June 15th, 2005
How To Make Ginger Beer
I fancied a nice cool drink the other night, but I’m fed up with cola, lemonade and juices.
I prefer a “drier” soft drink, and one that doesn’t make you want to scrub your teeth
immediately after drinking. So I decided to make myself some ginger beer.
“Hang on, why didn’t you just buy some ginger beer?” I imagine you asking me. Well, most commercially produced ginger beer is far too sweet and not gingery enough for my taste, that is why. And I was bored.
So, here’s what I used to make a delicious ginger beverage:
- 2 litre bottle of still mineral water
- large chunk of root ginger (you need 1½ to 2 tablespoons of grated ginger)
- 1 lemon
- 1 cup of sugar
- ¼ teaspoon of dried yeast
You’ll also need a grater to grate the ginger, and a plastic funnel. I didn’t have a funnel, but you really need one. Trust me on this.
“Hey idiot, why did you buy a bottle of water instead of using tap water?” Well, you need a two litre bottle to make the ginger beer in, and London tap water isn’t the nicest in the world. So I spared no expense and spent 18p on a bottle of Sainsbury’s Still Table Water and killed two birds with one stone. If you already have a clean two litre bottle, and your tap water is ok, then feel free to use that. Or try a nice expensive mineral water if that sort of thing tickles your fancy.
Now that’s out of the way, here’s what I did next:
1) Lay all your ingredients out to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything.
2) Realise you’ve forgotten the yeast, so get that too.
3) Decant the water into a suitable temporary container (skip this step if you are using tap water)
4) Using a plastic funnel, pour the sugar into the bottle. (if you don’t have a funnel fashion one out of paper like me)
5) Add the dried yeast to the bottle.
6) Now, grate the ginger until you have between 1½ and 2 tablespoon’s worth. I used 2 tablespoons because I really like ginger, but feel free to vary this according to your tastes. Also, you may wish to cut the skin off before grating. I’m lazy so I left it all on.
7) Next, extract the juice from one lemon.
8 ) Mix the grated ginger and lemon juice together in a cup or other suitable piece of crockery.
9) Next you need to add the ginger/lemon mixture to the bottle. This is where a plastic funnel comes in really handy. for some reason paper funnels don’t work so well once wet.
10) Now, you need to add the water to the bottle. Fill it up until it is about ¾ full, then put the cap on and shake the bottle until all the sugar is dissolved.
11) You then need to top the bottle up until there is approximately a one inch gap at the top. This gap is to prevent explosions once the yeast gets to work.
12) Put the cap on the bottle as tightly as you can, then place the bottle somewhere warm. I put mine in my airing cupboard. You’ll need to leave it for 24-48hours to let the yeast go to work. Once the bottle is very hard, and can’t be squeezed, the ginger beer is done. It took 24 hours for my batch to be ready.
13) Place the bottle in the fridge overnight. This halts the yeast and stops the bottle exploding. You really don’t want to leave that bottle in a warm place for any longer than 48 hours.
14) Once the ginger beer is chilled, pour it into a glass and enjoy. I sieve mine when pouring so I don’t have any lumps of ginger in the drink.
And there you have it. 2 litres of delicious ginger beer for around 90p and very little effort.
Tags: Articles
[...] http://www.vurt.co.uk/2005/06/15/GingerBeer [...]
This worked quite well the first time. I used a little bit more ginger though ;-). Is there a way to a) reduce the yeast-taste a bit and b) do something agains all the sparkles getting out when opening the bottle. It seems that the grated ginger promotes this effect, so once I opened the bottle there was a lot of gas coming out and after I filled the contents through a sieve in a new bottle (or a glass for drinking) it was tasting a bit dull, since a lot of the gas went out already.
Could it also work to first let the ginger, sugar and lemon sit in the water for a day or two and then add the yeast after removing the grated ginger? Or will that give a different taste?
Putting the Ginger in first works quite well!
