gingered american ipa?

Anyone have any experience brewing with ginger?

Papazian's Vagabond Gingered Ale really caught my eye, but I've got two dark brews conditioning in bottles already (5 gallons each, I'm thinking in a few weeks I'll need a break from stout), kinda wanted to do an IPA next. Picked up the American IPA kit from Brooklyn Homebrew over the weekend. Was thinking I'd just toss in a few ounces of ginger root (into the boil for fifteen minutes) and see what happens.

Any recommendations/advice?

The ginger in the IPA will definitely make it pop but ginger can be quite bitter so use caution. Also the less time the ginger spend in the boil the more flavor and aroma will be retained in the wort.

If you just want a subtle taste of it in the IPA i would suggest 1-2oz of freshly grated ginger in the last 5-ish minutes of the boil or you can even throw it in after flame out and just pasteurize it. A micro-plane grater will be best for flavor extraction. If you throw the ginger in as whole chunks it will not impart as much character to the wort.

However, if you want to go for more of a "Ginger Ale" that would probably be 4-6oz (or even more depending on your taste). This amount of ginger may also require lactose and/or crystal malts to combat some of the added bitterness if you are not a fan of bitter beers.

What ever you may decide just remember that additions to brews should be done in moderation. it's much better to have 5 gallons of beer that does not have as much ginger flavor as you wanted rather than having 5 gallons of beer that is to gingery to drink.

Thanks David!

Definitely with you on the cautious start, probably just going to take your advice and throw in only an oz or two.

I've noticed honey pairs nicely with ginger and a lot of recipes tend to use honey. Any advice to adding honey to this recipe? Or should I forget it and just start simple?

I think I read somewhere that honey like this is best diluted with water, pasteurized, then added during secondary. Would that make sense with this recipe?

well johnny it all depends on what sounds good to you but personally i would keep it simple the first time because i like to be systematic. However, using honey can be really easy, you can even throw it in the pot at flame out then pasteurize it just like the ginger.

As with the ginger the longer you have honey in the boil the more of its aroma and flavor will be lost. If you were going to add honey to the secondary fermenter that would probably be the best way to capture most of it's characteristics. If you do go that rout then definitely dilute the honey, then pasteurize it and be sure to keep sanitary procedures when adding it to the fermenter.

Also remember that honey is highly fermentable so be sure to take readings before and after you add the honey as well as the O.G. and F.G. And as with any other sugar once it becomes 20% or more of your total fermentables it will begin to lend a sour/tart characteristic to your beer as in some Belgian styles.

Welp, got sidetracked and didn't get to brewing this until earlier this month. Just racked it to secondary with a 1/2 oz of cascade hops. Tasted it before it went into the carboy--pretty tasty! Has a nice bite on the tongue, then a subtle aftertaste of ginger. We'll see how it turns out in the bottle. I hope the dry hopping doesn't drown out the ginger taste--next time I'd probably double the ginger amount (did about two table spoons of ginger at flame out--will double check that amount in my final report here). Props to Brooklyn Homebrew: their American IPA kit is pretty tasty so far!

Welp, down to my last two bottles and I gotta say, it was a huge hit. The ginger mellowed out in the bottle, but ended up having a really pleasant finishing kick. Loved this batch and am gonna brew it again as soon as I have a free carboy!

i'm glad your gingered ipa went well, it's definitely a nice mix. i've been meaning to make another one soon. but unfortunately it's on a long to-brew list. i'm also glad you enjoy the ipa kit. keep on brewing