Experimental! Strong Ginger Wine

liampenn · Sep 1, 2012

I had 1 kilo of molding ginger donated to me. I couldnt use it up by making ginger beer because I already have 5 gallons of ginger beer on the go! So I thought 'feck' it! Why not experiment! I rather fancied making a strong ginger wine.

Heres my recipe:
-1Kg Ginger
-2Kg Sugar
-200g Raisins
-1 Lemon
-1 Lime
-Yeast
-Yeast nutrient
-4 Liters of water (aprox)

I chopped off the moldy bits of the ginger. Grated it up. Washed the raisins. Boiled up all the ingredients including the lemon and lime juice for 15 minutes. Added 1kg of sugar. Waited for it too cool. (At this stage the OG was 1.100) I then pitched the yeast and yeast nutrient. Going to let it ferment out for a couple of days. Then add half of the remaining sugar (500g). Allow to ferment for a couple more days. Then add the last 500g of sugar! Fit airlock and leave to mature for another couple years or so! See what it turns out like!

I have staggered the amount of sugar im feeding the yeast, because I don't want them to die. Im looking for it to ferment out anywhere between 16% and 20%. I know that's hopeful especially because im using 'young's super wine yeast'. :lol:

Anyone got any last minute suggestions for me to add into the mix. I feel my recipe is lacking something? Hahh :hmm: :lol:

Thanks,
Liam!

wilsoa1111 · Sep 2, 2012

sounds like u have it covered on the sugar department-u could also sub some darker sugars in i find this works very well with ginger recipes-ALSO did u use any campden tablets i find these are vital in wines which lacking the hops in beers tend to go badly pre or post ferment without-if didnt can probably get away with adding 2 tablets(crushed) when fermentation is complete-not during or it really slows the yeast-can get away with before as after 24hrs most leaves the must in air or gets to wrk on other stuff-u may also want to consider potassium sorbate-probs dont need at this abv and it defo flavours some wines

RobWalker · Sep 2, 2012

Sounds good. I'm sure you can buy ginger wine in shops so hope it goes well. Have you thought about adding tannin for a bit of bite, or will that come with the raisins?

I would be tempted to sweeten it a little if the yeast drops out and dies, strong ginger could be harsh but sweet ginger is lovely imo :)

Proper English Brew · Sep 2, 2012

Yum, sounds really nice would love to try this.
Keep me posted on how it goes. :ugeek:

liampenn · Sep 4, 2012

(The og was 1.100.)
After two days in the bucket the gravity is 1.000.
So using the calculator it should already be about 13.3% (not using temperature correction)?
I have added another 500g of sugar. Which made it up to 1.500.

I really cannot wait although it tastes like fire at the moment! It will have to be served as a shot! :lol:

liampenn · Sep 14, 2012

liampenn said:
(The og was 1.100.)
After two days in the bucket the gravity is 1.000.
So using the calculator it should already be about 13.3% (not using temperature correction)?
I have added another 500g of sugar. Which made it up to 1.500.

Its been 10 days since I last added any sugar, still loads of activity!
The Gravity is now 0.995.
So using the calculator it should have made 7.3% more alcohol?
The total abv should be 20.6% already!?! (not adjusted for temperature correction)
And that's only 1.5 kg of sugar!?

I added 500g more sugar which made it back up to 1.045
It taste's good already! :drink:
Im pretty sure the yeast will die out now, its only youngs super wine yeast?

Is the calculator accurate? I cant believe Its that strong?
Anyone share any light on this?
Liam

Bogwitch · Feb 8, 2013

Resurrecting an oldish thread....

I'd be very interested in how this is progressing. I had considered a ginger beer but I am somewhat space constrained and my family seem to produce more wine bottles than beer bottles so, ginger wine is my best option.

I've got Young's active dried yeast so I'm guessing it'll give up long before the 16-20% you're expecting but I do have 2 brew shops within easy travelling distance so I guess a short drive may be in order, I'd prefer to get a higher alcohol content if I can!

[update]

Picked up some GV4(26) yeast which apparently is good up to 21%

Another question - you started with 1kg of ginger but cut off the mouldy bits - how much ginger did you end up using? Did you dump it all in the fermenter or did you filter the lumps out?

liampenn · Aug 26, 2013

Extremely sorry for not replying. I took a year out of my home brewing. Im back at it again!

I WILL post an update shortly on this!

