■ 🕑 1. Ginger Beer Concept │ Continuing from a discussion on giko: │ My plan is to test drive a simple │ fermented ginger beverage with the │ following ingredients/materials: │ │ 1. Grated ginger │ 2. Brewer's yeast │ 3. Water │ 4. 1-2 chili peppers, to taste │ 5. Sugar (which type?) │ 6. 2L plastic bottle │ │ So far I have heard that it is important │ to slowly release the gas in the bottle, │ and carefully monitor the pressure. │ What I imagine is an earthy, simple │ drink. Something to be enjoyed after │ a day's work, or savored with │ some deep-fried foods. │ Any suggestions? │ ├─■ 🕑 2. │ │ I do about 100g of ginger, 100g of sugar per liter. │ │ Kind of sugar doesn't matter. │ │ ==> 5.8% ABV fermented dry. │ │ │ │ │ │ Easiest way to let gas out: poke a needle through the end of a balloon │ │ so co2 gas can get in, but oxygen / bugs / etc don't get in. │ │ │ │ You can also very loosely place the lid on top of the bottle but if it's │ │ on too tight, the co2 buildup will make the bottle explode. │ │ │ └─■ 🕑 3. │ │ I see! And how did you find the carbonation? │ │ I'll try to go to the store to buy the │ │ ingredients today. I'll periodically │ │ update here as the project moves along │ │ │ └─■ 🕑 4. │ │ > How did you find the carbonation? │ │ Dry wine (completely fermented) should not be carbonated at all. │ │ │ │ I ferment dry, add like 4g of sugar per liter and cap the lid and wait │ │ another 2-3 weeks if I want it carbonated. This is the most surefire │ │ way to have something properly fermented and carbonated without extra │ │ specialist ingredients or equipment. │ │ │ │ You can also just wait a day after fermentation starts, find a way │ │ to kill the yeast and put a cap on it, if you want your ginger ale on │ │ the sweeter side. Some people throw it in the fridge but you risk │ │ drinking live, active yeast (= all day diarrhea) │ │ │ │ Or buy a sodastream machine -- bonus points for supporting our greatest │ │ ally and the only democracy in the middle east if you take this route. │ │ │ │ Look into how people carbonate beer. They buy big expensive machines │ │ and lots of tools to optimize the process. It may be easier to make │ │ concentrated ginger ale (eg 8% alcohol and tons of ginger) and mix with │ │ soda water if you want something cheap and boozy but still DIY. │ │ │ └─■ 🕑 5. │ │ Lots of info to consider. What │ │ does the term "dry" mean to you? │ │ I have heard it in the context │ │ of beer, like Asahi "super dry". │ │ Also, I prefer light carbonation, │ │ just enough to whet the appetite │ │ and refresh you. Not heavy │ │ carbonation you would find │ │ in a lot of commercial soda. │ │ I think I will take the soda │ │ water route just to speed up │ │ my first go at this, though. │ │ I'll call it "Pohon Beer". │ │ Maybe I can even add │ │ jalapenos - plenty of them │ │ in the building to go around! │ │ │ └─■ 🕑 6. │ Dry = all the sugars have been fermented by the yeast to Co2 gas and │ ethanol, basically. And they produce a lot more co2 than you'd expect! │ The contrast to dry, in the context of wine, is sweet: which makes the │ meaning of "dry" more clear. │ │ There are a number of ways to determine whether dryness has been │ accomplished, fermentation has ended. │ │ The easiest way is with a hydrometer -- when the specific gravity drops │ below 0 (eg that of water), most likely all the sugar (which is more │ dense than water) is gone and has been replaced by ethanol (which is │ lighter than water). Especially when the standard gravity is below 0 and │ remains constant for several days, that's a sign the yeast have finished │ consuming alcohol, and are now cleaning up after themselves before they │ go dormant and the hooch clears up. │ │ Co2 can still be released from the liquid after fermentation has ended │ so it's not a 100% sign that fermentation is still ongoing if Co2 is │ being released. │ │ For me, where ambient temps are 25-32*C, it takes about a week for 5% │ ABV to ferment with bread yeast (~85g sugar/liter) and then about │ another week for things to settle out. Higher ABV takes longer to │ ferment and longer for yeast to clean up