeast but sprinkled a bit more yeast nutrient in (thanks for the link). :)
Will give it another week to see if it recovers, it smell ok so there's still hope. Ta muchly for the help. :D
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I've made quite a few batches using this recipe now, its fab. I put the ginger though the Juicer a few times to try and extract a bit more taste - add to the spice factor a lot also.
I also had a bottle explode, this was during the winter so the central heating probably was partly to blame. I use empty 'famous brand cola' bottles, which expanded to look like rugby balls before 1 finally popped, so this should be easy to avoid by letting a little gas escape occasionally.
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Last one I made I added a pound and a half of sugar a gallon,sg was 1.060.I fermented it out to dry using Youngs wine yeast(from Wilko's) it finished about 9%. It tasted great as a mixer or on it's own. I always use plastic lemonade bottles, they can really take some pressure.
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I've just put a gallon of ginger beer on yesterday using a very similar recipe to that posted (no raisins in mine though!)
It smells so amazing I'm going out and buying a 25L fermenting vessel tomorrow...
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It smells so amazing I'm going out and buying a 25L fermenting vessel tomorrow...
And why not :D and to think you were unsure about your new hobby ::)
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Waiting for my new batch of ginger beer to cool down a bit before pitching yeast...
Managed to pick up a nice 30L barrel, so I hope it turns out Ok :lol:
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Goodness me, where does the time go? :ohmy:
Well, my ginger beer never did start fermenting again and so I left it sitting in the corner of the living room...for...er...a while... :wub:
Having enlisted youg son to lift it for me this week, upon checking, it looked fine and had no 'lurgies' so I decanted it into a spare pressure barrel (seemed a shame to waste all that ginger) and tested it.
Yup, tasted just as awful as the fizzy stuff before the addition of glycerine and Splenda! :ohmy:
After addition of the requisites, I have to say, it's not tasting too shabby at all. No clue as to the (hic) incahol contentstuffs (hihhic) bus dffs thar..... :tongue2: :wacko: :lol:
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Did anyone print out the original recipe as the link on the first post doesn't work any more :(
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I know it was from here Mum but tbh am far too pickled to work through the 28 pages... :wacko:
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=5982
I shall have a looksee in my recipe book and see if I have written it down somewhere... :)
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my first Christmas batch is bottled (a bit of sediment in the bottom) 2 plastic bottles plus 1 1/2 glass pint ones, second batch brewing.
Grendel
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changed the link on p1 to this one - hope it's the right one :D
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=5982
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changed the link on p1 to this one - hope it's the right one :D
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=5982
The original seems to have gone awol, although it can be found in Googles cache. I've grabbed it if anyone want the original recipe and it's ok to post it ?
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please do post it :D
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Taken from www.brewuk.co.uk.
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Nothing can beat home made Ginger beer. Delicious on a sunny day, this alcoholic version is sure to impress your friends and family. Ice Cooled with a refreshing zing that really hits the spot but watch out as the 6% ABV can have you walking sideways.
Equipment:
Brewing Bin + Lid
Syphon
Steriliser
Bottles
Large pan
Ingredients:
1 - 2k ginger root dependant on taste, grated
2.5 k sugar
4 lemons, sliced
300g of Sultanas
3/4 tsp. Cream of Tartar
1 Packet of Champagne Yeast
Approx 23 Litres of bottled water (or tap water dependant on your water).
Instructions
Sanitise and rinse all equipment.
1. Boil as much water as you can get in your stock pot, peel the lemons (avoiding pith), then throw in the peel and squeeze in the juice.
2. Grate the ginger (skin too) and throw in along with the cream of tarter.
3. Add sugar and reduce temp to simmer for about 30 mins.
4. Add 300g of Sultanas to the fermenter then pour the liquid on top and fill up to 23 ltrs with water. Once cooled to fermentation temp sprinkle the yeast on top.
5. Cover and ferment for 4 days.
6. Strain and squeeze the juice from the liquid and transfer to a clean fermenter until complete (usually about 5 / 7 days).
7. Bottle in strong glass bottles adding 1/2 teaspoon of priming sugar to each.
If you wish to make smaller/larger batches then adjust the ingredients accordingly. This will make a drink of approx 6% ABV. Reduce the sugar if you want to lower the ABV.
Open with care as they can be a bit lively.
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I brewed a batch according to roughly the recipe on the homebrew forum's legendary "Fiery Ginger Beer" thread and it is superb:
Recipe was:
1.2 kg Root Ginger Grated
2 Lemons sliced and squeezed
2 Limes sliced and squeezed
4 tsp Ground Ginger
3/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Allspice
1/2 a Nutmeg grated
2 Cloves
1 tsp Cream of Tartar
1 kg Runny Honey
1 kg Extra Light DME (Dried Malt Extract or Spraymalt)
1 kg Light DME
Method couldn't be easier! Get the biggest pot you can lay your hands on, throw in everything down to the Cream of Tartar and boil for half an hour, then disolve in Honey and DME.
Pour into sterlised 5 gallon fermenter and top up with cold water and pitch champagne yeast when cooled down to around 24C.
Fermentation took a couple of weeks. I racked it and (luckily!) picked up a lactobacilus infection from somewhere - looked terrible but did wonders for the flavour!
I backsweetened it with splenda which isn't fermentible and bottled in 500ml plastic bottles with around 8g per litre of dextrose to get a really good fizz.
I'm very pleased with it as it has some body to it from the malt rather than just being ginger and citrus. I think the ABV was around 5.5 or 6% in the end.
