home made ginger beer my way ...

as i said home made ginger ale my way...
well sort of my way i got the recipe on here...

i just tweaked it a bit.... :thumb:

ok so i thought i would have a go at making a home made ginger beer ...

heres what i used ...

EDIT


1.1kg of ginger root...£2.42p
2 full caps of schwartz ground ginger...£1.09p
2 sachets of dr.oetker cream of tartar...£0.78p
2 big lemons...£0.54p
2 limes...£0.60p
6 level teaspoons of youngs super wine yeast compound...£2.39p
2.5kg of white sugar... £2.55p...
2 tubs of asda granulated sweetner £1 each...
1 muslin cloth 50p

TOTAL..£10.48P FOR 40 PINTS ...

EQUATES TO JUST UNDER 27P PER PINT.. :drink:

and heres what i did.. :thumb:

ok i peeled the ginger root and chuched the peelings away then greated the ginger root in to my pot...
i then zested 2 lemons and 2 limes and put thae zest in the pot ...
then squeezed the lemons and limes on top of the zest..
i then sliced them all and put them in as well...
i then added the 2 full caps of ground ginger and both sachets of cream of tartar...
on top of this i added 3 pints of boiling water then simered it for 30 mins ...
after 30 mins i added the 2.5kg of white sugar ...
when this was all disolved i topped it up to 23ltrs with cold water ...
it was way to hot to pitch my yeast so i put it in a bath full of cold water and stired it untill it was down to 22c
at this stage i took my first hydrometer reading it was 1.050 i must admit i thought it would be higher but no it wasnt...
so then i put the lid on and put in my airlock filled it with vodka...
here we are 10hrs after pitching the yeast and it bubbling very well... :) .
job done... :thumbup: .

heres the pics ...








































i hope you liked the pics ... .

regards mick... :hat: .

I bet it smells lovely too.
:
Geoff

taxidiver said:

I bet it smells lovely too.
:
Geoff

Click to expand...

yes the hole house smells of lemons limes and a hint of ginger ... .

regards mick... :hat: .

Looks great, will be a lovely BBQ drink :

Cononthebarber said:

Looks great, will be a lovely BBQ drink :

Click to expand...

very true bring on the sun .... .

i just hope it turns out ok....

1 i changed the recipe from what it was ment to be ...

2 iv not done one of these before ...

so fingers crossed ... :pray: .

regards mick... :hat: .

I'll be keeping an eye on your progress with this one as I really fancy doing a ginger beer as my next brew.

Hope it turns out well for you.

DaviB35 said:

I'll be keeping an eye on your progress with this one as I really fancy doing a ginger beer as my next brew.

Hope it turns out well for you.

Click to expand...

thanks dave ... : .

its still bubbling very well i can see alot has dropped to the bottom already ...




i feel like opening it and giving it a stir but dont wont to mess things up.. :whistle: .

EDIT

trouble is its now gone hot outside and its 24c in the fv but i have 2 fvs in my bedroom at the moment and 1 pressure barrel but only 1 big bucket to put 1 in to cool it ... :?

it was ok temp wise last night but this morning its gone right up ... .


i went to asda and bought 2 more buckets.. :nono: .

but i can now see why the bnq ones are £4.99..

and asda ones are £3.00...

there not as big and not as think and so not as stable...
but they will do the job...

at least iv now got all 3 brews in buckets cooling ... :thumb: .







.

I thinking of doing a GB very soon, one question " What does the cream of tartar actually do ?"

Cheers

Looks good mick, I've done something close to this recipe twice now, should turn out great. Will probably be pretty dry when it's done, I'd suggest using a non-fermentable sweetner(splenda) before bottling to balance it out a bit. Its a great recipe and as you said dirt cheap!

bob-the-dog said:

I thinking of doing a GB very soon, one question " What does the cream of tartar actually do ?"

Cheers

Click to expand...

sorry bob i have no clue .. :wha: .
i only put it in because it said on a few recipes i looked at ...
that it was much better with it in ..

so not to rock the boat i put it in...

as i said before i havent ever done one of these before ...
so ill have to see what it ends up like...

all i can say about it now is it smelt lush when it was simmering and the Fermentation
is going well.. :thumb: .

regards mick... :hat: .

If you read the full thread on the ginger beer, cream of tartar adds tartiness and also helps lower the ph where bacteria lives. I don't use cream of tartar as I don't want a ginger wine and the tartiness it adds makes me feel like I'm drinking ginger wine.

Also boiling ginger makes it lose taste, blending with a lemon and lime added to a FV gives a stronger taste.

Ever heard of a ginger beer plant? They imparted heavy ginger flavors just using 1 tsp of sliced ginger per day for a week then splitting the plant a making a new batch.

If your not boiling it then check for mold, ginger has a lot of it.

Should re name the thread to ginger beer, I was expecting you to have added dme to this when the thread said ale :-P

gl0ckage said:

If you read the full thread on the ginger beer, cream of tartar adds tartiness and also helps lower the ph where bacteria lives. I don't use cream of tartar as I don't want a ginger wine and the tartiness it adds makes me feel like I'm drinking ginger wine.

