05.24.11 Home Brewed Ginger Beer Take 3

Ok, so this is the 3rd attempt at the ginger beer, see the first and second attempts for more information. I've learned something new with this batch, and that is write down the directions and don't try to follow the ones in your head. Since this was the 3rd time I tried to have a go at it just using my memories...  Which caused me to forget the correct number of teaspoons needed to feed it each day, I used 4 instead of the 6 the recipe calls for. It ended up not being too big of a deal, I had pre-measured everything out and was just spooning the ginger/sugar mix into the plant. As it was I just poured in what was left and waited another day before bottling.

This time I had made sure to strain the plant properly and even left some of the liquid behind in order to avoid getting any yeast into the bottles. I noticed as I was mixing the liquid into the water and sugar I that some yeast still made it through past the cheese cloth... It didn't seem to cause any problems with the carbing and they are now sitting in the fridge after two weeks. Next time I'm thinking that I'll try to double filter to try and limit the amount of yeast at the bottom of the bottles.

The batch tastes much the same as the first one, fairly sweet with a nice ginger taste without any sort of bite like commercial ginger beer has. Which if that is what you are going for it's nice and refreshing, I on the other hand would like for it to have just a little bit of a bite. I've read that some people have added habenero or bird's eye peppers to try and accomplish this. Next time I'm either going to try adding a pepper or maybe use real ginger instead of the powder (or just more powder >.>).

01/01/2011 Home Brewed Ginger Beer

Here I was going to write a post about my second attempt at Home Brewed Ginger Beer started in January and it seems I didn't keep any notes! Let this be a lesson to any one who reads, always always always write down everything you do. That way if you make something really good you can go back and do it again. Or, in the event of errors (which is what happened with this batch), look at what went wrong and remember it for next time. Also, take pictures of everything! I keep forgetting that I have a digital camera now and end up making something to only remember after the fact (hence the last of photos in today's post).

Here is the post from the first attempt, it has the recipe and process that I used.
07/18/10 Ginger Beer Plant (bottled 07/25/10)

From what I remember I only did two things differently. I juiced four lemons and used that instead of the 120ml. The 120ml was just what I had on hand and this time I remembered to pick up the lemons. I believe that four lemons yielded around 300ml of juice or so, but I'm not entirely sure. I also used a different yeast, Nottingham ale yeast instead of the Muntons Premium Gold. As far as I can tell from the little that I drank it didn't really make much of a difference.

There are also a few observations that I made while researching other similar recipes. This isn't really an alcoholic Ginger Beer. The yeast only have a small amount of fermentables to work with, 28tsp of sugar, before being diluted with 6.5 liters of water. It seems that the yeasts only job is carbing the bottles and perhaps some other mysterious function that will boggle mankind for eons.

The second observation is that yeast are hungry little critters, and it's a good idea to try and keep as much as possible out of the liquid you take from the jar. The cheese cloth slipped a little when I was filtering and I didn't think anything of it at the time and mixed it in with the water and bottled away (really, I was just lazy. shhh). This ended up with the making the bottles carb really, really fast, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing... But they geysered all over the place when opened, disturbing the yeast that settled in the bottom and making for a cloudy, yeasty beverage that wasn't really that appealing.

And the last observation is that a sanitizing agent, say Potassium Metabisulphite, is not a good thing to leave a stirring implement in, say a spoon. It will tarnish, eat through, and ruin the spoon and if you don't notice right away could be used to stir whatever if it you are working on. Which then could potentially cause off tastes or harmful effects. At the very least the tainted concoction shouldn't be trusted. It was a combination of this and the geysers that caused me to end up pitching this batch out :( Better to be safe then needing new kidneys or something.

Brewing Update - 09/05/10

Apfelwein
The Apfelwein has cleared and I've racked it into another 4.5L jug. Which may cause problems because it was only 4.2L to begin with and with two gravity readings taken it really should be in a smaller jug. But I don't have anything to put it in at the current point in time >.<
The FG is .998 which gives it an ABV of 7.6% or so and since it finished dry is very tart. I'm hoping that once it ages a bit this will fade. If it does I can see myself liking this very much. I'm going to see about getting some smaller jugs and maybe putting in some potassium metabisulfate to preserve it as it ages.

Basic Mead
I brought this upstairs for a few days to see about kicking the yeast into action with a little more heat. It showed signs of renewed fermentation and I tossed into a few raisins in hopes of further coaxing the yeast into doing their job. After some rearranging in the basement it is now sitting in a slightly warmer closet. This should allow it to fully ferment and be out of sight so I should be able to leave it alone until it finishes.

Jalapeno Mead
The newest gravity reading is 1.018, which means that it's dropped .018 in the last two weeks. Gave it a taste and its still really really jalapenoy, I would really like it if aging this mead brings out the heat and reduces the jalapenoy taste. I'll check it again next week and if its 1.010 or below I'll try cold crashing and racking into a smaller jug. (At least if I have any) 

JAOM
It appears that the fermentation has more or less stopped on this one. And some of the orange peel has started to sink to the bottom,  with any luck it will clear by the end of the month. I'm hoping that this turns out well, as it stands the other two meads are disappointments.

