A company I helped found while in the Peace Corps (Fiji) made WINE from locally grown limes and ginger root, using frozen Dutch yeast and unrefined sugar. We gave several bottles to the Prime Minister, and after I left the PC and returned to NYC the bottles started popping their corks, with disastrous though highly amusing results.
On Wed, Aug 3, 2016 at 1:19 PM, Curley McLain via Mercedes < mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > For naturally fermented bubbly: > In order to have sweetness left at the end of fermentation, you need > excess sugar beyond what is needed to produce the alcohol level that will > kill the yeast. > > In other words, if you use red star champagne yeast, it will die off at > about 16%, give or take, depending on temps. If you start with 23 BRIX, > after primary fermentation, before bottling, you will end up with a sweet > bubbly (and need high pressure bottles, Like waterloo W25. THis is good > for a winter/after dinner bubbly. If you start with 22 brix, you will get > a nice summer bubbly, less sweet. YMMV, but this will give you a couple of > starting points with specific yeast and specific bottles. > > The alternative is to add sulfites when you get to 3 or 5% or whatever > level you want. The sulfites will kill the yeast and stop the > fermentation. I call this the unnatural method, or the industrial method. > I can't give you specifics for this because I have only made rustic, or all > natural bubbly products. A good wino supply should be able to give you > specifics. The all natural method is harder to get right, but much more > satisfying. Plus, many people can't take the sulfites. The sulfites may > produce various gastric distress, from heartburn to indigestion, Diarrhea, > etc. and even allergic reactions. People who said they could not drink > wine, whom I was able to convince to try my hooch, loved it and said it did > not bother them like commercial wines. > > In the PRCa, the wild yeast/natural fermentation wines like I made are now > considered very high end stuff. ($100/bottle) Wish I coulda got 1/4 that! > > Also, be aware that if a naturally fermented bubbly has its temperature > elevated, say 80ºF or higher, the fermentation will restart, and increase > the pressure on the bottle. > > I once had a bottle from Von Stiehl winery in WI blow up in the back seat > of my 200D while at an MBCA meeting. It was a very hot sunny day. I think > back then perhaps the good Doktor Von Stiehl did not use sulfites. (MB > content) > > FWIW, I found some ginger beer called Pedal Hard here recently. It is > quite good. It is better than their root beer, called Row Hard. > > Rich Thomas via Mercedes <mailto:mercedes@okiebenz.com> >> April 8, 2016 at 7:08 PM >> A few weeks back I made a ginger brew, something like 4-5lb of ginger >> root I shredded up in the food processor then boiled it in a coupla gallons >> of water for an hour or so with 4-5lb of dark raw sugar. Put it in the >> fermenter with some champagne yeast for about 10 days then put it in some >> 1L soda bottles and left it sit for 2 weeks. >> >> Tasted it and it had a little bit of fizz but no sweetness -- I guess all >> the sugar had been fermented. It tasted kinda like a ginger wine, was good >> with a very good ginger punch. Not bad but no sweetness. I made some dark >> n' stormies with about 1/2L out of a bottle and a bit of simple syrup, then >> added some simple syrup to that bottle, it has sat for a week and fizzed up >> a bit more but is sweeter now, more like a ginger ale/beer. >> >> Made a cocktail tonight with some Goslings and my sweeter fizzier ginger >> brew and WOW!!!! is it good. I think the ginger brew has a pretty good >> ethanol level now too. I gave 3L away and have 9L more, so need to work on >> it! More Goslings needed! >> >> OOOPS my cocktail is gone, buhbah!!!! >> >> --R >> >> _______________________________________ >> http://www.okiebenz.com >> >> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >> >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >> >> > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
