Backsweetening for dummies

[nicoleg]

Hi,
I have a ginger brew I am about to bottle that I would like to sweeten... but I have a few serious limitations and am not sure what to do.
I live on a tiny Caribbean island and I literally only have access to:

• plastic bottles (which rules out pasteurising to kill the yeast after carbonation?)
• regular sugar and honey (no fancy Stevia etc. non-caloric sweeteners that aren't known carcinogens)
• a teenty tiny fridge that isn't very cold (which rules out chilling after carbonation...but maybe I could make this work if it were my only option)

What do you recommend I do?!
Please any tips or suggestions would be very much appreciated.
I do like a dry brew but I think this will need some sweetness to balance out the ****loads of ginger I put in it!!

Thanks in advance for helping me out in this predicament!
Warm regards,
Nicole

 

[Whatsgoodmiley]

From what I've read and experienced, cold crashing doesn't remove all yeast cells in suspension so even if your fridge were stronger, it probably wouldn't matter.

also, are you kegging or naturally carbonating? If you're naturally carbonating, you'd need your yeast in suspension. I think it's the choice between enjoying it as a dry, carbonated cider or a sweeter, uncarbonated cider.

 

[Sailingeric]

I had good luck with English Ale Yeast from White Labs. It left enough sweetness that I did not need to back sweeten.

 

[tim_c7]

Here is a simple suggestion. Just prime and bottle like normal. Then when you serve the beer just add some sugar or honey to taste.

 

[TorMag]

I live on a tiny Caribbean island

You have no problems.

 

[Brownalemikie]

I used 1 tbsp of lactose powder per gallon in some brown ale....turned out perfect. Btw, lactose is unfermentable.