I put about 3 TSp of freshly grated Ginger in 2l water plus a small cup of sugar and 1/2 lemon worth of juice. I squeezed the grated ginger a bit while putting it in the bottle and I think this was good because some juice came out (Maybe one could even exctract juice from ginger and put this in the water instead of the grated ginger). Then I just waited a day, filled the gingery sugarwater though a sieve in another bottle, added just a little bit of bread yeast, closed the bottle and put it in a room with floor heating for a day. Some foam appeared on the surface and told me that the yeast worked well. The bottle was quite hard from the pressure buildup. Then I did not open it but put it right into the fridge for 2h. Now I could easily open it without spilling anything and I had good, sparkeling ginger beer.
It took two days however, but it had more gas than the one-day version (which lost most of that while sieving it) and needed less sugar than the version in which I tried to let the one-day version ferment another day after sieving.
Thanks for the recipe, I now need to give less money to the Coca-Cola-Company and have even better soft drinks! :-)
[...] per the instructions here). If you had a look through, you’ll notice that it takes a number of days to finish it and [...]
to get rid of the lumps of ginger you can add dried ground ginger
over here in nz we can by packs of the stuff so its heaps easier, keeps
for ages without going off and almost dissolves into the gingerbeer
just an idea worth sharing!!
I would love to try this recipe,
But would like to know why you said that we should use bakers yeast, is this because it’s cheaper/easier to buy … Or is it because it tastes better?
I would like to know which yeast makes the best ginger beer, and I am hoping you can tell me.
Thank you,
Calem Young
ok thanks,
i will try making it with bakers yeast first and then i’ll
compare it to one i’ll make with brewer’s yeast,
i’ll writeback to you with the result.
thanks again,
Calem Young =)
I really like the simplicity of this recipe and can’t wait to try it when I get a chance. Though, I was wondering if you had any ideas of how to boost the alcohol content. I was thinking if I used a bit more sugar and yeast and then left extra room at the top of the bottle so it could ferment longer that might do the trick. However, I’ve never tried anything like this before and wondered if you have ever experimented w/ this aspect of the recipe or had any ideas. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Isaac
[...] your own Here is my favorite recipie - but you’ll have to be careful not to get Ginger in your D&S… Here is another… looks more [...]
My mother used to make this recipe with fresh yeast. She put the mixture in a wide crock and floated the yeast on a slice of bread. When it was bottled, we could hear the bottles exploding in the pantry!
I used to make, years ago, a very similar version of Ginger Beer. Thank you for reminding me of the quantities. I’m going to buy an 8 litre jerry of water (I’m in spain, they are cheap here) brew in that, using a kettleful hot to a/. give me room and b/ warm up the brew, and then syphon off into clean pop bottles, leaving most of the solids behind. Then you need to wait until the bottles are hard before drinking. In the old days, before plastic pop bottles, I had a glass ginger beer bomb in my larder too!
Thanks again!
[...] recipe is below, but I’m linking back to the original post too because they deserve the credit - and are an ORG supporter [...]
Here is a recipe i found on the web
The starter recipe for Ginger Beer is as follows:
The ginger beer plant (GBP)
1/4 tsp. Yeast (ordinary dry baker’s yeast from the supermarket).
2 tsps. Sugar.
2 tsps. Ground ginger.
3/4pt. lukewarm water.
Feeding:
Daily for seven days.
1.tsp. sugar.
1 tsp. ginger.
Method:
Use a 2lb. jam jar or large coffee jar, put all the starter ingredients into it and put the lid on then place some where warm and dark.
Feed daily for seven days.
On the eigth day filter the contents of the jars through 2 layers of musslin and a coffee filter.
Making the beer.
To make the beer.
2pts. boiling water.
5 pts. Cold water.
1.5 lbs. Sugar depending on your taste.
juice of 2 lemons and or limes.
disolved the sugar in the boiling water.
Add the fruit juice, and then add the five pints of cold water.
Now add the liquid from the jar.
Bottle in 2ltr fizzy drink bottle, leave at room temprature for 24hrs or until bottle goes hard.
Next put in fridge, to stop the yeast working, very important unless you like moping floors and carpets.
