Ginger Beer: Am I doing this right?

[oneilldave]

Thanks for the advice, Wolfy. As the brew is nearly finished I'll try all out next time. Good stuff, though.

Adding chillis, eh? Hmmm ... I can see where you're coming from, Brainwave, and again, I will give it a go next time. It'll be just my luck to drop in Scotch Bonnet by mistake and melt everyone's face off!! And other parts later (cough!) ...

A quick update: as of 17:50 tonight( Friday the 11th, the day before England kick-off, not that I'm counting, you understand ) the gravity had dropped to 1026. Getting closer, and it is still fizzing when I open the lid! Is that normal? Tastes okay, though. I would love to bottle it about now but I know the bottles will continue to ferment and could explode. Sigh, I'll have to wait a bit longer, I suppose.

[oneilldave]

The final update ...

Well, I finally bottled the brew last night (Wednesday the 16th of May). I managed to put away 30 bottles.

The final gravity reading went down to 1010, eventually.

I decided, based on the taste, that I wouldn't let it get any lower because it still had enough relative sweetness in the mouth to make it a very, very pleasent drink. It has a starting taste of fresh ginger with a delicate lemon harmony in the background working through, that then gives way to a soft and lingering sweetness that doesn't cloy or crowd out the initial ginger taste. It swiftly changes, though, to that blush of ginger warmth that brings the temperature up. The colour of the drink is that of a gentle creamy, buttery yellow.

I primed the bottles with half a teapoon of sugar as I didn't want to have any bombs in my room. So, with a starting gravity just over 1070, and a final gravity of 1010, and nearly all the fermentables in the brew being either ginger, sugar or honey, what do you think the final abv is?

I am so pleased with this. It's my first ever brew, outside of proper wine, and it has worked! I can see why all you guys are so passionate about the stuff you brew. If I try and work out what I payed for the ginger, lemons, sgar and honey, it works out at about 15p a bottle, give or take penny or so!

Cheers!

Dave.

[dave-o]

The final update ...

So, with a starting gravity just over 1070, and a final gravity of 1010, and nearly all the fermentables in the brew being either ginger, sugar or honey, what do you think the final abv is?

It doesn't really matter what the fermentables were. Gravity is gravity (although someone will probably reply with a clever explanation of why I am wrong!)
Your brew will be about 8% according to my calcs.

[oneilldave]

The final update ...

So, with a starting gravity just over 1070, and a final gravity of 1010, and nearly all the fermentables in the brew being either ginger, sugar or honey, what do you think the final abv is?

It doesn't really matter what the fermentables were. Gravity is gravity (although someone will probably reply with a clever explanation of why I am wrong!)
Your brew will be about 8% according to my calcs.

Wow, 8%? That's great. It's also clearing up nicely and tastes divine, imho.