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@gingerbeerandcider
Good day, Could yo please offer me the bibliography for the information about the ginger? I need it for some specs in a research, beforehand I thank you for your reply
Hi there, could you be more specific with your question, then I will see what I can do to help you. All the best
Cider 2016
After picking more than 45kg of apples, I ended up not making very much at all because my homemade apple scratter didn’t work... Anyhow, I managed to press about 3.4L from an assortment of strange apples.
Nothing was added... so it took some time for it to get going. pH about 4.
22/10/2016: 1054 SG
21/01/2017: 1017
01/03/2017: 1016
14/03/2017: 1016
21/05:2017: 1016 FG
I was surprised that it ended with such a high FG, but I guess that’s what can happen with a spontaneous fermentation.
The result
I’m quite pleased with the final product, it really tastes of apples. One of the apple types (the very small green ones) either weren’t properly ripe or were just slightly astringent, so this flavour is also present in the cider, but in combination with the more rounded, fruity flavours, I think it has turned out just fine. Having just visited a cider festival and tried 20+ ciders, I would say it tastes better than quite a few of the ones I tried there from actual manufacturers.
Sweet Plum Wine 2015
Ingredients
5000g plums (3700g without stones)
1.5kg sugar (I think... total SG was 1070 = 180g/L sugar total)
10L water
1g campden
4g yeast nutrient
870g sugar at bottling
Method
The plums were pitted and then processed with a hand blender, then put into a nylon filter bag that was tied shut. The water, campden and yeast nutrient was added to the bucket... and then I just waited. After a few days of inactivity, the yeast kicked into action and worked for about a month. When it had been inactive again for more than a week, I racked it, adding campden again, waited 10 days or so, racked again, waited another 10 days. Added sugar and waited a few more days to be sure that the yeast had reactivated with all the lovely sugar. When confident that it hadn’t (still don’t know for sure), I bottled it...
Use and Measurement of Sulfur Dioxide In Wine
The Rule of Thumb Method:
• Calls for the use of 1.5 grams (1/4 tsp.) per five (5) gallons each time the wine is racked. It is recommended that only two or three rackings be done. The 1⁄4 tsp. equals about 45 ppm (mg/l). Because most grapes/juices fall in a favorable pH range, and since some SO2 becomes bound, and some is lost due to racking, this method really is quite workable and certainly is better than not using any “meta” at all.
http://www.piwine.com/media/home-wine-making-basics/using_sulfur_dioxide.pdf
1.5g/gallon = 0,264g/L for stabilizing.
Racked twice, 0,264g/L added twice as well.
FG: 0994
This calculator was used to find an ABV of 10%
Verdict
Summer 2016: After waiting for 10 months now, it’s clear that it has developed in a favourable direction. It’s still sweet, so it doesn’t seem as though it’s going to explode any time soon. I originally bottled it in swing-top bottles and bottle caps, but then I thought that it would make more sense to put plastic topped corks in place instead, so as to be more like a port or sherry. A few have been kept with their cap, so a comparison will be possible. I think it should improve more over time, and the edges of the flavour will be smoothed down a bit. Hopefully.
Sparkling Elderflower Wine 2016
Having opened the last bottle 18 months after bottling, it really goes to show that I should have been a bit more patient. The somewhat rough edges that were present earlier had become nice and rounded, making for a very pleasant, light, fruity and summery sparkling wine.
It turned out really well already straight after the fermentation had completed, but it did have a slight acidic edge to it despite leaving out any added lemon juice and sticking to zest.
Ingredients
4L of florets
3 lemons zested
700g sugar
10L water total
Lalvin champagne yeast
Yeast nutrient
1500g / 10L = 150g/L sugar content
150 / 20 = 7,5 % approximate ABV.
Method
I removed as much stalk as I could be bothered to - it took at least an hour to fill a 4L bowl with florets. Water, sugar lemon zest and yeast were added… and then I basically just waited until it had fermented all the sugar. 12g/L sugar was added at bottling to get it sparkling nicely.
Sparkling Rhubarb Wine 2016
6600g rhubarb (220g/L) +1200g later
4600g sugar (150g/L) + 370g later
5 lemons zested
a few grams of Lalvin champagne yeast
a few grammes of yeast nutrient (according to the packet)
Up to 30L of water
Since last years rhubarb wine was so good, I decided to make 6 times as much, a 30L batch.
