Ginger Beer Recipe Ideas | How to Make Homemade Ginger Beer

Traditional ginger beer was made using a ginger beer plant. If a recipe calls for yeast it is not the genuine home made ginger beer! It is great to get children involved in the fascinating process of grow a living, breathing ginger beer 'plant' by simply mixing up ground ginger, sugar and water.

This 'plant' captures wild yeast, and is very similar to the starter used to make sour dough from scratch.

Making ginger beer was a fascinating part of my childhood. We made it in large batches.

The bottles were stored outside in the hot summer months for fear of explosions with potent batches with too much sugar that generated too much pressure in the bottle.

Late on hot summer afternoons you sometimes hear 'boom, boom, boom' as one bottle exploding set off a chain reaction.

On one occasion we left a bottle under the house for several weeks. We gingerly carried into the house and placed it in the fridge to cool down.

When we opened one of the bottles on the kitchen sink after it got cold there was a geezer of ginger beer that shot up vertically and cleaned a circular patch on the ceiling. This mark remained there for months.

You should not let these stories put you off as home made ginger beer is fabulously refreshing and has a unique taste which is much better than the commercial carbonated varieties.

As kids we were always adding extra sugar to try and generate more gas!

The make the plant you will need the following ingredients

• 1 rounded teaspoon sugar
• 1 rounded teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 cup lukewarm water

Method - Mix the ingredients together in a jar and cover with a piece of coarse mesh held in place with a rubber band. The mesh covering should allow air exchange.

Place the jar outside in a shaded place. The mesh will keep flies and other insects out. The idea is to attract natural yeast spores that are floating about in the air.

Every day for the next week, add 1 teaspoon ground ginger and 1 teaspoon sugar to the plant.

You can cheat by adding a teaspoon of dry yeast at the start, but capturing the wild yeast is a lot more fun.

After seven days divide the plant into two halves. Place one half in a glass jar with a cup of warm water.

You can start feeding this plant as before adding one of sugar an one teaspoon of ginger each day - ready for the next batch.

The other half of the plant is used to make the current batch of ginger beer.

Ingredients for the Ginger Beer

• 4 cups of sugar
• 24 cups of warm water
• 1/2 cup strained lemon juice

Method - Mix the ingredients into a large bowl. Filter the ginger beer plant extract through two layers of fine muslin.

Then pour the liquid into the bowl and mix well. Pour the mixture into clean bottles that have been rinsed with boiling water to sterilise.

Seal the bottles. Screw types seals are a good ideal to relieve any excess pressure. Store the bottles in a cool place.

The beautiful homemade ginger beer should be ready to drink by the end of a week.

Refrigerate thoroughly before opening.

Enjoy!

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