Ginger Beer

So the quest for springtime/summer brews continues. Thought I'd throw in a curveball and make ginger beer. The parent recipe, brewed way back when, was a fan fav. It was also based on my sis' recipe that just took third at a competition and is headed off to nationals! Go sis! I changed things up a bit and tried to use ingredients that were just laying around. The Major change was 3oz ginger at 10 min (previous batch) to 1.5oz at 30 and 10 min to get some flavor (will add significant bitterness). Also, used the lager yeast from the Pilsner just brewed (instead of an ale yeast).

For beer geeks. 3.25# maris otter 2 row, 3.0 canadian 2 row, 1 1/8# crystal 30, 3/8# munich, 1# malted wheat. No water additions to my filtered water. Mash in at 154 for 60 min and mash out at 170 for 5 min. Kettle schedule: 60 minute boil, 60 min: 1 oz spalt (4.1%); 30 MIN 1.0 oz grated ginger; 10 min 1.5 oz grated ginger and irish moss; 5 min 1 oz spalt. Chill and ferment at cellar temp (wyeast 2206 from pils), about 52-54 degrees.

unfortunately I didn't have enough ginger so I skimped a little. If need be I can dry hop with ginger in the secondary (dry ginger?). But the best part of this is that I started at about 6 after work and finished right at 10 or so! Maybe I'll brew after work more often. Target gravity 1.045, actual, 1.046.