Brewing Ginger Beer

[Scott S.]

Would like to brew an ALCOHOLIC ginger beer. Advise, recipes.

So far everything I've read seem to imply that bottling ginger beer in glass
is an accident waiting to happen.
Of course I could brew, bottle and store outside in garage (temperature
currently 20 F.)

I am interested in recipes that, like homebrew, create a wort ,adding
pitched yeast, for further fermentation.
I'd like to bottle in glass.

Your collective help and advise, appreciated.

Cheers

[hankus]

The first I made and the second I found but haven't tried

Thanks
Hank

Ginger Lemongrass

ADD 1.5 oz lemongrass (NEXT time use zest of 4 lemons)and 2oz chopped ginger
to last 30" boil

Brewer:
Hank
Email:
-

Beer:
Ginger Lemongrass
Style:
American Pale Ale

Type:
All grain
Size:
10 gallons

Color:
3 HCU (~3 SRM)

Bitterness:
34 IBU

OG:
1.049
FG:
1.150

Alcohol:
-

Grain:
18 lb. British lager
1 lb. Wheat malt

Mash:
68% efficiency

Boil:
minutes
SG 1.047
10.5 gallons

Hops:
4.5 oz. Hallertauer (4.25% AA, 60 min.)

Yeast:
generic ale

Tasting:
At first bland but by 2 mnths delicious

Ginger Lemon Wheat Ale

BATCH: GINGER LEMON WHEATBEER (6 gal)

TYPE: LEMON GINGER WHEATBEER

INGREDIENTS: 8 LBS. WHEAT MALT EXTRACT; PERLE HOPS (8.5 HBU); SAAZ HOPS 6.6
HBU; 4 WHOLE CLOVES; 2.0 OZ FRESH GRATED GINGER; ZEST AND JUICE OF 5 LARGE
LEMONS; 5 TBLS RECONSTITUTED LEMON JUICE; 1\2 TSP IRISH MOSS; 1\2 TSP
GELATIN FININGS; 1 1\2 CUP EXTRA LIGHT DRY MALT EXTRACT (CONDITIONING);
WYEAST WEITZEN LIQUID YEAST

DESCRIPTION OF BREW PROCESS: PRESTART YEAST IN 16OZ OF WATER AND 1/2 CUP OF
DRY MALT EXTRACT. BRING 4 GAL WATER TO BOIL, TURN OFF HEAT WHILE YOU ADD
EXTRACT, MIX WELL AND RETURN TO BOIL. AFTER 5 MIN BOIL THEN ADD PERLE HOPS
AND CONTINUE TO BOIL FOR 30 MIN. ADD 1\2 SAAZ AND THE CLOVES AND BOIL FOR
ANOTHER 30 MIN. ADD IRISH MOSS, AND REMAINING SAAZ AND BOIL ANOTHER 5 MIN.
ADD GINGER AND LEMON ZEST, BOIL 15 MINUTES. ADD LEMON JUICE, BOIL 5 MINUTES.
POUR HOT WORT INTO FERMENTER CONTAINING 2.5 GAL VERY COLD WATER. RINSE HOPS
IN STRAINER WITH ENOUGH WATER TO BRING TO 5 GAL. COOL WORT, AERATE, & PITCH
YEAST AT 80 DEGREES OR LESS. AFTER 3-4 DAYS, WHEN FERMENT HAS SLOWED DRAIN
YEAST FROM BOTTOM OF FERMENTER, & SOAK FININGS FOR ONE HOUR, ADD FININGS.
PRIME AND BOTTLE IN ABOUT 10 DAYS.

DATE BREWED: 5-8-04
START SPECIFIC GRAVITY: 1.055 @ 80 DEGREES F., CONVERTS TO 1.057 AT 60
DEGREES F.; 1.021 on May 10, 2004; 1.012 on May 17, 2004

DATE BOTTLED: 5-28-04
END SPECIFIC GRAVITY: 1.011

COMMENTS: BREWING PROCESS WENT VERY WELL. INITIAL TASTING PRIOR TO ADDING
YEAST LEFT SLIGHTLY SWEET MALT FLAVOR WITH INITIAL LEMON TASTE AND AROMA,
FOLLOWED BY GINGER “BITE” IN THE FINISH. HOP TASTE IS PRESENT, BUT NOT
PROMINENT. MY EXPECTATION IS THAT THE BEER WILL BECOME MUCH DRYER AS THE
FERMENTATION PROCEEDS. WE COOLED THE WORT IN THE BREW KETTLE BY IMMERSION IN
AN ICE BATH… THIS BROUGHT THE TEMP DOWN A BIT SO THAT ONCE WE SPARGED WITH
NEAR FROZEN AERATED WATER THE TEMP WAS 80 DEGREES AND THE YEAST COULD BE
IMMEDIATELY PITCHED. SPECIFIC GRAVITY HAS GONE DOWN TO 1.021 ON MAY 10TH,
TASTED, QUITE DRY, PRONOUNCED CITRUS FLAVOR FROM LEMON ZEST… MIGHT BE TOO
STRONG, MUST WAIT TO SEE IF MELLOWS DURING FERMENT. TASTING ON MAY 17TH
INDICATED THAT THE LEMON ZEST HAD MELLOWED SOMEWHAT, BUT STILL PRONOUNCED,
AS IS THE GINGER. MY IMPRESSION AT THIS POINT IS THAT THE AMOUNT OF BOTH
COULD BE REDUCED CLOSER TO LAST YEARS EFFORT. BOTTLING WAS WITHOUT INCIDENT.
TASTING AT THAT TIME INDICATED A CLEAN CITRUS/SPICE FLAVOR. FIRST BOTTLE WAS
OPENED ON 6-16-04, WITH GOOD CLARITY AND CARBONATION. EXCELLENT TASTE, BUT A
BIT MORE LEMON THAN I WAS TRYING FOR.

