From Nanaimo, B.C., Canada

[Donald]

I'm a fairly experienced wine and beer maker who's never taken part on a forum for that purpose. My main interest in coming to the forum to start with is to find out if anyone has a recipe for Ginger Beer. The alcoholic kind. I'll post my question in the beer making section.

 

[BIGJEFF]

I dont have an answer for you but I wanted to wish you welcome from the other side of the country (Halifax NS)

 

[countrygirl]

welcome! did u check the recipe section? also, finevinewines has a forum and they have recipes, too! let's check 'em...

 

[countrygirl]

welcome! did u check the recipe section? also, finevinewines has a forum and they have recipes, too! let's check 'em...

found this one...

Ginger Beer

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Classification: spiced ale, ginger beer, extract
Source: Jay Hersh ([email protected]) 11/18/88


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This will produce a light beer with a fairly strong ginger character.
Ingredients:
1, True-Brew continental light beer kit
3.3 pounds, Munton & Fison hopped light extract syrup
1 cup, corn sugar
3 ounces, fresh grated ginger root
2 packs, Edme ale yeast

 

[Donald]

Thanks BigJeff for the welcome from the right coast of the country!

And thank you country girl for your effort. This appears to be a recipe that is based on a conventional beer recipe with Ginger added. Not quite what I was looking for but could be very good too. However, at this point I think I will keep on trying to find that elusive recipe that I know is out there somewhere.

I have a hunch that it could easily be found in Jamaica or even in England because this stuff was made in both places years ago. Probably still quite common in Jamaica. Anyway, your effort is helpful. I've also posted a new thread in the beer making section so if you are interested in following the progress of it, go there too in order to read my comments and the comments of others.

Thanks again and I've already noticed that you are a very experienced person in this field so it's nice to have your input.

 

[Dugger]

Welcome to the forum, Donald, from another east coaster. Our youngest boy lives in Nanaimo, works for Harbour Air - we were out there last Oct - our oldest boy got married in Uculet so we were there for the wedding - beautiful area on the island - Cathedral Grove was most impressive!
I've made ginger beer, but not the alcoholic kind, so can't help you there - hope you find the recipe.

 

[Donald]

Yep, we like it here on the island too Dugger. But some day I'm going to make it to the East coast. Not to say that we ignore everything else in between but, well, we know what we've got don't we.

Somehow I'm not surprised that an east coaster would have made ginger beer of some kind. It's probably got something to do with the Olde English influence still hanging around eh?

 

[Runningwolf]

Donald welcome to the party. I am glad you found us as there are a lot of experienced beer makers here along with wine makers. Feel free to chime in any time with your questions. Keep us posted how you make out with htis beer.

 

[Donald]

Donald welcome to the party. I am glad you found us as there are a lot of experienced beer makers here along with wine makers. Feel free to chime in any time with your questions. Keep us posted how you make out with htis beer.

Thanks for the welcome. I'm not doing all that great with finding a good recipe yet but I'm still trying. I'm sure there must be something on the internet somewhere but maybe I haven't devised the right search yet?

 

[St Allie]

Hello Donald and welcome to the forum,

What recipes have you tried already?

are you looking for a ginger beer that is alcoholic but more along the lines of a soda? (no heavy hops)..

Just a thought here..you could try the old fashioned method of growing a ginger yeast ( feeding it every day for a week), instead of using bread yeast, try a cider yeast and then making a half strength wine ( 6-8%).. clearing and racking.. with a view to bottling with a teaspoon of sugar finally for sparkle...You'd need to leave it 6 months before taste testing.. there are a couple of different ways to prepare the ginger if using fresh rather than powdered or glace.. you may need some amylase to clear the haze though.

might be worth digging out 2 or 3 x 1 gallon jars for experiments!

Allie

 

[Donald]

Hello Donald and welcome to the forum,

What recipes have you tried already?

are you looking for a ginger beer that is alcoholic but more along the lines of a soda? (no heavy hops)..

Just a thought here..you could try the old fashioned method of growing a ginger yeast ( feeding it every day for a week), instead of using bread yeast, try a cider yeast and then making a half strength wine ( 6-8%).. clearing and racking.. with a view to bottling with a teaspoon of sugar finally for sparkle...You'd need to leave it 6 months before taste testing.. there are a couple of different ways to prepare the ginger if using fresh rather than powdered or glace.. you may need some amylase to clear the haze though.

might be worth digging out 2 or 3 x 1 gallon jars for experiments!

