I made (vinted?) a 5 gallon batch of Ripper Jack Ginger Ale (cider?) on New Year’s day. I’m still having trouble classifying this drink as either a cider, ginger ale, wine, or “other.” My take on the recipe basically scaled everything up (x5) except the sugar and the ginger. I miscalculated the sugar because Wolfram|Alpha assumed the wrong units when I was doing calculations, and there wasn’t enough ginger root at the store. So in the end, my version ended up being about 6.5 lbs. of sugar versus 8 lbs., and probably only 2/5 of the ginger that really should be in the batch. Useful notes for future fermentations of the stuff: food processor or magic bullet the ginger to save time chopping or grating.
As for the style, I changed yeast to Premier Cuvée (Red Star’s blue packet) as I believe it’s the yeast I used on my first run. I enjoy the dryness of my first run and it happens that Premier Cuvée is the only yeast I had on hand. With the sugar dialed back a bit, my starting sugars came out to 23% Brix, which should ferment out to a dry 13%. This is the first use of my refractometer, so I’m still looking for accurate calculations. It appears that 23% translates to a 1.097 starting gravity and using standard beer calculators, this indicates a 13% ABV.
- 2.5 gal. Apple Juice
- 5 cans Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate
- Water to 5 gal
- 6 cups Brown Sugar
- 5 lbs. White Sugar
- 5-10 Inches Grated/Pureed Ginger Root, Fresh
- 1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
- 1 tsp Irish Moss (Optional)
- 1 package Yeast started in 1/2 gal. 0.060 white sugar must, Premier Cuvée
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