Ginger Beer

Plant Recipe

Ingredients
8 or 9 sultanas
Juice of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon lemon pulp
2 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons sugar
2 cups cold water

Method
Add all the ingredients to a large (holds 3 cups water) screw top glass jar. Stir, screw on lid and leave in a warm place to ferment. In warm weather this takes approx 3 days, under cooler conditions 5 to 6 days. A little froth on the top of the mixture and tiny bubbles rising from the bottom of the bottle indicate when fermentation is taking place. The plant must be fed with 4 teaspoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of ginger every day for one week. Do not miss a single day.

Making the ginger beer

Ingredients
4 cups sugar
4 cups boiling water
Juice of 4 lemons (medium sized)
28 cups cold water

Method
Into a plastic bucket place the sugar and boiling water. Stir until sugar has dissolved, then add the lemon juice. Line a large strainer with muslin or cheesecloth. Strain the liquid from the ginger beer plant into the bucket. Gather up the edges of the cloth and squeeze dry. Set a side the residue.

Add the cold water and stir well. Fill glass screw top bottles leaving a 2.5 – 3cm gap a the top of the bottle. This quantity makes approx 10 – 12 bottles. Screw the tops on the bottles ands store in a cool place for approx 2 weeks. Divide the residue from the ginger beer plant in half and place in 2 jars. Add two cups of cold water to each plant and feed as before.

The fermentation process
Careful monitoring of the fermentation process is the key to maximising flavour and avoiding exploding bottles. The yeast occurring naturally on the surface of the sultanas increases as it feeds on the sugar in the plant mix. In the process carbon dioxide is formed, precipitation carbonation as well as producing a very small amount of alcohol.

The sugar added to the plant, and to the drink mixture itself, continues the fermentation process until the appropriate taste and degree of carbonation is arrived at. If too much sugar is added to the mixture the number of yeast organisms will multiply dramatically possibly causing the bottles to explode. Exploding bottles tend to be more common where bakers yeast, rather than sultanas, is used.

The sediment which accumulates in the bottom of the bottles is mainly dead yeast cells, the aftermath of the fermentation process.

so ginger i go to the supermarket and buy some ginger and i can use that, how could i grow my own ginger?

veg gardener said:

so ginger i go to the supermarket and buy some ginger and i can use that, how could i grow my own ginger?

the ginger in the recipe is the ground ginger you get in the shops. Don’t know if fresh ginger would be any good.

bluegreen said:

veg gardener said:

so ginger i go to the supermarket and buy some ginger and i can use that, how could i grow my own ginger?

the ginger in the recipe is the ground ginger you get in the shops. Don’t know if fresh ginger would be any good.

ok, ill get mum to make me some, would it be hard for me to make?

veg gardener said:

bluegreen said:

veg gardener said:

so ginger i go to the supermarket and buy some ginger and i can use that, how could i grow my own ginger?

the ginger in the recipe is the ground ginger you get in the shops. Don’t know if fresh ginger would be any good.

ok, ill get mum to make me some, would it be hard for me to make?

I wouldn’t just leave it to your mum to do. It needs attending to everyday and then when you do the bottling it is a big job. You will need lots of screw-top bottles too, so you might want to save some up before you start.

bluegreen said:

veg gardener said:

bluegreen said:

veg gardener said:

so ginger i go to the supermarket and buy some ginger and i can use that, how could i grow my own ginger?

the ginger in the recipe is the ground ginger you get in the shops. Don’t know if fresh ginger would be any good.

ok, ill get mum to make me some, would it be hard for me to make?

I wouldn’t just leave it to your mum to do. It needs attending to everyday and then when you do the bottling it is a big job. You will need lots of screw-top bottles too, so you might want to save some up before you start.

yep i will.

Can you take the ginger out? Does it make you fall down? Why not?

Longy said:

Can you take the ginger out? Does it make you fall down? Why not?

alcohol content is negligible I’m afraid. Suitable for under 18s :)

bluegreen said:

Ginger Beer

Plant Recipe

Ingredients
8 or 9 sultanas
Juice of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon lemon pulp
2 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons sugar
2 cups cold water

Method
Add all the ingredients to a large (holds 3 cups water) screw top glass jar. Stir, screw on lid and leave in a warm place to ferment. In warm weather this takes approx 3 days, under cooler conditions 5 to 6 days. A little froth on the top of the mixture and tiny bubbles rising from the bottom of the bottle indicate when fermentation is taking place. The plant must be fed with 4 teaspoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of ginger every day for one week. Do not miss a single day.