Now divide your GBP into two parts give away one part to a friend and start feeding your plant again
I like the simplicity of this approach. I just tried a similar recipe but the yeast taste was quite strong and too much for my son. Does the yeast just make it fizzy or does it have some other vital function and so could one use some sparkling water. Or would that be heresy?
To avoid the lumps. After grating the ginger you can put it in a jay cloth (the blue cleaning ones) and strain the juice out. This saves adding the fiber to the mix. I saw a chef do this on TV when he wanted ginger juice. I can confirm it works well.
Washing it would probably be a good idea. The batch I have don’t smell of anything but you never know what is lurking. Muslin or cheese cloth would be better if you can get it.
In answer to Dave’s question I have made non alcoholic cordial using the straining method. Just boil the sugar in water then add ginger juice and the juice of a lemon or lime (use the least water you can to get the sugar to desolve in). Chill then pour some in a glass and add fizzy water.
I had a South American boyfriend who made ginger beer buy putting ginger, water, rice and sugar in an old wine bottle for a couple days, I assume the rice has yeast culture on it but it didn’t taste yeasty when you drank it. I’m not sure of the quantities or anything. anyone else had experience with this? or have any comments?
[...] vurt.co.uk » How To Make Ginger Beer (tags: recipe drinks howto food) [...]
Perhaps the wine bottle had some traces of yeast in it left over from the wine.
Hi there! Ever since I got back from Australia last summer did I want to brew my own ginger beer. Which, in Switzerland simply isn’t available (unless you allow Canada Dry in this category, but I wouldn’t go that far). So I tried aurora’s 2-step version of this recipe, and it turned out quite nicely indeed.
But I still have two questions. First: is there a way to remove the plant (as I believe the little colony of yeast is called) that decants at the bottom of the bottle? It gets problematic when pouring the last helpings… Yet another filter operation?
Then, almost all ginger beer “old times” recipes include cream of tartar (or potassium bitartrate). Does someone knows what this substance is for? It doesn’t appear to be necessary, since gile’s recipe already yields pretty good results, but I’m curious. And if it’s useful, can it be replaced by another acid, like citric acid which is more readily available in non anglo-saxon countries, apparently?
Thanks for the recipe!
hi! I have tryed bakers yeast and brewers yeast
and I think that bakers yeast was more successful.
cheers.
calem26.
I have never made Ginger Beer (but after reading this site I think I will.) But I do brew my own all grain beers.
With Grain Beer you let it sit for at least 2 weeks for the fermentation to finish. Adding more or less sugar would give you more or less Alcohol By Volume.
The yeast “taste” people have mentioned is strong for 2 reasons.
First, the yeast taste is stronger while its still active…this is why beer makers and wine makers let their product sit, sometimes for years (depending on the type of yeast) in order to mellow out the taste.
Second, bread yeast has a very strong yeast flavor and smells…well…like bread yeast. An Ale yeast like whitelabs british ale yeast would probably work quite well and have a better finishing taste (http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp005.html). You can find this yeast a most homebrew stores.
For finding out how much alcohol is in the Ginger beer you would want a hydrometer…which measures the sugar to water ratio in your ginger beer. You would need to take a reading at the start of the batch and again in two weeks. Comparing the numbers will tell you how much sugar the yeast ate and that gives you a pretty good idea for how much alcohol is in the beer. The longer the yeast works the more sugar gets eaten which means the beer will get less sweet over time. You can counter this by “feeding” sugar to the solution during the two week process.
Bread yeast is used to make meads and tends to end with a very high alcohol content. Much higher then beer. An Ale yeast would peter out around 5% or 6% ABV…but I think bread yeast will finish out at like 10% to 15% ABV.
Anyway…Cant wait to try this.
Hi! I’ve been experimenting with this excellent recipe and found baker’s yeast works better than brewer’s yeast (the latter gives a kind of dry taste and is less refreshing).
Adding the juice of 1 lime can give a nice edge to it and the ‘zestiness’ tends to mask the yeasty smell. I use a food processor to chop up the ginger.
