Old-fashioned Ginger Beer Recipe | Food

Date Published:: 07/01/2008

This is a quick recipe for traditional ginger beer – the perfect drink for a picnic in the sun. Serve with crust-off sandwiches filled with canned red salmon, light mayonnaise, a squeeze of lemon and cucumber slices.

Makes just under 2.5 litres
Takes 20 minutes to make, plus overnight standing, 12-36 hours' fermenting and chilling

Ingredients

1 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
1 unwaxed lemon, thickly sliced
250g golden caster sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 tsp dried fast-action yeast

Method: How to make old-fashioned ginger beer

1. Put the ginger, lemon, sugar, cream of tartar and 750ml cold water into a large pan over a medium heat. Slowly bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add 1.5 litres cold water and sprinkle over the yeast. Cover with a lid and set aside in a cool place overnight.

Tip

You'll need 2 x 1.5-litre plastic bottles. Never use glass bottles as the pressure builds up and they will explode!

2. The next day, sterilise the bottles by cleaning them in hot soapy water. Rinse and set aside.

3. Strain the ginger beer through a nylon sieve and divide between the bottles – leave a 5cm gap at the top to allow for the build-up of gases. Screw on the lids tightly and leave in a cool place. Check every few hours, unscrewing the cap a little as the pressure builds up, to allow the gases to escape.

4. The ginger beer is ready to drink when fizzy, which will be within 12-36 hours, depending on how hot the weather is. Chill, then serve with plenty of ice and drink within 3 days (don't drink if it smells old and yeasty).

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Comments

as a footnote to my ginger beer recipe during the racking period make sure the ginger beer is stored in a cool dry place corked champaghn bottles are recomended as presure can build up in the bottles and chill well before serving, the finished product can be upto 5.8% alchohol by volume and tends to be on the sweet side, to add zest to it just add 2 whole grated lemons to the final mix but dont forget to strain the beer before bottling.

Posted by De Bob on 14/07/2009 15:55:53

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This is not a comment but a recipi for Ginger beer real ginger Beer. Take on sache of dried yeast 1 tablespoon of sugar method mix the ingrediants in about 1 pint of warm water until suger and yeast have disolved add a tablespoon full of ground Ginger. For the next 7-10 days add one spoonfull of ginger and a spoonfull of sugar each day. at the end of the fermantation period strain the musk through a clean stocking add liqued to 1 gallon of warm water stir in 2 pounds of sugar leave to stand in a warm place for 24 hours then bottle and rack for 4 weeks. the resulting mixture of ginger and yeast can be split in half then handed onto a freind and used as a basis for the next genaration ginger plant the beer produced improves with each genaration just add a pint of warm water and a sache of bakers yeast and cary on feeding the plant as before

Posted by De Bob on 14/07/2009 15:40:12

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Emmah, no you can't replace flour for yeast. Yeast is needed for the fermentation and flour will not do this at all. You can look up where to buy yeast on net and may be able to buy brewers yeast locally or use dried yeast for bread making.

Posted by Jim on 22/06/2009 19:56:52

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can u use flour instead of yeast?

Posted by emmah on 17/06/2009 21:01:31

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hi i want to try this but i am not sure how much straining needs to be done. is the idea to leave a fair bit of residue in each bottle when you strain it as a nylon sieve won't be that fine a filter? and do i definitely need plastic bottles NOT glass ones with stoppers (grolsch beer style)? hope someone can help! tim

Posted by tim on 10/06/2009 08:48:47

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If any one wants a slightly more detailed recipe, inculding the famous ginger beer plant i've put one on the 101 Things For A Chap To Do blog. http://101things4.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-to-make-ginger-beer.html

Posted by Mark on 19/04/2009 13:53:42

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Method: How to make old-fashioned ginger beer

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