homebrew advice needed

gregor-scott

Nomad
Apr 26, 2010
320
1
bournemouth
did a batch of ginger beer using the hugh fearnley-whittingstall recipe of his site, came out well, very tasty, however not very boozy, so I tried again! this time I did it in a Demi John with an airlock, (also I added a little yeast nutrient) I had to keep letting the pressure off before so I figured if I was to brew it for longer this would be best, the recipe was 48 hrs brewing, I decided to give it 4/5 days to get it a bit more boozy, it was all going ok and it was bubbling away like mad when it slowed down this morning when I checked on it, I decided to bottle up tonight, I got home and it had totally stopped bubbling so I bottled it and had a taste, not good! taste likes vinegar! can anyone tell me what went wrong and what I did wrong? thanks Gregor.
 

Ed

Admin
Admin
Aug 27, 2003
5,977
38
51
South Wales Valleys
Sounds like you have some bacteria / mould or some such in there when brewing ...... Make sure you steralize all your brewing kit before you have another crack at it.

Ed
 

ged

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jul 16, 2009
4,995
29
In the woods if possible.
The yeast has probably eaten all the sugar. I'd try another batch but putting more sugar in, not necessarily all at once at the beginning because too much can knock the yeast back a bit. Some people like to get a good yeast culture going separately first, then if that tastes OK you can put it into the other (freshly prepared) ingredients and the large amount of yeast will most likely kill any other bugs before they get a chance to take hold. If/when you add sugar add it as a solution in water, boil it first and let it cool to kill any bugs then stir it in so it doesn't all sit at the bottom and kill the yeast by being too concentrated. None of this is rocket science and there are lots of forums with people that devote themselves to getting pickled on home-made booze. :)

Make sure you taste it often while you're brewing it. :)
 

gregor-scott

Nomad
Apr 26, 2010
320
1
bournemouth
thanks for the advice guys. off for a 4 nighter on Thursday so will have to wait till I get back to try again, shame really, fancied taking home brew with us but I guess it will have to be a bottle of scotch instead!
 

nitrambur

Settler
Jan 14, 2010
759
76
54
Nottingham
Vinegar usually means the dreaded vinegar fly has got to it, but unless one has learned to swim it shouldn't have got through your airlock. Probably a cleanliness issue.
 

Brewers Whoop

Tenderfoot
Dec 19, 2008
64
2
Somerset
These days I'm really fanatical about ensuring all equipment, vessels etc are either scrupulously clean (everything) or scrupulously clean and then sanitised (everything likely in any way to contact the brew post-boil), and it makes a huge difference to the quality of the brew. I mostly use oxy-type cleaners, and starsan sanitiser. I particularly like starsan because there is no need to rinse after sanitising stuff. Hope this helps.
 

Big_bazza99

Nomad
Nov 8, 2008
307
0
North Yorks
did a batch of ginger beer using the hugh fearnley-whittingstall recipe of his site, came out well, very tasty, however not very boozy, so I tried again! this time I did it in a Demi John with an airlock, (also I added a little yeast nutrient) I had to keep letting the pressure off before so I figured if I was to brew it for longer this would be best, the recipe was 48 hrs brewing, I decided to give it 4/5 days to get it a bit more boozy, it was all going ok and it was bubbling away like mad when it slowed down this morning when I checked on it, I decided to bottle up tonight, I got home and it had totally stopped bubbling so I bottled it and had a taste, not good! taste likes vinegar! can anyone tell me what went wrong and what I did wrong? thanks Gregor.

Been looking on the HFW site and cant find the recipe - could you post a link at all please....?

Many thanks, Paul
 

gregor-scott

Nomad
Apr 26, 2010
320
1
bournemouth

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