Alcoholic Ginger Beer

[Welshwitch]

Cussword what was it like with the beer yeast ?? Sorry I am always late replying we have been away for a couple of weeks.

We used the youngs super wine yeast compound

 

[gsidford]

Hi welshwitch, I have also kicked off 5 gallons of that recipe and am using some champaign yeast (E1118 I think). It has been a bit slow over the last week but has got down from 1055 to 1030 today so a bit to go yet.

Taste so far is great, cannot wait for the final product, thanks for sharing this !

Guy

 

[Welshwitch]

Hi guy glad you like it however, this one hasn't gone quite as fizzy so Mr W has just added 5 grains of youngs super wine yeast compound to 500 ml bottles. Will let you know if it improves. He said next time he is not going to stop it just bottle and prime. If you hear of nuclear explosion over Yorkshire it could be our ginger beer

Not sure how our first two batches turned out fizzy all trial and error, still tastes nice flat though.

 

[gsidford]

I will listen out for the shockwaves from the blasts !

Mine is now down to 1022 so I am hoping the warmer weather is going to get this finished. I guess with the E1118 being bottom fermenting it is being rather sensitive to the tile floor temperature of the kitchen floor, which it is sitting on. Maybe I need to negotiate a better place with fermenting with she who enjoys the output of my foray into brewing.

I was going to rack it into bottles and prime there. Far too new to this lark to venture into stopping the yeast from doing its stuff, maybe parts of Redditch will be similarly devastated.

 

[gsidford]

My ginger beer has now dropped from 1055-1002 and the yeast is still happily doing it's stuff. Now my problem ....

The little beasties have taken so much sugar out this is starting to taste quite bitter. When I take a sample and add sugar back in, it turns out to be a very nice brew, good ginger kick and the hint that it might be a good idea not to drink too much of this in one go.

So I have still to get this into the bottles and prime them, but I guess that I am going to end up with a very gingery :thumb: alcoholic :thumb: drink without the sweetness associated with the usual experience of ginger beer.

How do you guys tackle this ?

 

[snail59]

Splenda (other non sugar sweetners are available) It sweetens without fermenting.

 

[gsidford]

Cracked open the first bottle today and it has cleared nicely, plenty of bubbles and a great gingery aftertaste .... well worth the wait for this one. Now where is the next 1.5l bottle ..... :thumb:

Guy

 

[Welshwitch]

Glad you are enjoying it Mr Witch has put some of ours in the fridge to sample a bit later.

 

[ingypingy2]

Hi All, quite new here, mostly a winemaker and prob soundin daft to ask, but do you need to put yeast nutrient in this recipe too? Hubby fancies having a bash at it so we're gonna do a gallon tomorrow! Wasn't sure if it needs it or not since nobody has mentioned it in the recipe? :)

 

[rickthebrew]

Should be fine without any nutrient

 

[ingypingy2]

Thanks, will keep you posted how it turns out :)

 

[ingypingy2]

Well, that's a gallon of ginger beer done last night, pleased to say it's tucked up in the airing cupboard alongside the raspberryade and mango and papaya wine, all 3 bubbling away nicely :) Was still a bit warm when I did a reading, so had a Compensated SG of 1.065 :)