Alcoholic Ginger Beer

Ingredients:

5 gallons (19 litres) water
2 lbs (just under 1 kg) finely chopped ginger root
20 cups sugar
4 lemons chopped
¾ teaspoon of cream of tartar

1 packet champagne yeast (a beer store may be able to supply this) ( If not available do a Google search as  several online stores supply this product).

Method:

Bring the water to the boil in the largest pot you have. Must be able to support the water and the sugar once it is added.

Add in the lemons, chopped ginger and cream of tartar

Add the sugar.

Bring to rolling boil then let simmer for half an hour.

Remove from heat and let cool but still keeping warm.

Using some of the liquid from the pot dissolve the yeast into it and then stir it back into the large pot. Cover the pot and let if ferment for one week at 65 to 70 degrees F ( about 20 degrees C).

Scoop out the lemon and ginger pieces before bottling. This can be done through a piece of muslin cloth.

Bottle in plastic soda bottles as that is the safer method. Ginger beer is a volatile drink and can explode glass bottles so care in storage is needed if you do decide to use glass..

Place in the fridge before use and be careful on opening !

Happy (hic) drinking !

Very Simple Jamaican Ginger Beer Syrup

This is more like a cordial than a ginger beer and will be fairly strong as there is no addition of lemon as there generally is in ginger beer.

I do not think this drink would be for the feint of heart !

INGREDIENTS :

• 1 lb (500g) ginger
• 8 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 5 pints (approx 3 litres) water

METHOD:

1. Puree ginger and water in blender. This will take a bit of work as ginger is one tough customer !
2. Let the pureed mix sit for a day.
3. Add sugar according to your taste.

Personally I would add a great deal more sugar than the recipe calls for.

Serve with crushed ice. 6-8 servings.

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Bob’s Ginger Beer Beef

Ingredients:

3½ lbs (1.5 kg) Piece of Corned Silverside (rump end if possible, you pay more but it is the best)
3½ pints (2 litres) of Ginger Beer (in a bottle from the shops or preferably make your own)
8 oz (250ml) marmalade with rind in it
1 lb (500g) carrots (cut into chunky pieces)
1 lb (500g) cabbage (cut into chunky pieces)

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Method:

Simmer your beef in ginger beer for two to two and a half hours until it is tender to the fork. Only ginger beer required nothing else, it is so easy! Make sure that the meat is under the ginger beer and not sitting out of it, if it does then use more ginger beer or a smaller deeper pot.

Take the meat out of the ginger beer when cooked and dry the fat on the meat with a paper towel. Now cover the fat with half a centimetre of marmalade and bake for 10 minutes at 200 deg C.

In the meantime add the carrots and cabbage to the remaining ginger beer juice and cook for 20 minutes

Slice and serve with mash potato, carrots and cabbage on the side and a tablespoon of ginger beer juice over the sliced meat to wet it and more warm marmalade.

Thank you to Bob and Vince for bringing us this recipe.

ABC Australia

Ooops almost forgot……200 deg. C converts to about 390 deg. F

Marksexauer writes :

“I have been making ginger beer for years and every time it seems I make it slightly different but always a reflection of a recipe I stumbled across some time ago in a book simply called, “The Home Cook Book.” It was first published in 1877 using home recipes from the Chicago area and features a straight forward recipe for ginger beer typical of its time.

It took a little playing around with because there are no exact measurements of everything used. For example how many ounces are in “one bottle essence of lemon?” Either way it doesn’t take much time to figure everything out and once you do you are flexible to add and tweak, making your own unique version of ginger beer.”

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Mark Sexauer’s Throwback Ginger Beer Recipe

Ingredients:

1 gallon tap water (4.5 litres)

3 cups light brown sugar

Zest and Juice of four lemons

Zest and Juice of two limes

2½ oz (70 grams) of fresh ginger or to taste chopped

¾ teaspoon tartaric acid

¼ teaspoon crème of tartar

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Method:

In a very large pot, bring the water to a boil. Once it reaches boiling point boil reduce to a simmer and add all the ingredients into the water. Stir everything together then take off of heat and let cool down to infuse for about 4 hours (covered). Strain the mixture into a container with cheesecloth or muslin and discard all the leftover ingredients.

Carbonating Your Soda

Fill your bottles with the ginger beer liquid. Leave a good three inches or so of air space. Put 25-30 granules of champagne yeast into the bottle and seal it up.

As Mark uses this amount (25 – 30 granules) for 16 oz (½ litre) bottles you may have to double it if you are using 35 fluid oz (1 litre) bottles.

(Test this or use the 16 oz (½ litre) bottles that Mark uses but a fair warning must be given if you decide to use glass bottles. They can explode). Give it a good shake once you put the yeast in and let sit in a dark place for two days. Refrigerate to stop the fermentation of the yeast.

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Please note all weights and measures are approximate.

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Ingredients:

2 pints ( 1200ml)  boiling water

1lb  (500g) sugar

1oz  (30g) fresh ginger grated

2 lemons

½ tablespoon cream of tartar

1 heaped tablespoon brewers yeast

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Method :

Remove the lemon rinds and make sure there is no white pith. Cut the lemons into slices.

Put into a large container with boiling water.

Then add sugar,ginger and cream of tartar.  Leave to cool until it is luke warm.

Stir in the yeast and place the container in a warm place for 24 hours.

Next day skim the yeast off the top and strain the mixture into bottles.

Don’t forget to use plastic bottle as we don’t want to pop our corks do we !

.Don’t forget to use plastic bottle as we don’t.

This is probably the easiest way to make ginger beer.

Japhet Bower from Toronto submitted one using Ginger Beer and it sounds absolutely delicious.

