From http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=6731&p=66260&hilit=coopers+ginger+beer+fresh#p66260
Also: http://homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=10042&start=20
The ginger beer scored a 2nd in class – criticisms were that it lacked ginger bite and was too thin.
1kg of fresh ginger
2kg raw sugar
3 lemons
250g lactose
8 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
champagne yeast
23L
I have a more recent version that uses 50% more ginger and it was old ginger (left in the fridge for > 1 month which makes it more potent) and its got the real kick that i was after so i suggest upping the ginger to 1.5kg for this recipe. My next experiment will be subbing half the raw sugar for LDME and adding 250g of light crystal malt for some added sweetness. This one is a work in progress but its on its way. The recipe above will give you an alcoholic ginger lemonade type drink thats very dry but very refreshing and not being malty you can drink it like water!
So, did you ever do the LME (Liquid Malt Extract) version of this recipe? I’ve been thinking about doing that myself, when I stumbled on this post! Except that I am planning to go 100% LME. Oh, and by “LDME” do you mean something more like “L/DME,” as in “Liquid/Dry Malt Extract”? I’ve never heard of LDME…
Also, I have a friend who worked for a local fresh bottled Chai company, and he told me that there are several grades of ginger. He said that if you investigate shops in a proper China Town, you could find a source for the “hotter” grade ginger, much better than what they sell at the typical grocers.
Hi JDub,
The comments above are DrSmurto’s, as it’s just a copy/paste from the homebrewandbeer.com forum. However, my most recent ginger beer was this one:
http://helms-deep.net/~rwh/blog/beer/?p=364
It was good, though quite thick and dark coloured. To be honest, if I did it again I’d sub out the Coopers kit for a kilo of sugar or something as I don’t really like the artificial sweetener’s flavour.
LDME = Light Dry Malt Extract.
Good to know about the hotter grade ginger! Very interesting. 🙂