Experimenting with ginger beer

Don was interested in experimenting with making ginger beer. To this end, he saved a couple of two-liter soda bottles. He used this recipe:

Ingredients

Ginger Syrup Ingredients

    1 cup granulated sugar
    1/2 cup water
    2 tbsp grated fresh ginger

Ginger Beer Ingredients

    1/8 tsp active dry yeast or brewer’s yeast
    Ginger syrup (ingredients above)
    3 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
    7 cups filtered water

He started by making the ginger syrup, using a chunk of fresh ginger.

This he peeled and grated.

Adding water to sugar in a pot.

To this, he added the grated ginger.

He boiled the mixture until the sugar was dissolved, then turned off the heat and let it steep.

Then he took some lemons…

…and squeezed some juice.

He added a scant 1/8 teaspoon of yeast to the soda bottle.

He measured out the ginger syrup…

…and poured the appropriate amount into each bottle.

Then he topped off the bottles with tap water. We could do this because our water is well water and not chlorinated.

Shaken (not stirred) and ready to ferment.

The proto-ginger-beer must be stored in a dark place for about three days, and once or twice a day the cap has to be removed to let the gas escape (otherwise the bottles could explode under pressure). We stored them in the sink in the spare bathroom, figuring if the bottles did explode, at least the bathroom is easily cleaned.

But no such accident happened, and three days later the ginger beer was ready.

The results were quite tasty, considering how easily this was made! The only downside is it tasted a bit “yeasty,” no doubt because we used bread yeast. Next time we might try wine or champagne yeast.

This was a quick and fun experiment, and something we might try repeating in the future. Worth a shot!