Whats better than gingerbread cookies? How about gingerbread cookies on a cold winter’s night with a night cap to warm the soul? This recipe that I’m posting attempts to make a beer that tastes like gingerbread cookies, but gives a bit of an alcoholic warmth during cold winter nights. Ideally, I want this brew to be malty and definitely contain a good amount of ginger; fresh grated ginger will be used as opposed to the powdered kind. All the classic spices that are found in gingerbread cookies will also be used, such as nutmeg, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, and molasses – I can’t wait for this beer to be ready. I based my recipe of DmanGTR’s blog post – the Ginger beast. He’s an avid homebrewer that appears often on BA to impart his brewing wisdom.
- 8 lbs of Marris Otter malt
- 1 lb of Crystal 20L
- 0.5 lb Honey malt
- 0.25 lb Chocolate Malt
- 1 oz First Gold at 30 minutes – 23.4 IBUs
- Spices: 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp allspice, 1.5 tsp cinnamon, and 1 oz of freshly grated Ginger root. All added at 5 minutes
- 0.25 lb of Sulphur-free molasses
- 1 lb of lactose
Fermented with one dry yeast packet of Nottingham
3.8 Gallons
OG: 1.073
FG: 1.039
ABV: 4.45%
First sample coming out of the fermenter has some odd qualities that I hope will change for the better over time. Taste is sweet and the nutmeg is coming through, but ginger and cinnamon are not noticeable. Also, there is a slight toasty taste to the brew – an almost burnt-like quality. This was my first time trying honey malt but I doubt that this modified malt will give me a burnt taste; honey malt supposedly lends an intensely sweet character. I started this beer about a week ago and will transfer to my keg tonight, given time the profile hopefully will change a bit – as of now I’m not too happy with it. Another interesting note is the final gravity: 1.039. This is undoubtedly caused by the lactose added to the last 5 minutes of the boil, as I’m afraid I added to much causing the beer to finish with a higher gravity. This could be a call for an experiment: At what percentages of lactose added to the boil will finish at what gravities with a given yeast strain?
