The process involved in making homemade ginger beer is quite simple and quick too.
You don’t have to be a seasoned professional to make this refreshing recipe. There are a lot of ginger beer recipes available but this spicy ginger beer is made the old-fashioned way, with lots of fresh ginger, sugar, yeast, and water.
With this recipe, though, be wary that leaving the fermentation process for too long might turn slightly alcoholic. You can intervene in the process before then, though.
What do you need for your own homemade ginger beer
Before you start, make sure you have the following equipment ready:
- Four 1 litre plastic bottles (with caps) or two 2 litre plastic bottles.
- You will also need a large bowl or several smaller bowls to store the ginger beer while it ferments.
- Strainer to strain the ginger beer. You can skip the straining step and keep the ginger sediment in the bottle if you prefer.
- Funnel to pour the ginger beer into your bottle
Exploding ginger beer bottles
Because of the yeast, ginger beer can be an overly aggressive fermenter and it produces high pressure very rapidly. Therefore, do not to bottle ginger beer in glass bottles. Also do not leave the finished ginger beer in a closed up warm place as this can result in excess pressure build up and the lid will explode off.
Ingredients for home made ginger beer
- 50 grams fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 2 lemons
- 450 grams sugar
- 30 grams yeast
- 4 litres boiling water
How to make home made ginger beer
- Wash the lemons and slice them into thick rings.
- Peel the fresh ginger and grate it using the fine side of your grater.
- Mix the ginger, lemon, sugar and cream of tartar in a large bowl.
- Pour the boiling water over the top, stir the mixture and let it cool to lukewarm temperature.
- Stir in the yeast.
- Using a funnel, fill your plastic bottles with the ginger beer and shake them well.
- Allow to stand for 24 ? 36 hours.
- When the bottles become hard and you can?t squeeze them you know your ginger beer is ready.
- Once the ginger beer is chilled, pour into a glass and enjoy.
Stopping the fermentation for ginger beer early
- To make your ginger beer non-alcoholic, follow the steps above until you have added the yeast.
- Once you have stirred in the yeast, leave the mixture to Leave to rest for no longer than 24 hours to let the yeast do its magic.
- Skim off the yeast and strain the mixture with a strainer.
- Fill your plastic bottles with the ginger beer and place the bottles in the fridge overnight. This halts the yeast and stops the bottle exploding. Once the ginger beer is chilled, pour into a glass and enjoy.