Ginger Beer

[Rod]

As a child I loved those little brown bottles of Ginger Beer, as I remember they were very lively and foamed a good bit when you opened them?

I remember also my mom and dad making the stuff years ago, something went haywire and several bottles blew their tops in the pantry under our stairs.
My mom used to feed a little jar of liquid every day with sugar and ginger, and then after a time make the ginger beer with this liquid. I found a recipe on the net which i'll be trying soon, I thought someone out there might like to try also?

Ingredients
25g (1 oz) fresh yeast or 15 g (½ oz) of dried yeast
1 kg (2¼ lb) sugar
40ml (8 tsp) ground ginger
Juice of 2 lemons
Water
Method
Starter ‘plant’
Put the yeast into a large clean jar. Pour in 275 ml (10 fl oz) warm water. Stir in 10 ml (2 tsp) sugar
and 10ml (2 tsp) ground ginger. Cover and leave in a warm place for 24 hours. This is the starter
‘plant’.
Feeding the ‘plant’
1. On each of the following 6 days feed the ‘plant’ with 5 ml (1 tsp) sugar and 5 ml
(1 tsp) ground ginger. Stir and cover the jar each time.
2. After the last addition leave the solution to stand covered for another 24 hours.
3. Line a sieve with muslin. Strain the solution reserving both the liquid and the sediment.
4. Over a low heat dissolve 900 g (2 lb sugar) in 575 ml (1 pt) water. Stir well.
5. When the sugar has dissolved bring to the boil and boil for 3 minutes.
6. Pour the syrup into a large bowl and stir in the lemon juice and liquid from the plant.
7. Dilute with 3.5 L (6 pt) water, stir well and pour into clean, rinsed out bottles. Secure the
bottles with corks (do not use screw tops as yeast produces carbon dioxide as it ferments
liquids which may cause the bottles to explode).
8. Store for at least 1 week before using.
· Use half of the reserved sediment as the new ‘plant’ to start the next batch of ginger beer.
· Give the other half to a friend so they can make their own.

 

[Lynda Harvey]

Ginger Beer and the Rest

Rod
I can always remember the things our Dad made which always ended up in the pantry under the stairs. The exploding ginger beer was great fun. We make elderflower wine here but it is not half as much fun even though the wine blows the corks out, its only a 'pop' not a bang. He also had a go at horseradish sauce which tasted foul, but Dad loved it. I also remember some of the funny concoctions he made our Mom cook, like 'chicklings' 'cow heel' 'pigs head' 'tripe' to name just a few. He had the constitution of an ox and lived until he was 86. Smoked his pipe like a chimney and loved his pint of Ansells mild (As well as some famous grouse to boot) We used to have to travel miles to find an Ansells pub when he came to visit. Just try to give him M&B or Banks's, my goodness.
Lynda

 

[Pomgolian]

Rod when my kids were small I was given one of those little jars to feed (here it's called a Ginger Bug) 8) . Anyway in due course I made the Ginger Beer about 12 x 1/2 gallion glass bottles of the stuff and put it in the garage to 'rise' . A week later my son age four and his friend of the same age came running into the house yelling that the 'Baddies' were shooting each other in the garage, on going to look you've guessed it all 12 bottles had exploded , what a mess :roll: . I had left a good head at the top of the bottles but it seems the heat from the sun on the roof of the garage had made it too hot inside :twisted: . So although I would like to try yours I might not be allowed to by the family :wink:

 

[Rod]

Is the recipe different to the one Ive posted POM? if so maybe post it here too?

 

[Oisin]

Did anyone ever make ginger ale (we was posh y'see :wink: ) without it exploding?

I can remember it going on and on like a nuclear chain reaction - the more you made, the more you had to make - spread like a computer virus it did. 8)

I loved the stuff - couldn't get my kids interested though. They claimed it tasted like soap suds... Not carbolic soap suds it d'ain't, and they're the only ones we had when we were young pups.