Ginger Beer problems.

[Moshiach]

Hey, me and my friends have made a ginger beer, I posted earlier saying it wasn't fermenting but it ended up going normal, just took a few days.

It's just about ready, we've taken the gravity test and worked it out to be about 4.11%. We used a "Beermakers" syrup and followed the instructions, which they say should work out to 3%, but we used 1.5kg of sugar instead of 1kg, plus we only made it up to 21L instead of 23L, to get a higher alcohol level.

We've tasted it, and while it's good, it could be better. It's not very strong in flavor. Are there ways to boost the flavor when bottling such as adding some ginger to each bottle?

Also with the 500g extra sugar, and making up to 2L less than what was suggested, we were hoping to get around the 6% mark. Are there ways to make it more alcoholic without ruining it?

Plus we used 5g of yeast which someone said in the other post wasn't very much. How might it have changed the brew, and what is a normal amount?


Cheers.

 

[david_42]

Get 50 gm of fresh ginger, grate/shred/slice thin. Boil it in 2L of water with 1 kg of sugar for about 15 minutes. Cool & add to the fermenter. That should improve the flavor & raise the ABV about 2%. The ginger will mask the cider flavors from the table sugar.

For most dried yeasts 1 gm per 2L is best. So, next time, use two packets.

 

[Moshiach]

At the moment it looks like it'll be ready to bottle by tomorrow or the day after, so will adding this water/sugar/ginger mix throw out the fermenting process? Plus a total of 2.5kg of sugar seems a lot, does too much sugar spoil the brew in some way?

And I've read that apparantly once you've sealed up the fermentor, you shouldn't open it coz it can contaminate the brew or something.

Since we only had 5g of yeast to begin with, should we add more now or just leave it to keep going with the extra sugar and ginger?


Thanks for the advice.

 

[david_42]

1. Adding the sugar will restart the ferment
2. Too much table sugar can add a cidery flavor, but the ginger will cover that.
3. Just be careful
4. The existing yeast will do the job.

 

[Moshiach]

Thanks heaps.

We'll be going to the home brew store today to get some more sugar, do you recommend any, corn? dextrose? malt? some combination? And will adding these higher quality sugars instead of table sugar avoid the cidery taste?

And if we wanted to just get it to 6% from the start, would we just put in the 2.5kg from the start?


Cheers.

 

[DrDs]

Hey, new here and having a problem

Im doing Ginger Beer in a carboy, using Panela (unrefined cane sugar) and Honey. I started a bug (wild fermentation recipe) without yeast. Started bubbleing in a couple of days, put it in a sun room, it's the warmest place in northern Ecuador. Added the ginger sugar mix and the bug. My mix in a week is bubbling but also is thick, like mucus. It's gross. But what's wrong. It's weird and I've read all over for how/why this could happen....Any ideas?



Any help would be great!

THanks D.

 

[barmy]

i tried to create a bug with grated ginger & sugar adding a tablespoon of each every day. the second day it got fragrant & foamy. should i have started the ginger beer then? i thought i was supposed to go for 5 days to strengthen the bug. but it lost the foaminess by the time i started the beer so there was no carbonation at all.