What shall I do with an unneeded sugar / lemon starter?

[amorphia]

Hi all!

In the thread about my problems getting fermentation started, I got the advice to try again with a starter. Luckily, the original fermentation started itself without the need for more yeast (see viewtopic.php?f=40&t=29934).

So now I have a four pint starter which I could do something else with. Its in a gallon jar so there is room to top it up with something which hopefully might make it drinkable in the end.

What's in it: four pints water, nottingham ale yeast, 8 tablespoons sugar, juice of half a lemon. I thought about trying to turn it into some kind of lemon wine, but the ale yeast won't go up to wine strength, right? What about some kind of beer strength lemon flavoured alcopop (remember this horrible stuff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooper%27s_Hooch)? What should I add to aim in that direction (except I don't mind if it's a lot less sweet)? Just more sugar and lemon juice, and if so, how much?

Cheers,

Ben

 

[wilsoa1111]

Ah i too had a dilemma like this, i ended up doing a wee bit of ginger beer just cos its cheap and it seemed like a waste not to, ive found for ginger beer a wee bit of the citric acid (better yet get some ML ferment going) with some DIY caramalised ginger ( using dark sugar of course) and a wee bit of fresh gratred/blended/juiced ginger added like dry hops into fermentor or secondary (like anyone secondarys ginger beer) is da best. you could also reserve a wee bit of the starter (330ml) for another beer keeps for a gd while in the fridge....

 

[amorphia]

Thanks for the great idea! Ginger beer sounds like a great idea and I've now got a batch bubbling away. Ginger is a right b*gger to grate! But simple apart from that.

 

[Ken L]

Four pints isn't a starter bottle. It's a brew.
A dessert spoon of sugar, yeast and a pinch of nutrient in a half full 300ml beer bottle is all you need.