# Ginger Lime



## Duster (Apr 15, 2012)

Ok Guys and Gals, I have been thinking for a couple of months now on how to come up with a good summertime wine, kinda like Skeeter Pee but something a little different. I think I have a recipe worth a try. I am looking for someone smarter than me to look the recipe over and let me know what i should do to improve it.
I am thinking of starting it next weekend and maybe, just maybe pull a couple of samples out for our Labor Day camping trip.
here it is.

*Ginger Lime Wine*
Makes 3 gallons

• 12 pts (1.5 gal) 100% white grape juice.
• 11 pts. (5.5 quarts) Water 
• 2 lb chopped or minced golden raisins.
• 3 lb ginger root
• 24 Fresh Limes
• 3 lbs (6 3/4 cups) granulated sugar
• 1 tsp acid blend
• 3 tsp yeast nutrient
• 1.5 tsp. Yeast Energizer
• 1.5 tsp. Pectic Enzyme
• 3 Campden tablets (crushed)
• 1 pkt wine yeast

Day 1
Zest limes, put Zest in a straining bag. 
Chop the Raisins and place in a bowl 
chop the ginger and place in bag with the lime zest.
Juice the limes and mix the juice with the raisins, cover and set aside for about an hour.
heat water to just under boil (150*F - 200F*) 
Pour Raisins and lime juice through the straining bag, allowing the lime juice to run through into the primary.
Place lime Zest, ginger, and raisins into the heated water and let steep for one hour. 
Remove the straining bag from the water and place it in primary with the lime juice.
Bring stock pot to a low boil and stir in sugar, maintain heat until sugar is fully dissolved. 
Remove from heat and poor into primary over straining bag. 
Add the grape juice to the primary.
cover wine must and let cool.
Add acid blend (more or less depending on levels 0.70 to 0.75), Pectic Enzyme, Yeast Energizer and Yeast nutrient to primary, stir well to dissolve.
Cover primary and set the must aside for 24 hours to allow the Pectic Enzyme to work.

Day 2
Check S.G. (1.085 - 1.095) Adjust as necessary. 
add Campden tablets

Day 3
Make Yeast Starter by putting 1 cup of must in a quart jar with 2 cups of warm water, add yeats, cover and set aside for 24 hours.

Beginning on Day 4
Add Yeast starter to primary,
Stir twice daily until specific gravity drops to 1.010.
Remove nylon straining bag (to collect solids) and squeeze bag to extract all juice.
Discard solids, transfer to secondary and fit airlock.
Ferment to absolute dryness
Stabilize
Add one pack of lime cool-aid for color and back sweeten to taste.
bulk age, then bottle. 

I am planning on keging and force carbonation.


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## Julie (Apr 15, 2012)

Duster, this sounds real interesting, you need to keep us informed. Here is my thoughts:

Grape juice is good but you can also use 9 cans of Welch's frozen concentrate, after you add the grape juice or frozen concentrate add the water to almost the 3 gallon level, just remember you will need to add sugar, now take a hydrometer reading and add enough sugar to get you to 1.080. I am not thinking you will need a 8 pounds, actually i am not thinking you will need anywhere near that much, that is why I say do a reading first. Also, check the acid first and then add what is needed to bring the acid to around .70 - .75%, since you are using grape juice I don't think there is a need for tannin. And I would use Lavlin 1122 but then again I am partial to lavlin yeasts.

And when it came time to backsweeten I would use a couple cans of Welch's frozen concentrate


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## Duster (Apr 15, 2012)

as always, thanks for the input Julie.
Sugar and acid are easy enough to test, but is there a way for one to test for tannin levels? I kinda doubt it since this is more personal taste than anything, but hey, I had to ask.


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## WVMountaineerJack (Apr 15, 2012)

Hi Duster, do you want to taste the ginger? 3 oz in 3 gallons, you are not going to taste it. If you want some real ginger zing you have to up the amount, you can go to a pound/gallon, we have done 2 pounds/gallon but that is for mostly cooking asian style, but if you want some real ginger bite you got to up the ginger, most people are afraid of real intense flavors, but why bother just putting in a little and having it taste like sprite, chunk in a bunch of ginger and everyone will remember drinking it  Why not just zest the limes and skip the part where you are adding a bunch of bitter stuff from the pith under the zest? Your white grape juice probably wont have much tannin but this isnt really the kind of wine you add a bunch of tannin to. Cracked


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## roblloyd (Apr 15, 2012)

I also think you will need a lot more ginger if you want that to be a dominant flavor profile. Otherwise it will be lime with a hint of ginger. If you have a decent juicer you can juice the ginger. You could also boil the ginger with some water and sugar (assuming you'd want to add sugar). I do both (juice) and boil w/ sugar for making ginger beer.


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## Duster (Apr 16, 2012)

thanks for the input all, I have edited the recipe above.
Another other suggestions?
Work in progress, gotta love it.
dose anyone know a cheap place to by bulk ginger?


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## pjd (Apr 16, 2012)

Please let us all know how this progresses, I like it!


