Advice on ginger beer?

[adamshell]

I started an experimental one gallon batch, going for an alcoholic jamaican-style ginger beer (rather than beer with some ginger in it). That was a couple days ago, and I haven't seen any yeast action (the air lock isn't bubbling, or if it is, it's bubbling very infrequently). Does anyone have an idea of why this would be?

I used very basic ingredients that were already in my house: fresh ginger (grated), lemon juice, lime juice, table sugar and honey. I also used baking yeast rather than brewers' yeast, which I've never done before. I figured the ginger flavour would be strong enough to overpower possible bread flavour.

Could it be that bakers' yeast takes longer to get going? Or that I used too much of it?

Any thoughts?

I'll also add that I did not use a 'ginger beer plant', I just heated everything up in a pot, waited for it to cool, strained it, poured the 'wort' right into a secondary fermenter and added my pitched bakers' yeast. The primary fermenter stage didn't seem necessary because it was already strained, and I figured gas could get out through the airlock. The plan is to siphon the liquid out of my jug after a week has passed, before priming and bottling, leaving the fallen yeast behind. The thing is the yeast doesn't seem to have done anything.... No foam, no settling.

[Garak]

The acid from the lemon and lime juice may have killed the yeast. How much did you use?

[adamshell]

I used the juice from one lemon, and 1 oz of lime juice.

[NASH]

I used the juice from one lemon, and 1 oz of lime juice.

Might want to check PH on a sample if you have a tester, if it's below 3.8 it may very well be the problem. I'd also add some yeast nutrient for a wort like that, what was the gravity on it?

[adamshell]

I have no testers, but it's a 160 oz jug, filled most of the way, and there are about 2 cups of regular sugar and a big squirt of honey. The approximately 2 oz of juice and whatever was extracted from the ginger is probably negligable, but I don't know. I've never been big on readings.

I just checked on the jug again, and while the airlock still isn't bubbling, there are some teeny little bubbles rising up from the bottom.

[NASH]

I have no testers, but it's a 160 oz jug, filled most of the way, and there are about 2 cups of regular sugar and a big squirt of honey. The approximately 2 oz of juice and whatever was extracted from the ginger is probably negligable, but I don't know. I've never been big on readings.

I just checked on the jug again, and while the airlock still isn't bubbling, there are some teeny little bubbles rising up from the bottom.

Well time will tell if it's okay. Next time maybe add the juice after fermentation, and add a little yeast nutrient to the wort.

[adamshell]

Those sound like good ideas. If everything works out I'll post my recipe. The wort had a really nice flavour so I'm just praying for alcohol and fizz.

[GillettBreweryCnslt]

I have been making 2-3 batches a ginger beer a year for he past few years and I've never had a yeast problem so I can't comment on that. I'm actually prepping to start another batch soon as I'm getting ready for summer. However, here is my recipe that I use and it produces a strong ginger flavoured beer that hits about 4-4.5% (I dont bother measuring it). Looking at this recipe and comparing it to the precise beer recipes I use it's pretty funny, but I'll explain as I go along.

Enough Diced Ginger to fill a 2 litre ice cream bucket (I peel it and just cut the root into 1-ish inch chunks, then once I fill the bucket I shred in in my food processor)
2 kg of table sugar
1-1.5 cups of fresh squeezed lemon juice
16 litres of water.

Bring the water to a boil, add the ginger, lemon and sugar and boil for 20-30 minutes.
Some recipes will tell you to strain out the ginger, I don't, I leave it in for fermentation
I usually just grab the cheapest dry yeast I can find and get it going in 2 cups of sterile water with a couple tablespoons of sugar for 20 minutes or so (the length of the boil) then add it to the cooled "wort"

1 week of primary fermentation in a carboy then straight into the bottles with a batch prime.

If you want low-alcoholic then just bottle without priming after a 24-36 hours.

Enjoy!

