Fizz free ginger beer

[Cellar_Rat]

Ideas gentleman please...

I have just made a batch of ginger beer.

2 Kg sugar (about 4.5% Alc)
500g fresh ginger
75g cream of tartar
25g yeast nutrient
10 lemons
Water to 22 litres
Gervin old English yeast

This is my first go at a ginger beer and have to say it is very lovely tasting but flat has a proverbial pancake.
It was in the primary ferment for about a week and then starined, primed & bottled. All temperatures good. Yeast started prior to addition.
I have sampled half a dozen bottles now, all the same this is not a closure failure.

I am beginning to wonder if this is something to do with the ginger - I have seen the same with garlic, which can inhibit the yeast.

Has anybody got any theories? Has anybody had any success with ginger beer?

[fatbloke]

Yes, but if you've run the batch with an airlock, then thats where the CO2 has gone....

Bottle it with some priming sugar etc as you would for a normal beer.

Personally I just make it in a 2 litre bottle i.e. mix it all up, leave it capped in the kitchen until I can't depress the plastic at all, then get it in the fridge sharpish too chill......

You might need some more yeast too......

[mcblades]

It was in the primary ferment for about a week and then starined, primed & bottled. All temperatures good. Yeast started prior to addition.

How long was it bottled for after priming?
Since the weather warmed up, my beer needs about 2 weeks in the bottle to carbonate and clear properly. For ginger beer I tend to do as fatbloke and prime and bottle in 1.5 litre pet bottles. stick it in the fridge when it's rock hard and you are away.

maybe give your bottles another week or two to fizz up.

[Cellar_Rat]

maybe give your bottles another week or two to fizz up.

The bottles have been primed with half a teaspoon of sugar and been left for a week. Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions. Although I would have expected at least a small release of gas when I opened the bottle - there is nothing absolutely nothing- it's like opening a carton of milk.

Good idea, I will put some into a 2 L bottle and force fizz it and leave the rest to it & see what happens.

Thanks chaps.

[ToulouseLePlot]

Let's join-up some experiments. I've done the same and had the same results twice.

I've made ginger beer with a kit And added a lot of raw ginger And added lemon - no problem.

It may be the strain of yeast or it may be something in the kit - I wonder if it's yeast nutrient...

but Brian, you've got Cornies lying around, pump it up and have the neighbours round!

[Cellar_Rat]

absolutely pumpy pumpy.

It's just a shame to open all those bottles, I have just primed & sealed :-(

...Just for the record I'm assuming you did not use xylitol is a back sweetener?

[ToulouseLePlot]

Now your assumption is correct because I used no backsweetener. However, what sweetener they used in the kit, I have no idea, there was obviously some unfermentable sweetener there.

[Cellar_Rat]

I have just bottled another batch. This time with a few fruit changes, and late hopping ginger - but the main thing is no cream of tartar.

Secondary fermentation is well underway this time - I wonder if there is a connection?

[ToulouseLePlot]

Ah, right - well you wait and check results then give us a full recipe. I've not come across early hopping ginger, but am obviously pleased for you that you found a late one.

[Cellar_Rat]

Ah, right early hopping ginger

Oh but you have

[Cellar_Rat]

UPDATE:

I have a ginger beer foam cannon. By jeebers it works. Late hopping with ginger was good - quite a fresh ginger tingle. I have established that pith does have a taste and we won;t be doing that again. Over all - better than last time.

Now for the marmalade!

[lockwood1956]

I have a ginger beer foam cannon.

[koomber]

Home made ginger beer is the bog's dollocks as a mixer for Jack Daniels and other similar beverages.

[Cellar_Rat]

Good call. JD is a favorite is this house.