I chopped up the rhubarb roughly and poured the sugar over it. After waiting a day or so, the sugar had extracted a load of liquid from the rhubarb and softened it. I then added the lemon zest, blended it and pressed it through a clean tea towel. To get all the goodness out I had to squeeze the pulp quite a bit. I tried getting some more flavour out of the pulp to make some syrup, but it didn’t really taste of much, so I guess I got most of it out.
This time I didn’t add any camden salt. Last time it changed the pH and the colour for a few days, but I thought I would avoid sulfites this time.
19/06/2016 SG: 1052
11/07/2016 FG: 0992
11/07/2016: G 0998 (more rhubarb and sugar added)
08/08/2016 FG: 0992 (probably?)
I lost the piece of paper that had lots of notes scribbled onto it, so I don’t know what the SG was, but is was probably something last year’s. When it had finished fermenting I wasn’t satisfied with the rhubarb taste, so I added another 1,245kg of rhubarb and 370g sugar. This turned into 1,2L of rhubarb juice that was added to the bucket.
After finished fermentation I added 13g/L for bottle priming. Hopefully this won’t be too much, I think 12g/L worked out really well last year.
Sparkling elderflower wine 2014
Having opened the last bottle 18 months after bottling, it really goes to show that I should have been a bit more patient. The somewhat rough edges that were present earlier had become nice and rounded, making for a very pleasant, light, fruity and summery sparkling wine.
It turned out really well already straight after the fermentation had completed, but it did have a slight acidic edge to it despite leaving out any added lemon juice and sticking to zest.
I will definitely make this again!
Ingredients
4L of florets
3 lemons zested
700g sugar
4,5L water total
fruit wine yeast
700g / 4,5L = 155,55g/L sugar content
155 / 20 = 7,75 % approximate ABV.
Method
I removed as much stalk as I could be bothered to - it took at least an hour to fill a 4L bowl with florets. Water, sugar lemon zest and yeast were added... and then I basically just waited until it had fermented all the sugar. 12g/L sugar was added at bottling to get it sparkling nicely.
2015 version
2,7L florets
4 lemons zested
1500g sugar (150g/L)
10L water
1g campden
natural fermentation after 4 days.
SG 1060
After leaving the brew for a week, I came back and the whole kitchen smelled of bad eggs... which I have found out often happens if the yeast is starved of nutrients and/or is lacking oxygen. So I tried to save the wine by adding yeast nutrients and aerating it with an electric whisk, but sadly the smell just wouldn’t dissipate. The whole bucket had to be discarded... am waiting patiently for next year’s harvest.
Sparkling Rhubarb Wine 2015
1000g rhubarb
1000g sugar
1 lemon zested
a few grams of LALVIN Champagne EC1118 yeast
As I had a load of extra rhubarb, I thought that the only sane thing to do would be to turn it into wine.
I chopped up the rhubarb roughly, added some water and blended it thoroughly with a hand blender. Thereafter I pressed the pulp through a clean tea towel to extract the juice and remove the pulp. It needed a fair bit of wringing to get all the goodness out.
After waiting almost a month for this thing to get itself started, I ended up buying some champagne yeast and added it. I must have overdosed on the campden salt (added somewhere around 1g, but couldn’t measure accurately) since it didn’t spontaneously start.
After adding the campden salt the pretty pink colour of the rhubarb juice suddenly became a strange yellowish brown, but luckily it has turned pink again after the yeast got going. It must have something to do with the pH falling again after the yeast started creating CO2 (carbonic acid).
16/08/2015 SG: 1068
30/08/2015 FG: 1000
Added 12g/L for bottle priming. Hopefully this should be enough, but not too much. We’ll see in six months time.
v2:
Spontaneous fermentation
Killed bugs with 1g of camden salt.
Started to ferment again a week later.
About 1,5kg rhubarb
1000g sugar
10/10/2015 FG: 0991
Conclusion summer 2016:
The first version with champagne yeast has turned out simply amazing. Not tart at all and with a wonderful fresh rhubarb flavour. I have proceeded to make 30L of this kind this summer...
The spontaneously fermented version is also quite nice, but doesn’t taste of of rhubarb at all, more like some sparkling wine made from grapes. I think it might improve after longer storage, so I’ll be keeping a few bottles for summer 2017.
Yeasty experiments
After leaving my ginger beer experiments for some time due to lots of other things in my life taking up all my time, I returned with a fresh mind.
I started thinking about the yeast. I have made so many different variations around the same basic recipe and have had some different results, some better than others. But the flavour never really got where I wanted it to be. Since I had only been using one kind of yeast, some generic fruit wine type, it seemed about time to try out something else.
I decided to buy five different types of yeast to see what might happen when used on a basic recipe. I chose these because they had the words “fruity” or something else that sounded nice in their description.
