Room temp shelf life

[Dclubb83]

Ok, so here's the scenario.

I make a simple syrup, steep ginger, strain, mix with water and lemon juice. Force carbonate with Carbonator cap. Pour into glass bottles and cap.

How long could I safely store them at room temperature?

 

[Crazy8]

This may not be the perfect answer, but if their is enough lemon juice in there, that may be enough acidity to keep it good for quite a while. Could possibly try to do a Ph test on it. Is there a length of time you are wanting to keep them?

 

[Dclubb83]

I'm not looking for a specific shelf life. I just don't like only being able to make what I can fit in the fridge.

 

[azazel1024]

With zero boil? Depends on how sanitary all of the ingredients were to begin with. The higher the acidity the longer it'll be good for. A few days at least. I don't know that I'd trust it past that with zero boil though to kill off anything that might have initially been growing in the ingredients (even most tap water has some level of coliform bacteria, even if the counts are extremely tiny. Given a few weeks of a hospitable environment for them to grow...)

Within reason, I'd say this falls in to "if it still smells okay and tastes okay, it is probably okay". Unless the PH is very high, or you've driven off the oxygen first, then botulism shouldn't be a worry.

 

[Dclubb83]

I steep at about 150F. I've heard boiling makes ginger less than ideal.

 

[Crazy8]

I would also add to make sure your cleaning and sanitizing all of your bottles/equipment to make sure those are nice and clean too.

 

[azazel1024]

I steep at about 150F. I've heard boiling makes ginger less than ideal.

At least times I've made green tea, honey and ginger tea, boiling went just fine for the ginger.

I'd personally steep at at least 160F for 10 minutes.

That said, probably a much larger concern that you make absolutely sure that the bottles and bottling gear is pristine.

 

[MrFoodScientist]

You could pasteurize your filled bottles. There's a sticky in the cider forum.

That should get you a pretty good shelf life that would be easily measured in months.