I made a plant in a tall jar. About a cup and a half of cold water, some grated ginger, some powdered ginger, some white sugar and a little packet of ale yeast from my HB shop. It bubbled away nicely and I fed it every day with more ginger, more sugar and a bit more water. After a week, I dissolved about 200g of Dextrose in a litre of hot water and chucked in a teaspoon and a bit of tartaric acid. When it was cool, in went the juiced two lemons, and the strained plant, then I topped it up to 11 litres with cold water and bottled it into 1.25 litre plastic bottles. One week has passed without any explosions. The end product has a great colour, it's pretty gassy so it has to be opened carefully, but has no ginger flavour. It tastes craptacular. It's an epic fail. The whole lot has to be chucked out. Does the plant have to be three or four times bigger to make that quantity? I made it once before with only a cup of plant, producing only 4L, and it was great, "Somewhat yeasty in taste" said the war department.
This latest plant was at least 3-4 cups in volume, so theoretically it should have made more than twice as much.
I'm about ready to give up on a plant and buy a commercial kit, only they are a bit sweet and I really want a 0% alc GB.
Any thoughts or advice appreciated. TIA.
There must be small traces of alcohol.