Ginger Beer

[Andy Hamilton]

Does anyone know a good recipe for making ginger beer? I am developing a bit of a taste for the stuff and want to make my own.

[Wombat]

G'DAy Andy,

i have recipes, but I can't say I am hugely fond of the produce. We have a commercial brand here - Bundaberg Ginger Beer - which I love but have been unable to reproduce it so far. I have been using dried (powered Ginger) so I think I need to give the fresh stuff a go

Years ago I used to make the stuff and, as you know doubt know, if you leave it in glass bottles too long they shatter. So I had a brainwave and put it into the clear plastic PET softdrink bottles. I left it under the house for a while and when I pulled a bottle out it was about 20% longer than it had been and had white strain marks down the side due to the pressure.

Rather than step OUTSIDE the garage , I decided to loosen the cap to reduce the pressure while still inside. I made about a quarter turn of the cap and there was an almighty BANG ( my ears rang for days) and a jet of ginger beer proceeded to soak the entire inside of the garage...............what a mess ! took hours to clean it all up. I let one go outside and the jet went about 25 metres - that's pressure!

Hey, maybe this would be a good self sufficient Trish cartoon! What do you reckon?

Nev

[rhyddid]

[Andy Hamilton]

It is volatile stuff, I remember when my mum used to make it I thought I would giv e bottle a tiny shake to give it more fizz. Ended up with a whole bottle of ginger beer on the kitchen celing!

I will definealty mention something to Spence, I think it is a perfect idea for trish!

[Wombat]

I tell you what Rhyddid, it certainly felt like that at the time!

Andy, what was your mothers reaction?

Nev

[Moorf]

Ah, Bundaberg - my fav!!

But.. there's competition on the market!! Wombat, it's made in Australia and it's called Buderim - it's a ginger beer "mixer" so when mixed with soda it makes a SMASHING ginger beer, I'm currently overdosing on it as it's available in NZ too... I can't find a website for it, but I do know that there's a huge sweet ginger factory in Oz (not NZ) called Buderim, can't believe it's not connected.....

[Wombat]

Thanks Moorf,

I'll give it a go!

Nev

[Goodlife1970]

Hi Andy,heres my recipe for ginger beer,really nice result but watch for the exploding bottles (I blew the pantry door off,literally) best bottles Ive found are the thick plastic cider bottles,although it can sometimes blow out the bottoms of ones that hae been used several times! Im going to try and use the wire topped Grolsch bottles,if I can find any. Here goes: to make the "plant" 1/2 0z yeast, (I use a packet of wine yeast,cheat that I am) 3/4 pt warm water,2 teaspoons ginger,2 teaspoons sugar. To feed plant: 6 teaspoons ground ginger,6 teaspoons sugar. To flavour: 1 1/2lb sugar,2pnts water,juice 2 lemons.To dilute: 5 pints water. Method: Mix together the ingredients for starting beer,stir well,leave for 24 hours then feed daily with 1 tsp ginger and 1 tsp sugar each day.After 7 days strain mixture through a clean cloth (I use a boiled linen tea towel).To flavour dissolve the sugar in the water,add lemon juice and the strained liquid fro the plant.Dilute this by adding the 5pnts water,mix well,bottle, keep for 7 days to mature. It is then ready to drink! To make things easier I use a clean bucket to flavour and dilute the mixture in and start the plant in a covered casserole dish (mainly to keep out insects and dust,Im unsure as to wether covering the plant makes any difference to the final product) Hope this helps.

[Andy Hamilton]

Ah hah a recipe many thanks will have a go at it as soon as I can get some extra thick bottles. - Would normal screw top glass bottles explode do you think?

[ina]

I managed to explode some with elderflower bubbly....

[Goodlife1970]

The ones I used did and blew the door off the pantry! You could try letting the pressure out occasionally,I dont think it would make it go flat.

[Shirley]

We've got some of the bottles with those grolsche like tops - I'd quite like to try this gingerbeer too - so thirst quenching... I would like lashings and lashings of it

[Andy Hamilton]

I managed to explode some with elderflower bubbly....

Really Was there much of a gap between the liquid in the bottle and the lid? I did find that I had some explosive ones when I left too much of a gap for the air to acumilate.

[ina]

There wasn't after it had exploded

Actually, I can't remember. It's a few years/decades/centuries ago... Well, it was in the last millenium.

[Kitchenwitch]

Any feedback on that ginger beer recipe? I've tried several (quite similar) versions of that basic formula, but I've found mostly they turned out quite yeasty, which, in my view at least, wasn't that great. I did try one with root ginger, which came out quite similar to the 'Cool' Luscombe ginger beer (divine), but had no staying power and turned interesting after a day or two...