7
votes
Why are there raisins floating in my ginger beer?
Putting a few raisins in a bottle before you cap it, will let you know when its carbonated as the raisins, will float to the top after. They sink at first.
- 71
6
votes
Why are there raisins floating in my ginger beer?
The skin of sultanas or raisins have natural occurring yeast needed for the fermentation process.
Older recipes typically used a 'ginger bug' derived from the yeast on sultana skin in stead of ...
5
votes
Can a Ginger Bug fermentation turn into Vinegar
First off all... If you're new to this, relax. There's a few sensible precautions to take that make a difference - sanitise your equipment before hand, keep it upside down when empty, keep your brew ...
- 222
5
votes
Accepted
What is the purpose of the ginger bug?
It's about different flavor profiles. One is a cleaner ferment simpler flavor profile, the other offers more complexity.
Using the open container to catch wild microbes is definitely hit or miss. ...
- 36.2k
4
votes
Bottling hard ginger beer
I'm a bit late to the conversation, but I also recently started brewing my own Ginger Beer using a Ginger Bug and bottling in the Grolsch-Style swing top bottles. I've had very good success with this ...
- 163
4
votes
How to make an optimal fermentation for ginger beer with ginger bug
Right so there's no "optimal" method for this, brewing is a balancing act between sweetness, alcohol, carbonation-pressure and yeast. Even things like the shape of the fermentation vessel effect the ...
- 2,060
4
votes
Stuck ferment - gingerbeer - or just strange yeast?
If you have "spritz", which is carbon dioxide gas, then you have fermentation. No need for concern. Ginger beer often will not have the yeast krausen layer on top, the yeast remains ...
- 3,425
4
votes
Accepted
Is my ginger beer safe to drink?
It's safe to drink.
It could potentially have some type of wild bacteria (lacto perhaps), although depending on the brew ingredients this could just be some coagulated oils etc. However, it won't hurt ...
- 1,783
3
votes
Ginger Beer ABV from Bakers Yeast
The sugars in honey are primarily fructose (38%) and glucose (32%). These are simple sugars, so bakers yeast will happily ferment it.
As @Dave mentioned in a comment, for a lot of intents and ...
- 2,060
3
votes
Remaining ginger bug
When you use some of the ginger bug you simply add back the amount of liquid afterwards.
You can keep it going for as long as you want, just keep feeding it ginger and sugar at regular intervals and ...
- 398
3
votes
Any way to deal with bitter taste from turbo yeast?
Turbo yeast is very aggressive and consumes almost all sugars.
Bitter is most likley from an unbalance in sweet / bitter.
Add a non fermentable sugar like lactos to sweeten and counter the bitter ...
- 18.5k
3
votes
Accepted
To ferment or not to ferment for no alcohol
Will the ginger beer taste different if you don't ferment? Yes. but mostly because you will have a sweeter product because the yeast didn't consume the sugar you put into it. You may want to adjust ...
- 368
3
votes
Accepted
What yeast should I use to make a semi-sweet Ginger Beer with about 5% ABV
It does not work like that,
No yeast will stop exactly at 5% (unless you kill it), this way of doing things is not safe !
First solution is to make your wort so that you end up with the correct among ...
- 799
3
votes
Accepted
Ginger Bug Expansion
Oxygen! The growth medium must be oxygenated from time to time. If one uses tap water then minerals and trace elements are rarely a problem but available nitrogen may be. The ginger beer SCOBY is ...
- 5,641
3
votes
Choosing a yeast for ginger beer
Youngs Super Wine yeast is superb (I don't work for them by the way). The taste is amazing, but you have to be careful to "proof" bottles after bottling. Check after 12-24 hours. They will explode if ...
- 141
3
votes
Brewing ginger beer and over carbonation
I like my ginger beer somewhat sweet and carbonated. This means that, at some point after bottling, the fermentation/carbonation process must be stopped. To determine this point, I bottle as normal (...
- 31
2
votes
Pausing a ginger beer plant
I've found that my ginger bug is heartier than I gave it credit for. I was making a batch of Ginger Beer just about every 7-10 days after I first cultured the bug, and was feeding it after every batch....
- 163
2
votes
Choosing a yeast for ginger beer
As kids, we used to grow a ginger beer "plant" up from Ginger & Sugar and a few Sultanas. Every couple of days we would add a bit more sugar-water to it. There were no real measurements, but I ...
- 2,060
2
votes
Naturally fermented ginger beer
If you rely on wild yeasts, did you expose the "beer" to air long enough?
You could wait until you see bubbles on the surface as a sign of yeast activity, or you could take daily gravity readings. ...
- 1,266
2
votes
Gingerbug issues
My guess would be you have insufficient residual sugar when you are bottling. They pressurize up because you have a healthy active fermentation but you do not have sufficient residual sugar to fully ...
- 7,048
2
votes
Any way to deal with bitter taste from turbo yeast?
IMHO using turbo yeast for fermenting beer or other fizzy/alcoholic drinks is "less than optimal". It is not a yeast meant for directly fermenting drinks - it is a yeast mix meant for producing high ...
- 5,641
2
votes
First time brewing Ginger Beer. Is it dead?
I would suspect that the suntanas (raisins) used in your starter have been treated with sulphur or sulphites. This is stopping (or killing) the wild yeasts on the surface of the fruit.
So you could ...
- 2,060
2
votes
Accepted
Measuring alcohol when using ginger bug
If you have a beginning gravity and an end gravity, it's pretty easy to figure an approximate ABV for your beverage.
The only way to definitively tell how much alcohol is in a solution is to run it ...
- 3,012
2
votes
Ginger bug does not produce enough carbonation
Your recipe seems fine. I usually use only a tablespoon full of ginger bug. I think you're opening the bottle way too soon. Carbonation needs at least 5 days. 7 will be better. I suggest you use soda ...
2
votes
Question about Ginger Bug
You're pretty much spot on. A couple of notes-
Capturing wild yeast is OK but uncertain. I've always preferred to keep wild yeast out of my bug because it's much more likely (at least over time if ...
- 222
2
votes
Brewing ginger beer and over carbonation
It sounds to me your ginger beer is still fermenting inside the bottle. When this happens, it creates more co2 and creates more pressure inside your bottle.
Perhaps when you add your ginger bug into ...
- 171
2
votes
What is the purpose of the ginger bug?
I believe the difference has historical implications. Additionally ginger bug is said to have beneficial healthful properties that are absent in the shortcut recipe. It’s supposed to be much more ...
- 975
2
votes
does my ginger bug have mold?
Yeast is a mould (fungus), so you want your ginger bug to have mould. If it has brightly coloured mould - black, red, yellow, discard it. Generally yeast will stay in suspension for a while, before ...
- 2,060
2
votes
Accepted
Ginger Beer - How long can it be stored, can it be frozen and what do you do with the yeast?
I'm assuming you made a pseudo soft-drink Ginger Beer, where it's mostly a sweet beverage, and yeast is primarily used to bring carbonation (and only incidental alcohol).
The problem you will have is ...
- 2,060
2
votes
Why is my ginger beer not sweet yet?
The yeast will be using the sugar to make alcohol and carbon dioxide. I'm not sure where you read that it will get sweeter, but as far as I know the more sugar you add the more the yeast will consume. ...
- 21
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