Racking is an absolute nightmare though, grated ginger blocks up your siphon in no time! I found that pushing a handle-less sieve into the beer and siphoning from the middle worked a treat.
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I'm contemplating making a 5gal Christmas brew. Question is should I stick to the usual ale kit or attempt one of these ginger beers? Not entirely sure if I like ginger beer tho, are there any supermarket brands that these recipes would be similar to for testing?
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I wouldn't unblock the sink with supermarket ginger beer - Foul ,synthetic, metallic tasting stuff. !
The successful stuff I've done (ignoring the flops) has a cleaner taste, it's sharper and hotter - The batch I turned into wine has a distinct marshmallow taste. :wacko:
If you're worried just do a gallon rather than 5. ::)
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I wouldn't unblock the sink with supermarket ginger beer - Foul ,synthetic, metallic tasting stuff....If you're worried just do a gallon rather than 5. ::)
Great answer Lardman! I'll avoid the supermarket 'ginger beer' and try a 1gal batch for starters. Cheers!
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Yup, the recipe will scale down easily to a gallon. Well worth it IMO. Better than anything from the shops!
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first brew is fizzy as anything, second brew hasnt started fizzing up the bottles, but I did manage to strain more of the sediment out of this batch. had the first bottle of the first batch and very nice it was too, just a little bit too much sediment when opened (10 minutes carefully over the sink).
used a basic recipe with bread yeast.
Grendel
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Whoever did the picking at trascho obviously thought I was off my trolley ordering so much ginger and didn't send it !
That'll teach me - I was trying not to look a complete weirdo turning up at the checkout in person. ::)
I used lavin EC118 in my last fizzy wine, it compacted down really well and left a good solid sediment. Not cheap to do just 1 gal though.
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lol, maybe there's a high demand for ginger just now? I picked some up from the local country store yesterday but had to take all they had just to make a 1gal batch. Kinda mixed up yours and Calumscott's recipes but didn't have any malt extracts. ABV should end around 6-6.5% but I only had some white wine yeast to use so I'm hoping it will still 2nd ferment after bottling for the fizz. Cheers guys, I'll let you know how it turns out.
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well fingers crossed, just bottled up the last 10 litres of ginger beer, thats 30 litres in total, stopped the mix for now as we have plenty, the first few batches carried on fizzing away, but are a bit cloudy, the rest was strained through a muslin bag and didnt carry on fermenting in the bottles, yet to see how much of a kick its got, tried some of the first batch and that was pretty good, to be honest alcahol content is unimportant if the flavour is right.
Grendel
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Taken from www.brewuk.co.uk.
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Nothing can beat home made Ginger beer. Delicious on a sunny day, this alcoholic version is sure to impress your friends and family. Ice Cooled with a refreshing zing that really hits the spot but watch out as the 6% ABV can have you walking sideways.
Equipment:
Brewing Bin + Lid
Syphon
Steriliser
Bottles
Large pan
Ingredients:
1 - 2k ginger root dependant on taste, grated
2.5 k sugar
4 lemons, sliced
300g of Sultanas
3/4 tsp. Cream of Tartar
1 Packet of Champagne Yeast
Approx 23 Litres of bottled water (or tap water dependant on your water).
Instructions
Sanitise and rinse all equipment.
1. Boil as much water as you can get in your stock pot, peel the lemons (avoiding pith), then throw in the peel and squeeze in the juice.
2. Grate the ginger (skin too) and throw in along with the cream of tarter.
3. Add sugar and reduce temp to simmer for about 30 mins.
4. Add 300g of Sultanas to the fermenter then pour the liquid on top and fill up to 23 ltrs with water. Once cooled to fermentation temp sprinkle the yeast on top.
5. Cover and ferment for 4 days.
6. Strain and squeeze the juice from the liquid and transfer to a clean fermenter until complete (usually about 5 / 7 days).
7. Bottle in strong glass bottles adding 1/2 teaspoon of priming sugar to each.
If you wish to make smaller/larger batches then adjust the ingredients accordingly. This will make a drink of approx 6% ABV. Reduce the sugar if you want to lower the ABV.
Open with care as they can be a bit lively.
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where can I get cream of tarter
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Should be able to find it in the supermarket baking section. :happy:
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Tried a bottle last night and although it wasn't as fizzy as I'd like, I did enjoy the taste! Very sharp and the first mouthful was quite fiery. I guess it shocks your tastebuds initially because further drinks weren't as fiery. Will leave the rest longer to ferment and hopefully build up more cO2 but I'm looking forward to driking them. Any tips on shortest time to leave to mature before consuming for best flavour?
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Tried a bottle last night and although it wasn't as fizzy as I'd like, I did enjoy the taste!
Try with a champagne yeast it will do better at secondary fermentation. Leave the bottles somewhere warm for a few days it should help.
Any tips on shortest time to leave to mature before consuming for best flavour?
I think mine peaked around 6 weeks after I opened the first, probably 8 weeks in total.
I must do something with mine - it's still in the DJ's ! :ohmy:
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Thanks for the information Lardman! Will do and I'll pick up some champagne yeast before I start a 5gal batch later in the year. Marked 6 weeks on my calendar, can't wait!
When you leave it in the DJ for a long time, do you have to pitch more yeast for the 2nd fermentation or will it still be alive?
I'm impressed with how cheap this recipe was! Should work out far cheaper than buying 5gals of juice for turbo cider.