28 replies to this topic

[raketemensch]

Maybe 4 tsp fresh, chilli, and add another tsp every day or other day (and stir it up). Wash the ginger, but put it in skin and all, finely chopped. The amount here is just to get the brew kicked off, you can add as much ginger as you like when you do the second step of dissolving the sugar and adding the lemon juice. I usually boil a few hundred grams of fresh ginger with the sugar, then strain and repeat to get the leftover flavour out (you can do that a few times), and end up adding 4-6 litres of water. It should be noted that you can NEVER add too much ginger (except to the actual ferment jar, because too much ginger there will slow it down).

[Mr. Bowser]

I suspect the source of wild yeast is in fact the sultanas. Champagne yeast would be recommended for brews stronger than 12% ABV as they can handle the high abv without dying and giving nasty off-flavors. You could also substitute honey or corn sugar which ferment with a more neutral taste instead of regular table sugar which can ferment to a more "cidery" taste.

Gearing up here for a 5 gal batch of ginger mead... a dry (not sweet) alcoholic "ginger ale": just honey, ginger, lemon juice, yeast extract and cali ale yeast. Personally, I'm all for using "cultured" yeasts as opposed to "wild" yeasts/bacteria, as the bacteria eat the sugar without producing ethanol and more specifically the lactobacillus create a "lambic" sour brew. Also some of the wild yeasts/molds ferment and impart a kind of wet cardboard flavor. For me brewers yeast (liquid or dry packs) are extremely consistent and start vigorous fermentation within 24 hrs and easily out compete any wild micro-organisms

[raketemensch]

Yep, using wild yeasts is pretty unpredictable with regard to the flavour of the end product. Especially once you start putting ferments on pretty often and refine your technique, you start to notice the variation in flavour a lot more. Some wild yeasts definitely don't taste as good as others, and you never know what you're getting, so its a gamble. But I've never had a batch come out tasting bad, especially with ginger beer/ale because of the strong dominant flavours. Sultanas do seem to have plenty of yeast on their skins, but I've also done batches just using ginger as the source of yeast, or using other berries like juniper or blueberries.

I really want to try to brew a good root beer. I tried a while ago with a variant of FM's recipe (http://www.shaman-au...ad&fromsearch=1) but I think the cherry bark, sassafras, and sarsparilla all lacked the aromatics to flavour the drink properly. If anyone knows of good suppliers for this kind of stuff let me know!

[Mr. Bowser]

I've read that you can retain more of the aromatics by adding a strongly brewed spice tea back to the fermented beer at bottling time to help retain the aromatics that are driven off during the fermentation. I always assumed sassafras and sasparilla were the go to herbs for making traditional root beer but I think most commerial sassafras / sasparilla oil here in the states has no safrole due to FDA banning safrole