Lastly I brew this with the lid off the bottle, as it nearly exploded last time when I left it in direct sunlight (the lid flew off and hit the ceiling!). This does make it less fizzy, but we’re happy with it.
Concerning …remove the plant (as I believe the little colony of yeast is called)… from timtom. I was a bit confused by reference to ginger plant earlier on. In Somerset, (cider country) yeast colony is somreimes called ‘mother’ rather than plant. I do not know if mother and and daughter are different when the cells multiply by eating sugar.
I have yet to try this recipe, but I am amazed by the relplies that have been written, I will try this recipe and will take into account all the observations made by the replyees - is there such a word - probably not.
Thanks for quick and easy Ginger Beer recipe. I used fresh ginger, but extracted the juiice by placing the ginger in my juice extractor, the result… a clear, good colour ginger beer and sharper flavour.
Zeta October 27. 2008 9.00pm
Hi ginger beer people - I have just joined the ranks of ginger beer making after many years of drinking various commercial brands. My first attempt has been reasonably successful and I used bakers yeast and dried ginger, but I find that it still lacks the “heat hit” that real ginger gives, that is what I was looking for. I have started a new “plant” today and have added fresh root ginger as well as the dried product. I was wondering if anyone had ever added a little bit of dried chilli to the ginger plant to give it an extra bit of zing?
Hello, I made my ginger beer last weekend and it was great, I couldnt believe the amount of bubbles in it, I create bubbles!! :) However I stupidly used the juice of an orange as well because I only had a small lemon, I do not recommend this as it impairs the flavour. Also I used demerara suger, I dont know if this makes any difference but I could tell it would have been good if not for the orange. Thanks for a great recipe which I have passed on to my friends and will now always use.
Just had a go with this. End result is good but as mentioned above, a bit too yeasty. Although I used loads of ginger, it still wasnt fiery enough for my taste. I think the ginger wasnt grated finely enough. Next time I will stick the ginger in a blender to ensure enough fire in the brew.
Good simple recipe though.
Great recipe! I read this in early December and have been making a couple of litres every week since. And it does make a mean Moscow Mule!
I’ve been following Aurora’s 2 step method and using baker’s yeast and it works a treat. Cut back a little on the yeast but just under 1/4 tsp seems to be the best balance between bubbles and flavour.
However, I seem to be missing the ‘fiery’ bite that I like in some ginger beers. I’ve upped the amount of ginger and although it tastes great it’s still not got the ‘bite’ factor. I seem to recall reading somewhere about adding a pinch of paprika but I’m not sure where. Has anybody tried anything like this?
Cheers!
I will try this recipe as the recipe I tried caused an explosion in the garage only after 3 days of a very warm NZ summer. I recall hearing a loud bang in the middle of the night! I wondered why the recipe said to use the whole bug(plant) as I recall from my childhood days my mother used to only use a little bit of the bug and kept dividing it. I’m a little confused about the length of the fermentation process after bottling. It looks as though it could be related to temperature - does putting it in the fridge stop fermentation altogether or slow it down? Cheers!
Two quick points
1/ Angela41 - in days gone by when beermakers didn’t have access to yeast they would just float lumps of bread on the surface of the brew; the yeast still active in the bread would start the fermentation process - I suspect this is what your mother may have been doing.
2/ Storage temperature - a warm liquid will not absorb much CO2 (ie the fizz) so if you chill the liquid for a day or two much more CO2 will be absorbed and the drink will be much fizzier. Yeast action will be slowed but not completely stopped so exploding bottles could still occur.
Many people have left comments to say that they have not got the fiery taste that they are after. In many recipies cayene pepper and paprika are added to give it a warm heat which may be what people were referring to. If making this ginger beer for mixers in things like “dark and stormy”s it’s best to leave these out however, as you need to tate the refreshing citrus flavours.
help!!!! what have we done wrong followed instructions, but had two failures one to lemoney the othe try was very bitter and sour
I have read the info above and found it to be a very nice and easy recipe. Upon looking at this recipe I considered that the floating mass of ginger would be a little problematic and therefore decided to boil the ginger to extract the flavour and then filter prior to adding to the bottle.
