Beer Forum

Hi folks,

In this thread I've been asking advice about how much ginger to use in a beer. I thought I would actually post about the beer I'm attempting to create so you could see my question in context.

Back home in Yorkshire (England) we have a cake which is eaten every autumn (fall) called Parkin. The main ingredients are oats, black treacle (molasses) and ginger. I thought it would be kinda fun to create a beer based around these ingredients which evoked the memory of the cake.

Here's my current working draft of the recipe:

4.7kg English pale malt
1.4kg flaked toasted oats
0.4kg Melanoidin malt
0.4kg Biscuit malt
0.2kg Crystal 120L
0.4kg Black treacle/molasses (to be added 2 days after start of fermentation)
2oz grated ginger root (added at 5 mins before end of boil)

45g Pacifica hops @ 90 mins
US-05 yeast

Mashing at 70 degrees C (158F), boiling for 90 mins.

Aiming for 1.070 and 31 IBUs

I want the ginger to be present in the flavour and the aroma but not to dominate - I'm looking for some biscuity malt and some rich sweetness too.

What do people think? It's very much an experiment for me.

Looks tasty. I only wonder about your yeast selection. I would think the desert being an english type you would go with an english yeast strain.

+1 with the yeast. An english strain sounds like it might go a bit better with your selections. 158 degrees sounds a bit high for mashing too with the grains you have, but depending on where you want your final gravity to be could be workable. maybe a few degrees lower would be better for a larger beer like you have there. If you want more ginger flavor then try adding it a bit earlier in the boil, maybe around 15 min for 1 oz and 5 min for the other (aroma)? just throwin ideas at ya!

Yeah, I know what you mean on the yeast. If I had some English yeast to hand I would probably use it. However, I will have a US-05 yeast cake available and I figure it's pretty neutral so it should be OK. If it is close but not quite, then I know that next time I need to use an English yeast!

And anyway, doing it this way appeals to my Yorkshire tight-fistedness. As they always say, a Yorkshireman is a Scotsman with the generosity beaten out of him!

Thanks for all the input.

Martin

Well, I brewed this baby at the weekend. I ended up going with 2oz of grated fresh root ginger at 15 mins, then another ounce at flameout. The post-boil wort tasted exactly like Parkin (the cake) so I'm stoked. How that will hold up post-ferment I'm not sure.

I dumped the wort onto a fresh US-05 yeast cake and it took off like a rocket. Two days later I boiled up a litre of recovered wort with the black treacle, cooled it and dumped it in. The ferment has kicked up again and is running smoothly. I'll check the SG at the weekend and give it a wee taste.

Thanks for all the input guys.

Brew Strong!

ElectricLandlord wrote: I'll check the SG at the weekend and give it a wee taste.

Just a wee taste now, must save some for the holidaze!