Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

TasSpirits wrote:My plant came to life today :happy-partydance: reckon Ill bottle on Saturday :handgestures-thumbupleft:

bluc wrote:Before adding yeast ezi i think i may have spotted your problem. Looks like you have a sealed lid. Your should have a loose weave fibre cloth over it.Single layer Cheesecloth new chux cloth etc to allow wild yeast to enter :handgestures-thumbupleft:

bluc wrote:This is one I am trying cant comment on it as its the first i have made with a bug. I made some from scratch without a bug and it was :puke-huge: hoping this is better :handgestures-thumbupleft:

GINGER BEER INGREDIENTS

1. Water

2. Ginger (a large piece about 8 inches long)

3. 1.5 cups of sugar

4. 2 lemons (it just isn’t the same without them)

GINGER BEER INSTRUCTIONS

1. To start the bug, place 1 cup of room temperature water in a jar or bowl (I use a mason jar). If your tap water is chlorinated, allow it to sit open to the air for an hour before proceeding (this will help eliminate the chlorine and will help the fermenting).

2. Add 2 teaspoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of finely chopped ginger. Stir well.

3. Cover loosely with cheesecloth; I use a single layer as natural yeasts will enter the jar but flies will not. I hold it in place by screwing a band around it (just not using the lid).

4. Store in a warm, dry place.

5. Add ginger and sugar (the same amounts) every day, stirring after. Repeat until your contents become fizzy (you’ll be able to hear it). This should take a couple of days and up to a week. Our apartment has a bit of the initial chill of winter in it so it takes its sweet time.

6. Boil 2 liters of water with six inches of chopped ginger root (for a strong flavor, you can use less if you’d like) and 1.5 cups of sugar.

7. Allow the mixture to cool completely and strain the contents to remove the solids.

8. Add the juice of two lemons, and this syrup to your ginger bug.

9. Strain the mixture to remove solids.

10. Add water (again a good practice is to let the chlorinated water sit for a bit) to increase the contents to 4 liters (roughly a gallon)

11. Bottle in clean bottles – you can get them from brew-your-own beer stores, reuse Grolsch pop-top bottles (there’s a full post on how to use them here) or use beer bottles if you have a capper. We’ll share how to sterilize/clean later this week (it’s a post unto itself). Per above, plastic is the safest if you’re worried about explosions.

12. Store until the bottle is hard to squeeze (in the case of plastic). It should take 2 days to a few weeks (the warmer things are, the quicker this will be as long as the temperature is under 100 degrees farenheit). If you’re worried about pressure, open slowly over a sink to release pressure (further fermentation will make sure it stays carbonated).

13. Once it’s complete, store in refrigerator; know that this can be a little more prone to making a mess when opening so be near a sink, with a glass!

It’s really fantastic.