Home brewing: Ginger-Beer - any one tried brewing their own?

[MintyTheCat]

Hello all,

a bit off-topic but this is the place so...

I love Ginger-Beer and although I've tried many types over the years I quite fancy the idea of brewing some of my own. Any one else every tried G-B brewing at home?

Cheers,
Minty.

[drauch]

Shame Cmoon isn't around anymore, as he is quite the brewer. Thought we had a thread but I'm coming up short. Probably just a lot of brew talk in the drunk thread.

[kitten]

never brewed any, nor do i have any knowledge of brewing or resources that would allow it, but ginger ale & ginger beer are possibly my favorite drinks. i've taken to trying a huge variety of brands the last couple years after discovering how much i like a dry, ginger bite in a soda with the amazingly good red rock ginger ale. have yet to find one i like more than it, honestly! cock & bull ginger beer (advertised as a popular mixer for mules and progenitor of the moscow mule, though i'm non-alcoholic, so that doesn't matter much to me) probably came closest, and i'm a big fan of natural brew's "outrageous ginger ale" because of its surprisingly nuanced flavor, even if it lacks in that ginger bite i'm aching for.

goya's ginger beer probably has the most intense ginger bite of any i've tried, which i thought was really surprising given that it's a more common brand for fruitier beverages. most good ginger ale/beer i've tried tends to hit you in the back of the throat and fuck you up if you inhale weird when you're drinking it, but goya's immediately puts a burn on the tongue. i like it, mind you, it's just that i often pair my favorites with a good meal, and this one kind of overloads that. a lot of people seem to talk up bundaberg, and while it's pleasant and has really nice presentation in its unusual bottlecap & shape, i found it a little too mild and not quite as dry as i tend to prefer my stuff.

[FinalBaton]

never brewed any, nor do i have any knowledge of brewing or resources that would allow it, but ginger ale & ginger beer are possibly my favorite drinks. i've taken to trying a huge variety of brands the last couple years after discovering how much i like a dry, ginger bite in a soda with the amazingly good red rock ginger ale. have yet to find one i like more than it, honestly! cock & bull ginger beer (advertised as a popular mixer for mules and progenitor of the moscow mule, though i'm non-alcoholic, so that doesn't matter much to me) probably came closest, and i'm a big fan of natural brew's "outrageous ginger ale" because of its surprisingly nuanced flavor, even if it lacks in that ginger bite i'm aching for.

goya's ginger beer probably has the most intense ginger bite of any i've tried, which i thought was really surprising given that it's a more common brand for fruitier beverages. most good ginger ale/beer i've tried tends to hit you in the back of the throat and fuck you up if you inhale weird when you're drinking it, but goya's immediately puts a burn on the tongue. i like it, mind you, it's just that i often pair my favorites with a good meal, and this one kind of overloads that. a lot of people seem to talk up bundaberg, and while it's pleasant and has really nice presentation in its unusual bottlecap & shape, i found it a little too mild and not quite as dry as i tend to prefer my stuff.

I've always enjoyed my Canada Dry ginger ale a heck of a lot but you know what? you've just made me realize that I've never been on the hunt for other ginger ales. maybe it's because I've been spoiled with a good, easily available one. But I think I'll start trying other different ones now, this should be fun since I like the stuff quite a lot. That Red Rock one you speak of is intriguing...

