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It's a pretty strange recipe (apparently). It's from Charlie Papazians' book "The complete joy of Home Brewing".
It uses about 6 or is it 9 lb of honey for 5 US gallons - but then uses dextrose as well (not sure if it's actually a copyrighted recipe so if you want it, PM me and I'll copy it to you that way - unless it's ok with Bob).
I've made this twice now. It's supposed to be a dry, sparkling product.
The first time, I messed up because I didn't know that "corn sugar" is dextrose and subbed it with sucrose - plus I was being impatient.
This second batch, was made because I bought a copy of "CJOHB" and read what had been written, and understood what it was that I was supposed to be aiming for. I also added some frozen fruit I had bought cheap (Autumn fruits i.e. blackberries etc). This was last november, since making the batch, I've racked it once and decided yesterday to rack it out of plastic into glass for bulk ageing. I managed to get 3 and a half imperial gallons, plus a pint for testing, the rest went down the sink as I couldn't be bothered to try and filter or otherwise remove the last of the silt/sediment.
Now, given that I didn't enjoy the first batch, when it came to "testing" it yesterday, I was amazed. Both the ginger and the fruit flavours were prominent but not over powering. The fruit part actually reminded me of cranberry but I don't recall using any.
Either way, I was very pleased with it, so the 3 and a half gallons are now back under airlock, though I'm thinking I might just stopper them to bulk age and de-gas when I get round to bottling it. The pint is long since "down the kharzi"
but before I "tested" it, it looked like this (oh and yes it's a little cloudy as it was from the bottom of the fermenter).
regards
JtFB
It uses about 6 or is it 9 lb of honey for 5 US gallons - but then uses dextrose as well (not sure if it's actually a copyrighted recipe so if you want it, PM me and I'll copy it to you that way - unless it's ok with Bob).
I've made this twice now. It's supposed to be a dry, sparkling product.
The first time, I messed up because I didn't know that "corn sugar" is dextrose and subbed it with sucrose - plus I was being impatient.
This second batch, was made because I bought a copy of "CJOHB" and read what had been written, and understood what it was that I was supposed to be aiming for. I also added some frozen fruit I had bought cheap (Autumn fruits i.e. blackberries etc). This was last november, since making the batch, I've racked it once and decided yesterday to rack it out of plastic into glass for bulk ageing. I managed to get 3 and a half imperial gallons, plus a pint for testing, the rest went down the sink as I couldn't be bothered to try and filter or otherwise remove the last of the silt/sediment.
Now, given that I didn't enjoy the first batch, when it came to "testing" it yesterday, I was amazed. Both the ginger and the fruit flavours were prominent but not over powering. The fruit part actually reminded me of cranberry but I don't recall using any.
Either way, I was very pleased with it, so the 3 and a half gallons are now back under airlock, though I'm thinking I might just stopper them to bulk age and de-gas when I get round to bottling it. The pint is long since "down the kharzi"
but before I "tested" it, it looked like this (oh and yes it's a little cloudy as it was from the bottom of the fermenter).regards
JtFB
