Alcoholic Ginger Beer

[BMKal]

Andrew - was at my brother's yesterday, partaking of his home brew ginger beer. He only brews non alcoholic now, but says that the Coopers kit that he uses can brew either alcoholic or non alcoholic ginger brew. Apparently, the difference is in how much sugar you add, and when you add it. He said that for the alcoholic version, you add sugar and then leave the brew in the fermenter, and then add a little more sugar at the time of bottling - whereas for the non-alcoholic version, you don't leave it in the fermenter for the alcohol to form.

He has a mate who brews his own alcoholic version, and is going to find out what recipe he uses.

I'll still drop in to see if that stall I told you about at Salamanca Markets is still there, and if it is, I'll see if I can persuade the old bloke there to let me have a copy of his recipe.

But anyway .............. I still reckon that ginger flavoured beer of yours is not a bad drop ..........................

Cheers .......... BM

[debruiser]

I make the same stuff, Alcoholic of course. it's a good drop, great for a drink with lunch or afternoon smoko on the weekend.

[isuzurover]

...He only brews non alcoholic now, but says that the Coopers kit that he uses can brew either alcoholic or non alcoholic ginger brew. ...

That is correct. However the kit uses artificial sweetener to give residual sweetness. I only brewed it once, because it didn't agree with me - gave me severe headaches.

There are better options...

[BMKal]

I probably won't get around to brewing any myself, and if I did, it would only be the non-alcoholic variety (doctor's orders). What I was drinking at my brother's place in Adelaide yesterday was a nice drop - Coopers non alcoholic.

LandyAndy is looking for a good recipe for an alcoholic ginger beer. I tried his current brew a couple of weeks ago - a ginger flavoured beer rather than a brewed ginger beer. Was different to anything that I had tasted before, but a nice drop in any case.

I'm going to see if I can find a bloke I came across a few years ago in Tassie in the next couple of weeks. He brews both alcoholic and non alcoholic ginger beer and used to sell it at Salamanca - don't know if he's still there or not. But I do remember trying his product last time I was down there (both varieties) and it was worth going back for seconds.

[Bigbjorn]

I probably won't get around to brewing any myself, and if I did, it would only be the non-alcoholic variety (doctor's orders). What I was drinking at my brother's place in Adelaide yesterday was a nice drop - Coopers non alcoholic.

LandyAndy is looking for a good recipe for an alcoholic ginger beer. I tried his current brew a couple of weeks ago - a ginger flavoured beer rather than a brewed ginger beer. Was different to anything that I had tasted before, but a nice drop in any case.

I'm going to see if I can find a bloke I came across a few years ago in Tassie in the next couple of weeks. He brews both alcoholic and non alcoholic ginger beer and used to sell it at Salamanca - don't know if he's still there or not. But I do remember trying his product last time I was down there (both varieties) and it was worth going back for seconds.

I used to be an (over) enthusiastic home brewer but like BMKal am under doctor's orders nowadays. I tried making alcoholic ginger beer. First from a kit using sugar as the base for fermentation. Next tried fresh ginger, peeled and fine chopped and boiled into a wort and using sugar again. Next was using golden syrup with the fresh ginger wort. This was the best and quite drinkable but I was not entirely happy with results and put the idea back on the shelf to be tried when I had a less busy life. Never happened.

[LandyAndy]

Thanks Brian
The trouble with the shop bought kits are as Ben pointed out,they have nutra sweet style sweeteners,I HATE THE FLAVOUR.I did try a Brewcraft kit that used a non-fermentable sugar,it was an improvement but still not very good.
Brian that batch of my Gingered Beer is the best sofar,it had a 225gm container of ginger powder in a Coopers Real Ale brew kit with brew sugar no2.
Andrew

[Bigbjorn]

Andrew, I dug out my old brewing notebooks. I didn't record how much ginger I used. Bugger. It was fresh ginger root, peeled and fine chopped, 2 kg of golden syrup, 1/4 teaspoon each of yeast nutrient and citric acid, brought to the boil, allowed to cool and made up to 24 litres with cold boiled water. One sachet of Coopers yeast. 1/2 teaspoon of priming sugar per 750 ml bottle. Worked out a 6.4% ABV. I grew the ginger and had quite a lot of it. so I probably used a lot. It is a fair bugger to peel.

[LandyAndy]

Ever tried using a teaspoon to peel ginger??? works a treat
Ive used plenty of fresh ginger in brews,I dont peel it,just give it a good scrub.
The boiling process kills any nasties.
Andrew

[isuzurover]

...

Ive used plenty of fresh ginger in brews,I dont peel it,just give it a good scrub.

I was about to say the same - bugger peeling the stuff!

[Bigbjorn]

I never thought of not peeling the stuff. I had grown a heap of it and peeled it to make ginger preserves. The ginger beer was an afterthought. Each time we peeled a batch for preservation I kept some aside for brewing.