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## WVMountaineerJack (Apr 16, 2012)

Duster, you can get such a better ginger taste with a pound/gallon instead of a pound in 3 gallons, I wouldnt even try with that little bit of ginger  our stronger ones are great at Christmas when people are making punch, we dump in a bottle or two of our ginger for cooking and it brightens up the whole punch and makes it all so much better than just adding ginger ale!!
Find a good chinese or korean ethnic grocery store, our korean store has THICK HEAVY roots, not the little dried out ones you find in the typical supermarket. Get it and freeze it before you juice it, makes it easier to chop. We have put ours in a blender, chopped them by hand, I like Robs idea of a juicer, how does that work for you Rob, do the fibers cause any problems? 
I see your avatar holding a big old salmon? Some ginger wine sprinkled on fish before steaming or grilling is awesome.
I have not made it in a couple of years since we make it in 5 gallon batches, my last batch I added elderberries to make it red and called it sacred red ginger medicinal wine, all who drank it certainly felt its effects that night. Good Luck, after you screw up this batch not putting in enough ginger you can then make a good one with a lot more ginger 
Crackedcork


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## Duster (Apr 17, 2012)

Who, Calm down Cracked. I wanted opinions and help, that's why I asked. The only reason I didn't do 3 pounds of ginger was cost. 2.99 for a 2 oz root at my local grocery or 24 bucks a pound. I haven't shopped around but I hope to find it cheaper somewhere else. 
If you feel this strongly about it I will adjust the recipe. I was hoping to start a batch this weekend , but first I gotta find a better place for ginger.


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## bob1 (Apr 17, 2012)

I have lemon and ginger on now. 2 oz per gallon is fine. Maybe to strong for me.


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## Stefani (Apr 17, 2012)

@ Duster,

After posting a recipe, there was someone on this board that recommended that my Medium Body Apple would be too week. After of 6 months of bulk aging everyone who has tasted it says it's good wine. Don't worry about it too much. It may be great. 

And if it doesn't turn out as strong as you like or the taste isn't the best... You can always mix it with other wines.


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## roblloyd (Apr 17, 2012)

$3 for 2oz? That seems really high. I'll check what it is here but I thought it was about $3/lb.
The juicer works really well for the ginger but I have to stop every batch or two and clean it out. So yes the fibers clog up the screen. I keep the leftover pulp and boil that with sugar water to make a nice ginger syrup. The fresh ginger juice is great for ginger beer (non-alcoholic). If anyone wants the recipe I have it saved here somewhere.


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## Duster (Apr 17, 2012)

after a little research, I found it on Amazon for 2.59 for 14 oz plus 5 bucks shipping makes a grand total of 14 bucks for 42 oz. That's a bit more reasonable and should be enough to taste I would think.

Cracked, Please don't take this the wrong way but I have a dumb question, you are shredding it or as mentioned earlier juicing it rather that just throwing in whole root, right? 

I have not worked with ginger much but I assumed it had a strong flavor and did not want to overpower the wine. I do like ginger ale and would be shooting for that level of intensity


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## roblloyd (Apr 17, 2012)

My local grocery store chain is $3.50/lb so your amazon find looks good. Actually better with gas being over $4.
I think juicing it will give your the strongest flavor. Putting in cubes/chunks would be less. So many options.


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## WVMountaineerJack (Apr 19, 2012)

Duster, we slice ours, get some water boiling, dump them in, let simmer 15-20 min, turn off the heat, dump in most of the sugar, let it cool overnight, add everything else. I would add your zest after the heat was turned off. You are not trying to pasturize the mix but want to get all the ginger flavor out. But, next time, if I get a juicer I would do it that way and just get the pure unheated juice out. Do you know how to use KMeta to kill unwanted bugs in your must? Maybe you want to go to 4 ounces/gall, a pound might kill people in your part of the country with all that heat and taste  CC


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## joeswine (Apr 19, 2012)

*Lime and ginger combo*

I LIKE THE ADVENTUROUS SPIRIT,please let me know how you turn out,I like the idea however being a decent Asian cook ,ginger is and can be very potent and acidic spice to work with,my format would be a basic white wine,extract of lime this would balance out the abv,and you can control flavor,to the proportion of wine made,then grade the ginger with a zestier grader at least 3to 4 big knuckles.....will return..back,its easier to add then it is to subtract,adding the ginger directly into the wine may not be effective,I would also make a extract of that with vodka instead and allow that to do the work for you ,it will not only be balanced it will be smooth,using the vodka will allow you to lend volume to taste,should actually be a excellent partnership in flavor,just my thoughts.


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## Duster (Apr 21, 2012)

Well I went for it. I have edited the recipe at the beginning of this thread to mirror what I actually did. 

Note To Self: A Cheap food processor will not hold up to ginger root and next time invest in a juicer, hand squeezing 2 dozen limes is for the birds. 

For some reason the limes were much greener in real life than in the pic.


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## Duster (Apr 30, 2012)

I transfered this concoction to the secondary this past weekend. If fermented pretty fast. SG doping from 1.085 to 1.000 in about 3 days.
I can really smell the lime in it now.


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## Boatboy24 (May 1, 2012)

Did you use organic limes without the wax coating? This recipe sounds delicious!


