Ginger Beer Too Dry

[FazerPete]

Hi all. I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum for this but I'm new to AHB,

I'm reasonably new to this brewing caper but have had done some nice K&K brews that I've been pretty happy with considering I'm a beginner.

I therefore thought that I'd try a GB last week and picked up a kit this week and put it down with 1kg Dex, 0.5kg raw sugar and 2 tspns of grated ginger. It's been fermenting nicely and I had a taste out of the fermenter last night and it's pretty good but it's really dry and then I realised that I'd forgotten to add the artificial sweetener stuff and I couldn't find the sachet.

I'd like to sweeten it a bit before I keg it so I was thinking that I might just make a syrup out of a couple of cups of sugar and a little boiling water and add this to keg. Do you think this might work? It shouldn't ferment in the keg because it'll be at fridge temperatures. Has anyone done this?

 

[Weizguy]

You could keg now (but U already said that there's little sweetness), or add sugar (or sugarine/sweetener) and keg. If the brew is already dry, U may want to keg before it brews drier.

U could add lactose for some sweetness, perhaps. Opinions?

Seth's 2 cents

 

[Adamt]

Adding sugar is not a good idea unless you filter out the yeast. The sugar will ferment out and will just add a bit more alcohol. The artificial sweetener will add sweetness without fermenting out.

 

[FazerPete]

Adding sugar is not a good idea unless you filter out the yeast. The sugar will ferment out and will just add a bit more alcohol. The artificial sweetener will add sweetness without fermenting out.

That was why I thought I might add it to the keg instead of the fermenter because that will below fermentation temps.

 

[pint of lager]

Fazerpete, that should work as you will keep the keg in the fridge well below ferment temps.

To give you an idea of how much sugar to add, grab a 250ml sample from the fermenter, add a teaspoon of sugar, taste it, then add more sugar if necessary. Keep a track of the number of teaspoons then scale up for your keg.

 

[warrenlw63]

Just add half a bottle of Buderim Ginger Cordial syrup to the keg. Then serve it cold and drink it as quickly as you can before it becomes overcarbed (though hard to do on ginger beer). The bonus is it will become more alcoholic too.

Warren -

 

[FazerPete]

That sounds like a good idea pint of lager. I was wondering how I was going to get the sweetness level right.

I'll give it a go tonight and report back.

Thanks everyone for their quick replies.

 

[Keifer]

I've got a GB going at the moment too, the prob with mine was that i forgot i had no space in the fermenting fridge till after i put it together i started with the yeast under the can but then chucked a saflager in and squeezed it in my keg fridge and turned the temp as high as it would go. Lucky it's sitting at 10c constantly now

I added just over 100grams of shredded fresh ginger root that was steeped in very hot water for 5-10 mins. The ginger smell when i open the door is awesome, can't wait to taste it!!

Which brand of kit are you using Fazer? mines a 'beermakers' one..

 

[FazerPete]

To be honest, I can't remember. I just noticed it when I was in the HB shop and grabbed it. It came in a small brown canister and had Old Fashioned Ginger Beer written on it but I can't remember who makes it. I was in a bit of a hurry last week because the wife was on my back to get stuff done around the house and I just chucked it on very quickly.

I'll get it again though and let you know.

 

[FazerPete]

Thanks everyone for their advice, it's come out beautifully.

What I did was:

Dissolved 260g of caster sugar in just enough boiling water to take it out of suspension
Added this to the keg
Added the GB to the keg
Sealed and burped the keg to get rid of the air
Gently rocked and rolled the keg to mix it all up
Carbonated it as normal

It's come out just right with a nice strong ginger flavour. The only problem is I don't think it's going to last long because the missus loves it too. It's very refreshing on these hot days.

 

[Keifer]

Good work fzrpete, at first i wanted everyone to like my beers, for a couple of months i was the only one who did
Now everyone drinks it all on me i only get about 1/4-1/3 of what i brew

How much alcohol does yours have?

 

[FazerPete]

Yeah, I've got the same problem. I had a heap of the outlaws around last weekend and they drank about a keg and a half of my beer. It was the usual thing: "Oh you brew your own do you?" with that smirk on their face, but they kept drinking it. Now I've only got a killer 8.6% black & tan that I did and the GB in the fridge.

I didn't bother taking an OG so I'm not exactly sure of the alcohol but with 1.5 kg of sugars in it, it should be around 5-5.5%. It will be a good way of getting tanked without knowing because it just tastes like an extra gingery soft drink.

Let me know how yours goes.