Japhet suggests;

¾ oz Sailor Jerry Rum
½ oz St.Germain Elderflower
¼ oz Marie Brizard Banane
¼ oz McGuinness Apricot Brandy
¼ oz Grand Marnier
Splash of orange juice
1 oz lime juice
Ginger Beer
Slice of ginger

Shake and strain the first six ingredients into a cocktail glass
Top up with ginger beer
Rub a slice of ginger along the rim of the glass and use as a garnish.

This certainly is a cocktail and it sounds yummy !

Head on over to Carousel Bar Blog from the Hotel Monteleone to check it out. The bar turns 60 in May and is having a new cocktail contest to celebrate.

Yet Another Quick and Easy Ginger Beer Recipe

This is one of those recipes where I don’t totally agree with the ingredients as the white of an egg is called for in this recipe. What an egg has to do with ginger beer …I don’t understand…. but that is what the recipe calls for so I will leave it up to you if you wish to try it.  it is not the first time I have mentioned it on this site as I have seen egg white as an ingredient in other Ginger Beer recipes.

But a word of caution if you do use it then well and truly smell the contents before drinking and if it smells in the least bit “off” then discard.

Ingredients:

Approx. 9 pints (5 litres) of boiling water

14 oz (400g) sugar

2 tablespoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon Tartaric Acid

¾ oz (20g) green ginger

1 oz (30g) compressed yeast

White of an egg

Method:

Mash the green ginger to a pulp. Have seen this written before but green ginger is stringy and exceptionally hard so to mash it to a pulp WILL be hard. I suggest you first use a meat pulper or hammer but try to do it in a container ( even the saucepan you will use to make the drink) where you can capture any liquid that comes out of the ginger. Its such a small amount at ¾ oz that it will be a little difficult. So much….. for the easy part of the recipe title !

The recipe calls for the crushed ginger, to be put into a large bowl with the sugar, the boiling water, the cream of tartar and the tartaric acid. Stir to dissolve the sugar and let it stand overnight.

The next day add the yeast (crumbled) and the well beaten egg white and allow to stand all day.

In the evening strain and bottle into very well steralised bottles and cap or seal.

Stand for a further three days before drinking.

As a NOTE :

I do not think ginger from supermarket jars of chopped ginger is suitable for these recipes as it is generally preserved in some form and sometimes its in vinegar. Read the label well if you are going to experiment with off the shelf chopped ginger, particularly which preserver has been used.

As we all realize we are just kitchen pharmacists and what we put into a recipe can change the whole outcome with even a tiny amount.

Use with Ginger Beer Recipe Using Sultanas -Recipe No. 17

The Ginger Beer Plant:

Ingredients Stage 1:

8 Sultanas
1 teaspoon of lemon pulp
4 Teaspoons of sugar
2 Teaspoons of ground (powdered) ginger
1 pint (600mls) of cold water

Method Stage 1:

Put all the ingredients  into a large jar ( big enough to take more than a pint (600 mls)  with a screw top lid and leave for 2 - 3 days and it will start to ferment.

Ingredients Stage 2 :

28 Teaspoons of sugar
14 Teaspoons of ground ( powdered) ginger

Method Stage 2:

Every day for 1 week add 4 teaspoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of ground (powdered) ginger.

3 Easy Stages….very easy.

The ingredients and instructions for this simple ginger beer plant from will also be catalogued as a Ginger Beer Plant No. 4.

Ingredients Stage 1 - The Ginger Beer Plant Recipe D:

8 Sultanas

1 teaspoon of lemon pulp

4 Teaspoons of sugar

2 Teaspoons of ground (powdered) ginger

1 pint (600mls) of cold water

Method Stage 1:

Put all the ingredients from Stage 1 into a large jar ( big enough to take more than a pint (600 mls))  with a screw top lid and leave for 2 - 3 days and it will start to ferment.

Ingredients Stage 2 :

28 Teaspoons of sugar

14 Teaspoons of ground ( powdered) ginger

Method Stage 2:

Every day for 1 week add 4 teaspoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of ground (powdered) ginger.

Making the Ginger Beer to Drink

Ingredients Stage 3:

2 pints (1.2 litres) of boiling water

2lbs 3 oz (1kg) sugar

Juice of two lemons

15 pints (8 litres) cold water ( approx) .

Method Stage 3:

Pour the boiling water on to the sugar and stir until dissolved.

Once that is done add the lemon juice.

Next strain the plant from the jar through muslin or similar cloth and squeeze excess from it.

Add the cold water and stir quickly.

Bottle drink into plastic bottles and store in a cool dark place for at least 3 days before using.

Making More Ginger Beer From This Plant

To make another plant from this one, halve the mixture in the muslin and place back into a large screw top jar and start feeding as in Stage 2 as before.

Once again happy ginger beer making …..and drinking.

From The Jane Austen Cookbook by Maggie Black & Deirdre Le Faye, published by Random House ISBN 0771014171

Ingredients:

Makes about 1 gallon / 4.5 litres

2 lemons

1¼lb / 550g / 3 cups granulated sugar

1oz / 25g piece fresh ginger root, peeled and bruised

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 gallon / 4.5 litres boiling water

1 tablespoon compressed fresh yeast

Method:

Remove the yellow outer rinds of the lemons as thinly as possible. Discard all the white pith. Cut the fruit into thin slices, removing the pops.

Put the sliced lemon and rind into a non-metallic bowl with the sugar, ginger and cream of tartar. Pour on the boiling water, and leave until it has cooled to blood heat.

Cream the yeast with a little of the liquid, then stir it into the mixture. Cover it with a cloth and leave it in a fairly warm place for 24 hours.

Skim the yeast off the top, then strain the liquid off the sediment. Bottle and leave for 4 days in cool place before use.

Consume without delay as the beer does not keep long.