GOZDAWA Fruit Blanche G1, 10 g.
GOZDAWA Bavarian Wheat 11, 10 g.
GOZDAWA Pure Ale Yeast 7, 10 g.
GOZDAWA Belgian Fruit and Spicy Ale yeast, 10 g.
SAFBREW S-33 11.5 g.
Recipe
450g ginger (75g/L)
540g sugar
8g dried ginger
6L water
2 lemons rinded
5 different types of yeast
Primary Fermentation
19/04 - 03/05
Bottle fermentation
03/05 - 30/05
Fruit Blanche
SG 1034. FG 1001.
Bavarian Wheat
SG 1032. FG 0995.
Pure Ale
SG 1033. FG 0995.
Belgian Fruit
SG 1033. FG 1003.
S-33
SG 1034. FG 0994.
Result
The two best were the Fruit Blanche and Belgian Fruit were by far the best and had a nice gingery and sweet flavour. These two yeasts also yielded the highest final gravity which explains the sweeter flavour.
Great blog, mate! Was wondering if you could shed some light on ginger beer vs cider. What exactly makes a ginger beer a beer - wouldn't they all be ciders since there is no wort (or hops, or barley, etc.)
Hi there, and thanks!
Well, you are completely right. It should neither be called “ginger beer” or “ginger ale”, since it’s actually a kind of sparkling wine... but for some reason, that’s just not what we call it, unless you’re selling it expensively in fancy bottles. As far as I’m aware, cider is only used for apples (and pears).
Ginger Beast 3.6
Spring has come and so has the next incarnation of this never ending experiment. Less acidity, more ginger, slightly less carbonation and cooler fermentation temperature has made this a lot better than the previous batch. With this yeast strain low temperatures seem to get the best ginger flavours out, so I must make sure to get some more done, before my kitchen gets too warm.
This recipe was based on the Ginger Beast 3.5, but the lemon juice was omitted educe acidity and more lemon rind was added directly to the fermentation vessel to allow the alcohol to extract the limonene. A lower fermentation temperature (12-15C) was also attained.
Ingredients:
750g peeled ginger root (was about 1000g unpeeled)
450g caster sugar
450g brown sugar
3 organic lemons rinded
3g bioferm doux yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. bayanus)
10L water approx.
Method: The ginger was peeled, chopped, blended and divided into two portions of equal size. The lemons were zested and squeezed (the lemon juice I used to make bitter lemon).
The one half was then simmered in a saucepan with ample water for half an hour. Both portions were pressed through a sieve with a wooden spoon to get all the goodness out. With this done and the two halves mixed, I added the lemon rind and sugar and stirred until dissolved. A few grammes of bioferm doux was then stirred into a little water and poured in. The mixture was then transferred to a fermentation vat and filled up to the 10L mark with fresh cold tap water.
Log:
28/12: 1038 SG
11/01: 1000 FG
This means about 4.9% + approx. 0.5% for the bottle conditioning (this calculator was used). 8.5g/L of sugar was added to prime the bottles.
Ginger Beer Spontaneous Fermentation v.3 recipe
This is based on the Ginger Beast Spontaneous Fermentation v.2 recipe, but has removed the lemon juice and added lots of lemon zest instead to counter the very tart result of the last brew. All the mixture was also cooked this time.
Ingredients:
333g peeled ginger root (was about 478g unpeeled)
200g caster sugar
200g brown sugar
zest of 3 lemons
4.5L water approx.
Method: The ginger was peeled and the lemons were zested. The ginger was then chopped roughly and blended together with the lemon zest and juice. I had to add a bit of water to make it easier for the blender.
The mixture was then simmered at low heat in a saucepan with ample water for an hour. I added the sugar and stirred until dissolved. The mixture was then transferred to a fermentation vat through the sieve again to remove the debris that had got through the first “pressing” and filled up to the top with fresh cold tap water (about 4.5L / 1 Gallon). After this a little uncooked ginger was added to get the fermentation goin
Log: 01/11: 1029 SG
05/12: 1000 FG
When the brew had finished bubbling, which was at a FG of 1000, I added 8.5g/L of sugar, which hopefully should be about right to get enough bubbles. The abv. should be about 4.65% + 0.5% (bottle carbonation) = 5.1% - this calculator was used. Now comes the waiting…
Lemonade
I thought it was time to try out the ginger beer plant culture on something else than ginger beer. Since I had three zested lemons left over from making a new batch of ginger beer, I made some lemonade. All available sugar will be fermented to create the bubbles, so it will be rather tart, but that's fine with me.
