Ginger Beer

"PieOPah" wrote in news:d5r0ep$ihe$ snipped-for-privacy@nwrdmz03.dmz.ncs.ea.ibs-infra.bt.com:

I bought a can of extract the other day for this, it says to make non-alcoholic you don't add sugar, I think this produces a very low alcohol rather than none though. It'll be down to your discretion if that's too much for your kids.

As for carbonation, I'd do it the usual way and accept the bit of alcohol that results. I did a bit of trawling around for recipes and I've seen a few that recomend bottling very quickly so the primary fermentation runs in the bottle and carbonates. That strikes me as a bit dangerous, you'd want to make sure you've worked out how much more fermentation will happen with that method.

I've just gone and found the can, it says for non-alcoholic:

add 4L of hot water, can and 150g of raw sugar, disolve

top up to 23L

when it's 35C or below vigorously stir in yeast and nutrient

seal and leave for 2 to 3 hours then bottle

stir gently before bottling, do not add sugar to bottles, store for a minimum of 3 weeks before drinking

For alcoholic it's more or less a normal ferment, 1kg of raw sugar, 1 week in the fermenter, primed bottles.

Now that I've read the instruction the non-alcoholic method sounds a bit safer, you know how much fermentable material will be in there, the 2-3hrs will just be to let the yeast breed a bit. I wonder about their 35C maximum, sounds a bit high.

peter

Thanks for that info.

From some of the recipes I've seen online it is basically water, sugar, yeast and root ginger. If I was to make this alcoholic, I would basically make in the same way as I would normal beer? Do I need a kit or would I be good making it from scratch using these ingredients?

I guess that the less sugar you put in, the less alcoholic? How about the amount of yeast?

Hi Simon

When I was very young (a long time ago in a Galaxy....etc.) we used to make very nice ginger beer from a ginger beer plant. I no longer have the recipe but the following, found on the WWW, looks identical:-

---------------------------------------------------------------------- Equipment and Ingredients

Equipment A jar and lid, which is big enough to contain the plant. One pint-sized measuring jug Several clean and dry two-litre plastic bottles. Teaspoons A large pan A muslin cloth for straining the plant

Ingredients Dried (powdered) ginger Dried brewers yeast Sugar Juice of four lemons Water

Making the Plant The plant is a mixture of dried ginger, yeast, sugar and water. This creates a yeast culture.

In the jar, place one teaspoon of dried yeast, two teaspoons of dried ginger, four teaspoons of sugar and a (UK size) pint of cold water.

Stir and keep at room temperature.

Feed the plant every day with two teaspoons of dried ginger and four teaspoons of sugar. Stir after feeding.

The plant will be ready after one week.

Making the Ginger Beer Place 1kg (2lb) of sugar and two pints of boiling water in the large pan. The sugar will dissolve.

Add the juice of the four lemons to the pan.

Strain the contents of the jar - the plant - through the cloth into the pan. See below for what is to be done with the solid portion of the plant.

Add 14 pints of room temperature water.

Stir and bottle. Fill the bottles about seven-eighths full as you need to allow for expansion. Squeeze the air out of the bottles to stop them exploding under pressure from their contents.

Store the bottles in a safe place at room temperature, and leave for three to four weeks to 'brew'.

You can divide The "plant" sediment left on the muslin into two parts. Put each part into a clean jar with a cupful of cold water. The plants are then ready to be fed again. Give one to a friend.

--------------------------------------------------------------------- A few points:-

This is a UK recipe so pints mean UK sized pints; i.e. larger than US pints.

I was probably pre-teenage when I used to make this (under parental supervision) and as far as I am aware it is non-alcoholic (or very low). Certainly everybody regarded it as being fit for children to drink - and they can do most of the work (certainly the daily feeding) themselves.

I seem to remember the bottles having a tendency to explode - but that could have been my own fault. We also used to use glass bottles with a screw top in those days.

As you can see from the recipe, you end up with lots of ginger beer plus 2 more plants, so you could end up being inundated with the stuff.

Regards

KGB

This sounds exactly what I am after. Many thanks :D

Yup, did the same.

Like all good fermented things, it improves immensely with age. Patience is well rewarded if it can be left to mature for a few months.

