Brewing ginger beer in the bottle

[nightofjoy]

Not one for the true artisans out there, this one.

I've done a bit of brewing from kits over the years, and even tried my own experiments. Some with more success than others, though I've years since
got rid of my drums & demijohns due to lack of space.

I was watching River Cottage a couple of days ago when they made ginger beer in the bottle. This would be an ideal thing for me to have a crack at, and I was wondering if anyone on here had any experience of brewing straight to bottle? I don't mind a fairly rough end product, so I don't need anything to clarify the end product.

He basically grated a chunks of ginger & dropped it into sterilised 2ltr plastic bottles with lemon juice & about half ( or 1/4?) a tspn of brewers yeast and a cup of sugar to each. topped up with water, sealed & left it for 48 hours. By then it was incredibly fizzy & tested at a couple of percent alcohol. I've had a look at a recipe or two and they say you can release the air every couple of days if you want a more alcoholic brew, and this is the part I'm unsure of. Would you need to feed the mixture when you release the gas, or will the yeast just contunue to eat the sugar and give you a stronger but less sweet drink? I'd like to get it up to a good beer strength if I was going to attempt this.

Answers on a postcard please : )

Thanks.

 

[RobWalker]

They will eat it dry if you twist and leave. you just twist the cap to let excess pressure out, much like an airlock on a fv. Too much pressure and boom!

Hes pretty much making what you would do in a bucket but drinking it cloudy as its still fermenting when you drink it. They do the same with chicha, its quite good because its still sweet!

 

[nightofjoy]

But will it become less sweet as the sugar gets eaten by the yeast?

 

[graysalchemy]

Yes.

 

[nightofjoy]

Thought as much. if it was stated as 250g sugar to 1/4 tsp yeast, could I up it to 1/2 tspn & more sugar, like 400 - 500g?

 

[bobsbeer]

You don't need to add more yeast. They multiply all on their own after having a good snack on the sugar. The more sugar you add the more alcohol to a point. The yeast will stop on their own once the alcohol gets beyond about 12-15%. But be careful as the yeast also give off CO2 while they eat the sugar. But once the pressure builds too high they stop reproducing.

 

[RobWalker]

(^ posted just before me but cba to edit for repeats)

I doubt you will need more yeast at that low quantity, remember that only 100g or something will actually be eaten.

Me personally, i'd try and the original recipe first. You gotta remember it only takes 2 days from start to drinking so it'd probably take you longer to decide what to do than to try it :lol:

 

[nightofjoy]

Thanks folks. Gonna have a bash at this when this cold snap buggers off : )