Ginger Beer
Still tasting good, it seems that the sugar has lessened some and the ginger has come to the front. Of course that could be because the yeast is still active and carbing the bottles. I had two explode last Sunday breaking the bottom of the PET bottles it is in. Good thing that it was in the basement :P Next time I'm thinking a little more ginger, a little less sugar and a sharp eye to make sure that none blow.

Brewing update - 08/22/10

Apfelwein
I've been reading a lot about cider of late and decided that I needed to give this a taste. It still has a fair amount of krausen on top and is very cloudy. The nose was fairly strong with the scent of alcohol with a hint of apple in the back. The taste was bitter/tart upfront with an overly bitter/tart finish, not undrinkable but something that would need to be paced. The funny thing was that after I had taken a sample the krausen started to dissipate. Which I thought may have been due to either the k-meta that I used to sanitize the baster or opening it up. But when I went back down 15 minutes later it was back where it was before the sample. 

Basic Mead
Has an unpleasant medicine nose that's just as bad if not worse then it was before, tastes rather sweet and fuzzy with a sour and unpleasant after taste. Somewhat disappointed with how it's come along. I may have made a mistake and stressed the yeast or it could be the yeast itself. So far I haven't been too impressed with the EC-1118 and hope that the Afpelwein turns out ok.

Jalapeno Mead
Took a gravity reading and did a taste. The gravity had fallen down to 1.036 from the 1.045 it was on the 13th, hopefully it will keep fermenting. I'll try and not touch it for two weeks and then give it another test. As for the taste, it had a peppery nose that didn't really appeal to me. If I try this again I'll look for a pepper that smells good on it's own instead of the jalapeno. It was very sweet with a cloying mouth feel with a jalapeno after taste and no heat at all. So far this has been a disappointment, but I'm hoping to catch it somewhere in the 1.002 – 1.010 range and cold crash it and bottle. Maybe some time in the bottle will improve it.

JAOM
I didn't touch this at all as per the instructions... perhaps that's what I need to stop playing with things. Recipes that say walk away after installing the air lock. The bubbling has slowed down a bit over the last few days and some of the orange zest has started to fall. Only a month to go on the 25th, so I'm hoping that it will start to clear soon.

Ginger Beer
This is one of the few things that has turned out nice. I chilled a couple of bottles and took it over to a friends place for some testing last night. It's fairly sweet with a nice ginger taste and nose, And it's not zingy like some of the commercial brands that I've tried, but it's refreshing none the less. I opened one today to get a gravity reading and it fizzed up all over the place. It seems that the yeasties did a good job carbing it. I did notice quite the difference from it being chilled though, it was a lot sweeter (almost cloying) and was really really carbed. As for the gravity it was still at 1.044... which would mean that it didn't fall at all in the bottles. So I have not idea what the abv would be it there is any at all. I suppose that I'll have to try one on an empty stomach to see if there is any alcohol it in or not o_O.

07/18/10 Ginger Beer Plant (bottled 07/25/10)

 
Ginger beer is one of those things that slowly grows on you. When I first had it the spicy hot mouth feel and fizzy finish almost turned me off of it right then. But over time and with a trip to Bermuda I came to appreciate the zingyness and decided to try an alcoholic version at home.

The recipe I followed was to start something called a ginger beer plant that you feed with ginger and sugar for several days before mixing it with a whole lot of sugar and water then bottling.
Here's run down of the instructions I found on the internet and in a book* with some of my changes:

8.1L spring water
Dried ginger
sugar
jar
cheese cloth
1 tsp yeast (I used Muntons Premium Gold dry yeast, will mention how it turns out come tasting.)

-In a sterilized medium jar mix 600ml of boiled water with 2tsp of dried ginger and 4 tsp of sugar.
-When at room temperature pitch in the yeast and cover with cheese cloth. I wasn't sure if anything else was needed at this step, all the places I could find instructions for making the plant didn't say. And it's not like the jar can be sealed with the yeasties eating away. Perhaps it would be better to use an airlock, but the jar I was using would not have been able to have one fitted.
-For the next 6 days 'feed' the plant each day with 2tsp of dried ginger and 4tsp of sugar mixing well and recovering (make sure that the mixer is sterilized!).
-On the 7th day, in a large pot, boil and dissolve 1kg of sugar with 1L of water, add about 120ml of lemon juice.
-Strain out the contents of the jar and set aside the solids while mixing the liquid into the pot and then add 6.5L of cool water.
-Stir well and then bottle into anything that was made to hold pressure as the ginger beer will be still brewing in the bottles while becoming carbonated.
-Half of the the solid stuff can be mixed with 600ml of water, 1tsp ginger, 2 tsp sugar and the plant can be started again. Either toss the out other half or give to a friend in need of ginger beer. 

I ended up having enough for 16 500ml PET bottles, which I have been keeping a close eye on everyday to make sure that they don't explode.

I'm a little worried about how it might taste, I took a swig of it from when I did the gravity reading and it was way too sweet with very little ginger taste. Here's hoping that it will even out in secondary. As for the gravity readings, the liquid from the jar was 1.016 and before it went into the bottles it was 1.044. Once 4 weeks have passed from the bottle date I'm going to crack one open and take another gravity reading to try and see what the alcohol levels might be like. Though I'm not sure how accurate it will be.

*The book that provided the base recipe was:
Home Brewing, Producing your own beer, wine and cider by Kevin Forbes.