Sumertime Ginger Ale from Zymergy Folly

Ingredients
1

a few months back i found a recipe for Summertime Ginger Ale in Zymergy and thought i’d give it a go.  I did the Extract Version using Muntons DME Extra light, and Dingemans Munich Malt for the grains and fermentables.  I followed the rest of the recipe to the note with exception to a final hope addition of .5 oz. US tettnang at flameout.  (my intention was to have ginger ale tasting beer with a hoppy aroma)

i’m looking for what might have been my mistake though.  Fermentation started and ran fine for 4 days.  OG was 1.028.  I use a hydrometer for readings at a temperature around 70 to 75 at this time of year.

After 4 days the airlock stopped bubbling.  which seemed quick to me.  I racked to my secondary and took another reading at 1.010.  again thinking this was high i shook it up, two days later added the remaining Ginger and waited.  6 days later, last night, I took the final reading, which had not moved from 1.010.  the recipe specs the FG at 1.000.  It’s bottled, tastes decent but a bit watery.  i’m hoping some of that goes away with carbonation and being cold though.

So did i do something wrong here or what may have made me miss the FG by a full .010?  My goal is to correct my procedure and possibly the ingredients so i can take another go.

note:  I did not try to pitch more yeast, but i did add some priming sugar, about a 1/4 teaspoon to see if i could get any bubbling.  no change.

2

Two things I see, but note that I have no familiarity with the recipe.

  1. I have strong doubts that you can ferment Muntons DME down to 1.000 in any situation.
  2. Racking to secondary may have stalled you out, as you left a ton of yeast behind.  If you want to use a secondary, you should wait until you hit final gravity.  There’s no harm in letting the beer sit on the yeast for a bit.

Also, not related to your question, low-gravity beers tend to taste watery or thin IME.  Particularly if they finish low.

3

What type of ginger? I’m not familiar with the recipe

4

I think it’s this: Summertime Ginger Ale - Beer Recipe - American Homebrewers Association

5

Cool. I was curious if candied ginger was used. I know some preserved fruit contains preservatives that can harm yeast.

6

I brewed the extract version at Big Brew Day.
It turned out well.
I just checked my notes and I never took a FG reading.
But I doubt it was 1.000.
1.010 seems reasonable.

7

That’s it!  I used Fresh Ginger Root from the local grocery store.  Diced.  i guess  i’ll have to see if carbonation and cold make it taste better.  Thin would be a perfect description of the mouthfeel.  I’ve got one week in the bottles.  so a couple more and we’ll know.  Thanks for the Advice guys.