after themselves. And you lose │ flavor. │ │ A cheaper way to see that fermentation has completed: when your airlock │ goes inactive (either stops bubbling if it's a proper one, or the │ balloon goes limp and deflates completely, if you go the balloon route) │ screw a lid on. Check every few hours for the next day to see if │ pressure is building up: squeeze the bottle to see if it's gotten │ firmer and unscrew the lid to "burp" out any Co2 (you don't want a bomb │ going off) │ │ When you test the bottle and no more Co2 is being released in │ significant ways, after 2 or 3 days of checking, you can move onto the │ next step. │ │ This is the time when you want to add 5g/liter of sugar and possibly a │ dash more yeast before sealing the bottle and letting it sit -- I think │ 10g/liter could be feasible, especially in a plastic soda bottle for a │ heavy carbonation. But you're going to have to wait at least another │ week or two for the yeast to clean up after themselves and go dormant, │ making the drink safe to drink, even though it's only the bit of Co2 │ you're looking for. Using clear plastic bottles is a great way to check │ "finishing" because the drink will become very clear when it's ready │ to drink. When in doubt, wait more -- it only improves the product! │ │ All you can really do is trial and error if you don't want to research │ about the finer details of carbonation or invest in more equipment. I │ think 5g/yeast per liter once fermentation is probably a safe starting │ point. Otherwise, double the ginger and ABV, then cut with soda water │ when it ferments dry. Takes maybe 2-3 weeks for a drink to be drinkable │ after starting fermentation, but more time only helps in making things │ smoother and more subtle. │ │ Whether you add more sugar at the end to produce carbonation the old │ fashioned way or you plan to mix your dry fermented ginger ale with │ soda water, make sure to pour slowly from your fermenter -- near the end │ you'll see the nasty "lees" (dead yeast and crap), you don't want any │ of that in your final product because it tastes foul and can give you │ a tummy ache. │ │ I'm only an amateur brewer & distiller but I hope this knowledge can │ help you. Feel free to update this thread with the results of your │ experiments. Try to keep logs: date fermentation starts, recipe, │ ambient temperature, date fermentation seems to end, etc etc. Brewing │ is an art and a science: either way, notes help. │ ├─■ 🕑 7. │ Out shopping for my ingredients! │ ├─■ 🕑 8. │ The fermentation process has started, │ I presume. Added 4g of yeast to 1L of │ water, in addition to 100g sugar, and │ an eyeballed amount of ginger (~125g). │ Fingers crossed here, friends │ ├─■ 🕑 9. │ Will update on temperatures and │ progress soon, and reply to the │ info post above. │ ├─■ 🕑 10. │ │ My worry at this time is that I │ │ added too much of the grated ginger, │ │ which had some sugar already added │ │ to it. Evidently this caused the │ │ volume of ingredients to be higher, │ │ and I wonder if the amount of yeast │ │ I added is sufficient. Forums say │ │ that even something as small as half │ │ a packet is very strong. Is this │ │ sensible? │ │ │ └─■ 🕑 11. │ │ you only need like 1g of yeast honestly, yeast will double every 90 │ │ minutes so adding 10x as much yeast only means you end up saving like │ │ 5 hours in a 2 week process. But if you're concerned and there's no │ │ evidence of fermentation happening tomorrow, adding a dash more yeast │ │ won't hurt │ │ │ │ I would not worry about sugar in the grated ginger, it's probably │ │ incidental and 100g of sugar per liter is already something easy for │ │ bread yeasts to handle │ │ │ │ What you should worry about more in the fermentation process is that │ │ the bottle can stay moderately warm. Slower temps, like below 15*C / │ │ 60*F will make fermentation happen a lot slower; too slow and the yeast │ │ go to sleep │ │ │ └─■ 🕑 12. │ Since summer is on the horizon, it's │ heating up in my apartment right now. │ The room is very muggy right now, but │ maybe putting it in the same room as │ the gas stove is worth trying? │ ├─■ 🕑 13. │ │ Here's an image, a very rough │ │ ambient temp estimate is │ │ in the desc │ │ https://imgur.com/a/OCoYbJ9 │ │ │ └─■ 🕑 16. │ │ Try to fill the bottle so there's only maybe .5 inches or 1-2 cm of │ │ air above the liquid. Too much oxygen in the bottle will result in off │ │ flavors -- you want as little oxygen as possible to be exposed to your │ │ drink. Oxygen is what causes drinks to foul up and once yeast get to │ │ work, they don't like it. What an airlock does, aside from letting CO2 │ │ gas out, is also keep a layer of Co2 above your hooch to protect it from │ │ oxygen. │ │ │ │ And if you're too poor to buy a balloon, just SET the lid on top without │ │ twisting. Or squeeze the bottle, screw on the lid, then unscrew until │ │ the bottle can expand again. Burping the gas every few hours is not the │ │ smart way to go about it. │ │ │ │ Short of buying real airlocks and a real fermenter online, these are │ │ what you should do if you don't want the bottle to explode and make a │ │ disgusting mess everywhere -- which will happen! │ │ │ │ At least with plastic, you only have to worry about the lid shooting off │ │ as pressure builds. If you were fermenting in a glass bottle you could │ │ have a lot of fun hunting down glass shards. not to mention the sticky │ │ mess... │ │ │ │ Fermentation is pretty simple. Clean bottle, some yeast and water, the │ │ right amount of sugar and whatever else, and an airlock. You'll get the │ │ hang of it. In the future I would recommend boiling the ginger with │ │ sugar together to kill off any microorganisms and waiting for it to cool │ │ before pouring it in your bottle and topping it off with clean water. │ │ Your test run should make something drinkable in 1-2 weeks even if it's │ │ not perfect. │ │ │ │ Once your ginger wine has finished fermenting, you can also speed up │ │ the aging process by putting it in the fridge for a few days, as cold as │ │ you can go without freezing. That forces the yeast and crap down to the │ │ bottom more. This is a process called cold crashing. Time is best but │ │ cold can help. │ │ │ └─■ 🕑 17. │ Will be going to bed now. Leaving │ the lid on as loosely as possible │ for the next 18 hours, at least. │ Oxygen exposure is unfortunately │ inevitable, as my schedule prevents │ me from getting a balloon until │ tomorrow. │ ├─■ 🕑 14. │ After 2.5 hours, I'm starting to notice │ the top of the mixture getting bubbly │ and slightly... foamy? │ ├─■ 🕑 15. │ Already starting to notice bubbles rising │ to the top visibly. Now I worry it │ might blow up when I'm asleep... │ we will see! │ ├─■ 🕑 18. │ │ Video from 4 days ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL3PDXAczwI │ │ │ │ > Homemade GINGER BEER with a KICK - 7% ABV! [10:41] │ │ │ │ > This is the easiest way to make flavorful, and BOOZY alcoholic ginger │ │ > beer at home. No special brewing equipment needed but I'll share some │ │ > extra tips and gear that might help you out! │ │ │ └─■ 🕑 19. │ Excellent, watched. I notice the guy test │ ran a "bug" (interesting phrasing) and │ fermented that further. Reminds me, some │ tutorials I read added the step of putting │ the yeast in 55°C water... does this speed │ up the activation? I once made amazake │ (sweet fermented rice beverage), and at │ 55°C it was done in 12 hours. Very low │ alcohol due to such a short fermentation │ time and the usage of koji rather than │ yeast... or not? │ │ As of right now, the bubbles have slowed. │ Only sporadic bubbles are seen on the │ top, and a yeast cake has formed on the │ bottom of the bottle. Could it really be │ finished so soon? My question at this stage │ is, when do I pop it in the fridge? │ ├─■ 🕑 20. │ Have been testing the pressure in the bottle for the last 12 │ hours or so, fermentation seems to have stopped. Going to │ wait a few more days before the refrigeration phase to │ be on the safe side │ └─■ 🕑 21. I may have been jumping the gun. After 12 more hours, still very minor bubbles are seen on the top. I closed the bottle tightly 6-7 hours ago and a small amount of CO2 was just released. Waiting a few more days is a safe bet.