Ingredients
3 lemons juiced
17g sugar (8,5g/L)
Tap water to make a total of 2L with the lemon juice
Ginger beer plant
Method
This one was really simple. Just juiced the lemons, mixed in the sugar until it dissolved and bottled. Before putting the caps on, I added a tiny amount of ginger beer plant to each bottle. More efficient ways of adding the GPB could be devised, but since it was only 6 bottles it was easy enough.
Notes
After having made this twice, I'm really happy with the result. But it's more of a Bitter Lemon than a lemonade, because it is so tart. I forget to note the time of bottling and when the bottles had bubbles, but by best guess is around 28 days at room temperature to get the right fizz. The second time I made it, I took a small amount of GBP and pressed it through a sieve into the lemon mixture. It appears to have worked, and there is a little GBP residue in small granules in each bottle.
Wine. It’s delicious, sophisticated and makes everyone more attractive. And it’s where cream of tartar comes from. Seriously. Is there anything wine can’t do?
Cream of tartar is a chemical called potassium bitartrate. It’s a carboxylic acid, which is a kind of organic acid. An inorganic acid,...
I found this little article on cream of tartar, a strange substance I have been wondering about for long, since many old fashioned ginger beer recipes list it as an ingredient.
Research...
Lately I happened to find myself in a shop where I could find 10 different kinds of ginger beer, ale or wine, so I couldn't help myself and bought one of each. For research purposes only, of course...
Here are the lists of ingredients for each:
Luscombe Cool Ginger Beer
Spring water
Organic raw cane sugar
Organic Sicilian lemon juice (3%)
Organic root ginger (2%)
Brewers yeast
Organic lemon oil
CO2
Luscombe Hot Ginger Beer
Spring water
Organic raw cane sugar
Organic Sicilian lemon juice (3%)
Organic root ginger (3%)
Brewers yeast
Organic lemon oil
CO2
Crabbie's Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer (4% alc. vol.)
Carbonated water
Ginger wine (water, glucose syrup (sugar, water), grape concentrate, spirit alcohol, ginger extract, yeast)
Fortified glucose wine (water, glucose syrup (sugar, water), spirit alcohol, yeast)
Sugar
Food acid E330
Flavourings
Colour E150d
Preservatives E202, E223
Antioxidant E300
Sulphites
"Following a secret recipe, the steeped ginger is combined the quality ingredients and matured for 6 weeks to release a deliciously distinctive flavour."
Rochester Old Jamaican Recipe Dark Ginger
Water
Cane sugar
Infusion of ginger (9%)
Caramel
Tartaric acid
Lemon juice
Potassium sorbate
Rochester Dickensian Recipe Ginger
Water infusion of ginger (14%)
Raisin
Cowslip and elderflower in varying proportions
Raw cane sugar
Citric acid
Caramel
Potassium sorbate
Fentimans Traditional Ginger Beer
Carbonated water
Fermented ginger root extract (water, glucose syrup, ginger root, yeast)
Sugar
Glucose syrup
Pear juice concentrate
Natural flavourings (ginger, lemon, capsicum)
Cream of tartar
Citric acid
Herbal infusions (juniper, speedwell, jarrow)
Sugar content: 9,4%
Q Ginger
Carbonated water
Organic agave
Ginger extract
Extracts of lemon juice, coriander, cardamom, cayenne, orange peel, rose oil
Sugar content: 6,3%
Fever-Tree Premium Ginger Ale
Spring water
Cane sugar
Citric acid
Natural gingers
Natural flavours
Natural caramel
Sugar content 8,6%
Fever-Tree Premium Ginger Beer
Spring water
Cane sugar
Ginger root
Natural flavour
Ascorbic acid
Sugar content: 10%
Old Jamaica Ginger Beer
Carbonated water
Sugar
Ginger root extract and other flavouring
Citric acid
Preservative (sodium benzoate)
Stabilizer (Quillaia extract)
Ginger Beer Plant experiments
Since I received the strange sachet of bacteria and yeast in the post I have been itching to put it to use to see how the ginger beer turns out. So here are two new experiments that I have started:
GBP Experiment 1 This experiment is based loosely on the recipe I received from gingerbeerplant.net, but I have scaled down the amount of lemon juice to get more ginger flavour.
Ingredients:
1,5L water
0,5 lemon juiced
100g ginger peeled (raw)
132g sugar
Approx. 9g Ginger Beer Plant
Method: The ginger was peeled and the lemon squeezed. The ginger was then chopped roughly and blended together with the juice. I added some water to make it easier for the blender.