Dave

[moxie]

Any updates on this? Getting any airlock activity yet?

[adamshell]

Nope, just little bubbles within the jug rising from the bottom. I'll bottle tomorrow, hopefully get a "voosh" when I add the priming sugar. The little bubbles mean something's happening, it's just hard to tell what, and how much.

[mr x]

Dave, that recipe is craaazeeeeeeeeeeee on the ginger.

[GillettBreweryCnslt]

I like my ginger beer gingery! It's really only about 5-6 medium sized roots. But the best part is that the up-front flavour is not that intense, but after a few seconds it hits ya like a brick wall. I'll have to bring some to the next meeting after I my next batch is done.

[mr x]

Yeah, I definitely want to try that.

[adamshell]

It turned out strong as ****. It carbonated in 2 days after bottling, and all the sweetness is gone. Once I mix in sugar syrup it tastes perrfect, just like grace ginger beer, only there's an extra warm alcohol addition. Good with a half cap of triple sec too.

Thanks for all your comments!

[mr x]

I have been making 2-3 batches a ginger beer a year for he past few years and I've never had a yeast problem so I can't comment on that. I'm actually prepping to start another batch soon as I'm getting ready for summer. However, here is my recipe that I use and it produces a strong ginger flavoured beer that hits about 4-4.5% (I dont bother measuring it). Looking at this recipe and comparing it to the precise beer recipes I use it's pretty funny, but I'll explain as I go along.

Enough Diced Ginger to fill a 2 litre ice cream bucket (I peel it and just cut the root into 1-ish inch chunks, then once I fill the bucket I shred in in my food processor)
2 kg of table sugar
1-1.5 cups of fresh squeezed lemon juice
16 litres of water.

Bring the water to a boil, add the ginger, lemon and sugar and boil for 20-30 minutes.
Some recipes will tell you to strain out the ginger, I don't, I leave it in for fermentation
I usually just grab the cheapest dry yeast I can find and get it going in 2 cups of sterile water with a couple tablespoons of sugar for 20 minutes or so (the length of the boil) then add it to the cooled "wort"

1 week of primary fermentation in a carboy then straight into the bottles with a batch prime.

If you want low-alcoholic then just bottle without priming after a 24-36 hours.

Enjoy!

Dave

Let me get this straight. You are letting your version of this beer dry out completely, with no residual sweetness? I wonder what the taste would be like with LME in place of some, or all of the sugar? Or just cutting the sugar down so the alcohol level is lower?

[moxie]

I am interested to know as well... I was thinking about trying a hybrid dry cider/ginger beer with some serious ginger kick. Had an apple ginger beer the other day from Bulk Barn and it made me curious. I suppose I would be replacing most or all of the sugar with apple juice.

(In case you were wondering, I wasn't too impressed with the soda from Bulk Barn)

[GillettBreweryCnslt]

Let me get this straight. You are letting your version of this beer dry out completely, with no residual sweetness? I wonder what the taste would be like with LME in place of some, or all of the sugar? Or just cutting the sugar down so the alcohol level is lower?

Yes, however the efficiency of the yeast is never %100, not even close. The batch that's in the basement in a keg (waiting for a spot in the kegorator) started at 1.040 and ended at 1.016. As I use table sugar, the sugar not metabolized leaves a fair amount of sweetness. Don't get me wrong, it's not nearly as sweet as the Jamaican Ginger Beer you can buy int he grocery store, but it's sweet enough.

I'll be carbonating it soon, Although I can't make it to next weeks BN meeting, next time there's a meet up I'll have some with me for sure.

[mr x]

I bought 4 lbs of ginger today. Think that's too much for a 5 gallon batch (probably 5.75 into the carboy)?

[mr x]

Well, it's fucking going in. 3 lbs into 11.5 gallons, plus nine juiced lemons and two juiced limes. Maybe 5% lme

[mr x]

[mr x]

[mr x]

[mr x]

[mr x]

[mr x]