Help needed with AG ginger beer

[Bum]

Oh yeah. Infected.

[warra48]

That's a bummer, Bum.

[Bum]

Yeah, I was pretty disappointed myself. The worst part is that I don't know what I did wrong. Pretty confident of my sanitation. Temps were pretty good. The only thing I can think of was that I didn't peel the ginger, just washed it. But then everything was boiled for over an hour so I really don't know. Wouldn't be so bad if I'd learned something from the experience.

Still, I've just last week bottled a different batch and even right out of the fermenter it is a cracker. Can't wait for it to condition.

[EDIT: Wait, I've just looked back at the thread and was reminded of the malt addition I made after fermentation started. I thought I was pretty strict with my sanitation there but this seems the most likely culprit now.]

[Bizier]

Sorry to hear that Bum.

I have had some sanitation issues a few brews ago, and I have ramped my process up to uber-anal, because there is nothing worse than finding your hard work has been in vain.

There is nothing else to do than get back up on the horse.

[drsmurto]

Made plenty of all ginger GBs and i never peel the ginger.

As you said, boil it for an hour and its as sanitary as it can get.

[Bum]

Yeah, as I say, I'm now leaning towards the late addition of more fermentables being the culprit. But I have no idea really.

[corks]

I'm in the planning stages for my first attempt of a non-kit GB, definitely some food for thought in this thread.
At this point I'm thinking:
2.5 kg LDME
1.5 kg Ginger, peeled and minced.
Juice of 5 Lemons (too much?)
Zest of 1 lemon

Boil it all for 1 hr, ferment with Safale US-05? Can't remember the proper name.

Hoping for a refreshing drink, not too dry, hence the potentially excessive addition of lemons. Would an addition of lactose be wise? Say, 300g?

Very curious to hear how the second attempt you mentioned turned out, Bum.