First Ginger Beer not going...

by **Dominator** » Sat May 18, 2013 5:43 pm

So I have put my first ginger beer down on Friday morning but the ferment still has not started. It is just a coopers can with 1kg of raw sugar and 500g on honey. It was about 26oC when I pitched the yeast so I am sure I did not kill it.

It is cool at the moment but the brew has not gone below about 22oC. I removed the lid and have it a gentle stir this morning but still no luck.

Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

by **Linny** » Sat May 18, 2013 6:19 pm

pitch some decent yeast ,,, i made a coopers ginger beer 2 months ago ,,, took 2 days to take off , will never use coopers yeast ever again

by **forefold** » Sat May 18, 2013 7:30 pm

It'll be right mate I did the same recipe as you but with adding a little fresh ginger, took a while to start, yeast will be ok. I left it to ferment for about 4 weeks. turned out quite good :handgestures-thumbupleft:

by **Dominator** » Sat May 18, 2013 9:43 pm

Holy fuck, 4 weeks! So much for checking FG after 6 days. Haha

What is a better yeast for next time? US-05 seems popular with beer brewers.

by **wedwards** » Sun May 19, 2013 10:15 am

If you are going for dry packaged yeast then us-05 is the general choice for what you are making. I make it a rule to never use the yeast that comes with those kits/cans - they could be years old and are generally crap anyway. Always get some new fresh yeast from the fridge (even if its dried yeast). I only use liquid yeasts now, but they are even more fragile - for every month past its manufacture date you need to allow one day before it comes back to life. A recent one from October last year took almost 10 days to wake up. As others have said, it probably will fire up, but my beer senses are telling me not to wait that long and just pitch a new fresh us-05 and let the ferment start before anything bad gets time to get in there.

by **Dominator** » Sun May 19, 2013 10:59 am

Thanks wedwards. I will look into liquid yeast and I think I will head to the LHBS for some fresh yeast.

by **Sam.** » Sun May 19, 2013 4:30 pm

Even using us-05 expect it to take a few weeks to ferment out completely that's just what it does unfortunately

by **Dominator** » Sun May 19, 2013 6:16 pm

Yeah I was kinda expecting it to take a couple of weeks, especially when I am trying to brew as it is starting to cool down. All good though, hopefully the end product will be worth it.

by **Sam.** » Sun May 19, 2013 7:32 pm

The Coopers Ginger Beer is awesome :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I have never put honey in it, I just use the can of goo and add a brew booster pack, some fresh ginger, the US-05 yeast and fill the fermenter to only 18L (sometimes I put a bit extra sugar in too :whistle: )

Drinking some right now from the keg, tastes delicious :handgestures-thumbupleft:

by **Dominator** » Sun May 19, 2013 8:08 pm

Just checked it tonight and it has started bubbling... SLLOOOOOOOOOOWLY! Especially compared to the rum and TPW going crazy downstairs. Don't think I will worry about adding extra yeast tho.

I will see how this ginger beer turns out then next brew I will use some US-05 and depending on how I like this one I might add a bit of ginger.

What's in the brew booster pack Sam?

by **Sam.** » Sun May 19, 2013 9:28 pm

They are usually a mix of light dried malt, dextrose and malto dextrin.

Same thing as a coopers brew enhancer 2

by **wedwards** » Sun May 19, 2013 11:05 pm

Just remember if its slow to start, it will be just as slow to fully finish ferment. Good luck with it - those ginger beer kits are very nice every now and then.

by **Dominator** » Mon May 20, 2013 6:03 am

So am I better off adding some US-05 anyway? Will two lots of yeast cause any problems?

by **Sam.** » Mon May 20, 2013 6:57 pm

Dominator wrote:So am I better off adding some US-05 anyway? Will two lots of yeast cause any problems?

It will be a battle of the fittest as to which one dominates ;-)

If it has started I prob wouldn't bother, for some reason I never have a quick ferment even using good yeast with these kits, maybe not enough nutrients in the can of goo? :think:

by **Dominator** » Mon May 20, 2013 7:57 pm

Thanks mate. Went to the LHBS today as had a chat to him. He gave me some Morgan's ale yeast and nutrients. Told me to check the gravity and if it was still above 1020 to add the new yeast. Checked the gravity and it was still 1030 so I pitched the yeast and nutrients. Will see how it is in the morning.

I don't have a heat belt/pad so I am heating some wheat packs and strapping them to the fermenter to get some heat into it. Pretty awesome I know. Haha.