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cspice

Junior
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Hi,

I have a mason jar that I mixed up a ginger brew in. I think it fermented all right, but now I'm seeing what I think is a lot of dead yeast at the bottom of a jar of clear liquid. Sound right doesn't it? Well I'm a little puzzled because I see tiny bubbles rising up from the sediment, and chunks of the sediment rising to the top and falling again.

Can anyone tell me what is going on?

Thanks,
Cspice
 
cspice, can you provide us with a few more details?
What recipe did you use for the Ginger Brew, ingredients and yeast and the steps you took to make it.
A picture may help as well.
Thanks!
 
he said he mixed it up in a mason jar...biggest mason jar i have seen is a quart.
yes the stuff in the bottom is dead yeast
and the bubbles are chunks are probably because it is still fermenting.'
use your hydrometer.
 
cspice, can you provide us with a few more details?
What recipe did you use for the Ginger Brew, ingredients and yeast and the steps you took to make it.
A picture may help as well.
Thanks!

Hmm recipe... Here we go, I had a pint of finished schupperdine. I added a lot of sugar to it, about 1.5 cups, about 1/3 cup of grated ginger, and the zest of one tangerine. and 1/2 package of QA23. I didn't write down my beginning hydro reading :slp. but it now reads 1.030

Here's a picture:

100_1449.jpg
 
Here is the porblem with not writing your sg, you have no idea if your wine is done fermenting or if you have a stuck fermentation.
 
Here is the porblem with not writing your sg, you have no idea if your wine is done fermenting or if you have a stuck fermentation.

Okay, what would be a good guess, and do you know what those bubbles are?
 
What happens when you stir it? If it foams up, it's still fermenting. By the look of the bubbles at the top of it, it's still fermenting. If you had an airlock or even a balloon over the top of it, you'd be able to see. That's my take on the pic.
 
co2, if you stir it and it foams, it could be co2, if it is just dormant but you see bubbles, it could be co2. Seriously, what is the aversion to using a hydromenter? It does not take a lot of energy to use one.
 
I have no idea what u have it capped off with , but it needs to get some air at the point its at.
And it looks like its still fermenting, by the glob of mass thats floating around.
Without, proper nutrients,yeast,sugar,etc no way to tell what its doing.
Its best to go by a recipe, and if it works, and you like the result, you can always tweak it later.
 
co2, if you stir it and it foams, it could be co2, if it is just dormant but you see bubbles, it could be co2. Seriously, what is the aversion to using a hydromenter? It does not take a lot of energy to use one.

Julie, thank you for your expertise and your energy.
 
Ahh, heck with it. I'ts just not that serious. I concocted something just to use up a pint of leftover wine. Maybe I should have just drank it. I racked it this morning, it tasted really good! I know you all don't like the vineo-o-meter, but at this point I will have to hope the 13% reading is close to real.

Now I know I will like ginger wine, so I will try a proven recipe and make sure I don't have any distractions that will keep me from writing down my first hydro reading.
 
Ahh, heck with it. I'ts just not that serious. I concocted something just to use up a pint of leftover wine. Maybe I should have just drank it. I racked it this morning, it tasted really good! I know you all don't like the vineo-o-meter, but at this point I will have to hope the 13% reading is close to real.

Now I know I will like ginger wine, so I will try a proven recipe and make sure I don't have any distractions that will keep me from writing down my first hydro reading.

lol, that is what it is about - learning as you go. Just a word on recipes, use that as a guidance not a fast rule. The amount of sugar that the recipe calls for will not necessarily give you the same sg, same thing for acid. Just get in the habit to test as you go and you will be fine.
 

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