"Dick Adams" > wrote in message
...
> Dave West > wrote:
>
>> Novice has started making ginger beer using this on-line recipe.
>> http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipe...er-beer-recipe
>>
>> He suggests adding a little honey. Would there be any purpose to this,
>> other
>> than very slightly changing the taste?
>
> He's only adding a tablespoon (15 ml) to two liters. So it's probably
> just a taste thing.
>
>> I'm using Allison's dried baking yeast which I know is not as alcohol
>> tolerant as wine yeast.
>
> Bad choice!
>
>> I understand that 100 gm of granulated sugar to one litre of water
>> gives about 5% of alcohol by volume roughly. I would like to increase
>> the alcohol content slightly, so just as a rough guide;
>
> Grams ABV SG
> ----- ----- -----
> 100 5.17 1.037
> 150 7.69 1.056
> 200 10.12 1.075
> 250 12.46 1.094
> 300 14.72 1.113
> 350 16.91 1.132
>
>> what would likely be the most sugar I could add per litre at the
>> onset of the process, without the fermentation process choking up?
>
> It's called 'Sugar Shock' and it depends on the yeast you're using.
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Many thanks. Would you be able to explain to a complete novice why the dried
baking yeast is not advisable? I've made a couple of batches now using
125gm sugar per litre, one lot using baking yeast and one using a wine
yeast.

For the life of me, i cannot tell the difference between the end results of
the two; either in terms of taste, length of fermentation or anything else.

The baking yeast is a fraction of the cost, so in terms of making this
simple low alcohol brew (6.0 ABV approx) brew; would you still suggest I
really need to spend the extra on the wine yeast? Thanks.