FLAVOR PROFILE: 50 POINT SCALE

a: HEAD RETENTION AND APPEARANCE: 1-6 PTS 6
COLOR (2)
CLARITY (2)
HEAD RETENTION (2)

b: AROMA AND BOUQUET: (ACCORDING TO STYLE) 1-10 PTS 10
MALT (3)
HOPS (3)
OTHER FERMENTATION CHARACTERISTICS (4)

c: FLAVOR: (ACCORDING TO STYLE) 1-19 PTS 17
MALT (4)
HOPS (4)
BALANCE (5)
CONDITIONING/CARBONATION (3)
AFTERTASTE (3)

d: BODY (ACCORDING TO STYLE) 1-5 PTS 5

e: OVERALL IMPRESSION & DRINKABILITY: 1-10 PTS 8

TOTAL POINTS: 46
(scale: excellent 40-50; very good 30-39; good 25-29;
somewhat drinkable 20-24)--

[DragonTail]

I have a recipe that I made up that has scored fairly well at the
contests that I have entered it in over the past few years. Every year
I tweak it, based on what I think it would need after tasting the first
few bottles, and comments that the judges have made on my score sheets.

Here is the last years version:

2.5# Honey
3# Light DME
1# cane sugar (I think I may change this to light DME or LME)
1 oz Willamette pellets (2 min.)
2 lemons
40 oz Fresh ginger root, grated (YES 2.5#)
WYeast 1056 American Ale/Chico

Total Boil 60 minutes
Add 3/4 of the ginger, all the lemon juice and rinds (minus zest), and
3/4 of the honey at 30 minutes in.
Add rest of ginger, honey, and lemon zest 50 minutes in.
Hops for the last 2 minutes.

Primary 1 week
Secondary 1 week
Bottle with 3/4 cup corn sugar
Condition 2 weeks
Chill and enjoy

I know this sounds like a lot of ginger, we (the group) have gotten into
discussions about this over the years, but it doesn't turn out as "hot"
as you would think. This is a very refreshing summer beer.

Cheers,

--
Michael Herrenbruck
Herrenbruck Brewery

[Scott S.]

BEFORE brewing "LAST YEARS VERSION" (see below) contai9ning 40 ounces of
fresh giner...

PLEASE, explanation/comments on the very large amount of fresh ginger?

"DragonTail" <" DragonTail281"@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:45ce32c1$0$18901$4c36...@roadrunner.com...

[DragonTail]

I made a mistake, this is actually the original recipe. The most
current version has 3# of honey, 1# CaraPils (steep), 1/2# light DME,
1oz Cascade pellets (60 min), and the original 3# of DME is changed to
LME. Everything else remained the same. The ginger content has always
been the same. I don't remember why I used that much the first time I
made this beer. I got the idea from combining aspects from a few
different recipes that I found. The first batch turned out pretty good.
It had good ginger flavor and some heat, just not a lot of malt. I
decided to enter it into a contest, it scored ~35 points, and the judges
notes suggested the same thing as I thought, more malt. The most recent
batch scored ~38 points and just missed a medal by 1 point. It still
needs some more malt, judges thought so also, that's why I think I will
change the sugar to extract. You could reduce the ginger and just add
it later in the boil or even add to the secondary. I always have fresh
ginger on hand for cooking and such, so it's not a big deal for me to
buy that much at a time. It also helps in the bittering.

[changey]

If you're looking for something incredibly simple, I just kegged this
recipe this week, and it is delicious. Many compliments from many
pros, including the brewers and the lab guy at the brewery I work at.

6 pounds extra-light DME
2 oz Tettnang
4 oz fresh ginger, chopped in food processor
Old English Ale yeast

60 min boil
1 oz Tett at start of boil
.5 oz Tett at 30 mins
.5 oz Tett at 10 mins
4 oz ginger at 10 mins

10 days primary
2 weeks secondary
force carbonate.

Easy and delicious, especially with sushi.