Ginger Minger

[Easy Peasie]

Hi all
Gonna brew this tomorrow evening
Any comments on this would be greatly recieved been searching the web and there's not much. Hoping for it to go something along the lines of Wychwoods Ginger Beard.
I've gone for low IBU's and no flavour/aroma hops
Beersmith recommends something like 4oz of ginger in a 5 gal brew so this is loads more, but not as much as posted in other threads for a ginger beer - do you think its enough.
Gonna mash about 64-65 degrees to ensure fully ferments out then will add the lactose for residual sweetness.

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS TO PLEASE SWMBO!

Ginger Minger

Fermentable Colour lb: oz Grams Ratio
Pale Malt 5 EBC 12 lbs. 0.6 oz 5460 grams 89.5%
Wheat Malt 3.5 EBC 0 lbs. 15.4 oz 440 grams 7.2%
Crystal Malt 130 EBC 0 lbs. 7.0 oz 200 grams 3.3%
Lactose 0 300 grams

Ginger Root 250g 15 Min Boil
Cinnamon 10g 15 Min Boil
Juice 2 Lemons 15 Min Boil

Ginger Root 350g 7 Days Secondary

Hop Variety Type Alpha Time lb: oz grams Ratio
Cascade Whole 5.7 % 90 mins 0 lbs. 1.0 oz 28 grams 100%


Final Volume: 25 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.055
Final Gravity: 1.013
Alcohol Content: 5.5% ABV

Bitterness: 15 EBU
Colour: 16 EBC

 

[RobWalker]

Lactose is awful and really more of a body enhancer. Dont rely on it for sweetness!

Are you kegging or bottling?

 

[Easy Peasie]

Bottling
Think it should have a fair amount of carbonation

 

[RobWalker]

yeah, you should easily hit good carbonation. If you want it sweeter there are better ways - use a low attenuating yeast for a higher FG, cut back on the hop bitterness as much as possible, I've even had success adding a little tabletop sweetener because in such small amounts and with a complex beer, it's harder to identify. just suggestions, of course, but I added 500g lactose to a brew once and it totally ruined it!

 

[Easy Peasie]

Fair comment Rob.
Will omit the lactose mash a bit higher temp and drop the IBU's to 10.

cheers Andy

 

[dennisdk2000]

I followed a thread on a Danish brew forum regarding the brewing of a particular type of beer (hvidtøl), which - nowadays at least - is very sweet. The conclusion there was to pasteurise the beer, then force carbonate. There was also the mention of a particular type of yeast that is used for sweet beer types. I'd follow the advise to go with a low attenuating yeast and low hopping. Lactose was mentioned too, but the issue of lactose intolerance was brought up.

Dennis

 

[Easy Peasie]

Thanks for that Dennis. I dropped the lactose altogether, dropped the hops to 10 ibu, mashed at 68 degrees c and have used the mauribrew ale yeast which for me never seems to get below 1.020. Tested it yesterday and it was slowing down at 1.018. After tasting it is still missing that ginger kick, so going to add 300g soaked in some rum to the secondary. The rum should do two things 1. Hopefully kill all the nasties & 2. Add some depth of flavour. Hope it doesn't all go down the drain. :pray:

 

[RobWalker]

Easy peasy, one good way is to boil your priming sugar in 1l of water and boil plenty of ginger in with it. I did it with a christmas beer and the flavour was noticable for months, particularly on the nose. Problem with spices is they can mellow out too much, so getting plenty in there post fermentation is a good plan.

 

[Easy Peasie]

Rob
Have added 400g ginger to secondary and was gonna prime with syrup from stem ginger. Tasted it this morning and it was a bit bland. Definitely needs spicing up.