Fiery Ginger Beer

[IainM]

Can anyone advise me on my bottle conditioning please ?
Inspired from this thread I made 5gal of ginger beer last week and it seem to have finished in the primary - I used 2kg of peeled root ginger, 1/4 of a pint of ginger powder (half filled a half pint glass) 1kg of brewing sugar, 2kg of white table sugar, juice and zest of 4 lemons, 1 pack of generic sparkling wine yeast (from LHBS)
It fermented like a beast for the first few days and seems to have settled down over the last few days (unfortunately due to small children, my hydrometer was recently smashed)
Anyway, tasted it today and its as dry as ghandi's flip flop - i dumped a spoon of brewing sugar in the cup and it suddenly became bloody lovely - sweet, good ginger kick and some very obvious alcohol.
So now I need your advice - using plastic screwtop bottles Im unsure whether to
A) sweeten with 3TSP of xylitol per gal of ginger beer and about 100g of brewing sugar - then bottle and condition for a few weeks
or
B)sweeten with about 1kg of brewing sugar so rather sweet and bottle, frequently check pressure of bottles with a good squeeze and when firm pasteurize in the dishwasher and hope ive got the sweetness right.......
or
C) any other options ? ?

thanks all, any feedback would be greatly received

A) I've never back-sweetened with xylitol, so can't help with the quantities with that. Personally I like my ginger beer fizzy, so I'd add more than 100g sugar for a 5gal batch using this option.
B) That would work, but I'd check the temperature of the dishwaster first. Perhaps stick a spirit thermometer in there to make sure you get at least 75C for 15 minutes or so.
C) Just add sugar syrup at bottling time.

 

[wez3323]

A) I've never back-sweetened with xylitol, so can't help with the quantities with that. Personally I like my ginger beer fizzy, so I'd add more than 100g sugar for a 5gal batch using this option.
B) That would work, but I'd check the temperature of the dishwaster first. Perhaps stick a spirit thermometer in there to make sure you get at least 75C for 15 minutes or so.
C) Just add sugar syrup at bottling time.

Many thanks for your quick response :)

I've done a little research around zylitol and it seems to be the most natural tasting artificial sweetener, I have no real idea of quantities either but as Ive ordered a bag of it im tempted to give it a try.
Might I be better at 150ish gram of sugar to carbonate ? I just went with 80 as that was the last amount I used in beer, come to think of it, they weren't very fizzy at all

The dishwasher has a 70degC program which lasts about 45 mins, would this not be hot enough ? I know I could do them on the hob, but my largest pan would only take 4/5 bottles at a time. I'd be most happy with this dishwasher method as adding natural sugar is natural sweetness, but need to make sure I cook the yeast to death properly

Im not really taken by the idea of adding anything to it, as im going to be giving 20 or so bottles away to a few friends it wouldn't be practical (EDIT: i was unsure if you meant adding sugar syrup before drinking)

 

[IainM]

Many thanks for your quick response :)

I've done a little research around zylitol and it seems to be the most natural tasting artificial sweetener, I have no real idea of quantities either but as Ive ordered a bag of it im tempted to give it a try.
Might I be better at 150ish gram of sugar to carbonate ? I just went with 80 as that was the last amount I used in beer, come to think of it, they weren't very fizzy at all

The dishwasher has a 70degC program which lasts about 45 mins, would this not be hot enough ? I know I could do them on the hob, but my largest pan would only take 4/5 bottles at a time. I'd be most happy with this dishwasher method as adding natural sugar is natural sweetness, but need to make sure I cook the yeast to death properly

Im not really taken by the idea of adding anything to it, as im going to be giving 20 or so bottles away to a few friends it wouldn't be practical (EDIT: i was unsure if you meant adding sugar syrup before drinking)

Yeah, 70C in the dishwasher for 45 mins should be ok, but I'd still check with a thermometer to make sure. You want the bottles to have enough time to heat up enough so that the whole liquid is well within the red zone:

 

[wez3323]

Yeah, 70C in the dishwasher for 45 mins should be ok, but I'd still check with a thermometer to make sure. You want the bottles to have enough time to heat up enough so that the whole liquid is well within the red zone:

Very helpful, thanks you

 

[Personal91]

