Making Ginger Beer

[Edcculus]

Has anyone here ever made Ginger Beer? I've been doing some research, and it appears that I need to buy a Plant. Its similar to a SCOBY in Kombucha or water Kiefer grains. Does anyone know a source to actually get any? I've found some online, but they all want about $20 for what amounts to about 2 TBL of Plant. Wow!

I already make my own Kombucha. I can go to the store and buy an unflavored or mildly flavored commercial Kombucha to make my own SCOBY. REAL ginger beer is pretty much impossible to find. Everything labeled Ginger Beer is really just soda.

Also, the reason this is in the Speakeasy, is that I'm making the Ginger Beer so I can make Dark 'N Stormys. I actually plant to brew up 5ish gallons of Ginger Beer, then add rum and lime juice so we can have Dark 'N Stormy on tap!

 

[bobmsp]

I made some a while back without a plant. I used a brewing or wine yeast (champagne?), I believe. Be careful with your secondary fermentation. I had a bottle or 2 explode.

 

[eezee]

Has anyone here ever made Ginger Beer? I've been doing some research, and it appears that I need to buy a Plant. Its similar to a SCOBY in Kombucha or water Kiefer grains. Does anyone know a source to actually get any? I've found some online, but they all want about $20 for what amounts to about 2 TBL of Plant. Wow!

I already make my own Kombucha. I can go to the store and buy an unflavored or mildly flavored commercial Kombucha to make my own SCOBY. REAL ginger beer is pretty much impossible to find. Everything labeled Ginger Beer is really just soda.

Also, the reason this is in the Speakeasy, is that I'm making the Ginger Beer so I can make Dark 'N Stormys. I actually plant to brew up 5ish gallons of Ginger Beer, then add rum and lime juice so we can have Dark 'N Stormy on tap!

Ah, Dark & Stormy!! What a great drink. Good luck on your quest!!

 

[Edcculus]

Hmm, Im thinking that way might be a good idea. What I've read, making it with yeast is not really right, but I guess I don't really know what "right" is anyways. My idea of "right" is a carbonated gingery drink that is slightly sweet, but not nearly as sweet as Ginger Ale or Ginger Soda.

I'm actually going to be making a honey blonde in a few weeks. Maybe I can just do second runnings on that and make a small beer. I'm really aiming for 2-3% ABV for this anyways. Maybe innoculate it with a bit of Kombucha SCOBY at the end for some of the tartness.

I just have a bit of a problem paying $20 for a plant that I probably wont really use all that much.

 

[MichaeltheRomanHistorian]

I've made it before but I took Alton Brown's ginger ale recipe from Good Eats and put in 8 times the amount of ginger, grated the stuff up, and put it all in with the syrup (all I did was just filter the final product before serving). It was not super sweet (a hint of sweetness), very gingery, and just the right amount of fizz (I used plastic 2 litre bottles). I used to make a lot of it because my father and uncle visited me in England, liked the stuff, but couldn't find it in Idaho and, when I came home and felt 'homesick' for England I made it for all of us.

Michael

 

[nffclsr]

I remember when I was a young 'un, my Dad missed ginger beer when we moved from England to Canada, so he decided to make his own.

I recall all the wonderful scents, the big fermentaion bottle bubbling away, the mechanical capping machine, it all seemed exciting.

Then one night, very early in the morning, it sounded like a firing range in our basement!!!! I'm pretty sure every bottle exploded and my old man never tried again.

That was some noise in the middle of the night!

Fantastic stuff if made right, just be careful..........

 

[Edcculus]

Haha, I homebrew beer, so I'm well aware of bottle bombs. I'd probably be kegging this


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[eezee]

Dang it! I forgot to buy ginger root today!

 

[GenuineGentleman]

I just made my first 5 gallon batch of ginger beer. I used an amber ale for the base, and used 10oz of Ginger at 1 minute and then dry "gingered" after fermentation with 5oz of ginger. Came out surprisingly well.

 

[eezee]

I just made my first 5 gallon batch of ginger beer. I used an amber ale for the base, and used 10oz of Ginger at 1 minute and then dry "gingered" after fermentation with 5oz of ginger. Came out surprisingly well.

Outstanding!

 

[Shave Jacket]

I've made my own several times now, both with Champagne Yeast and the carbonator I have at my house. For me, I just take the ginger root and put it through the juicer adding simple syrup and water and then on to the carbonation process (I can get you the ratios if you are interested). If I want it immediately I just chill and carbonate that mixture, if I have time to wait I add the yeast and put it in the basement for two weeks and then to the refrigerator to stop the carbonating process. The yeast carbonated ones tend to be a little explosive on first opening so I usually will open them outside. For me I use the ginger beer to make a Kentucky Mule, which I much prefer to the dark n stormy (I'm a bourbon man).

 

[mglindo]

I've used a recipe from:

[FONT=&quot]Jeffrey Morgenthaler [/FONT]Bar Book: Elements of Cocktail Technique by Jeffrey Morgenthaler, Alanna Hale and Martha Holmberg (Jun 3, 2014)

I've made this in bottles and it worked great. You can also make this and use a carbonator instead of using yeast.

Mike