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musiclover420
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Homeade Ginger Beer
#22068551 - 08/09/15 06:00 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Anyone try it? I am going to start trying to make a ginger beer culture today and hopefully make my own ginger beer soon.
From what I have read if you want to make it alcoholic all you do is let it culture/ ferment longer 
I am going to start by attempting 2 cultures, one with refined white sugar and one with unrefined sugar + molasses to see which one does better.
Here is the recipe I am following for the culture: Gingerbeer culture
It is referred to as "ginger bug" on the site, and here is the recipe for using the culture to make ginger ale: ginger ale
It seems pretty straightforward and relatively easy, anyone else been wanting to get into making cultured beverages? They are so healthy and tasty 
I am a kombucha addict, so many delicious local kombucha brews it is crazy. Pomegranate lemonade kombucha is one of my favorites I have tried 
Here is a pic rundown of how things went so far:
Couple days in to the open jar ferment:


3 days bottled up after around 7 days fermenting in the jars:

Opened up for the 5th+ time in one day, still super fizzy just after sitting for a few hours 
Edited by musiclover420 (08/18/15 08:04 PM)
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Sheekle
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The main positive attribute that I can see ginger beer having would be the nausea reduction which is typically associated with ginger. I don't all too often drink, so when I do I'm usually faced with some degree of stomach discomfort.
I've never had ginger beer before, but would certainly jump on the opportunity if it was ever presented to me.
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Mr.GuessWork
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Re: Homeade Ginger Beer [Re: Sheekle]
#22068580 - 08/09/15 06:06 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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I had a Jamaican style one once, and the ginger and other spices were damn strong. It was too much for me.
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CHeifM4sterDiezL
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Re: Homeade Ginger Beer [Re: Sheekle]
#22068584 - 08/09/15 06:06 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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yeh ive made ginger bug and homemade ginger beer/ale. It took a few trys to get the bug going. overall I'd raather use my time brewing actual beer n stuff. But if you like ginger tea youll love a strong homemade gingerale!
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CHeifM4sterDiezL
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Quote:
Mr.GuessWork said: I had a Jamaican style one once, and the ginger and other spices were damn strong. It was too much for me.
One advantage to making your own at home is you can control all those factors if its too strong you can dilute it or add more sugar or this or that its kinda fun to play around with.
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Mr.GuessWork
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Huh. A reasonably dilute ginger beer might actually be a good alternative to real bear for me. I had to go on a stupid gluten free diet, so my beer brewing stuff is just sitting around right now. I'm tempted to try making a hard cider that's hopsed like an IPA too.
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musiclover420
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I want to experiment with adding various other things too, like a bit o citrus and or some berried amongst other things. I also was contemplating if it would be possible to combine a ginger bug culture with a kombucha culture and make a hybrid beverage I love ginger ale and all variations of ginger beverages. Ginger is great for stomach aches but it does so much more than that. Plus probiotics are great.
I plan on trying to brew other things soon too, I have a plum tree and two apple trees so I would like to learn things like plum wine and stuff. Beer is on my list but I don't really drink alcohol much anyways and am not very big on beer so I would rather experiment with other beverages. Mead could be fun to make, water kiefer is amazing too. Its like natural soda, but with probiotics 
I couldn't find any good wite sugar at the store so I got a thing of organic raw cane sugar and plan to try one batch with just that and one with molasses.
If I wasn't out of honey I would try that too.
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CHeifM4sterDiezL
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yeh i have a crazy pear tree with like 2 tons of pears on it that i wanna press and make a cider called perry. First thing i have to do is build a cider press and found this thing that looks pretty sweet
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Mr.GuessWork
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People run large sicder presses around where I live. My buddy and I made somewhere around 50 gallons of cider one summer, and I made some apple wine out of some of it. You could probably do a cheap man's press with a pot to boil down the pears a bit, and a good clean pillow case to strain the juice out of the boiled down mush.
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Giftofdeprivation
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I tried to make an all grain bluemoon mimic into a ginger beer, but failed. My siphoning process was shit and I ended up with a lot of sediment in my oxydized beer. I might try to back flavor, but I might just need to try again.
Eager to read of your results!
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Detached
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Ginger Beer sounds disgusting. I'm not sure that I would attempt that as a homebrew but good luck with your efforts.
I do like Ginger Ale
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musiclover420
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Re: Homeade Ginger Beer [Re: Detached] 1
#22068894 - 08/09/15 07:04 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Well it is not really much different from ginger ale, especially if you don't let it go for to long. The only difference is it has probiotics too.
Most ginger ale is basically soda, this could be made to taste similiar to soda I would imagine if you do it right but with the added healthy culture.
Thanks for sharing the cider press video, I should look into making and or getting something like that. Cider is on my list too.
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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musiclover420
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I mixed two batches and hav them sitting in my kitchen now, I guess 6-10 days is the average time for it to work or not.
Once I get some white sugar I will start at least one other batch using that. Depending on how they all do I may just use the healthiest one for brewing.
Just found some cheap and local beer yest on ebay too which I may buy soon for some other projects.
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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musiclover420
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Here are my two starters days later:


There are already bubbles forming in both jars and they also both smell pretty yeasty already, should be a good sign of it working
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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Adolin




