Carbonating ginger beer

[bugdry]

I am relatively new to the brewing life. I have a question about carbonating my beer. Right now it is really dependent on temperature and humidity. I want to have my beer carbonate in a cabinet or something that I can control temperature and humidity. I have a feeling this has been posted about and is standard equipment for the brewers out there, but i don't know what it would be called to be able to start looking for it.

Thanks

 

[stodds]

Temperature, yes. Not sure about humidity. It is, after all, sealed up in a keg.

PSI vs. temperature here: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

You need a controller for the temperature. You would use this with a fridge or a chest freezer (if you have one or can get a used one, go with the freezer). With the temperature controller you can have a freezer maintain ale or lager temps (say 50 to 70 degrees), as well as cold crash to 32. I cold crash and then keg. I carbonate at 32 degrees.

Google "inkbird temperature controller" There are other options out there like Johnson Controls.

 

[bucketnative]

Of course, if you're carbonating in the bottle, then you need to supply the yeast (there are still some scant bit of yeast in suspension after fermentation) with some sugar in order to produce CO2.

Here's the how to brew chapter on bottling: http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/a-crash-course-in-brewing/bottling-day

Here's a good calculator determining the correct amount of priming sugar to add to your batch: https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

 

[bugdry]

Temperature, yes. Not sure about humidity. It is, after all, sealed up in a keg.

PSI vs. temperature here: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

You need a controller for the temperature. You would use this with a fridge or a chest freezer (if you have one or can get a used one, go with the freezer). With the temperature controller you can have a freezer maintain ale or lager temps (say 50 to 70 degrees), as well as cold crash to 32. I cold crash and then keg. I carbonate at 32 degrees.

Google "inkbird temperature controller" There are other options out there like Johnson Controls.

Ok, so buy a used small freezer, and then weih the temperature controller i can set it to say 68deg and it will maintain that? This would help huge so that i can leave my primed bottles in for a set time and know exactly when they will be ready. Can it be set that at the end of the time it will drop the temperature to that of a fridge?

 

[bugdry]

Of course, if you're carbonating in the bottle, then you need to supply the yeast (there are still some scant bit of yeast in suspension after fermentation) with some sugar in order to produce CO2.

Here's the how to brew chapter on bottling: http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/a-crash-course-in-brewing/bottling-day

Here's a good calculator determining the correct amount of priming sugar to add to your batch: https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

I tried that calculator. The amount of priming sugar was really low. I tried it anyways and the beer was barely carbonated. I am not sure where i went wrong with it. I filled in the temperature of the brew and the quantity on the form. I used the amount of priming sugar it calculated.

 

[stodds]

Ah . . . bottling. I don't even worry about temperature too much when carbing in a bottle. Just (steady) room temp for a couple of two, three weeks.

 

[bugdry]

I have to use plastic bottles for my ginger beer. If it gets too carbonated, you loose too much when you open it. If you use glass bottles and it over carbonates, it can explode.

 

[stodds]

I have to use plastic bottles for my ginger beer. If it gets too carbonated, you loose too much when you open it. If you use glass bottles and it over carbonates, it can explode.

Got ya. So, I remember my son had a root beer kit that used yeast to carbonate. It had caps that would relieve pressure, but still hold enough to carbonate. Spent some time looking, they are like the ones on this page: https://www.vat19.com/item/mr-root-beer-kit

--edit--

like these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001ER2ZBK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[bucketnative]

I have to use plastic bottles for my ginger beer. If it gets too carbonated, you loose too much when you open it. If you use glass bottles and it over carbonates, it can explode.

Sounds like you either add too much priming sugar or you are not letting fermentation complete prior to priming and packaging? Carbonating ginger beer really isn't different from beer because 100 % of the priming sugar is consumed. Each GP (0.001) is equal to roughly 0.5 vol CO2. Of course, this is moot if you are trying to relying on bottling during active fermentation in hopes of getting carbonation for the last bits of fermentation remaining.

 

[bugdry]

Got ya. So, I remember my son had a root beer kit that used yeast to carbonate. It had caps that would relieve pressure, but still hold enough to carbonate. Spent some time looking, they are like the ones on this page: https://www.vat19.com/item/mr-root-beer-kit

--edit--

like these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001ER2ZBK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Those look like a perfect solution. I will try to find them in bulk.

 

[Lefou]

Ah . . . bottling. I don't even worry about temperature too much when carbing in a bottle. Just (steady) room temp for a couple of two, three weeks.

I generally agree with this approach when you're doing certain ales, but for lighter ales, a bit of lagering after bottle-carbing can refine and clarify to some extent. The process isn't as time-intensive as with true lagers, but with the right methods and yeast choices, a lager-like ale saved in a refrigerator can be produced without a lot of expense for beginning Braumeisters.
Sometimes, temps in my house can go as low as 58F during winter and it can take 4-5 weeks for my bottled ales to carb properly for my tastes. A quick bottle carb can produce larger bubbles because the produced CO2 is less well-diffused in the beer. Larger, soda pop-like bubbles can be avoided with longer bottle carbing periods, but if you want a bit of persistent foam and smaller bubbles, be patient and chill your finished bottle beer for a little while longer - it can make a nice difference.

 

[Lefou]

Bugdry ...
You may want to consider carbing your bottles individually and leave bucket priming behind if that's your current method. Sometimes a partially mixed bucket prime can yield inconsistently carbonated bottles or worse. Priming bottles individually can reduce your chances of precious, shattered bottles and wasted beer. Bottle-priming can be done easily with sugar cubes that are much cheaper than carbing drops ..... Doing so is just another intermediate bottle method you can use before stepping up to kegging.