Gravity going UP despite plenty of bubbling?

Mr Benevolent · 13-03-2012 07:54PM #1

Weird one this. Four days ago I started an 8L brew of ginger beer with the following ingredients:

600g ginger
2kg unrefined cane sugar
12tsp honey
Juice of 6 lemons & 3 limes
1 cinnamon stick
3 small chillies, deseeded
1 packet of bread yeast.

OG was 1.060

I split them into two batches, both with the same gravity. This evening I stuck a hydrometer into both. One says 1.060 and the other says 1.080! Tried two hydrometers, same result and anyway I've used them before. Spun the 'meters to get rid of bubbles too. They both bubbled away fiercely for 2 days and are still bubbling nicely. No off smells except for a slight sulphury twang.

Any ideas why the gravity has either remained static or risen?

BeerNut · 13-03-2012 08:02PM

Have you checked your hydrometers in water at 20C?

Mr Benevolent · 13-03-2012 08:12PM

Yep, just did right there, both 1.000.

willabur · 14-03-2012 11:40AM

sounds as tho the heavier material is sitting at the point where you took the sample, could it be a case that it hasn't been thoroughly mixed?

Mr Benevolent · 15-03-2012 09:57AM

Slightly lower yesterday, 58 and 78 respectively. My theory is that there's so much fermentation (there really is) that the bubbles are pushing the hydrometers up.

willabur · 15-03-2012 11:19AM

Confab wrote: »

Slightly lower yesterday, 58 and 78 respectively. My theory is that there's so much fermentation (there really is) that the bubbles are pushing the hydrometers up.

Can you give some detail on your brewing procedure?

Mr Benevolent · 15-03-2012 12:53PM

willabur wrote: »

Can you give some detail on your brewing procedure?

60 min boil:

+0 2kg cane sugar in 2l water.
+20 200g ginger, all the honey, a few pellets of Cascade.
+40 400g ginger, 3 chillies (deseeded), lemon & lime juice.
+60 1 cinammon stick at flameout.

Cooled in a sink until pitching temp (about 25c). Strained through a muslin cloth, then poured into 2 5L PET water bottles and topped up to 4l each. half a packet of yeast into each bottle, stirred and left to ferment.

Mr Benevolent · 15-03-2012 07:24PM

They're now 55 and 68 and falling.

sharingan · 16-03-2012 03:55PM

I reckon your sugar wasn't totally dissolved, or mixed evenly prior to splitting. Can happen, and using solids in your ferments can make the gravity reading a bit tricky too.

Anyway those ginger beers will have quite a kick. They might not ferment 100% of the way (the heavier one).

Nice recipe though. In the future you might want to make it with spraymalt - I am having some early trials with that, and the results are very promising.

Gravity going UP despite plenty of bubbling?

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