Ginger beer. Any body had a go?

IainM said:

Yeah, I did one with cayenne and dried Curacao orange peel. It finished very dry, and needed a splash of lemonade in the glass, but otherwise it was very nice.

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Callumbo said:

Well I've done some reading about this. And going dry is a perticular problem with ginger beer.

So I've checked out how to counter this. Lactose sugar or stevia are non fermentable sugars so when I prime I'm going to add one of them in to sweeten it up a touch.

So hopefully it won't be to dry. Fingers crossed

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IainM said:

Stevia would work, but I don't think lactose would cut it. It is only a sixth as sweet as sugar, so to get the same sweetness as one teaspoon of sugar per bottle, you would need two tablespoons of lactose, which would probably make it too thick.

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RexBanner said:

I used wilko gervin yeast instead of champaign though (dodn't want ricket fuel),what about you?

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RexBanner said:

Started one on sunday gone and still in the FV. The thread I followed was from this forum. I used wilko gervin yeast instead of champaign though (dodn't want ricket fuel),what about you?

Below is the ingrediants i used

1.6kg of ginger, blitzed
2kg of normal table sugar
500g of soft brown sugar
2 lemons 2 limes and 2 oranges sliced
And 15g of cream of tartar

At the minute its sitting and fermenting on the pulp and sliced fruit. Airlock was going like the clappers on tuesday but died down a bit now.

With sweetening i hear that 40 of them sweetner tabs you put intontea, along with the priming sugar helps.
Dont know though as this is all an experiment for me.

What methods are you using?

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Callumbo said:

I used the gervin yeast as well. Thought that for a first go I would go with what I know works for beer.

As for sweetening, I'm still undecided but I think I'm going to get the stevia sweetener powder and chuck it in when I prime. As for how much I'm not sure, I think I'll just keep adding and tasting it till it's roughly alright.

It's a bit of a guessing game but an exciting one

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Callumbo said:

.........

As for how much I'm not sure, I think I'll just keep adding and tasting it till it's roughly alright.

It's a bit of a guessing game but an exciting one

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RexBanner said:

Little update. Just got in and day 6 in the primary FV and bubbles are going mad again! So it appears the gervins a decent choice. Also opened the lid and had a whiff. Smwlls errr gingery.

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Dutto said:

I use a lot of ginger in cooking and I find it to be one of the hardest flavours to "taste and decide" when it comes to how "gingery" it is and/or how sweet it is.

I recommend that after adding the sweetener "to taste" you let it (and your taste buds) rest for an hour and then have a final taste before bottling. :thumb:

Alternatively, you could get a second opinion from someone in the family. :thumb:

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Callumbo said:

Cheers Dutto. You make a good point. I think that may be best rather than ruining 20pints. I was thinking of adding a teaspoon per bottle. I figured that I add a teaspoon to my tea and the ginger will be more bitter than that. But I'll take your suggestion and give an hour between adding sugar. I suppose it's better to underestimate than over estimate, worse comes to worst I can add some each time I pour a glass but fingers crossed it a won't come to that.

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Dutto said:

I hope that by the word "sugar" you actually mean a non-fermentable "sweetener". :thumb:

(I'm thinking of my Mum's "bottle bombs" that kept us out of the pantry for nearly a week!)

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