I did not heat the contents of the entire bottle, only approximately 25% of it. I also added the sugar in at the heating stage in order to dissolve it more easily. The aroma was fantastic!
After about 5 mins of boiling I sieved the contents into a measuring jug (with a spout). I allowed the warm juice to cool a little and then added the lemon juice to it and poured the syrup back into the water bottle (no need for a funnel when pouring with a spout). The warm liquid mixed with the cold liquid and made the contents warm to the touch. To this I added the wine-makers yeast (all I had) followed by 2 or three 2 inch batons of root ginger and placed the bottle in a warm place.
I have only just done this so cannot speak of the result. But it smelt so good I had to make some more straight away so that I could drink it without fermenting it, it was great!
The idea here is that hot-steeped ginger will impart enough flavour without the bits. The large batons would give the mixture a little more of a kick and could easily be removed. I will definitely chill the drink before serving as all gasses are much more soluble in cold water as someone correctly wrote above.
I like very much the idea of juicing the ginger for an extra tang. I will try this next time. Does anyone know how to get a little chilli extract into the brew? I believe this will really give it a kick. The problem is that capsaicin the active component of the chilli pepper is completely fat soluble and therefore not soluble in water. Maybe if would be more soluble in the sugar syrup?
Red-Hot Ginger beer:
I couldn’t wait for a response so I tried it out. I considered that if I add crushed chili into the sugar syrup the very fatty capsaicin would be soluble enough. It worked! I used only a tiny amount of a scotch bonnet chili which I added to the boiling sugar syrup. I then added the grated ginger and heated for a few mins. I filtered the mixture and allowed it to cool. This was then ready for the yeast and the brew as per usual. But I had to give it a try, wow! I am sure this is how they make Fiery Jamaican ginger beer. I am sure the ginger beer resulting from this concoction will be great with some Jamaican rum in it.
Enjoy.
Hi there!Does anybody know any information for grain beer brewing?? Since I am novice in that domain i would like to learn an easy way to make grain beer with home equipement!My e-mail address is pantelanis@hotmail.com. Thank everybody in advance.
I have made the ginger beer with a spicy touch
Ingredients
1. 1.5lb granulated sugar
2. 20 gms root ginger crushed into pieces
3. 5 spoonful honey
4. 1 lemon juice
5. 5 cumin seed s crushed
6. One pinch of nutmeg powder
7. One pinch of black pepper powder
8. One crushed cardamom pod
9. Two pinches of yeast nutrient from home brew shop
10. 4 spoonfuls of brewing yeast from home brew shop
11. 6 Table spoonfuls of honey
12. 4 spoonfuls of crushed isinglass or one ladies finger(okra)
Method:
Take five tablespoonfuls of granulated sugar, and dissolve in half a pint of boiled cooled water . Add all ingredients except the left over sugar and isinglass ( okra) in a food processor and mix well. Keep the contents over night in a warm place for 24 hours in open mouthed jar or vassal.. Filter the contents with a domestic sieve to get rid of the coarse ingredients. Add the res of the sugar and 10 pints of water, mix well . Allow to ferment for one week in a warm place. Decant the contents into another vassal and add isinglass or okra pieces to clarify the liquid. Filter again .Bottle the clear fluid. If additional fizz is needed use external carbon di oxide used to make soda water. If you are not using isinglass or okra, the bottled beer will have enough fizz., but you have decant the beer. If you wanted to keep the beer longer without fermenting you have to use sulphur di oxide to kill the yeast.
dear moderator,
please correct the spelling vessel and keep the the contents for 24 hours not overnight and 24 hours.please correct as you have to decant the beer.thanks
[...] How to Make Ginger Beer von Giles Paterson [...]
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Hiya, Just a quick note of thanks for the Ginger Beer recipe. I’ve wanting to make my own since I was a wee lad. Tried the recipe last night and hey presto, 24hrs later I have ginger beer!! Out of interest, does it have any alcoholic content??
TrickyTrev on September 20th, 2007 1:09 pm