I recently brewed a batch of ginger beer based on Charlie Papazian's recipe, though I substituted a lighter malt extract. It's quite drinkable, but I'd like to try modifying it & would welcome suggestions. The 1st thing I was considering was adding some chili pepper but am uncertain how much to add & when to add it. I was also thinking about making it a little sweet, maybe using some lactose. Actually, there are two different directions I'm considering, one being a slightly sweet, unhopped chili ginger brew, sort of an alcoholic Jamaican-style ginger beer, and the other a hopped dry version. Any ideas for sweet unhopped or dry hopped versions?
I don't have my copy of Papazian's book with me but to the best of my recollection it called for steeping 8 ounces of one kind of crushed barley & 4 ounces of another for 15 minutes, then adding two cans of dark malt extract ( I substituted a lighter malt), a couple of ounces of hops for the 60 minute boil (I used Cascade, not sure what he recommended), 4 ounces of grated fresh ginger for the full boil, Irish moss after 45 minutes & another ounce of hops for just a minute at the end of the boil. Fermented for a week & transferred to secondary fermenter for a week, then primed & bottled. I tasted it after 2 weeks & it was OK but needed more time. It's been in the bottle about 5 weeks now & I've continued to taste it weekly. So far it still seems to be getting better with age. Not sure when it will peak. When I get the book back, I'll give his exact recipe, but this gives you the general idea.
Just got the book back. Here's Charlie Papazian's recipe: 6.6 lb. Munton's plain dark malt extract syrup 3/4 lb.crystal malt 1/2 lb. chocolate malt 2 oz. Cascade hops (boiling) 1 oz. Willamette hops (finishing) 2-4 oz. freshly grated ginger root American ale-type yeast 3/4 c. corn sugar for bottling Steep crushed malts in 1 1/2 gallons of water @ 150-160 degrees for 30 minutes. Strain. Add malt extract, ginger root & boiling hops then boil for 60 minutes. Add finishing hops for last minute of boil. Strain, sparge & transfer to 2 gallons of cold water in fermenter. Top off with additional water to make 5 gallons. Add yeast when cool & ferment to completion. Bottle when fermentation is complete. From the Complete Joy of Home Brewing 3rd edition This is similar to what I made, though I made substitutions as noted before. Also, the Irish moss & use of secondary fermenter may have made it a bit clearer.