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## joeswine (May 1, 2012)

*Limeade*

Great-looking pics, how's the progress and far, the ingredients in to be right how is your balance . That's the most important ginger can be very rash and harsh to taste. limes the very tart and high in acid unless ,there keylimes then they tend to have a little more sweetness ,. So how is your balance can you tell at this point. I would take this into a different direction anyway but I'm still following the flow .............. interesting and the pics are great!


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## Duster (May 2, 2012)

um, organic limes, um wax coating  where were you about two weeks ago??
so in short no! they were Wal-Mart Mexico limes.

as far as the balance, starting SG was 1.085 TA was 7.4 the PH was 3.2.
the must before the yeast was pitched was flipping awesome! Sweet with the ginger spice at the end followed by the "hint of citrus" lingering around.

I haven't pulled any taste test since then. I am assuming the flavors will change drastically after fermentation and bulk ageing.


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## Duster (May 11, 2012)

stabilized today and added lime drink mix for color.


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## joeswine (May 11, 2012)

*Nice pics*

Now what remains to be seen is how it taste ,nice job corrected if I'm wrong are you making this into a cello or into a wine? Whatever the result nice going, let me know how taste.


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## Duster (May 11, 2012)

She's got allot of clearing to go before a taste test. 
I'm not sure what you are referring to by "Cello" I do plan to keg and carbonate it once it clears.


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## Julie (May 11, 2012)

Duster said:


> She's got allot of clearing to go before a taste test.
> I'm not sure what you are referring to by "Cello" I do plan to keg and carbonate it once it clears.


 
Duster, I think he is talking about lemoncello. Kegging???? now you really have my interest.

Looks pretty good.


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## WVMountaineerJack (May 12, 2012)

Duster, you dont sneak a little taste in while you are racking? After that clears up I think you might end up with a pretty green color like you were aiming for. Good luck, Cracked



Duster said:


> She's got allot of clearing to go before a taste test.
> I'm not sure what you are referring to by "Cello" I do plan to keg and carbonate it once it clears.


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## joeswine (May 12, 2012)

*a little taste will do you*

 you need to taste a little to se what its like at this stage in its life,to tart ,to sweet,not enough of this or that ,or too much alcohol,come on just a taste? to cello some or not to cello?


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## Duster (Jun 2, 2012)

it is clearing nicely, My wife and I think we should call it pond scum. The green color does not show up in the pic but it has a nice lime green hue to it.


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## g8keeper (Jun 2, 2012)

Duster said:


> it is clearing nicely, My wife and I think we should call it pond scum. The green color does not show up in the pic but it has a nice lime green hue to it.


 

lol...damn....i gotta admit, i really am getting a little jealous at the quality of the labels everyone is producing....i have made my own, and still do, but wow....you guys all really have been doing a nice job....i am envious at the creativity....nice job, duster...


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## Duster (Aug 16, 2012)

I pulled a sample last night. 
I must say, it's gonna need some time 
It may even need a precursor like a couple of rum and cokes and a good chaser. 
only about 12% ABV but the ginger seems to really bring out the rocket fuel taste


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## BobF (Aug 16, 2012)

I wanna make a blue wine and call it "Tidy Bowl"


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## Boatboy24 (Aug 16, 2012)

BobF said:


> I wanna make a blue wine and call it "Tidy Bowl"



That's great! Look in the Skeeter Pee area for Blue Macaw. I think Danger Dave made it.


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## Duster (Oct 7, 2012)

Ok, the Ginger Lime has set in the bottle for a couple months now so I thought I would see if it is showing signs of improvement?
Not a chance. I ended up dumping the bottle and hope it dose not eat the plumbing under the sink.
I do not recommend this to anyone.


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## Stressbaby (Nov 30, 2013)

Resurrecting an old thread here.
Duster, do you think you overdid it on the ginger? 
I did a ginger-lime wine for our November Wine of the Month club with far less ginger. I don't like a ginger kick in the mouth, I just like a little bit of ginger taste. I used a "gingerized" version of a successful simple lime recipe I've used before, with 1 ounce of sliced, twice-boiled ginger. This is roughly what I've used in other recipes with good results. I also used home grown Persian limes which are bigger than Walmart limes. So far, so good...


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## iVivid (Nov 30, 2013)

I'll be interested also; I've got a ginger wine recipe out of an old book from the 1970's and was thinking about making it.


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## Stressbaby (Dec 1, 2013)

Link to my Lime-ginger recipe:
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f5/november-2013-wine-month-club-42000/#post467949


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## Jericurl (Jan 14, 2014)

I'm wondering if that is what it was as well.

I like ginger as much as the next gal, just a sweet little kiss of it usually. This amount seems like it would punch you in the mouth while trying to grab hold of your tonsils.


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## Duster (Jan 14, 2014)

If I was to ever do it over again I would cut the ginger way back and try to locate some limes without any wax coating on them.


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## SHawkes (Dec 30, 2020)

I am going to give some Ginger Lime a try with 2lb of ginger and 12 limes for 5 gallons. Has anyone tried this since this thread? I’d love thoughts on whether this seems like a good amount of ginger & lime.


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