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Remember those halcyon days of
summer, short trousers, grazed knees and Ginger Beer . . . I don't. I never made Ginger Beer as a child so it's about time I learned. (I still have the short trousers) |
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The ingredients are simple and common (not unlike myself) Ginger - real root ginger, not the ground powder stuff Sugar - plain old white sugar is fine Yeast - baker or bread yeast is ideal Lemon Juice - if you feel the need Water - you know, that clear stuff out the tap There's more . . . . scroll down a bit |
| Equipment: Not a lot A plastic drinks bottle (empty of course) screw lid A table spoon, that's the big one A grater thing A plastic jug, not shown here, it was too shy to pose |
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Resembling a badly designed potato, break off some of the lobes and scrape off the brown skin. Fresh ginger will break with a sharp snap. I found a potato peeler to be ideal but I did have to ask the wife how to use it. You need enough to make about one and a half tablespoons worth |
| Now I'm not going to pretend the next bit is easy, or clean because it isn't. It's time to grate the ginger. In the hands of an expert this will take a couple of minutes, so put 15 minutes aside, you'll need it. You should end up with a soggy mass as shown on the right here, it's meant to look like that . . . honest. |
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Starting the yeast 'There's life Jim, but not as we know it'. Yeast is an active ingredient if it's not dead that is! Put about a cup full of mildly warm water in a jug, add a teaspoon (that's the smallest spoon) of sugar, blend in. Sprinkle the yeast on top - look, it floats. stir it in and wait.
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if the yeast is good then after five or ten minutes it will start foaming up. if it doesn't your yeast is dead, get some fresh stuff. |
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They say that necessity is the mother of invention and in my case she visits often. Yep, I didn't have a funnel, thankfully those days at school weren't wasted and I soon found a scrap of paper (OK, my marriage certificate) to create a make-shift funnel. What's the funnel for, to get a cupful of sugar in the bottle as well as the grated ginger of course. |
| Still got that yeast right . . . Pour it in to the bottle, we now have sugar, yeast, and ginger in the bottom of the bottle and we need to top it up with water. I used slightly warm water and filled the bottle up leaving a two inch air space, now you can add a small amount of lemon juice for added flavour, about a table spoons worth. |
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Time to leave it in a warm place for 24 to 48 hours, the bottle should be solid when you try and squeeze it. Did I mention the build up of pressure at all? |
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It's essential that I cooled the bottle down to stop fermentation, if you don't it may explode. By a cool place I
mean a fridge, not a trendy cocktail lounge! |
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Opening the now cold bottle took about five minutes as I slowly eased the gas out, there was a small volcanic eruption going on inside and all the settled sediment got mixed up again - dam and blast. This means I had to filter the lumps out. I found a 'burns bandage' from the first aid box ideal. It has a very fine weave and lint free.
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The result was . . . gingery Richard and I sampled it and agreed it was ginger beer, it just lacked umph because of the loss of carbonation. |
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WARNING
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