.png)
So... What is it?
Ginger beer! The sweet sticky refreshing crowd pleaser hiding some boozy goodness! Made from the fermentation of sugar and fresh chopped ginger, it makes for a delightfully refreshing, slightly spicy and zingy palate cleanser, especially in the warmer weather. So here is our super easy ginger beer recipe with a slight twist to add a bit of extra zing and flavour to make you feel refreshed and thirst quenched!
Batch Size & Cook Time
- 19L Keg (5 gal)
- 5.3% Alcohol
- prep time 30-45 mins
- Fermentation time 1 week
What ingredients?
Fermentation ingredients
- 33g (1 oz) yeast nutrient (I used yeast O-ife)
- 400g (0.88 lb) sultanas / raisins
- 2kg (4.4 lb) Raw Sugar
- 1.355 kg (2.99 lb) ginger
- 4 juiced lemons
- 4 lemons zest
- 15g Lalvin - EC-1118 Yeast (any bakers or brewers yeast will also work)
- 21L (5.54 gal) of water
Post fermentation sweeteners
- 345g (0.76 lb) agave syrup
- 1.065kg (2.35 lb) raw sugar
- 14.25g potassium sorbate (0.75g per liter / 0.096 oz per gal)
- 1.79g potassium metabisulfite (0.094g per liter / 0.012 oz per gal)
Step by step process
Step 1 – Prepping the fruits and ginger
- peel the skins off of all the ginger with a spoon or a peeler and finely chop all the ginger and sultanas/raisins in a food processor
- peel the lemons being careful not to peel too much pith with the skins (the skins provide zestiness but the white pith can be bitter) and mix them in with the ginger and sultanas/raisins
- after peeling the lemons squeeze the juice out of them and set it aside
Step 2 – Mixing the ingredients
- take 1 liter (0.3 gal) of the the total water and boil it, then dissolve all the raw sugar for fermentation with the hot water and mix until fully dissolved
- mix into the hot sugar water the yeast nutrients and allow them to dissolve
- now mix together the rest of the 20L (5.3 gal) of water with all the prepped ingredients, lemon juice etc and pour it all into your fermenter (you can use a bucket with an airlock for this, link here to see how you can make a basic fermenter from a hardware store)
- after all the ingredients have been added, its time finally to add your yeast, we used 15g (0.5 oz) Lalvin - EC-1118 but any brewers or bakers yeast will also work, it will just provide a different flavour
Step 3 Fermentation
- Fermentation will take about 1 to 2 weeks, towards the end of fermentation take a gravity reading with a hydrometer, when you get the same gravity reading 3 days in a row fermentation is finished and you are ready to back sweeten your ginger beer!
Step 4 Back Sweetening and packaging - Option 1 (kegging option)
- To back sweeten (which basically means add sweetness after fermentation) you need a way to stop the yeast from fermenting the additional sugar you add to the beer, to do this we are going to do a couple of things.
- firstly we will let all the yeast settle out to the bottom of the fermenter and let the beer clear up before transferring it to our keg, this way at least 90% of the yeast is going to be left behind in the fermenter
- secondly by dropping the temperature of the beer to 1-2 degrees after kegging it any yeast that made its way over will fall asleep and no longer be active
- finally we will also add 1.79g potassium metabisulfite & 14.25g potassium sorbate, which together will prevent the yeast from further multiplying and growing, helping us to protect the sugar we add from the yeast so that the sweetness stays in the beer!
- No to add our sweetness we are going to dissolved the additional 1.065kg (2.35 lb) of raw sugar and 345g (0.76 lb) of agave syrup in a small amount of boiling water, then add this sugary syrup to the keg we will transfer the beer into
- after adding the sugars burp / purge the keg of oxygen by filling it with CO2 and releasing the CO2 from the PRV (pressure release valve) in intervals
- finally transfer the beer into the keg by connecting the tap of the fermenter to the beer out post of the keg and the gas in post of the keg to the airlock hole of the fermenter. This creates a closed loop so you can perform a zero oxygen transfer
- after all the beer has been transferred force carbonate the beer by connecting it to a gas tank on 30 psi for 3 days at serving temperature, then release the gas and re-pressurize to serving pressure (12 psi) before drinking!
Step 4 Back Sweetening and packaging - Option 2 (Bottling option)
- To back sweeten without kegs or taps you can also bottle, but this will mean you cant add sugar the same way you can with the kegging option, because in this case we want the yeast to produce a bit more fermentation after entering the bottles to gas up our ginger beer. So this time you will add about a teaspoon of sugar to each bottle (1 teaspoon for about a 330-375ml bottle / 12.6 oz bottles) which will provide fuel for the yeast to carbonate the bottle
- However, to add sweetness you will instead need to add a non-sugar based sweetener, such as stevia, I recommend about 15g (0.5 oz) per 330-375ml bottle / 12.6 oz bottle, however you can use less or more to taste
- Its important to note! this option will provide a different, and slightly more artificial taste to the final product than the kegging sugar option!
- after filling all the bottle, allow them to condition for about 2 weeks, at which point you can whack them in the fridge and enjoy!
Enjoy your zesty refreshing ginger beer!