[kitten]

i don't know if i'd call canada dry "good." it has almost no ginger bite whatsoever! i'll drink it if nothing else is available and because it's cheap as a 2-liter, but all of the ales i've tried available in 2-liter format are extremely disappointing in having any sort of real trace of ginger kick to them. i tend to prefer seagram's over the other brands (canada dry, schweppe's, vernor's, any generic), but it's frankly splitting hairs in how mild & similar they all are. i used to love those, and trying the "real stuff" didn't make me dislike them or anything, but it made me bitter over how they're all you get in an affordable 2 liter format. it's a buck a bottle or more for a lot of these, but i usually indulge like they're a special treat and don't get them often (plus lord knows it's way cheaper than most people's drinking habits).

you might have trouble finding red rock if you don't live in the south - afaik the biggest bottler is stationed in atlanta (it's an atlanta original and went through a complicated history), and ships relatively close to it. might be able to find cock & bull nearby, though, which i highly recommend. it sells itself as a mixer but it's quite good on its own. if you've never had a real ginger ale before, though, these will be a bit of a kick in the teeth, but you get really used to the bite and come to crave it! keep an eye out for goya's, it's real common and a real surprise.

[FinalBaton]

Interesting. I've never had a real deal ginger ale indeed. I'll see if what you recommended is available in Canada (and in my neck of the woods)

[Immryr]

i've brewed the spontaneous fermented version which is slightly alcoholic but essentially a soft drink. it's dead easy.

grate some ginger and add it to some sugar and water. every day add a bit more ginger and sugar and give it a good stir. after a few days it should go bubbly and active. at this point it's ready to use, or you can just keep feeding it more ginger and sugar.

then you just make a kind of sweet ginger tea by boiling some water with loads of grated ginger in and sugar, let it cool to around body temp then strain in the liquid from your starter, let it cool fully and bottle it or put it in a fermentation bucket with an air lock. you can add some lime or lemon juice too.


making a more alcoholic version is probably even easier, although i've never done it. just make the sweet ginger tea like in the other version, let it cool a bit and add some brewers yeast. i'd probably use champagne yeast.

[MintyTheCat]

These are all worth trying:

http://www.schweppes.de/produkte/ginger-b
https://www.bundaberg.com/en-GB/brew/ginger-beer/
https://www.thomas-henry.com/products/ginger-beer
https://www.fever-tree.com/ginger-beer
http://www.fentimans.com/drinks/softdri ... inger-beer
http://www.thesodajerks.net/soda-review ... inger-beer

A friend of mine has some from the Caribbean too.

[MintyTheCat]

Thanks, Immryr.

My intention is not to make it alcoholic. I've never brewed anything before. A friend of mine is quite good with making things and I'm presently trying to get her to join the movement

It's my favourite soft-drink but for a long time I found it hard to buy where I live but these last years things have changed for the better.

[kitten]

These are all worth trying:

http://www.schweppes.de/produkte/ginger-b
https://www.bundaberg.com/en-GB/brew/ginger-beer/
https://www.thomas-henry.com/products/ginger-beer
https://www.fever-tree.com/ginger-beer
http://www.fentimans.com/drinks/softdri ... inger-beer
http://www.thesodajerks.net/soda-review ... inger-beer

A friend of mine has some from the Caribbean too.

out of these i've tried bundaberg, which i liked well enough, and fentimans, which i didn't care for at all. fentimans tasted too fruity & weird and not particularly gingery, i think it was the pear juice they added.

[MintyTheCat]

These are all worth trying:

http://www.schweppes.de/produkte/ginger-b
https://www.bundaberg.com/en-GB/brew/ginger-beer/
https://www.thomas-henry.com/products/ginger-beer
https://www.fever-tree.com/ginger-beer
http://www.fentimans.com/drinks/softdri ... inger-beer
http://www.thesodajerks.net/soda-review ... inger-beer

A friend of mine has some from the Caribbean too.

out of these i've tried bundaberg, which i liked well enough, and fentimans, which i didn't care for at all. fentimans tasted too fruity & weird and not particularly gingery, i think it was the pear juice they added.

I am not a big fan of Fentiman's G-B either: it's gassier and has a less involved taste for me but I know people who like it. It's really down to taste I feel. I really like Bundaberg. I actually have many bottles from each type of G-B on display in my kitchen I like the Bundaberg bottles. Sadly, I have never seen their Root Beer where I live but I used to drink it in England and it's very good.