Ginger Beer Fermenting problem

[Damien_22]

How many days should I wait until I worry about not getting bubbles with a ginger beer brew. I used a tin of syrup, followed all the procedures and 24hrs later - no bubbling.

Any advice would be appreciated. I used the yeast which came with the can.

 

[Damien_22]

60 hours and counting - nothing? Time to give another dose of yeast?

 

[rod]

make sure your fermenter is not leaking around the lid
if you took a starting gravity take one now to see if you have had fermentation.
if no leak and no change in gravity - i would pitch more yeast
good luck

 

[Damien_22]

i dont think there's a leak - i've taken the lid on and off twice and it was airtight with the first batch

im getting condensation under the lid and a reading of 118 (didn't take one at the start) will check again tomorrow and see if theres a change

 

[david_42]

How much did the tin weigh & how much wort do you have? OG can be calculated reliably for extract worts.

 

[Damien_22]

Hope these answers are accurate, I'm pretty much a complete novice at this. The barrell I have has 23 litres in it and the tin of syrup was 1kg.

Sadly I didn’t take an initial reading, but the readings I have taken over the last few days have been pretty steady at 1018 – no change. I didn’t get any bubbles at any stage, just some condensation under the lid and I’m pretty sure there aren’t any leaks. Should I re-pitch the yeast and have another go at it? If so, what yeast should I use, the original yeast came with the can of syrup (which in hindsight I wouldn’t use again after reading the forum).

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Cheers,

Damien

 

[Orfy]

Did you add sugar as well?

1KG of syrup in 23l of water would propably only give you a starting gravity of 1018.

 

[Damien_22]

I added 1kg of sugar - would this mean a starting gravity of 1018? If so its been well over a week now and I don't think the gravity has changed. It tastes OK, like ginger beer, but I really want it to ferment.

How do I repitch the yeast and is it just the normal yeast you can buy at the supermarket?

 

[Orfy]

I'm not an expert on extract by any means, some of the other guys would be able to help more but 1kg of malt and 1kg of sugar in 23l would maybe give a SG of 1030 so at FG of 1018 it'd be an ABV of around 1.5%

What does the kit instructions say?

 

[Damien_22]

It says that it should end up at 3% so perhaps it is fermenting then. Its definitely not 1030 (unless I'm a complete nonce and not reading the hydrometre properly.)

 

[Damien_22]

something else i've noticed - the label on the can said to swirl the fermenter each day which i do and that's when i get some bubble action, most bubbles i've seen yet when i swirled it yesterday

it certainly tastes OK when i do a reading, would just like to see more ACTION