Making the ginger beer

Ingredients
4 cups sugar
4 cups boiling water
Juice of 4 lemons (medium sized)
28 cups cold water

Method
Into a plastic bucket place the sugar and boiling water. Stir until sugar has dissolved, then add the lemon juice. Line a large strainer with muslin or cheesecloth. Strain the liquid from the ginger beer plant into the bucket. Gather up the edges of the cloth and squeeze dry. Set a side the residue.

Add the cold water and stir well. Fill glass screw top bottles leaving a 2.5 – 3cm gap a the top of the bottle. This quantity makes approx 10 – 12 bottles. Screw the tops on the bottles ands store in a cool place for approx 2 weeks. Divide the residue from the ginger beer plant in half and place in 2 jars. Add two cups of cold water to each plant and feed as before.

The fermentation process
Careful monitoring of the fermentation process is the key to maximising flavour and avoiding exploding bottles. The yeast occurring naturally on the surface of the sultanas increases as it feeds on the sugar in the plant mix. In the process carbon dioxide is formed, precipitation carbonation as well as producing a very small amount of alcohol.

The sugar added to the plant, and to the drink mixture itself, continues the fermentation process until the appropriate taste and degree of carbonation is arrived at. If too much sugar is added to the mixture the number of yeast organisms will multiply dramatically possibly causing the bottles to explode. Exploding bottles tend to be more common where bakers yeast, rather than sultanas, is used.

The sediment which accumulates in the bottom of the bottles is mainly dead yeast cells, the aftermath of the fermentation process.

That’s my recipe too and I’ve exploded quite a few. It’s slightly alcoholic too.

veg gardener said:

so ginger i go to the supermarket and buy some ginger and i can use that, how could i grow my own ginger?

It’s powdered ginger from the spice aisle.

veg gardener said:

bluegreen said:

veg gardener said:

bluegreen said:

veg gardener said:

so ginger i go to the supermarket and buy some ginger and i can use that, how could i grow my own ginger?

the ginger in the recipe is the ground ginger you get in the shops. Don’t know if fresh ginger would be any good.

ok, ill get mum to make me some, would it be hard for me to make?

I wouldn’t just leave it to your mum to do. It needs attending to everyday and then when you do the bottling it is a big job. You will need lots of screw-top bottles too, so you might want to save some up before you start.

yep i will.

Plastic bottles are safer in case of explosion. Put them in a box or something so that if one goes up you don’t get ginger beer everywhere.

Longy said:

Can you take the ginger out? Does it make you fall down? Why not?

If you put extra sugar in it might.

Do you need to wait for the plant to start bubbling before you start adding the ginger and sugar each day, or do you simply add the sugar and ginger each day starting 24 hours after you start the plant?

gcvegie said:

Do you need to wait for the plant to start bubbling before you start adding the ginger and sugar each day, or do you simply add the sugar and ginger each day starting 24 hours after you start the plant?

I think you wait until it starts bubbling. It’s been such a long time since I made it and not sure if I typed out the instructions wrong or if it always was that vague! lol!

uummmm just wondering…..
Can you get drunk from drinking too much Ginger Beer?????

So asks the tea totaler…….LOL

Lucky1 said:

uummmm just wondering…..
Can you get drunk from drinking too much Ginger Beer?????

So asks the tea totaler…….LOL

it does have a small amount of alcohol but an adult would have to drink alot to get drunk, although a small child may be affected.

BTW. Did some googling and confirmed that you wait until it bubbles before feeding it for a week.

Thanks Bluegreen.

opens up a skinny coke

I used to make it when the kids were little and I wasn’t working. The only problem was that they always wanted small single serve bottles to drink it from, not poured into a cup from a large bottle. This made the bottling process too fiddly and time consuming so I stopped making it. I think that it lost its fizz quickly once the big bottle was opened. OK if you were drinking it the same day though.