Cheap Yeast Attenuation

[ScottM]

Haven given the Fiery Ginger Beer recipe a go :sick: I've decided to try and sort out the recipe to suit my tastes. This will definitely need to start by replacing the ridiculously dry champagne yeast in favour of something a little more sweet. Anyone who has given this stuff a go will know it ends up drier than a witches tit, and being a complete newbie I didn't think about the differences with using different yeasts.

I'm just wondering if you guys could help me to pick a yeast more suited to my needs. I've had a little search around the various online sellers but there is very little information given for the cheap yeasts. I don't really think there is any need to go for expensive yeasts, such as wyeas etc, as I'm not really after a particular flavour from it all, just aiming for something alcoholic and drinkable lol.

prerequisites are....

I want it to finish around 1.010 (sweettttt)
The less flavour produced by the yeast the better.
I'm aiming for around 6% so I don't think it needs to be particularly alcohol tolerant.


Is there anything cheap and off the shelf that will fill these needs? If noone knows off their head, is there somewhere that I could look to try and figure out the best yeast?

Thanks :)

 

[pittsy]

use some dme that will add flavour and should ferment out a little higher

 

[graysalchemy]

Any wine yeast is going to attenuate high. What is your recipe? I would be tempted to try an ale yeast perhaps us-05. :thumb:

 

[calumscott]

+1 for DME.

But! I did 2.5kg light DME and 1kg honey, it finished around 1.005 and it was still as dry as mormon wedding.

Backsweetening is all you can do with it really. The DME does add body but it's still hellishly dry.

I ended up with three teaspoons of Splenda (the only sweetner that doesn't have a chemical taste, IMO) per litre to bring it up to "drinkable". You'd probably need more if you want sweet.

FWIW the recipe I used is now, after a month in the bottle, absolutely lovely. Very citrus (two lemons and two limes, sliced, squeezed and boiled), could have gone heavier on the "cake" spices (allspice, cinnamon, clove, etc) as the ginger has anihilated them pretty much but all in all its very (VERY) refreshing and tasty.

Oh and hotter than a summers day on Venus!

 

[ScottM]

use some dme that will add flavour and should ferment out a little higher

At this moment I'm not willing to use DME as it's far too expensive to waste on something that might be terrible. Definitely something for the future though, if I get somewhere

Any wine yeast is going to attenuate high. What is your recipe? I would be tempted to try an ale yeast perhaps us-05. :thumb:

I was thinking of an ale yeast last night. The only thing I wasn't sure of was the flavours, I ended up ordering a cheap sachet of youngs ale yeast last night so will see what that brings.

I don't really have a nailed down recipe at the moment to be honest. Random lead scribblings have led me to the following....

400g Sugar/Glucose/DME etc
100g Malt
100g lactose
100g Grated Ginger
1 Lemon
yeast nutrient
Ale Yeast

That's to make one gallon. I'm hoping the lactose will add body and help to raise the FG. That with an ale yeast would hopefully give me a starter for 10 in order to make a ginger-beer esque alcoholic beverage.

I'm actually at the point where I'm thinking about making some sugar wash and buying some cheap ginger beer to mix with it in order to save hassle.

 

[ScottM]

+1 for DME.

But! I did 2.5kg light DME and 1kg honey, it finished around 1.005 and it was still as dry as mormon wedding.

Backsweetening is all you can do with it really. The DME does add body but it's still hellishly dry.

I ended up with three teaspoons of Splenda (the only sweetner that doesn't have a chemical taste, IMO) per litre to bring it up to "drinkable". You'd probably need more if you want sweet.

FWIW the recipe I used is now, after a month in the bottle, absolutely lovely. Very citrus (two lemons and two limes, sliced, squeezed and boiled), could have gone heavier on the "cake" spices (allspice, cinnamon, clove, etc) as the ginger has anihilated them pretty much but all in all its very (VERY) refreshing and tasty.

Oh and hotter than a summers day on Venus!

I actually added a full jar of splenda lol. It put a dent in it but the flavour is still off. It's young though, but I've got 35 bottles of the drudge to get through so I'm sure I'll find out if it's been worthwhile in a few months. I can't see me going through it quickly anyway.

 

[calumscott]

+1 for DME.

But! I did 2.5kg light DME and 1kg honey, it finished around 1.005 and it was still as dry as mormon wedding.

Backsweetening is all you can do with it really. The DME does add body but it's still hellishly dry.

I ended up with three teaspoons of Splenda (the only sweetner that doesn't have a chemical taste, IMO) per litre to bring it up to "drinkable". You'd probably need more if you want sweet.

FWIW the recipe I used is now, after a month in the bottle, absolutely lovely. Very citrus (two lemons and two limes, sliced, squeezed and boiled), could have gone heavier on the "cake" spices (allspice, cinnamon, clove, etc) as the ginger has anihilated them pretty much but all in all its very (VERY) refreshing and tasty.

Oh and hotter than a summers day on Venus!

I actually added a full jar of splenda lol. It put a dent in it but the flavour is still off. It's young though, but I've got 35 bottles of the drudge to get through so I'm sure I'll find out if it's been worthwhile in a few months. I can't see me going through it quickly anyway.

Mine was brewed 08/04/12 and bottled 06/05/12 and it's been totally drinkable for the past two weeks, not green at all. I did get a good crop of lactobacillus in there somehow so maybe that's the difference rather than the malt...?

...I guess I need to read up on brewing microbes...