Why Is My Ginger Beer Flat?

[murphy0987]

Hi all

I am new to this forum, and fairly new to brewing beer. I have a question about brewing ginger beer. I have brewed a couple of morgan's ginger beer, however both times they have ended up being really flat. They taste really nice, but with no gas. The first one seemed to have no carbonation at all, so the next time i decided to try putting a bit more sugar into the bottles to try and give it a bit more gas, which helped a bit, but still seemed to be flat to me. Is this normal for ginger beer? Or am i doing something wrong. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[microbe]

If you add some details about your recipe and proceedure it may be easier to give more accurate advice.

In general though, more sugar will help - but may leave you with bottle bombs. Also more time may be of assistance. Alternatively a higher temperature as it matures may help speed/increase carbonation.

EDIT - pressed submit too early

 

[murphy0987]

I use the moragn's ginger beer kit. I dont do anything special with the kit, just use the contents of the can, with 1 kg of sugar. Allow to ferment and then bottle after roughly a week once fermentation has stopped. I was originally putting a heaped teaspoon of sugar into the bottles, but then the second time, i tried 1 and a half teaspoons, which did help a little, however still remains fairly flat. I have made the coopers lager beer, and used a teaspoon of sugar in the bottle which was fine, and gave the beer enough carbonation, so I am wondering why the ginger beer is different

 

[microbe]

I haven't made serious notes on my ginger beers beyond recipe, fermentation temps and gravity readings but have found them to be slower to completely carbonate. In general I have found the carb level to be similar to my beers that I've made so I can't really shed any more light than what I've already suggested. Haven't made the Morgans though.

Maybe you could try bulk priming. Have a search of the site and especially the wiki - there's a wealth of information in there.

Cheers,

microbe

 

[MVZOOM]

Murph, sounds like you're doing everything well - question, what temp are the bottles being stored at and how long have you waited prior to drinking them

Cheers - Mike

 

[barls]

how long are you leaving the bottles mate before trying them

 

[murphy0987]

It has been 3 weeks, which is probably a bit early maybe? Is it possible they will get more carbonation as they mature? Im not sure exaclty was tmeperature the bottles are in. Just normal room temperature, so to have a guess I would say around 22-24 degrees. Would this be too cold for them maybe? I dont have a setup to keep the bottles at a certain temperature, so im sort of restricted in that area.

 

[KGB]

No, that temp should be fine to let them carbonate. Seems strange you get normal results with the lager but not with the ginger beer.

Try bulk priming like microbe suggested. Or move to kegs and force carb.

 

[Marshman666]

Hi all

I am new to this forum, and fairly new to brewing beer. I have a question about brewing ginger beer. I have brewed a couple of morgan's ginger beer, however both times they have ended up being really flat. They taste really nice, but with no gas. The first one seemed to have no carbonation at all, so the next time i decided to try putting a bit more sugar into the bottles to try and give it a bit more gas, which helped a bit, but still seemed to be flat to me. Is this normal for ginger beer? Or am i doing something wrong. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hello

I have had the same problem.

I have been brewing for 6 months and have tried ginger beer twice. Both times I have flat (but delicious tasting) ginger beer.

I have no idea why this is happening. All my other brews are fine.

I have been experimenting with adding extra carb drops to some of the bottles. One extra drop had a bit of a difference. Now I am experimenting with 2 and 3 extra drops.

I will let you know how this goes in a week.

This is really baffling everyone I ask.

Tom

 

[akx]

Now I am experimenting with 2 and 3 extra drops.

Be careful with bottle bombs. I would not be doing this in regular glass beer bottles.

 

[duncbrewer]

No carbonation suggests a leak or no production of CO2.

One carbonation drop in a well sealed 500ml bottle kept around 22c for a couple of weeks and then chilled should see you right.
Try bottling some of your batch in a plastic pet bottle. This will get firmer and firmer as it carbs up and will indicate to you how well your glass bottles will be doing.

 

[Kdn]

You didn't mention the size of the bottles, for 750ml glass or plastic I use 2 teaspoons of normal sugar per bottle, or if i use carbonation drops its two per bottle which should equate the same either way.

The sugar has to go somewhere, either its still in the bottle and your drinking it (sweet tasting?) or its fermented and escaped the bottle.

 

[Adlee20]

Hello

I have had the same problem.

I have been brewing for 6 months and have tried ginger beer twice. Both times I have flat (but delicious tasting) ginger beer.

I have no idea why this is happening. All my other brews are fine.

I have been experimenting with adding extra carb drops to some of the bottles. One extra drop had a bit of a difference. Now I am experimenting with 2 and 3 extra drops.

I will let you know how this goes in a week.

This is really baffling everyone I ask.

Tom

What happened?

I have got the same issue except I bottled in 500ml pet bottle after three weeks and added one teaspoon of sugar. 2vweeks later at 20c no fizz watsoever

 

[Adlee20]

Hello

I have had the same problem.

I have been brewing for 6 months and have tried ginger beer twice. Both times I have flat (but delicious tasting) ginger beer.

I have no idea why this is happening. All my other brews are fine.

I have been experimenting with adding extra carb drops to some of the bottles. One extra drop had a bit of a difference. Now I am experimenting with 2 and 3 extra drops.

I will let you know how this goes in a week.

This is really baffling everyone I ask.

Tom

What happened?