jeffersonmueller
Junior
Good morning! Thanks for reading. I’m new to brewing in general, and definitely to wine making. My interest began with my pregnant wife pining to have some ginger wine available post-partum. We had some at a friends, and I got the recipe. Very simple - 1 lb ginger per gallon, 2.2 lbs sugar per gallon, Montrachet yeast, water.
My first mistake was probably essentially pureeing the ginger (overly chopped in food processor), next was maybe not putting the ginger in a tea cloth but letting it loose in the fermenter. I let that go the prescribed three days, then sealed with an airlock. It fermented vigorously. After another week or so I transferred to another bucket w airlock, where it sat for a month or so. At transfer I tasted a bit and thought it was mighty strong (ginger) tasting, but I thought maybe it would mellow a bit with time. But it didn’t really. After over a month, I made yet another newb mistake and diluted it with about 60% more water/sugar combo and pitched in some more yeast in hopes of reclaiming some of the abv. It seemed to not take, although in the last few days it has dropped from 1.02 to 1.015 sg. Unfortunately I did not take a reading at the start.
My next concern brought me here in search of information and advice. With some simple litmus strips, it appears as though the ph is about 5.0, in a microbe happy land. I’m wondering about how to bring that down without disrupting (hopefully invigorating) this prolonged fermentation phase - if possible. The stuff tastes pretty good now, still with ginger heat but much more drinkable than prior to dilution.
I’d like to save it before it gets biologically dangerous.
Having done what I’ve done, what would ye do?
Thanks again for your time
My first mistake was probably essentially pureeing the ginger (overly chopped in food processor), next was maybe not putting the ginger in a tea cloth but letting it loose in the fermenter. I let that go the prescribed three days, then sealed with an airlock. It fermented vigorously. After another week or so I transferred to another bucket w airlock, where it sat for a month or so. At transfer I tasted a bit and thought it was mighty strong (ginger) tasting, but I thought maybe it would mellow a bit with time. But it didn’t really. After over a month, I made yet another newb mistake and diluted it with about 60% more water/sugar combo and pitched in some more yeast in hopes of reclaiming some of the abv. It seemed to not take, although in the last few days it has dropped from 1.02 to 1.015 sg. Unfortunately I did not take a reading at the start.
My next concern brought me here in search of information and advice. With some simple litmus strips, it appears as though the ph is about 5.0, in a microbe happy land. I’m wondering about how to bring that down without disrupting (hopefully invigorating) this prolonged fermentation phase - if possible. The stuff tastes pretty good now, still with ginger heat but much more drinkable than prior to dilution.
I’d like to save it before it gets biologically dangerous.
Having done what I’ve done, what would ye do?
Thanks again for your time
Last edited:
![[Upgraded] 9Pcs Tree Root Growing Box with Drain Holes, Half Transparent Plant Rooting Propagation Ball & Metal Core Twist Ties, for Fast Propagation Plants (Size M)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/514MWQxtWOL._SL500_.jpg)
