Handling ginger

[DannyW]

No, Gilligan, this is not the time to discuss your late night fantasies..

I'm getting ready to make some ginger ale and remember that the last time I had a terrible time getting the ginger shredded up with a grater. It gets real stringy and leaves a ton of sediment.

Does frozen, sliced (and maybe bruised?) ginger root give up its tasty flavor almost as well as the shredded slop? Seems that thin disks would be much easier to filter out on the way to the keg.

If I do end up with lots of sediment, will any of our common beer finings (gelatin, polyclar, bentonite maybe?) help clot it up so it will stick to the bottom of the keg when I rack it off?

Maybe a big sanitized hop sock would work, kind of like dry hopping. Any downside to that? Does the root get bitter or otherwise nasty if its kept in the cold keg?

[Push Eject]

One word: food processor.

Okay -- that's two words. Damn.

Can we get back to discussing Ginger and her sweet curves?!

Push Eject

[Bugeater]

I guess I'm the authority here on this topic. At work, I use fresh ginger in a lot of recipe. We keep fresh ginger root in the freezer (at about -10°F). When I need some I just grate a piece of the frozen root. No strings, no loss of flavor. Just toss the rest of the piece back in the freezer for next time.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

[beer_bear]

Can we get back to discussing Ginger and her sweet curves?!

Push Eject

MMMMMMMM Ginger curves MMMMMMMMM *drooling* must talk about Ginger curves ....MMMMMM

[Geistbier]

I just noticed this show on Ginger Beer, it might have some tips.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrew ... -31-06.mp3

Spent the afternoon looking at brewing shows and for the most part they are disappointing at least there is the BN.

Brewcast Brewcast Brewcast!

[DannyW]

I guess I'm the authority here on this topic. At work, I use fresh ginger in a lot of recipe. We keep fresh ginger root in the freezer (at about -10°F). When I need some I just grate a piece of the frozen root. No strings, no loss of flavor. Just toss the rest of the piece back in the freezer for next time.

Thanks, boog, this tip worked great.

I made some ginger ale last night and the frozen ginger peeled and sliced very well. I ended up pureeing the ginger in the food processor, then steeping it with the rest of the ingredients before straining and dumping in the corny.

Next time I'll probably make up a bunch of the ginger-tea and freeze it like concentrate to make the next bach even easier.