When will it stop?

On a whim, which is how I end up doing most things, lol.

I decided to make a gallon batch of ginger ale.

1 lb sugar
juice and zest from 1 orange
splash of apple cider vinegar
sea salt (I was thinking of margaritas at the time)

Yeast is a washed blend of us-05 and t-58 ale yeast.

It's been in the fermentor for about a week now and is still bubbling away.

I usually brew beer and only have recently done a few ciders so forgive me for being a newb but when will this stuff stop fermenting?

Most of my beers would be slowing by now, but this is still going strong.

Too many inconsitencies here. What are you trying to make?

Yeast eat sugar and produce co2 and alcohol.
Sodas are generally known to be a carbonated not-really-alcoholic beverage. Thus, for sodas, you ferment in a sealed container (so the water can contain the co2) for a very short time (usually around 3 days). The fermentation is halted or at least slowed, usually by chilling. It is then consumed.

Cider is an apple based beverage that is fermented, usually to a 3%-8% abv level yet contains sweetness to it. This would be similar to beer. Except that similar to a soda, the cider's fermentation is usually halted to have residual sweetness, or is backsweetened.

What you have is more like Kilju, white sugar completely fermented until no sugar is left. This is just alcohol.

And if you're not careful about the vinegar, you could just be making vinegar. (Unpasturized vinegar will contain the acetobacter that will make more vinegar from alcohol.)

Ginger ale, is usually a sweetened, carbonated ginger drink, but may also be considered a beer with ginger in it.

I was going for a more alcoholic version of ginger ale. I didn't add a whole lot of sugar I figured I could add some at bottling, let it get some carbonation and then put it in the fridge to stop fermentation.

I got the basic recipe off line. No one said how long to let it ferment. And the only posts on HBT about ginger ale were in the soda section.

I the apple cider vinegar was normal pasteurized stuff.

I'm doing the same thing except I used a lb of boiled pumpernickel n strained the liquid in to give it a good dose of unfermentable sugars. Added lemon juice, zest, chopped raisins. Will be bottling after 2 weeks in primary, add priming sugar and prime for 2-4 weeks. I am only worried about shelf life, as no hops are present for preservatives

You did use ginger, right? We both failed to mention that part... I made a yeast starter with 2 oz of ginger in it (grew some wild bugs in it, too) then added 1 tbs finely grated ginger to primary.

icanbenchurcat said:

You did use ginger, right? We both failed to mention that part... I made a yeast starter with 2 oz of ginger in it (grew some wild bugs in it, too) then added 1 tbs finely grated ginger to primary.

Click to expand...

YES, yes! Sorry. I did use ginger. I shredded around 2 inches from a good size root.

Okay, that part was one of the things that confused me the most! I was thinking "No Ginger? Blasphemy!"

In that case, you should be pretty close to good. The 3-7 days is usually for fermenting in an already closed container (2 liter bottle) to obtain the necessary carbonation. Because you wanted to up the %, you're probably close to a good time to fill your pressurizing containers and let it carbonate.

It might help to have read the hydrometer. At 7+days of regular fermentation, I'm thinking it'll be more like a ginger citrus kilju, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I'm a little surprised that it hasn't fermented all the sugars by now.