Ginger Beer Questions

[hisownspace]

I've been lurking on the forum for quite some time, but I finally decided to get an account and post because it's getting close to bottling time on my first brew!

I know I probably should've started with a simpler brew, but my girlfriend and I love ginger ale. A few months ago I found a commercial alcoholic ginger ale, and it was delicious, so I just needed to try my hand. I have a few questions, but first some info:

I used dry Fermentis wheat ale yeast, which i pitched to a starter before adding it to the wort

I don't have a hydrometer, so I don't know the OG, but I should be getting one on monday, so i can check the current gravity then.

i added these ingredients to two gallons of water as it was about to boil:

1.5 # fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 T fresh turmeric, finely chopped
4 # white sugar
1/2 c molasses
1/2 c unprocessed sugar
1 t cayenne
1 t ground cardamon
1 t jamaican allspice
1/2 T yeast nutrient

I let this mixture boil for ten minutes, then chilled it in an ice bath. It took longer to cool than I was hoping, and I ended up shaking the pot to help cool it. Once it was cool enough, I added it to 3 gallons of previously boiled water already in the fermenter, and pitched the starter.

After about six hours, it started happily bubbling away, and has continued reassuringly since. It's been 11 days and it has slowed to one bubble every five minutes, a sharp decline from one every 1.5 minutes yesterday, and 1 every 40 seconds the day before. so here are my questions:

1. Is it too soon to bottle? I know waiting can't hurt, but this weekend is the best time for me to bottle in the next couple weeks.

2. Is oxidation only a concern when cooling the "wort" when you're using malt, or should i be careful during cooling with white sugar too? I know it's too late at this point, but it would be good to know.

3. I plan on back-sweetening with honey before I bottle, then either pasteurize it or toss it all in the fridge once it's carbed up. That seems like it might be a bit of a challenge, so I was also thinking about added an unfermentable sweetener like lactose of xylitol. I'm a little concerned about the taste though. Can anyone offer some knowledge on the taste differences between a conventional sugar and the two I listed? I really hate artificial sweeteners, and even stevia tastes pretty unpleasant to me.

I'm sorry if I asked something that's already been answered elsewhere on the forum, but it's kind of hard to find reliable information of making ginger beer. Please let me know if I'm being redundant.

Thanks a lot, and I hope to have a great time brewing and on this forum!

 

[JimRausch]

Welcome to the mad group!
1. You've probably read in other posts that bubbles mean nothing. True dat. When you get your hydrometer take a reading, repeat it in 2 days. If the readings are the same, it's finished and safe to bottle. Even after that it's best to let it settle and condition for a couple days-week. DON'T bottle it before it's finished or you're asking for trouble.
2. Oxidation is only an issue after fermentation has been going on. You actually want to oxygenate before pitching the yeast. So you're OK there.
3. I take it you want some carbonation and retain some sweetness as well. This one is a little trickier. If you backsweeten, the yeast will eat it up and produce more alcohol and CO2. Take a look over in the cider section. They have tricks on backsweetening. If you don't want to use an artificial sweetner(I'm with you on that) then pasteurization is probably your best bet. Look up 'Cooler pasteurization'. It worked well on a Graf that I did last Fall. Good Luck! Hope it turns out well for you!

 

[hisownspace]

Thanks for the advice. It's really tempting to get bottling as soon as possible, but I'll wait for the hydrometer and find the time when it's ready, rather than rush it and ruin the whole batch.

Also, thanks telling me about cooler pasteurization. It seems a lot riskier than using the stove, especially since my stove is pretty awful. I actually just bought a small freezer off of craigslist, which we haven't plugged in yet. Since I don't have a cooler, I bet that would work pretty well too.

Thanks again.

 

[hisownspace]

I also had one more question about a bottling bucket. I was hoping to put the brew in another bucket before putting it in the bottles in order to help deal with sediment, but i don't have a bottling bucket. Is there any reason i couldn't use the pot i boiled the "wort" in? it's a canning pot, and i bought it at a thrift store, so i'm not 100% on what it's made of. but based on what i've researched online, it's a porcelain-finished steel pot. i assume that since it'll only be in the pot for a few minutes it should be fine, but i just wanted to double check.

 

[Bigcorona]

Thanks for the advice. It's really tempting to get bottling as soon as possible, but I'll wait for the hydrometer and find the time when it's ready, rather than rush it and ruin the whole batch.

If you are going to back sweeten then pasteurize when you hit the desired carbonation, then you can go ahead and bottle now. Read up on how to pasteurize first though.

 

[NTexBrewer]

I highly recommend you rack your ginger beer into a secondary vessel and let it settle for at least 2 weeks or more.

My ginger beer was very harsh and yeasty at the end of fermentation and tasted much better at the end of a long conditioning period. I had it in a glass carboy and you could see it clear up over time.

Here is what I have done as far as back sweetening with some of my cider's, beers and my ginger beer.

Lactose - Made a Shandy that we wanted a little of sweetness too. I used lactose. Lactose does not add a lot of sweetness and was hard to gage how much to use. Should have made a sample to taste but we just looked at the amount used in sweet stouts and double the amount. It seemed like it could have been sweeter.

Splenda - This has worked the best for me. It dissolves easily. I usually take a cup of what I'm sweetening out and measure the amount of splenda I add to get the taste I want. Then scale up for the full batch.

Pasteurize - This worked but I did have 3 bottles explode on me. Not fun and it is amazing the force they have. Also, when they are ready to pasteurize, you have to do it right away. Make sure you have good bottles. The bottles that exploded where clear glass soda bottles. They were pry tops but I guess they are not a strong as bottles you buy at the brew store.

Diet Sprite - This is actually how I sweetened and carbonated my ginger beer. My ginger beer was way too gingery. This was an easy way to dilute and carbonate at the same time. I basically combined the sprite and ginger beer into a bucket and capped immediately. It still maintained some fizz. Of course this decreased the alcohol content. This was only a 1 gallon batch so this was an easy solution at the time.

I have not used xylitol but would guess it would be the same as splenda. When I used splenda and lactose, you still use priming sugar to carbonate.

 

[hisownspace]

I highly recommend you rack your ginger beer into a secondary vessel and let it settle for at least 2 weeks or more.

My ginger beer was very harsh and yeasty at the end of fermentation and tasted much better at the end of a long conditioning period. I had it in a glass carboy and you could see it clear up over time.

i don't have another bucket for the secondary. would it produce the same effect to rack to my canning pot, and then immediately rack back into the original bucket (maybe after cleaning it a bit)?

 

[NTexBrewer]

Yes you can do that. Just do a good job to sanitize everything and minimize splashing to reduce oxidation.

Some people just leave it in the primary on the yeast for up to 4 weeks or more without any problems.

Maybe wait until you have your hydrometer and taste the sample them. If to your liking you may be good to go.



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