Approximately a half cup of chopped up ginger
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
Put these in a pan just until they boil. Allow to cool. It has to be cool enough to not kill the yeast.
When cool I put my little strainer in my funnel and put both on top of a two liter bottle and strained the mixture into the bottle. Add 1/8 tsp. yeast and 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar. Fill the bottle up with water until you are about 2 inches from the top.
Leave in a warm place and after several hours squeeze the bottle (about every 8 hours), it should be soft enough to squeeze if it is not (after a day or 2) open the cap to let off the pressure.
Now all I have to do is wait!
Here are the blogs where I got the recipes from:
http://cottagefeast.cottagelife.com/2010/06/01/ginger-beer/#comments
I suppose if I had studied Chemistry in a bit more detail I would understand how such a simple process can make such a fab drink (and so quickly too). I hope it turns out to be good, because if it does, you'll probably be making a lot more of it when the weather warms up.
ReplyDeleteMMMMmmm I wonder how that would be.
ReplyDeleteCathy @ Country Cathy
I did make it also, but the recipes had me scared with the warnings that it may blow up. I was very carful, but then forgot about a liter of it. I would like to report after 3 months it did not explode and was full of carbonation when I opened it.
ReplyDeleteGreat recipe. I should try if I can make it
ReplyDeleteA real classic! I am going to hopefully have a go at some Dandelion & Burdock this year. Watch out for it on my blog during the season.
ReplyDeleteRegards, Craig.
I'll be watching! I am going to try root beer next. I found the root beer extract today.
ReplyDeleteOOOOH, I have not had home made ginger beer in YEARS!!! Delish and thanks for posting the recipe. Enjoy
ReplyDeleteOk, we have tasted it. It is very carbonated and the taste is rather nice but the smell is something else. It smells strongly of a "green" root smell. Michelle thinks it was just too much ginger which could have been. Next time we will make it with less. This time we will use it with ice and hope the ice water dilutes down that smell some.
ReplyDeleteHi Becky, I have a different recipe but it comes from a book (you may like it) so I will make it simple so I'm not boring anyone (lol):
ReplyDeleteIt does make up 4.5 litres. So you would want 4x 1.25 litre bottles.
Ingredients:
25g root ginger
15g cream of tartar
1 lemon, rind and juice
500g white sugar (I used brown though, with no regrets)
1tsp of yeast (I used wine general wine yeast because it was all I had)
peel and crush the ginger in a mortar and pestle (if you have one). Transfer to bowl (MAKE SURE BOWL IS LARGE ENOUGH TO HOLD 4.5 LITRES) mix in cream of tartar and lemon rind. Add 1.5 litres of freshly stove boiled water and mix in sugar. Make sure all the sugar has dissolved. Add the rest of the water. Allow to cool to about room temp or just above. Add yeast and lemon juice. Cover with tea towel and seal it with string. Let it sit over night (or until fermentation has started).
Remove the surface scum with something like a sieve (or anything). Transfer to a demijohn (with funnel) and apply an air lock. Let it stand for about 2 days then bottle. Let it stand for another few days and then drink.
Done! lol You can strain the final product if you don't like ginger sediments in your ginger beer. I do though :)