Fresh Grated Ginger?

I've used grated fresh ginger, dried ginger root and ground ginger in cooking. In my less-than-MrOH capacity I'd be willing to bet fresh grated ginger root would, gram for gram, have at least twice the characteristic ginger flavor and ginger 'bite' as either dried ginger root or ground ginger.

 

I like ground ginger for cooking. I make a drink with fresh ginger chopped then simmered in some water. If i used it in beer i would add the simmered ginger during fermentation so you don't lose any flavor.

 

There is another type of ginger I used to see at Wegman's. Thailand ginger I think.
Looked bigger and darker. Might consider it though not sure difference in taste.

 

I haven't used powdered ginger, so I can't speak to the comparison, but I regularly use fresh ginger. 1/3 lb in a 5 gallon pale lager recipe gives a very nice ginger flavour--not a hot ginger taste, but very recognizable. The one time that I used .5 lb, there was a bitter flavour that I didn't like; this faded as the bottled beer aged (over months). I put it in for the last 10 minutes of the boil. I don't peel the ginger--just wash it, cut off iffy bits, and grate the whole thing. Lots of people have tried this beer and like it best of the homebrew that I offer them.

 

I can't remember where I read it, so take this with a grain of salt, but I seem to remember that ginger has enzymes in it that break down protein. So you might want to boil the ginger rather than adding it to the cold beer. I suppose you could boil it and add the water whenever you want, though.

 

I used a few chunks of crystallized in a gallon of saison in secondary and it was more than enough. I’d imagine fresh would be more intense/spicy and using it late boil like you mentioned would work best. You could always add more in later if you feel like it’s lacking.

 

Oh the other thing I'd say is that my instinct is that fresh ginger is probably considerably weaker than dried ginger, pound for pound. At least that's how it works with most other plant-based flavorings e.g. basil.

 

Sorry for the late response @VikeMan.

So far as the difference in brewing, I've never used dry, only ever candied/crystallized or fresh. Unfortunately, I lost records of amounts of either when BrewToad went under. However, we still make Ginger Beer here and there; ~1/2C (4oz)/gal grated fresh gives it the kick of the good Jamaican stuff. Sorry about lack of weight, the ol' lady handles most of the non-alcoholic or non-food fermentation. If meant to be an accent in a Tripel, I'd definitely do less. If you want to get a ballpark estimate, maybe just buy a bottle of Tripel and some ginger beer and do some blending. Wouldn't by any means be exact, but could get you close to where you want to be.

@memory You're referring to Galangal, which is very closely related to ginger, and is what tends to be used in Thai and other SE Asian cuisine. It's has a similar, but different flavor, a little bit more pungent but less bite.

@Beer_Life Fresh ginger does contain an enzyme that breaks down protein, but I'd imagine head retention would be the only real victim in beer. Cooking would denature, which is why dry and candied don't have this problem. You are also on the correct that fresh ginger is weaker than dried when it comes to the bite, as the heat compound in dry ginger is stronger than the compound in fresh, and also that there is less moisture content. However, fresh ginger contains a lot of other flavor compounds that dry does not.

Personally, I only use dried ginger in baked goods, and even then it depends on the flavor and impact I want. Anything else I'm going to use fresh or candied.

In regards to flavor, fresh, cooked, and dried ginger all have different flavors due to the breakdown of Gingerol. Fresh ginger is all Gingerol. As it ages, it breaks down into Shogaol, which has more bite. This happens even before the ginger is harvested, which is why Hardywood's Gingerbread Stout was such a big deal when it first came out- it used all "baby" ginger (hadn't developed the heavy, papery skin yet), so it was a very fresh flavor. Not sure if they exclusively use baby anymore. If the ginger is heated, the Gingerol is transformed into Zingerone, which has less bite. All things to keep in mind when you are trying to figure out the type of ginger to add, and when.

More food for thought when choosing type of ginger and timing of addition that fresh ginger, galangal, and even Grains of Paradise all contain a lot of essential oils and other heat sensitive compounds, including some that are found in hops. Using the table on page 393 of "On Food and Cooking" by McGee, we can see the biggest flavor components of each.

Galangal: cineole, pinene, geranyl acetate, methyl cinnamte, camphor, eugenol, galangal acetate
Ginger: pellandrene, cineole, citral, linalool, zingiberente, gingerol and shogaol (ratio depends on freshness)
Grains of Paradise: linalool, humulene, caryophyllene, gingerol and shogaol (depends on freshness)

So, I don't think I answered any questions, but I did provide a lot of information and some opinions, so that's something.

 

This might be galangal, westernized so as not to scare off potential buyers.

edit: I see this has been covered!

 

I've used powdered ginger and boiled ginger in beers.
The powdered was old so dam little ginger taste.

Boiled was a tip from a friend who added ginger to every pale/ipa he made. Method is to boil ginger root till it is like a soggy noodle.
Then either add a slice to primary or add water to the bottleing bucket. The end results was a very hot ginger presence so when I make my mole brew, I add 2 strips of the boiled ginger to the secondary which blends nicely with the rest of the mole spices.

Either way go easy unless you want a overpowered ginger brew.

 

I recently added ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg to a robust porter. I used one large cinnamon stick and balanced it visually with the ginger and nutmeg. I chose to heat it up in a saucepan on the stove so I could try to balance the aromas of each. Then added that mixture at the end of the boil. Wish I had some measures to share, but it was the first time trying this method and I just went more by look and smell.

 

"I recently added ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg to a robust porter"

Let us know how that turned out. I'm guessing a Christmas ale.

 

it was a take on the Pumpkin Mule cocktail. So there was also pumpkin in the mash and lime in the boil. (Not relevant earlier in the thread but since it came up I’ll add it in)

it turned out well, the lime is more powerful than the spices. If I were to do it again I’d add more cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger to get a better balance. It smelled like it would be a lot, but got pretty subdued through fermentation.

(editing to FINALLY get the photo to post properly)