Beer

My first batch of 2011 of this gingery rocket fuel.  I don’t know why, given I do actually really like it, that it’s taken me a year to drink the last batch…  This time it ended up a bit lower on starting gravity, but I did round the figures down.  I could have added more sugar, but we decided it might be a bit less hangover-inducing if left to a lower gravity…  If it ferments out to 1.010 then we’ll have around 5% ABV.

• Length: 15 litres
• Yeast: Youngs Champagne Yeast (5g)
• OG 11.2Bx = 1.043 1.070
• FG 1.010
• ABV 8%

Recipe:

• Around 250g ginger, grated with skin on (I didn’t weigh it properly, just quickly on the supermarket scales)
• 3 lemons, zested and juiced, and the juice of the spare 1/2 lemon we had when making dinner this evening
•  3kg caster sugar
• 1/3 tsp cream of tartar

Comments:

All ingredients in, then (camden treated) water up to the 9 litre mark on my biggest pan.

Boiled for 30 minutes, then dropped in the FV with water up to 16 litres (to allow for yeast).  Temperature was then 32C, so I stuck it in the fermentation chamber set at 21C to let it cool down to pitching temperature.

1 packet of champagne yeast sprinkled on top.

2011-09-01: I took a hydrometer reading this morning and got 1.048.  Looks like my refractometer isn’t accurate for this brew.  No idea why.  I double checked the refractometer reading with a drop from the trial jar and got the same 11.2Bx, so it wasn’t just a bad reading last night.

2011-09-05: Ok, the refractometer really doesn’t worth with ginger beer: I took a reading this evening and it was 15.6Bx, which is a significant increase…  Maybe it was really badly mixed last time?  But it’s been fermenting quite happily for almost a week, so it must have gone down by a reasonable amount by now, so I can’t believe it’s even vaguely close.  It tasted very sweet as well, so maybe there’s a layer of very unfermented stuff at the top where I grabbed the sample?  Is champagne yeast a bottom worker?  I’ll try a hydrometer reading tomorrow.

2011-09-06: No idea what’s going on.  I’ve taken 2 hydrometer samples, and I stirred the ginger beer up between then, and they were both around 1.060.  So the yeast is making more sugar???  It tastes nice – very sweet, and with a warmth from the ginger.  When I stirred it I could hear the fizzing of bubbles, so the yeast has clearly been up to something…  It certainly isn’t going to be ready any time soon – but is it a stuck fermentation.  And what was the OG?  And what is the current SG?  And where will it finish?  And should I pitch another packet of champagne yeast?  Bugger…

2011-09-06: Ok, I’m an idiot.  I’ve recalculated the recipe, and I actually put in too much sugar and it would have started around 1.070, so that it’s down to 1.060 is at least progress.  I’ll let it get on with it for a while and see how it’s doing in another few days.

2011-09-26: Down to 1.032.  Slowly getting there!

2011-11-10: Haven’t measured it for ages, but it’s finally down to 1.010, so ready to bottle.  It still sounds fizzy in the FV, so it’s not lost all its condition.  I intend to pass it through a wine filter before bottling, and may add a little (a very little) sugar to prime it, given how long it’s taken to ferment – there may be nothing else to give in it!  Given a start at aroung 1.070 to 1.075, we’re up to around 8% ABV, so maybe I should call this a ginger wine?