Slow fermentation (Ginger Beer Recipe)

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NegFerret

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Ahoy,

Yet another post from the n00b.

I've started brewing some ginger beer. The recipe contains root ginger and some other spices, but the fermentables consist of 500g medium spray malt and 110g of honey (to make 5 litres). SG was 1048.

My problem is fermentation is incredibly slow compared to the kits i have brewed, is this to be expected? The yeast is the same I have used in a previous kit and seemed to exterminate the sugars like some kind of insane microbial life-form!

Does it just work slower on spray malt?

Temps should be fine, was pitched at 25.5C and should be around 18-22C throughout the day although it may drop somewhat in the night.

Have now placed a brewbelt on it, although I'm worried it'll heat it up too much as it's only a small volume of wort (is it still called wort when it's actually fermenting?).
 
yeast is a delicate little organism. temp must be fairly stable nd if temps drop somewhat overnight it could shock the yeast.
 
robsan77 said:
yeast is a delicate little organism. temp must be fairly stable nd if temps drop somewhat overnight it could shock the yeast.

That's interesting thanks, I'm moving it to a more stable environment as I know it's not going to overflow.
 
Your kits will be 5 x the volume of liquid which will hold its temp better. My guess is that with the smaller size it is more susceptable to greater temp swings, especially with the current cold weather.

Maybe put the brew belt near but not in direct contact
 
keith1664 said:
Out of interest, what was your recipe?

Hi Keith, it's just a basic recipe as a first batch - just some spray malt, ginger root, cloves, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg (just a pinch), and a vanilla pod.

I put too many cloves in and not enough vanilla, so it has a very strong clove aftertaste, this may become less harsh as time goes by - but I'm about to do the next batch which will have a quarter of the cloves, twice the ginger and two more vanilla pods...

Btw, as an update I tested the gravity today and it had gone down to 1009! So it seems to have fermented down to that with hardly any visible activity. My Dad had said this may be the case but I ignored him! Humble apologies must follow.

Can't wait to get the next brew going!

edit: I was being vague about the recipe because it doesn't work yet. When I get it to work I'll post the recipe and method :thumb:
 
I have an experimental batch on the go using sugar, honey, root and stem ginger, orange and lemon zest / juice, cinnamon. nutmeg, cardamon, star anise and cloves. I was tempted to use malt to get it to ferment less dry but the missus said no and she's the one who drinks it!
 

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