Can anyone advise me on my bottle conditioning please ?
Inspired from this thread I made 5gal of ginger beer last week and it seem to have finished in the primary - I used 2kg of peeled root ginger, 1/4 of a pint of ginger powder (half filled a half pint glass) 1kg of brewing sugar, 2kg of white table sugar, juice and zest of 4 lemons, 1 pack of generic sparkling wine yeast (from LHBS)
It fermented like a beast for the first few days and seems to have settled down over the last few days (unfortunately due to small children, my hydrometer was recently smashed)
Anyway, tasted it today and its as dry as ghandi's flip flop - i dumped a spoon of brewing sugar in the cup and it suddenly became bloody lovely - sweet, good ginger kick and some very obvious alcohol.
So now I need your advice - using plastic screwtop bottles Im unsure whether to
A) sweeten with 3TSP of xylitol per gal of ginger beer and about 100g of brewing sugar - then bottle and condition for a few weeks
or
B)sweeten with about 1kg of brewing sugar so rather sweet and bottle, frequently check pressure of bottles with a good squeeze and when firm pasteurize in the dishwasher and hope ive got the sweetness right.......
or
C) any other options ? ?

thanks all, any feedback would be greatly received

If you are heating up plastic bottles you will have toxins seep into your brew = a massive NONO :nono:

glass bottles are something else but I don't know if the bottles would blow due to pressure or temp differential is all :/

 

[wez3323]

If you are heating up plastic bottles you will have toxins seep into your brew

Toxins ?

 

[Personal91]

Toxins ?

The vast majority of plastic bottles are ment to be disposed of after they are used as this makes them cheaper to make. This means the plastic used is not the same as your thermos \travel mug and will release toxins when exposed to uv light or high temperatures - which is why if you leave plastic bottles with a liquid in them the taste will become tainted as they break down due to the suns UV rays

 

[Misneac]

So I made 6 gallons of this the other day and have been buggering about with it trying to make it taste nice. From reading the posts on here I seem to have diverged from most folks, but it does taste good. I'll leave the initial stages aside since I've mentioned them before. Since fermentation finished I've been trying to figure out the "sweet and bubbly" combination. Since I don't feel like spending a ton of money on carbonation equipment right before Christmas I took the lazy way out. I filtered (through paper filters. Still hazy though) added 300ml of granulated maple sugar to just over a gallon, pasteurized my brew at 160F for a couple of minutes in a stainless pot with the lid on (to preserve the alcohol content and maintain a sterile environment) then transferred it to a sterile container with a spigot to bottle it. After cooling both liquids to just above freezing to keep as much CO2 as possible dissolved I bottled it. Using 22oz bottles I filled them with 15oz of brew and 7oz Canada Dry club soda. Don't ask me why, but it's much more bubbly than other brands. Tasted it last night and this evening and it's not too shabby. A bit sweeter than I had hoped but very drinkable and bare minimum 8% ABV (12% before adding the club soda), so it's fairly robust. The ginger is heavy but the maple smooths it out a bit, and time may as well. Got another lot cooling now with a bit less sweetening and some lime zest. Further bulletins as events warrant.

 

[HomeOke]

Hi, In response to your concern about bottles.
1. If there were a problem with plastic bottles, Coca Cola and all the rest would not use them.
2 If there is a supposed problem regarding UV, etc - who the hell leaves their drinks in the sun and again even if you do, would Coca Cola take the risk!
3. I have been using plastic bottles for the past couple of years with no problem.

I sterilize as follows:

Left sink - water + Cheapest Bleach
Right Sink - Dishwasher

Place 4 bottles (plastic) in left sink, shake around, empty, and transfer to right sink.
Repeat process for remaining three bottles.
Place another four bottles into left sink, and then move to right, emty the four bottles and put the somewhere handy ready to be rinsed.
Repeat until all bottles ready.
Then just place each bottle under tap, rinse, and ready for bottling
Caps should be put into a container which are also processed through each sink ready for closing after bottles are filled.

 

[HomeOke]

Use any flavoring you fancy, keep it simple

 

[HomeOke]

Use any flavoring you fancy, keep it simple

Oops, seems I am replying to someone else.Still learning this blogging thing!

 

[HomeOke]

Hey Guys, keep it simple. Our ancestors did not have all these fancy terms like zylitol and whatever. They brewed with what they had and went for it. Try it for yourself

 

[RexBanner]

Eyup all. Sorry to be a pain in the hoop and reactivate this thread, i have a couple of questions about making ginger beer.

First is yeast, if I use Champagne yeast is it just 5 grams of it? Also can wilkos yeast be used if cheaper? I do have a sachet of kit yeast floating about n all but dont wanna go there.

The OP and a fellow state they are using table sugar as opposed to brewing sugar? In the name of tight arsedness ide like to do that if the ginger will hide the sourness (??) That table sugar can produce.

 

[Fil]

brewers sugar has no benefits at all over white table sugar (sucrose) for us lot, Industrial brewers who need primary over asap can shave half a day off the primary fermentation using it as its a mixture of simple sugars the yeast can digest directly.

Sucrose needs the yeast to chop it in half to make 1 x fructose and 1 x glucose first before consuming it..

