[Lardman]

Bottled mine this morning but had to filter using a coffee filter rather than muslin as I didn't have any.

Im slightly worried now that it will have been too fine and removed all the yeast so I'll just end up with still, ginger flavoured sugar water. 

[mike1987]

Bottled mine this morning but had to filter using a coffee filter rather than muslin as I didn't have any.

Im slightly worried now that it will have been too fine and removed all the yeast so I'll just end up with still, ginger flavoured sugar water. 

a coffee filter altho fine isnt fine enough to take all the yeast out of it so no need to worry

[Auntiemogs]

Mine's still bubbling away.    Hopefully will be bottling (and testing  ) this weekend.
 

[Lardman]

a coffee filter altho fine isnt fine enough to take all the yeast out of it so no need to worry

Cheers for the reassurance Mike - I replaced the lid with an airlock and its not moved at all today, once I know its live I'll recap it otherwise I might as well drink it now 

I did a sample bottle (500ml) with 2 cloves and a star anise and its wasn't too bad at all.

Mine's still bubbling away.

If you think ginger is energetic you should see this bottle of WoW - (recipe pinched from another forum) Its going off like a lava lamp !

[Auntiemogs]

Ok, ready to decant into bottles and barrel now. It does taste a bit dry though (but very gingery!  ). Is there some way of sweetening the brew? Could I add extra sugar and then stop the second ferment when there is enough gas, leaving the rest for sweetening? 

[Lardman]

Ok, ready to decant into bottles and barrel now. It does taste a bit dry though (but very gingery!  ). Is there some way of sweetening the brew? Could I add extra sugar and then stop the second ferment when there is enough gas, leaving the rest for sweetening? 

What's the SG ?

From what I've read you can either stop it with stabiliser and sweeten with sugar syrup or sweeten with an agent that the yeast can't use (an artificial sweetener). How about mixing it 50/50 with a little lemonade ?

[mike1987]

Ok, ready to decant into bottles and barrel now. It does taste a bit dry though (but very gingery!  ). Is there some way of sweetening the brew? Could I add extra sugar and then stop the second ferment when there is enough gas, leaving the rest for sweetening? 

not really the better thing to use would be a non fermentable sugar like the sweetners you get for tea and coffee.
 youve got to think how are you going to stop the ferment without opeingng the keg and loseing all the gas

[Auntiemogs]

Forgot to measure the SG again Lardman.  A quick slurp told me that it is deffo alcoholic though!  Don't want to water it down with lemonade at this point though so maybe a mix of half and half when it comes to drinking it:tongue2:

Finally used what I had to hand Mike and piled in the sugar. May have to use some sweetener if it comes out undrinkable but would rather not.

Decanted 10 litres into lemonade bottles with 2tbsp sugar in each and the rest went into the pressure barrel with about 10oz sugar. I shall give it some time to ferment and then stick it in the shed while it's still going to stop it and hopefully keep some of the sugar in. The stuff in the barrel doesn't worry me too much as I can always re-gass it i I do need to add some sweetener. In the mean time, the stuff in the bottles will be tested on a regular basis ( ), just to see how it's doing and I shall try to remember to check the SG this time!
 

Will let you know how it comes out (if I haven't been taken out by an explosive device by then!). 

[Lardman]

Forgot to measure the SG again Lardman.  A quick slurp told me that it is deffo alcoholic though! 

Its not always about the ABV .. very occasionally its not 

If you're bored tonight :  This thread makes very interesting reading, with a good insight into the science on how to avoid bottle bombs.

[Auntiemogs]

Its not always about the ABV .. very occasionally its not 

If you're bored tonight :  This thread makes very interesting reading, with a good insight into the science on how to avoid bottle bombs.


[/quote]
Page 6 (of 21!) so far....such is my life!  Will definitely have to investigate sweeteners.  Don't want the bitter aftertaste though so I shall keep on reading, thanks Lardman...

[mike1987]

what i would do if using a barrel is stablise and clear it with finnins then sweeten it and force pressureise it then i could be absolutly sure of how much alcohol is in it and how sweet it is and how much pressure is in it

[Auntiemogs]

Well, 2 days on and here I am, in bed with a glass of slightly sparkling ginger beer and it is fantastic! I can't believe that it's the same stuff I tasted 2 days ago. 
Yesterday I went to T***o and bought a large box of Splenda and some glycerine. Apparently the glycerine adds a bit of body (1tsp per gallon) and the Splenda is for sweetness (thanks for the link Lardman, I read all 21 pages!  ).
It's still fermenting but we had to give it a go and I think I shall be buying more ginger this weekend and I shall try to remember to take a reading this time. Cheers! 

[Lardman]

Mine is too sweet @ 1040 and it looks to have stopped. I've passed on a bottle incase its just my taste buds on the blink again.

Why not make 1 Gallon rather than 5, that way it it doesn't take so long to try new recipes. Morrisons / Waitrose /  Trashco's all do 5ltr (1 gallon)  plastic bottles of still spring water for around a pound that can easily be turned into a demijohn. I also picked up a multi pack of 8 500ml bottles of carbonated spring water to decant into.

[Auntiemogs]

Why not make 1 Gallon rather than 5, that way it it doesn't take so long to try new recipes. Morrisons / Waitrose /  Trashco's all do 5ltr (1 gallon)  plastic bottles of still spring water for around a pound that can easily be turned into a demijohn. I also picked up a multi pack of 8 500ml bottles of carbonated spring water to decant into.

Good idea Lardman. I think this experience has definitely given me the confidence to have a go at some new recipes. The 5lts bottles are so much easier to handle too. 5 gallons is a lot to shift around.  Do you have any suggestions for good recipes?

[Lardman]

Good idea Lardman. I think this experience has definitely given me the confidence to have a go at some new recipes. The 5lts bottles are so much easier to handle too. 5 gallons is a lot to shift around.  Do you have any suggestions for good recipes?

If you're using the plastic make sure the liquid is cool before putting it in .. I found out the hard way this morning about their low melting point ! 

Reports back are that it wasn't overly sweet so it may just be me (shocked). I rather liked the clove and anise they complimented the ginger very well.