Hard ginger beer ended up with a slight bitter aftertaste

[zadamxtr]

First batch of ginger beer. I had some issues with the SG not being as high as I expected, and I also let it ferment a bit too long, however after bottling, carbonating and then pasteurizing, it's actually quite nice overall, however 2 things stop it from being perfect:

1) slight bitter aftertaste. It actually tastes sweet, bit also a bit bitter at the same time, and the bitterness lingers a bit. Anyone and to offer and fixes it insights into that?

2) still has a bit of a yeasty smell. For cider I would just rack it for a couple weeks to minimise the yeast, but in the case of ginger beer I had to halt the fermentation to keep some of the sweetness. The result is there is still a fair bit of yeast smell. Not really any yeast flavour though. What's the best way to reduce yeast smell in ginger beer?

 

[Miraculix]

The bitterness comes most likely from the yeast. Cold crashing before pasteurization would have been a good idea to drop most of the yeast out.

 

[zadamxtr]

Yeah sorry I should have mentioned. I did a cold crash for 2 days before bottling and carbonating.

 

[Miraculix]

Recipe?

 

[DaveC73]

If you bottle carbonated, then you're always going to have some yeast in there. I know this is basic, but let it sit for a month and be careful when you pour. The less yeast in your glass, the less leesy smell will come out with the CO2 bubbles.

As for the bitter, I've found that overprocessing my fruit for fruit wines (I know, not ginger) can lead to a bitter aftertaste. If you made a ginger slurry in the food processor, maybe try a batch with grated or chopped ginger.

As Miraculix said above, bitter could also be the yeast. EC1118 leaves a little bitterness every once in a while for me. But not every time. Don't know why.

The complete recipe/method might be helpful...

 

[zadamxtr]

Thanks for the suggestions so far guys.

Recipe was:

2.2kg white sugar
8L water
150g grated ginger
6 tbs lemon juice

3L of the water boiled and other ingredients added. Let steep and cool for 1 hour. Remaining water boiled and let cool.

Steeped mixture added to fermented through strainer to remove all solids. Rest of the water also added.

1tsp yeast nutrient added. 2tsp general white wine yeast added.

Was expecting SG to be 1.09. Strangely it was 1.07. I made a seperate post about that, still not sure what happened there.

Let it ferment for 4 days. FG was 1.024.

Cold crashed for 2 days by placing into the fridge.

Used siphon to transfer into 500ml bottles, along with 2 tsp white sugar.

Allow to bottle carbonate for 2 days.

Pasteurize by bringing a large pot of water up to 85C, take off heat then add 6 bottles. Let them sit in the hot water for 15 minutes. Bring water back up to 85 degrees before adding next batch of bottles.

Let pasteurized bottles cool to room tempterature then put in the fridge.