Liam

Boatbrewer · Aug 31, 2013

Would be interested to hear how this turned out.

I did a similar resipe but it suffered from the heat wave back in July and the fermentation stopped and I couldnt get it going again. Will be trying again soon.

liampenn · Sep 9, 2013

Bogwitch said:
Resurrecting an oldish thread....

I'd be very interested in how this is progressing. I had considered a ginger beer but I am somewhat space constrained and my family seem to produce more wine bottles than beer bottles so, ginger wine is my best option.

I've got Young's active dried yeast so I'm guessing it'll give up long before the 16-20% you're expecting but I do have 2 brew shops within easy travelling distance so I guess a short drive may be in order, I'd prefer to get a higher alcohol content if I can!

[update]

Picked up some GV4(26) yeast which apparently is good up to 21%

Another question - you started with 1kg of ginger but cut off the mouldy bits - how much ginger did you end up using? Did you dump it all in the fermenter or did you filter the lumps out?

I used the cheapest yeast I could find. Which was young's. Im not entirely sure how much ginger I ended up with after cutting the mold out. I left it in the fermenter with the grated ginger for about 2 weeks (If I remember correctly). Then I filtered it out and put it under an airlock.

I will be racking the wine in the next week where I shall test the final gravity. I will let you all know how it goes!
Im pretty sure its going to need some sweetener too. Its going to be a potent mix!
:electric:

liampenn · Nov 18, 2013

I'm going to be opening up the demijohn and testing its gravity and possibly adding more sugar.

liampenn · Nov 18, 2013

WOOOOOAHHHHHHHH
Just take a sample of the gravity, which was 1.02.
This meant that since I last put sugar in there had been a change amounting to aprx 3.3% more sugar.

I then tasted it! It tasted amazing.
From the last fermentation not all the sugar has been eaten and the yeast has died.
Thus resulting it being perfectly sweetened!

So over the 3 stages:
At the first stage I calculated that 13.3% alcohol had been produced
At the second stage another 7.3% more alchohol had been produced
At the third and final stage another 3.3% more alchohol ontop had been produced.

Totaling in a whooping 23.9% approximately!

I'm still completely amazed and can not believe how good it tastes!!! Wow

Sgreen · Jun 4, 2016

Thanks to the OP for posting this recipe and progress. Its inspired me to get into this whole brewing lark.
I have basically copied the original recipe but on a 25 ltr scale.
The only real difference is that i didnt grate the ginger (about 4kg) but rough chopped it without removing the skin. May regret that but will see how this turns out.
Smells gingery!
Started at 1.094 SG
Its now bubbling away merrily in the mini celler at 18.5degC.

Sgreen · Jun 21, 2016

Ok so its now 17 days after starting. I have added some more syrup, so in total sg was 1.134 then later racked and strained. Fermentation slowed significatly after straining but is still going slowly after racking again to demijohns (1.012 est 16%). I have added capden tablets to 2 of my 4 dj's as an experiment.
Now im going to give it a few months and see what happens.

Sgreen · Jun 21, 2016

Duplicate post

Tau · Jun 23, 2016

Bought a kilo of root ginger, but after reading recipes in three books a kilo seems very excessive for a gallon. Any ideas?

Sgreen · Jun 24, 2016

Seems about right from my tasting... Though im no expert and haven't got to a final product yet.
Not sure if you can be too gingery!

Sgreen · Jun 30, 2016

Bit of an update the 2 djs with the capden tabs is starting to clear. The others are still gently fizzing. Had a sample of one of the still fermenting ones and i have to say its not great... Its got quite a strong chemically aftertaste.
Not sure if i have put in too mich ginger or if there is something from the skin thats reacting, could just be too much alchohol in a young wine.

Is it typical for a young wine to taste like this?

Will it even out?

Sgreen · Jul 26, 2016

Ok so its a few weeks since i kast tasted it and the chemical taste has now subsided considerably. The wine still hasnt cleared and has a little fizz too. Like a frascati.
So going to keep it aging in the djs till it clears then bottle it up.

Personal91 · Jul 27, 2016

Sgreen said:
Ok so its a few weeks since i kast tasted it and the chemical taste has now subsided considerably. The wine still hasnt cleared and has a little fizz too. Like a frascati.
So going to keep it aging in the djs till it clears then bottle it up.

what about the demijohns with campden tablets tho ? how did they taste ?

Experimental! Strong Ginger Wine

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