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Ginger Beer

 
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Pablito



Joined: 18 Jun 2009
Posts: 9
Location: Tasmania
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 09 6:49 pm    Post subject: Ginger Beer Reply with quote
    

This recipe works well with either fresh ginger or powdered, but I much prefer the taste when it is made on fresh.
Equipment: 1 x widemouthed glass jar (1 litre+)
1 x fine-weave cloth - a handkerchief (preferably clean) will do.
1 x large elastic band.
1 x 20 litre water bottle - the ones used in water coolers are ideal.
Enough PET softdrink bottles, with lids, to hold about 10 litres.
1 metre of aquarium airhose-type plastic tubing - about 7mm dia.

Ingredients: Ginger - fresh or powdered.
Sugar
Water
Yeast - brewers' is best, but I have been getting great results with bread yeast while I've been living in El Salvador where I can't find brewers'.

Method:
Put 2 cups of tepid water in the clean glass jar.
Add 2 heaped teaspoons of sugar and stir until dissolved.
Add 2 heaped teaspoons of finely minced fresh ginger, or powdered.
Add 2 heaped teaspoons of dry yeast.
This is the "bug."
Cover neck of jar with clean cloth and seal with a tight elastic band.
Leave for 24 hours in a warm place.
EACH DAY FOR THE NEXT 7 DAYS: add 2 heaped teapoons each of sugar and ginger, allowing the bug to rest for 24 hours each time.
On the eighth day:
Dissolve 750 grams of sugar in 10 litres of water.
Put the sugar/water mix into the 20 litre water bottle.
Strain the bug through a fine mesh strainer, being careful to gently press the residue to extract as much flavour as possible. The liquid extracted will be rather muddy to look at, but that's the way it is meant to look.
Add the liquid to the sugar water.
Cover the neck of the water bottle with a clean fine-mesh cloth and seal with a very tight elastic band.

Now it gets tricky.
If you bottle it straight away, you will have a ginger beer softdrink.
However, you can let it ferment for as long as you want until fermentation stops, at which time the alcohol will have killed the yeast: usually at about 12-13% alcohol.
When using bread yeast, I usually decant into bottles at about 5 days, when there is just a slight fermentation going on. This gives the best compromise between alcohol, fizz, taste and safety. However I have had good results with up to 8 days fermentation.

To decant:
Take the plastic tube, I use aquarium tubing, and attach something like a stainless steel knife, using your elastic band, so the end of the knife is about 1.5cm past the end of the tube to keep it off the floor of the bottle.
Siphon into your clean PET bottles, and screw the lids on tightly.
Leave for a day or two, to develop some gas pressure. This is where the importance of the PET bottles comes in - glass bottles are easier to clean and sterilize, but, if you misjudge the pressure, they also make great glass grenades - no such problem with the PET.
Refrigerate.
Chilling stops the fermentation and gas production.
I usually wait to refrigerate until the bottles are bulging substantially to maximize fermentation and gas content.

Drinking:
Open very slowly and carefully. It's easy to cover the ceiling with ginger beer if you're hasty.
There will be some yeasty residue in the bottom of the bottle, so it's best to pour it slowly into a glass.
Enjoy.

The amount of water and sugar used can be varied to suit your own taste. I like my ginger beer quite hot to the taste, and this recipe provides that.
Drink on a hot day - but be warned: it sneaks up on ya.[/u]

Pablito



Joined: 18 Jun 2009
Posts: 9
Location: Tasmania
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 09 6:52 pm    Post subject: Peeling the ginger root Reply with quote
    

Forgot to mention:
the easiest way to peel roots of fresh ginger ios to put them in ice water for 3 or 4 minutes and then rub the back of a knife over the skin - it just slides off.
I mince my ginger in a food processor and then pack it, two teaspoonsfull at a time, in an iceblock tray and keep it in the refrigerator.

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 09 6:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I havent made a ginger beer plant in years, this gets me thinking I really must again.

Does it really reach 12-13% ? It doesnt sound like enough sugar to reach that percentage? Whats the starting specificgravity like?

Have you tried adding a small chilli for extra 'fire'?

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 09 6:54 pm    Post subject: Re: Peeling the ginger root Reply with quote
    

Pablito wrote:
Forgot to mention:
the easiest way to peel roots of fresh ginger ios to put them in ice water for 3 or 4 minutes and then rub the back of a knife over the skin - it just slides off.
I mince my ginger in a food processor and then pack it, two teaspoonsfull at a time, in an iceblock tray and keep it in the refrigerator.


Thats a great tip, will definately try that, I love fresh ginger in things

Pablito



Joined: 18 Jun 2009
Posts: 9
Location: Tasmania
PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 09 1:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

When I first started making it, I used the hydrometer and iI remember it was running 9+%. Since then, I haven't retested (my hydrometer is on the other side of the world) but I have been tweeking the brew, and have been making it considerably stronger than I used to, so the %age is an estimate, but I think a fairly close one, given its effects.
I'm not a measurer, so the amounts in the recipe are a bit of a guestimate. Developed bad habits from watching my wife cooking things by the "dash, pinch, fistful and bit more" method of measuring.
I haven't used chili, but I do include the juice of a lime or two, depending on their juiciness, to lift the acid a bit.
I don't like my ginger beer to be very sweet, so I've learned to decant it into bottles quite late and then let it continue fermenting in the bottles, only chilling them when I figure they're getting close to bursting, so almost all sugars are converted.
Thanks for the idea about the chili. I'll give it a try next batch.

James



Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 2866
Location: York
PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 09 2:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

last year I made some ginger beer, supposed to be a nice light drink for hot summers days. It fermented to dryness and became extremely fizzy. After a pint of it I was really fuzzy headed.

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