Mike

"Mike" wrote in news:4290f50b$ snipped-for-privacy@clear.net.nz:

I made up a kit ginger beer out of a can. (what's the proper way to say that, is that extract brewing?) Anyway, I bottled it yesterday after 10ish days in the fermenter. The point of the story is that I kept 2L aside and just put it in the fridge and had a couple of glasses last night, quite tasty. I'll let the rest age and carbonate a bit though. I was just keen.

peter

I am still feeding my plant but am due to bottle tomorrow evening. I have cut down on quantites since I don't have quite so many PET bottles. Will be getting more for next time (providing this is successfull)

Rather than starting the plant off again straight away, what would be the best way of storing? Can it be frozen or could it survive just left in the fridge?

shred about 6 ounces of fresh ginger root boil about 2 hours in a big stock pot with about 2 gallons of water in it

non sugar well this gets tougher if you want lower than low alcohol corn sugars are probably the best bet. dextrose is not so sweet either

process it at 10 degrees below boiling

if sunlight is ever seen by your batch, it will go skunk on you. neon is not your friend either.

your favorite beer supply shop has special low grade yeast sachets. well making your own ginger ALE is actually an art. low temperatures are always preferred. if the kids start bouncing against the wall, then ya just happen to be a lucky guy.

since you will devise your own concept look to google and get a recipe simple easy but ya got the basics

Can yo please re-post the link or email me it to me. Thanks!

/tg

Hi Simon

When I was very young (a long time ago in a Galaxy....etc.) we used to make very nice ginger beer from a ginger beer plant. I no longer have the recipe but the following, found on the WWW, looks identical:-

---------------------------------------------------------------------- Equipment and Ingredients

Equipment A jar and lid, which is big enough to contain the plant. One pint-sized measuring jug Several clean and dry two-litre plastic bottles. Teaspoons A large pan A muslin cloth for straining the plant

Ingredients Dried (powdered) ginger Dried brewers yeast Sugar Juice of four lemons Water

Making the Plant The plant is a mixture of dried ginger, yeast, sugar and water. This creates a yeast culture.

In the jar, place one teaspoon of dried yeast, two teaspoons of dried ginger, four teaspoons of sugar and a (UK size) pint of cold water.

Stir and keep at room temperature.

Feed the plant every day with two teaspoons of dried ginger and four teaspoons of sugar. Stir after feeding.

The plant will be ready after one week.

Making the Ginger Beer Place 1kg (2lb) of sugar and two pints of boiling water in the large pan. The sugar will dissolve.

Add the juice of the four lemons to the pan.

Strain the contents of the jar - the plant - through the cloth into the pan. See below for what is to be done with the solid portion of the plant.

Add 14 pints of room temperature water.

Stir and bottle. Fill the bottles about seven-eighths full as you need to allow for expansion. Squeeze the air out of the bottles to stop them exploding under pressure from their contents.

Store the bottles in a safe place at room temperature, and leave for three to four weeks to 'brew'.

You can divide The "plant" sediment left on the muslin into two parts. Put each part into a clean jar with a cupful of cold water. The plants are then ready to be fed again. Give one to a friend.

--------------------------------------------------------------------- A few points:-

This is a UK recipe so pints mean UK sized pints; i.e. larger than US pints.

I was probably pre-teenage when I used to make this (under parental supervision) and as far as I am aware it is non-alcoholic (or very low). Certainly everybody regarded it as being fit for children to drink - and they can do most of the work (certainly the daily feeding) themselves.

I seem to remember the bottles having a tendency to explode - but that could have been my own fault. We also used to use glass bottles with a screw top in those days.

As you can see from the recipe, you end up with lots of ginger beer plus 2 more plants, so you could end up being inundated with the stuff.

Regards

KGB

Hi - new member of the group here I've been playing around with both GB plants and recipes for brewing with fresh ginger. I googled for the recipe, but can't find the original URL - I can post the recipe if anyone's interested. I found using fresh ginger (250 gms for a nominal gallon of water)with lager yeast produced a much fresher taste than the ginger plant method. At the moment I'm only doing gallon quantities and bottling in redundant plastic mineral water bottles (easy to prevent explosions). however, it doesn't get much chance to mature....Now I'm wondering whether to go to 5 gallon quantities.

quantities.

Sounds like you made need to go to 5 gal or brew like crazy @ 1 gal to build up a buffer to give it time to mature a little. Once you do, you'll wonder how to ever drank it green.

A little lemon juice in the recipie works well.

Mike