Also boiling ginger makes it lose taste, blending with a lemon and lime added to a FV gives a stronger taste.

Ever heard of a ginger beer plant? They imparted heavy ginger flavors just using 1 tsp of sliced ginger per day for a week then splitting the plant a making a new batch.

If your not boiling it then check for mold, ginger has a lot of it.

Should re name the thread to ginger beer, I was expecting you to have added dme to this when the thread said ale :-P

Click to expand...

yes guilty as charged thank you for pointing that out gl0ckage ... :thumb: .

i tend to skim rather than read threads.. :nono: .

i dont no why i put ale instead of beer i suppose im just a bit of a dumbass... ...

iv now changed it to beer thank you :thumb: .

i didnt boil only simmered so id better look out for the mold /thanks again bud... :

as it only said/ topped up with boiling water and simmered for 30mins /thats what i did...

and did not mention mold but im glad you have ... :thumb:

EDIT...
ps ...
if i find mold ...
do i have to chuck the lot down the drain...
or just skim off the mold :? ???


regards mick... :hat: .

Chop the offending part off and use the rest. Update us on how it tastes.

Just put another batch on myself.

cwiseman77 said:

Looks good mick, I've done something close to this recipe twice now, should turn out great. Will probably be pretty dry when it's done, I'd suggest using a non-fermentable sweetner(splenda) before bottling to balance it out a bit. Its a great recipe and as you said dirt cheap!

Click to expand...

ok thanks for that...

i dont mind it dry but not to dry if it is ill use splenda then :thumb: ...

but i do wont alot of ginger taste to come through so im hoping theres enough in there .. :pray: .

was yours very gingery...


regards mick... :hat:

gl0ckage said:

Chop the offending part off and use the rest. Update us on how it tastes.

Just put another batch on myself.

Click to expand...

sorry i thought you ment there might be mold forming in the fv.. .

there was no mold on the ginger...
but even if there had been i peeled it all first and chucked the peelings away ...

as i was told to by a mate that used to brew years ago that the skin gives off a very earthy taste...

ps i have just done a hydrometer test and its now sitting at 1.020...

so i drank the sample and its got a nice lemon pepper taste but not much ginger ...

is this normal and will the ginger come through more as it ferments or should i add more ground ginger powder now ..

good luck with yours :thumb: .


regards mick... :hat: .

It's normal because you simmered or boiled the ginger, add more ginger now about 500g fresh diced and 2 tsp of dried ginger. You doing a 5 gal? If so add 1kg more and 2 tablespoons of dried.

gl0ckage said:

It's normal because you simmered or boiled the ginger, add more ginger now about 500g fresh diced and 2 tsp of dried ginger. You doing a 5 gal? If so add 1kg more and 2 tablespoons of dried.

Click to expand...

thanks bud ill get on it first thing 2moro.. :thumb: .

regards mick.. :hat: .

mick may said:

cwiseman77 said:

Looks good mick, I've done something close to this recipe twice now, should turn out great. Will probably be pretty dry when it's done, I'd suggest using a non-fermentable sweetner(splenda) before bottling to balance it out a bit. Its a great recipe and as you said dirt cheap!

Click to expand...

ok thanks for that...

i dont mind it dry but not to dry if it is ill use splenda then :thumb: ...

but i do wont alot of ginger taste to come through so im hoping theres enough in there .. :pray: .

was yours very gingery...


regards mick... :hat:

Click to expand...

Mine was pretty spicy!!! I used 2kg of fresh ginger, but no ground so not sure how that compares. Mibbie throw some more in to be on the safe side :thumb:

cwiseman77 said:

mick may said:

cwiseman77 said:

Looks good mick, I've done something close to this recipe twice now, should turn out great. Will probably be pretty dry when it's done, I'd suggest using a non-fermentable sweetner(splenda) before bottling to balance it out a bit. Its a great recipe and as you said dirt cheap!

Click to expand...

ok thanks for that...

i dont mind it dry but not to dry if it is ill use splenda then :thumb: ...

but i do wont alot of ginger taste to come through so im hoping theres enough in there .. :pray: .

was yours very gingery...


regards mick... :hat:

Click to expand...

Mine was pretty spicy!!! I used 2kg of fresh ginger, but no ground so not sure how that compares. Mibbie throw some more in to be on the safe side :thumb:

Click to expand...

thanks bud i will .. :thumb: .

gl0ckage told me to add another 1kg of gingerroot and 2 tbls of ginger powder so thats what im going to do...

i have to go to the docs in a bit so will pick up the gingerroot on the way back

then ill get it all ready and put it in asap.. :clap: .

but my next question is...

how long in the first fv and how long i the second...
or do i leave it in the first one then bottle from there ...

if so how long in the fv please ... :


regards mick... :hat: .

First time I left mine for 10 days, then racked it into secondary for another 5. Second time I jsut left in primary for 2 weeks and bottled straight from there, a recipe like this will never clear anyway. Both ways work though so whatever. Don't forget to taste before bottling. If too dry add your splenda to bottling bucket along with priming sugar :thumb: