Ginger Beer With Lalvin EC 1118

[HenryBukowski]

Hi there,

This is a question from a bit of a brewing nitwit so bear with me. My friend told me about a super quick alcoholic ginger beer recipe you could carry out in just 48 hours, which I begun yesterday due to 'finish' tomorrow.

I've pasted the recipe I followed below, but I have one question. I couldn't get brewers yeast at short notice and instead used Lalvin EC 1118 which I believe is often used for sparkling wines. The question I would like to ask is what impact if any this yeast will have on what I should do. Do the below steps still apply?

Secondly, is there any way to calculate the ABV without a starting OG?

Thanks all!




Makes 2 litres
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INGREDIENTS
¼ tsp brewer's yeast
225g caster sugar
1½-2 tbsp finely grated fresh root ginger
Juice of 1 lemon
1 good tbsp honey
METHOD
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Add the yeast to the bottle* (see warning below). With a funnel, pour in the sugar.
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Mix the grated ginger with the lemon juice and honey.
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Pour the ginger mixture through the funnel into the bottle. Now fill the bottle about ¾ full with water, put the cap on and shake the bottle until all the sugar is dissolved.
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Top up the bottle with water, leaving a 2.5cm gap at the top, to allow for production of gas. Cap the bottle tightly, then place it somewhere warm. Leave it for about 48 hours. Once the bottle feels very hard and has no give in it, your beer should be ready.
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Place the bottle in the fridge for several hours to stop the yeast working. Once the beer is thoroughly chilled, pass it through a fine sieve and serve.
*
»»»use plastic bottles«««

source: https://canalworld.net/forums/index.php?/topic/46504-alcoholic-ginger-beer/&

 

[Comfort_Zone]

EC-1118 is a rather neutral yeast in my limited experience. Definitely a solid choice for what you want to do.

As for calculating the abv without a starting gravity? Not that I know of. You could do some rough calculations of where it should be and the EC-1118 will basically ferment everything out.