The mixture was pressed through a sieve with a wooden spoon to get all the goodness out. With this done I added the sugar and stirred until dissolved. The mixture plus half of a third of the ginger beer plant I was then transferred to a fermentation vessel (1,5L) and filled up to the top with fresh cold tap water.
The GBP1 finished (FG 0.997) slightly later than the other, probably due to the fact that the sugars or starches of the ginger hadn't been inverted through heating. When it had finished bubbling completely I transferred the finished brew to a bowl using a silicon tube, since there was a lot of debris at the bottom of the bottle. In total I got 1278g of liquid to which I added 10g sugar. This adds up to about 8.2g/L, but it's hard to know, since I am using a regular kitchen scale. Using this calculator, the brew should have reached about 4.3% abv., and with the sugar for bottle conditioning about 4.8%. Regarding the carbonation level in the bottle it should be 0.8+2.25 = 3.25. The 0.8 coming from the primary fermentation and the 2.25 from the added sugar. Style-wise this is above most lagers and ales, but well below the most carbonated weizens.
GBP Experiment 2 This experiment is based on the Ginger Beast Spontaneous Fermentation v.2 but modified slightly. The lemon has been increased by 67% since the recipe I received wanted much more lemon than my own recipe. Since I had run out of brown sugar, I just used plain caster sugar - this should let the ginger flavour shine through as well.
Ingredients:
1,5L water
0,5 lemon juiced + rind
100g ginger peeled (half cooked, half raw)
132g sugar
Approx. 9g Ginger Beer Plant
Method: The ginger was peeled and the lemon was zested and squeezed - the ginger was then divided into two portions of equal size. The ginger was then chopped roughly and blended together with the lemon zest and juice. I added some water to make it easier for the blender.
The one half of the ginger was then simmered in a saucepan with ample water. Everything was pressed through a sieve with a wooden spoon to get all the goodness out. With this done I added the sugar and stirred until dissolved. The mixture plus half of a third of the ginger beer plant I was then transferred to a fermentation vessel (1,5L) and filled up to the top with fresh cold tap water.
The GBP2 finished (FG 0.997) slightly earlier than the other, probably due to the fact that half of the ginger had been cooked. When it had finished bubbling completely I transferred the finished brew to a bowl using a silicon tube, since there was a lot of debris at the bottom of the bottle. In total I got 1225g of liquid to which I added 10g sugar. This adds up to about 8.2g/L, but it's hard to know, since I am using a regular kitchen scale. Using this calculator, the brew should have reached about 4.3% abv., and with the sugar for bottle conditioning about 4.8%. Regarding the carbonation level in the bottle it should be 0.8+2.25 = 3.25. The 0.8 coming from the primary fermentation and the 2.25 from the added sugar. Style-wise this is above most lagers and ales, but well below the most carbonated weizens.
Log:
04/09/2013: 1030 / 1030 OG
07/09/2013: 1020 / 1018
08/09/2013: 1020 / 1012
11/09/2013: 1012 / 1001
12/09/2013: 1007 / 1000
19/09/2013: ???? / 0997 FG
24/09/2013: 0997 FG / 0997 FG
Already after three days, the mixture was bubbling wildly, which is a good sign!
Hopefully the fermentation should proceed something like this:
Getting started with the Ginger Beer Plant
A few days ago this strange letter arrived in my letterbox. I'm glad it wasn't taken by customs and destroyed, because it sure looks a bit strange.
According to the instructions from gingerbeerplant.net I was to hydrate the plant by adding a bit of water to it and let it sit for an hour. Then I reactivated the plant by making a so-called recovery brew by adding some sugar and lemon juice to get it working again. It is now very slowly bubbling in a glass covered with cellophane, which means it should be ready to go!
Before starting with the actual brewing I though it would be worth comparing the recipe provided with the plant and the one I have developed at one litre of brew. Second column is my recipe.
sugar: 125g / 89g
lemons juiced: 1.0 / 0.2
ginger root: 50-75g / 50-66g
The amount of ginger lines up quite well, but the sugar and lemon is way off. I read that the yeast in the Ginger Beer Plant don't work beyond 4,4% abv., so I suppose the rest of that sugar just stays as sweetness, since the 89g/L sugar in my recipe gets the brew to about 4,5% abv. I don't want the bottles exploding though, so starting with about 80g/L seems sound enough. That will leave some potential for bottle conditioning.
A great article about a guy who managed to retrieve the Ginger Beer Plant from a German biological culture bank and spread it around the world.
