Ginger Ale 2.0

I took on my second batch of ginger ale yesterday. I made a number of small changes to the recipe. I wanted to lose the heavy yeast taste/smell and I wanted a better ginger flavor.

I started with cool tap water instead of refrigerated filtered this time.

I went with more ginger, about 2 Tbsp moderately packed, rather than 1.5 Tbsp lightly packed. I really have no idea how you're supposed to measure grated ginger. I'm at the middle of root now and there's a lot of that stringy stuff in it. I read somewhere that you can avoid that by freezing it first. Maybe next time.

I did less yeast this time, maybe a pinch or two under 1/4 tsp.

I also increased the fermentation (length at room temp) time from about 18 hours to about 24.

I was going to go 30 hours, but the bottle was very firm so I went ahead and gave it a try. I wanted to avoid the fountain that I had last time, but this might be where I went wrong. I loosened the cap just enough to let a little gas escape and kept twisting it tight whenever it was about to gush over. This took about five minutes. I poured a glass over ice and discovered that I'd lost most of my carbonation. Way to go, Brian.

The good news with this one is that I got a more desirable ginger taste and I don't taste/smell yeast. The ginger has significantly more kick, so I'm hoping with a successful opening that I will have the product I'm aiming for.