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looks... interesting.
i love me some ginger ale, my go to is gin & ginger. never tried actual alcoholic ginger ale though
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Sophistic Radiance
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Re: Homeade Ginger Beer [Re: Sheekle]
#22082750 - 08/12/15 06:29 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Sheekle said: The main positive attribute that I can see ginger beer having would be the nausea reduction which is typically associated with ginger. I don't all too often drink, so when I do I'm usually faced with some degree of stomach discomfort.
I've never had ginger beer before, but would certainly jump on the opportunity if it was ever presented to me.
Ginger beer is wonderful, I usually drink the non-alcoholic form (imagine that!) made by Reed's. Oh God. Ginger ale like made by store brands or Canada Dry or whatever doesn't even really taste like ginger, but ginger beer has a deep, pungent, strong kick of ginger, it warms your belly. Sooo good.
OP, that sounds like an awesome project! be sure to share your results
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musiclover420
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Re: Homeade Ginger Beer [Re: Adolin]
#22082769 - 08/12/15 06:32 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Those pics both turned out pretty meh, it already looks pretty ginger ale like to me.
Starting to smell more yeasty and less sweet n gingery though.
Depending on how I make it it could be almost entirely non alcoholic to slightly. I will no doubt try longer brews to make "hard ginger ale" 
I saw a Ginger Beer by some ciders the other day at a store, I need to try one sometime soon.
I am making this brew more for a love of ginger and pro biotics, and to start experimenting with cultured beverages n stuff.
Quote:
ginger beer has a deep, pungent, strong kick of ginger, it warms your belly

That sums up why I love ginger pretty well
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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ReposadoXochipilli
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ginger beer is great, mixes well with vodka and gin.
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Mr.GuessWork
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Brewing is a lot like growing mushies, except it's way easier and the aseptic technique that's required is laughable in comparison.
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musiclover420
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This gif always makes my eyes water, especially the first couple times I watched that episode. Very eerie scene...
Quote:
ginger beer is great, mixes well with *anything*
Fixed.
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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ReposadoXochipilli
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yea i have a few episodes left but i have been stretching them out, love that show.
yes it mixes well with anything really but i have a soft spot for a gin mule
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musiclover420
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I couldn't hold myself back, I cracked out until I had watched em all 
Now I am taking a break to re watch them all sometime soonish.
Mhmm, gin mule sounds pretty bomb.
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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musiclover420
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Here is another update:
 This is after being bottled for 3 days.
The one on the left is a molasses hybrid I added berries to and actually tastes much better than the simpler one with just cane sugar and a bit of juice.
The berry one is already pretty carbonated and very tasty, they both are not too sweet. Though I will let them go another day or two at least.
Hopefully they get more carbonated and a bit less sweet by then, I am very impressed though and will definitely be making much more.
I would highly recommend trying it as it is simple and not very time consuming and very worth it.
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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musiclover420
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I have such a healthy buzz going from drinking just two little partially filled small glasses 
Following it up with a kombucha now since I want to let it sit a bit longer and start more batches before I drink much.
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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musiclover420
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Here is a pic showing how fizzy the berry one is:

It has foamed up pretty intensely twice now today, I will probably move it to the fridge tomorrow morning or late tonight to slow/stop the carbonating.
Will be definitely adding berries to many of the future batches I make so tasty. I will try starting the ferment with berries too.
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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CHeifM4sterDiezL
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musiclover420
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I have been burping em all day, they are ALIVEEEEEEEEEEE.
Even the open jars are getting pretty bubbly.
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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nicechrisman
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I didn't know you used a culture to make ginger beer. Is it like water keffir kinda then?
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musiclover420
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My mom used to make water kiefer but I have o idea how it is done really Tastes like liquid healthy natural candy though.
This is my first attempt at ginger beer, I am sure a similiar non pro biotic could be made. Like ginger ale sodas.
I was at a chinese restaurant the other day and ordered a "ginger ale" expecting something dank and got a canned soda I drank a little and regretted it.
Threw up later, though that was a combination of things. The soda did not help though. This ginger ale would have
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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nicechrisman
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Yeah commercially produced "ginger ales" don't even really have anything in common with a real ginger brew
-------------------- "Cosmic Love is absolutelely ruthless and highly indifferent: it teaches its lessons whether you like/dislike them or not." John C. Lily
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musiclover420
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I wish I had known the difference when I was younger...
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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rubberlizard
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Quote:
Mr.GuessWork said: Brewing is a lot like growing mushies, except it's way easier and the aseptic technique that's required is laughable in comparison.
Agree. When brewing always think i should turn on hepa filter and sanitize the room first 
Even though one of the recipes says you cant use honey, it have worked fine for me and every other mead brewer. But i do think ginger ale is too sharp tasting when brewed with pure honey. A spoon full is great though.
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CosmicFool
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I've brewed root beer but most root beers now a days are made using extracts for flavoring I'd like to use actual roots and herbs if I could find some maybe I'll start off by doing some birch beer instead
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musiclover420
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I would like to try some root beer eventually as well, the stuff I am making now I try to balance at barely sweet so I get mostly probiotic ginger goodness 
Some batches are sweeter like soda and some are more sour like wine, I try to balance it at relatively neutral though.
Here is my culture today:

I combined the two I kept into one big ass jar it has been sitting on my counter for months being fed nothing but sugar and ginger...
Here are 2/3 of my most recent batches:

These literally got fizzy in one day... Hours after I closed them after making them I opened em and they both fizzed up majorly. Hours later 
I let them go one more day and both are champagne fizzy now, that pic doesn't do em justice as I had just popped em and moved em to the fridge where the culture mellows out/ goes dormant. Both would have erupted like volcanoes if I had let em I can't believe they can get so fizzy just a few days to even hours after being poured... So awesome, thanks nature!
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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