Both add nothing other than fuel for alcohol production no body no malty flavour resulting in a very thin drink with little or no mouthfeel.

you shouldnt get any sourness from sucrose.


if brewing a gallon then 5g should be an adequate level of dry yeast to pitch, if brewing 5 gallons then an 11g+ pack would probably be best. which yeast you use depends on what sort of abv you want the result to have, if its a beer strength drink your after any ale yeast will work, but if your after something stronger like wine or champagne then the wine/champagne yeasts that can tolerate higher abvs should be selected.

hydrate the yeast first for best results..

enjoy.

 

[IainM]

Eyup all. Sorry to be a pain in the hoop and reactivate this thread, i have a couple of questions about making ginger beer.

First is yeast, if I use Champagne yeast is it just 5 grams of it? Also can wilkos yeast be used if cheaper? I do have a sachet of kit yeast floating about n all but dont wanna go there.

The OP and a fellow state they are using table sugar as opposed to brewing sugar? In the name of tight arsedness ide like to do that if the ginger will hide the sourness (??) That table sugar can produce.

Yeah, table sugar is fine, and 5g Champagne yeast is plenty if you are only making 5L. The £1 Wilco universal wine yeast is fine too, as are the tubs of super wine yeast compound.

 

[Ken L]

About to revisit the ginger beer to stock up for the summer.
Last time out, I did the 1kg ginger recipe side by side with a canned Coopers kit.
One was way too dry but very, very fizzy and the other was so sweet as to be undrinkable and flatter than I would have liked.
A bottle of each in a jug with ice and lemon was fantastic, so this time I shall blend them before bottling and try to get the carbonation right.

 

[munkian]

Going to have a crack at a brew tomorrow.

Got myself the following

2kg White sugar
1 kg Brown Sugar
1.6kg of frozen ginger from Asda
Some sachets of Cream Tatar
4 limes
4 lemons

Just need to decide on Ale or Wine yeast and possibly a bag of spraymalt too.

My concern is that I have a conical FastfFerment FV - will all the fruit clog it up ?

 

[RexBanner]

Going to have a crack at a brew tomorrow.

Got myself the following

2kg White sugar
1 kg Brown Sugar
1.6kg of frozen ginger from Asda
Some sachets of Cream Tatar
4 limes
4 lemons

Just need to decide on Ale or Wine yeast and possibly a bag of spraymalt too.

My concern is that I have a conical FastfFerment FV - will all the fruit clog it up ?

Forgot about this lol. Whey ide cut the lemons out straigjt away as they make it sharp, like too sharp. Replace em with oranges.
Also if you wanna sweeten it ide say splenda isnt the best choice as it doeant disolve (as in drops out of the beer and setles at bottom) n it can stick to your lips after a few bottles.
Mine worked out at a high abv and i used wilko gervi yeast. Ive ordered some chamlaign yeast but am.gonna male following changes:

Use brewing sugar instead of table
Use bottled water instead of tap
Use champaign yeast instead of gervin
Sweeten it with something none fermentable other tha splenda
Dump the lemons

Basicaly try and create quality. Last time i did as a "see how much beer i can make for as little and it be half decent.....challenge". It turned out ok(ish).
Oh also i blitzed fresh ginger, as it all floated on the top of bucket might not be an issue for your FV (never seen one so dont know).

 

[munkian]

Forgot about this lol. Whey ide cut the lemons out straigjt away as they make it sharp, like too sharp. Replace em with oranges.
Also if you wanna sweeten it ide say splenda isnt the best choice as it doeant disolve (as in drops out of the beer and setles at bottom) n it can stick to your lips after a few bottles.
Mine worked out at a high abv and i used wilko gervi yeast. Ive ordered some chamlaign yeast but am.gonna male following changes:

Use brewing sugar instead of table
Use bottled water instead of tap
Use champaign yeast instead of gervin
Sweeten it with something none fermentable other tha splenda
Dump the lemons

Basicaly try and create quality. Last time i did as a "see how much beer i can make for as little and it be half decent.....challenge". It turned out ok(ish).
Oh also i blitzed fresh ginger, as it all floated on the top of bucket might not be an issue for your FV (never seen one so dont know).

Thanks for this.

I've got around 5 gallons of bottled water ready, I'll make the switch with oranges and go with wine yeast.

Going to pick up some spray malt too plus I've got a jar of golden syrup I'm going to sling in too

 

[munkian]

So in hindsight I shouldn't have blended up the fruit - blocked up the conical fermenter, hopefully most of the solids will drop out otherwise Im going to be picking bits out of my teeth.

How long did this take to finish up for people using wine/champagne yeast ? Im going to consider some decent ale or saison yeast for next batch.