Ginger wheat beer in the making
Posted: February 9th, 2009 | Author: Stacy | Filed under: Craft Brew, Events & Tastings, Experiments, Homebrew, Styles, Wheat | 6 Comments »Inspired by Caldera’s ginger ale at the 2008 Oregon Brewers Festival, I thought that a wheat beer brewed with ginger would be a swell idea. I emailed Caldera’s brewer about their recipe, and he replied that they added ginger chips at flame off or hopback. Since I use neither a hopback or propane burners, I consulted a couple of other recipes and decided that 5oz of ginger in the final 20 minutes of boil should suffice.
The wort is chilling in the kitchen sink at this moment, and I’m hoping that I added enough ginger. The recipe was simple enough that if I need to increase the ginger for next time it’s no big deal – it’s only 6.6lbs of bulk light/wheat malt, 3/4oz of hops, a vial of liquid yeast, plus however much ginger I want to use. The ingredients cost roughly $30, so that’s a $3.60 6-pack. Nice!
I based it on “Lovebite Weisbier” in the Joy of Homebrewing. I’ll pitch the hefeweizen yeast before I go to bed, and we’ll see what the fermentation fairy brings in the morning!
I tried my first brew out of Complete Joy of Homebrewing recently. I did the Who’s in the Garden Grand Cru.
Did yours keep fermenting for a longer time than other beers? Mine has been in the bucket for almost 3 weeks now and I”m still getting bubbles in the air lock about every 20 seconds!
I found that the Who’s in the Garden Grand Cru fermented a bit longer than most ales, going for at least 3-4 weeks before it settled down. It’s better for it to keep fermenting than to stop early, I’d say! When I bottled that recipe of grand cru I also found that it did best with a couple of months of bottle conditioning. After 5 months in the bottle it was delicious!
How did 5 ounces work out for this beer?
5oz definitely added a ginger aroma and slight flavor, though I think I’ll try 6 or 7oz next time and also aim to make the beer a little less sweet. Moving from electric stove-top brewing to propane burner will reduce carmelization, and I hope this also reduces sweetness and makes the beer lighter. That should bring out more of the ginger flavor!
Just stumbled across your blog and I think its great. I’m just getting into homebrewing myself, just did 1 batch of a kit beer and was slightly dissapointed with the results and am now trying my hand out at a wit beer with ginger and lemongrass am thinking about 0.17oz (each) for a 18litre brew.
That sounds like a tasty brew! I’d love to hear how it turns out.