Temperature For Pitching Yeast

[hobartbrewer]

If you really don't want to go to a LHBS and get a proper brewing yeast, the homebrew section at Big W has brewing yeast. I wouldn't use it as I have no idea what it is, but it isn't expensive and has to be more appropriate for ethanol production than bakers yeast??

I went to a homebrew store and got some champagne yeast already. I'll try and keep a sample of this yeast going so I can use it in the future if its any good. I added some to my ginger beer already to speed it up.

 

[NewtownClown]

I really hope the underptch doesn't ruin your ginger vinegar beer...

 

[gravey]

what you might want to try next time is a couple of cans of coopers ginger beer extract, you can make a surprisingly good ginger beer using this, especially if you add some grated ginger, buderim ginger refresher, chilli and some lemon or lime zest and juice. I only use 1 can and 1KG of dextrose as I want it to be a refreshing summer drink, but if you like it strong try doubling both the extract and the dex. If you like it sweet add lactose after fermentation is complete as lactose is unfermentable.

 

[mikec]

what you might want to try next time is a couple of cans of coopers ginger beer extract, you can make a surprisingly good ginger beer using this, especially if you add some grated ginger, buderim ginger refresher, chilli and some lemon or lime zest and juice. I only use 1 can and 1KG of dextrose as I want it to be a refreshing summer drink, but if you like it strong try doubling both the extract and the dex. If you like it sweet add lactose after fermentation is complete as lactose is unfermentable.

The Coopers kit is plenty sweet as it is. It has sweetener in it.
Other than I agree, I've made some decent GB's by adding to the Coopers kit.

 

[gravey]

The Coopers kit is plenty sweet as it is. It has sweetener in it.

Agree, but it can finish up quite dry. I kegged mine last week and it finished up below 1.000. The beauty of back sweetening is you dont have to play a guessing game with sweetness. If you want it sweeter (personally I dont, I like it dry and refreshing) you can get the ratios right in a glass and then apply that ratio to your brew. It sounds like the OP likes it sweet, hence the advice.

 

[mikec]

Agree, but it can finish up quite dry. I kegged mine last week and it finished up below 1.000. The beauty of back sweetening is you dont have to play a guessing game with sweetness. If you want it sweeter (personally I dont, I like it dry and refreshing) you can get the ratios right in a glass and then apply that ratio to your brew. It sounds like the OP likes it sweet, hence the advice.

Finishing at 1.000 is well and good (mine have done that too) but this doesn't reduce the sweetness of the sweetener. That remains.
I find the Coopers kit, even at 1.000, very sweet.
Personal taste I guess.

 

[gravey]

Gotcha...... Either way, it seems about right for me and it sounds like you agree - certainly doesnt need any more sweetening. The OP may not agree considering he was aiming for 14% ABV OR a ******* sweet ginger beer with a tonne of residual sugar, which clearly isnt the way to get sweetness unless you like exploding bottles. So my point remains - to get additional sweetness use lactose after ferment, that's all I was trying to say really.

TBH I havent made ginger beer since last summer, for me its an easy drinking, refreshing drink. Not something I want to get shitfaced off after 2 drinks and not something I want to taste like lollie water. From memory, its not so sweet that I want to puke, but I get your point about it having a degree of sweetness to it no matter how far it ferments out.

 

[hobartbrewer]

what you might want to try next time is a couple of cans of coopers ginger beer extract, you can make a surprisingly good ginger beer using this, especially if you add some grated ginger, buderim ginger refresher, chilli and some lemon or lime zest and juice. I only use 1 can and 1KG of dextrose as I want it to be a refreshing summer drink, but if you like it strong try doubling both the extract and the dex. If you like it sweet add lactose after fermentation is complete as lactose is unfermentable.

Yeah I've read on the forum here that many people like the coopers ginger beer kit. My main problem with it though is it has artificial sweeteners in it I believe, and I tend to stay away from such things. I know when I have low carb beer which I believe has the same things in it that it affects me. Does anyone know if low carb beer has artificial sweeteners?

My own concoction tastes pretty good currently, more expensive than a kit but alas, it's all natural ingredients too. I won't know what it's properly like until I bottle it though.... I just hope the high alcohol content doesn't ruin it and that no other issues crop up between now and then. I usually haven't tested my other brews multiple times with a hydrometer and added 2 different extra yeasts whilst its fermenting.....

 

[sp0rk]

Dr Smurto's GB is pretty darn good

1-1.25kg of fresh ginger
4-6 cloves
1 stick cinnamon
a few lemons, sliced
Dex or raw sugar to hit your desired abv
Champagne yeast .

 

[hobartbrewer]

My recipe was like this :-

800g fresh ginger fully blended
8 lemons, fully blended
1 lime, fully blended
A handful of sultanas

So I would boil 2 litres of water in this mash, mix in as much sugar as would dissolve, then filter it into the fermenter, and repeated until I had 12 litres of boiled essence. Then filled to 21L with water.

Then I added some honey and some golden syrup and some extra dried ginger for some more spice.

 

[sp0rk]

That seems like a good recipe, I'm told some chilli gives it a very nice bite too

 

[hobartbrewer]

That seems like a good recipe, I'm told some chilli gives it a very nice bite too

Yeah I'll have to try some chilli one day. I'm not sure what I'll do for my next brew, I kinda feel like making something tropical. Any ideas?

 

[QldKev]

A better way to get your yeast is head to the local brothel. Get one of the ladies to squat over the fermenter for a while, enough yeasties will get into the beer.

 

[hobartbrewer]

I drained off my first 750ml bottle of this brew two days ago. It was roughly 6-7% alcohol at the time. I let it carb for a while then sit in the fridge and freezer at alternating times. It didn't end up carbing very much but I drank it anyhow.

It was "ok", drinkable but not the best ginger beer I've had and has a slight after taste (perhaps the lemon pith I added). I think it needs time to get a bit non green. I'm going to let the main batch ferment out to 14% and then wait a few days after that so perhaps it can "clean up after itself". I'll just mix it with lemonade or ginger beer as 14% is probably going to be a bit too strong to drink straight enjoyably, but I'll see I guess.

 

[hobartbrewer]

3 weeks to the night I started this and its still bubbling, though mighty slow now. It's approx 11% alcohol, reading 1030 on the hydrometer.

 

[glenwal]

and its still bubbling

Whats your atmospheric pressure like? The faster it drops, the faster your fermenter will bubble.

 

[jammer]

I really hope the underptch doesn't ruin your ginger vinegar beer...

Marty made a funny!I admit I laughed and snorted.

 

[bignath]

Or it could be CO2 venting itself...

Just sayin'...

 

[jammer]

Or it could be CO2 venting itself...

Just sayin'...

You are right. On reflection, it was definitely co2. Marty never made a funny before....Must've been a typo. Phew.