Whatever you use, make sure it’s light and fermentable. Dextrose (corn sugar) found at homebrew supply shops also has a very neutral flavor that works well with ginger. True cane sugar from evaporated cane juice is better than table sugar (white sugar, beet sugar). You can use any fermentable sugar, but consider that using anything other than simple sugar will make something other than alcoholic ginger ale (i.e., honey = ginger mead, apple juice = ginger cider, etc.) so simple light-colored sugars are recommended. To build a fermentable base for your ginger ale “wort”, you’ll need to dissolve sugar in water. So it is best to think of it as the primary flavor of your ginger ale, rather than the source of fermentable sugar. Unlike malt, fruit juice, or honey, ginger does not contain much sugar. Be prepared to add more ginger to the ginger ale after fermentation, just like dry hopping a beer. The earlier you add ginger in the brewing process, the less aroma you are going to get in the final product, due to evaporation of volatile oils during steeping and the escaping of gases during fermentation. Crystallized ginger should also be diced to maximize surface area of contact with the “wort”, but be prepared to wipe your knife clean frequently … it’s sticky. You want the kind that is actually sweetened, cooked chunks of ginger. Please don’t confuse crystallized ginger with ginger candy chews, which are a taffy-like candy flavored with ginger. Crystallized ginger is usually found in the bulk section of organic and gourmet groceries, near the dried fruits. Crystallized or “candied” ginger will add that punch and take your ginger ale from tasting like the fizzy soda in the green can to a pungent and well-rounded fermented beverage. Though fresh ginger root is a key ingredient, it is not concentrated enough to give the strong ginger punch that you may be looking for. To use it in ginger ale, break off a lobe at a time, scrape the peel off with the tip of a spoon, and then dice it very small (but big enough to strain out later) and add it to the hot – not boiling – water before fermentation. It gives an unmistakable bite, crispness and flavor to ginger ale that makes for a very refreshing beverage. Ginger root is a branchlike rhizome made of fat knobs or “lobes” found in the produce section of most supermarkets. For brewing ginger ale, you’ll get excellent results from a mix of fresh ginger root and crystallized ginger. Ginger comes in a lot more forms these days than just the ground powder on grandma’s spice rack. Using basic techniques that even beginning brewers can master, a great alcoholic ginger ale is just a fermentation away! This article will walk you through the basic ingredients of alcoholic ginger ale and give you a simple, easy-to- modify recipe for your first batch. Regardless of where you live, the good news is that alcoholic ginger ale is very easy to make, and it’s easy to adjust a recipe to suit one’s own particular tastes. Long before Not Your Father’s Ginger Ale in the United States, Crabbie’s and other brands enjoyed a long history of success in the United Kingdom. « Back to Questions How to Make Alcoholic Ginger AleĪlcoholic ginger ale is gaining popularity today, but has been around for centuries.
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