Allie

Just noticed your reply here today Allie, as I was following along on the thread I posted in the beer section. You'll notice there that what I have decided to do is pretty much what you have suggested. Growing a Ginger yeast which is called the 'Ginger Beer Plant' and then taking it from there by using maybe two gallons of water and bringing the S.G. up to about 1.060 and fermenting it out. Then carbonate the regular way in the bottles. I'll keep it small so I don't waste a lot of ingredients.

I was thinking on champagne yeast but on that and any refinements you can offer would be appreciated. This will be a dry Ginger beer and I'm not sure whether that is going to be best but it's a starting point. Or sweetening with some kind of artificial sweetener?

 

[St Allie]

Just noticed your reply here today Allie, as I was following along on the thread I posted in the beer section. You'll notice there that what I have decided to do is pretty much what you have suggested. Growing a Ginger yeast which is called the 'Ginger Beer Plant' and then taking it from there by using maybe two gallons of water and bringing the S.G. up to about 1.060 and fermenting it out. Then carbonate the regular way in the bottles. I'll keep it small so I don't waste a lot of ingredients.

I was thinking on champagne yeast but on that and any refinements you can offer would be appreciated. This will be a dry Ginger beer and I'm not sure whether that is going to be best but it's a starting point. Or sweetening with some kind of artificial sweetener?

Well I do have a tendency to make up recipes as I go along Donald,

My suggestion would be to use a cider yeast in preference to champagne.. it'll be lower in final ABV, won't strip the wine of flavour and will actually impart taste to the finished product.

I'm not keen myself, on the whole 'add a teaspoon of sugar for a sparkle finish' thing ad hoc.... winemaking is to personal taste after all.

I think you are on the right track, figure out what type of ginger beer you actually prefer, then work towards copying it.

Don't copy anything off the net..taste something that is close to what you aspire to, shut your eyes , keep tasting and write down the whole tasting experience.Then you will have a purpose.

once you have a purpose, it becomes your goal.

Allie

 

[Donald]

Well I do have a tendency to make up recipes as I go along Donald,

My suggestion would be to use a cider yeast in preference to champagne.. it'll be lower in final ABV, won't strip the wine of flavour and will actually impart taste to the finished product.

I'm not keen myself, on the whole 'add a teaspoon of sugar for a sparkle finish' thing ad hoc.... winemaking is to personal taste after all.

I think you are on the right track, figure out what type of ginger beer you actually prefer, then work towards copying it.

Don't copy anything off the net..taste something that is close to what you aspire to, shut your eyes , keep tasting and write down the whole tasting experience.Then you will have a purpose.

once you have a purpose, it becomes your goal.

Allie

Thanks for your input Allie. I've not started the batch yet so I'll do as you suggest and try the cider yeast instead. Keeping in mind that real 'hard Ginger beer is made from a 'ginger beer plant' which used to be passed down from person to person. So to arrive at the yeast that will eventually be right will be a trial and error thing for me this time. The carbonation is necessary though and a sugar syrup of some kind will need to be added for the final product to be a sparkling wine/beer. I'll keep you informed.

 

[St Allie]

most welcome..

I'm not sure how much equipment you have.. Wade has a system to add carbonation, without adding sugar, to finished ales ...I think that might be the way to go, unless you like the cloudy finish of a second fermentation in the bottle? Depends on the type of ginger beer that you are trying to recreate.

Allie

 

[Donald]

most welcome..

I'm not sure how much equipment you have.. Wade has a system to add carbonation, without adding sugar, to finished ales ...I think that might be the way to go, unless you like the cloudy finish of a second fermentation in the bottle? Depends on the type of ginger beer that you are trying to recreate.

Allie

Allie, I do have a Co2 bottle and can carbonate that way but I prefer the natural method. I find that if the wine/beer is fermented out and allowed to settle the amount of sediment is minimal. {prefer not to filter my wines either) And in fact it could be desirable in a traditional way. Smaller bubbles too! Thanks again!

 

[Codza96]

I'm making ginger beer myself and have started with an non-alcoholic plant and was thinking I'd follow my recipe through but rather than bottling it add it to a brewing barrel and then add some yeast and let it ferment for a week or two. Any suggestions on how much yeast to add to 9.5L of mixture and how long to ferment it for?

 

[Arne]

Codza,
This post is from 2010. The folks that are on it have not been here for a long time. You mite have better luck if you repost in the special interest wine section of the forum. I'd help, but know nothing about what you are trying. Good luck withit, Arne.