Beer Making?

I'd let the yeast settle and decant the non-cloudy liquid for drinking.

The full recipe with specifics would be a great resource...

I will certainly do that next time. I plan to filter it before serving this time or possibly bottling it again. Good thing is when I bought the majority of the components they were sold in amounts enough to make 5 gallons. I have enough to make another batch with corrections as needed. Filtering before bottling is a must in my opinion, but the source did not make mention of it. Also, I will need to make corrections when bottling as one bottle had a little too much air (too little ginger beer), so I will make 2.5 or 3 gallons to be certain both 1 gallon bottles are full.

Black Hand, If the source video is inappropriate to post please feel free to remove it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfnHCdc3BgA


Progress so far;

I sampled it before adding the yeast and it had a strong molasses taste with a hint of ginger. I sampled it again tonight after a few days of refrigeration, the carbonation is light and yeast has taken away the strong taste of molasses while retaining the hint of ginger. Some of the local fellows and a brother from fields in North Dakota are gathering for a shoot at a friends farm this weekend. I believe I will bring the ginger beer to the shoot for some opinions on the taste. Last time I brought a box of Marsh Wheeling "old reliable" Cigars...since they are no longer made...we will see how the ginger beer holds up.

A quick follow up on the results of the taste test;

The fellows gathered for our annual "after turkey season - shoot" this weekend (Saturday) which includes shooting various styles of arms built prior to 1898 (clones too) with friends and family. Turkey season stops at 1pm here in Illinois, after a change of clothes we started preparing the food and once it was on the stick were off to the range. The range is just behind the "deer cabin" and just over 100 yards, however this year due to the winds, we decided to shoot jugs of water offhand at 60 yards. Some jugs were suspended from a timber which was across a couple of saw horses, other jugs were just set on top of the timber. Not too difficult of a task to shoot, other than the wind gusts were somewhat brutal, making partially damaged jugs somewhat difficult to hit. Full jugs were not effected by the wind and were a substantially easier to hit.

After shooting, we concentrated on supper. Ribs, Turkey Breast, Fish, various potato and bean dishes. Normally we bring a side dish or two, however my wife was under the weather and I just brought along the Ginger Beer. The unopened one-gallon bottle that was full as the other gallon bottle became somewhat flat from the multiple samples taken during the week. The unopened bottle had a good smell and plenty of carbonation. Before we partook of any foods or other drinks, we decided to sample the Ginger Beer or at least some of us decided to try it. The reviews were mixed, somewhat down the middle, three liked the drink and three did not like the drink. All who tried it said the Ginger flavor was strong, those who did not like it said the ginger taste was too strong. One of those who did not like it said to cut back on the ginger and it would likely be pretty good.

The flavor was consistent between the two bottles, but the carbonation was not. I believe an error was made during the fermentation stage. I separated the two-gallon batch into individual one-gallon containers right after installing the yeast. There was a noticeable difference in carbonation that could have been contributed upon by separating or the fact that I spilled some during final bottling into the one-gallon apple cider jugs. The spillage allowed for excess air to be in the second bottle in which I sampled first, while it had some carbonation, it was lacking compared to the previously unopened bottle. To cure this issue, I plan to purchase a three-gallon glass container for fermentation. By popular demand, I will reduce the amount of ginger. I knew this would be a learning experience and was happy with the results, however I believe reducing the ginger would make it better. As it sets the Ginger Beer tastes like the craft soda in the picture, happenstance would have it...one fellow had some of the craft soda in his cooler (he was one who liked the Ginger Beer). So we compared the soda vs beer, if you want to try it before you brew up a batch, I would suggest purchasing a bottle of the craft soda pictured below. If you like the ginger taste in the craft soda, chances are you will like the Ginger Beer as listed with all ingredients. If you find the craft soda too strong, you may want to consider reducing the Ginger in the Ginger Beer receipt. I will likely try brewing again this weekend by reducing the Ginger by 25 percent.

I did not get around to making Ginger Beer this weekend.  Allergies had me down and too many chores around the old hobby farm needed done irregardless if I was moving 1/2 speed. 

Funny water was brought up and I know good water is important. I feel sterilization is important too, however just for discussion...We (dad and I) used water from our well here on the farm to make wine back in "96". It was a simple receipt and if memory serves me correctly it was a quart of fruit, a quart of sugar and enough water to fill the used 1 gallon cider jug (if too full it would overflow). I do not recall doing anything to the water other than getting it from the tap, it was unfiltered and the well is maybe 24 foot deep. No yeast added at any point. We bottled the wine in Canadian Club bottles as it was the neighbors preferred drink, unfortunate for us, but I assume good for him...his wife limited him to two bottles per month. Luckily, he kept them and supplied us with a couple of years worth bottles. We made the following wines; Pear, Grape, Cherry, Blueberry and Watermelon. Nearly all turned out well, however the watermelon...not so much, in fact it was terrible. The Pear, Cherry and Blueberry were all excellent!. Grape was average to good. We gave several bottles of Pear away as gifts to our friends as our pear trees produced wonderfully that year. 

The fruit was allowed to be over ripe and we carefully bottled from the fermentation jugs (used cider jugs) to Canadian Club bottles, attempting to leave the sediment behind.