Ginger Beer Recipe

James — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 08:41:19 +0000

Home made ginger beer is awesome, and not hard to do at all. It takes a few hours to prepare all the ingredients, then several days fermentation, then another hour or two for bottling. Usually I make about 8 or 9 1L bottles of ginger beer in a batch, and I like to make it less sweet than the commercial stuff. It is slightly alcoholic (1-2% approximately) and has a really nice gingery bite the goes well with pizza, spicy food or just about anything else! I use a recipe adapted from the Ye Olde Ginger Beer Recipe. It is as follows:

Ingredients

4 lemons
900g sugar
9L of water (enough to fill a demi-john)
1 packet / 2 teaspoons of Ale yeast (you can use bread yeast if you're desperate)
200g fresh root ginger
4 heaped tea spoons of tartaric acid (Cream of Tartar)

Equipment

A large pot that can boil four litres of water
A jug
A glass
A coarse cheese grater
A wooden spoon
10L carboy (10L water container does nicely) washed & sterilized with bleach
A bubble seal for the carboy
A lemon juicer
A lemon zester / fine grater
A fine sieve
9 X 1.25 litre soft drink bottles, empty, washed & sterilized with bleach

Method

1. Fill pot with water and put on to boil

2. While the water is coming to the boil...

scrape the zest from one of the lemons
grate the ginger on the coarse cheese grater
add the sugar to the ginger and lemon zest in a bowl
cut the lemons in half and squeeze the juice into the jug
add the tartaric acid to the lemon juice
put the yeast into some warm water with a little sugar in a glass

3. When the water has boiled ....

add the sugar, ginger and lemon zest to the water, turn off the heat and
stir
allow the water to cool to roughly blood heat, stirring occasionally
add the lemon juice and tartaric acid to the water
add the yeast mixture

4. Use the jug to pour the mixture into the carboy and top up to 9L with boiled water (cooled to blood temperature)

5. Seal the demijohn with the bubble seal (I use salt in the water to sterilize the seal)

6. Stand the demijohn in a warm place for 48 hrs or for several days in a cool place

7. After 48 hrs pour the mixture through the sieve into the jug and fill the bottles leaving an air gap for the pressure to build up in (1L into each bottle). Screw the caps tightly onto the bottles

8. Leave the bottles at room temperature for 24 hrs (to generate the C02 fizz)

9. Put the bottles in the fridge for 2-3 days to allow the yeast to settle

10. Drink and enjoy

Notes

If you ferment the mixture in the carboy for longer before bottling, it will be less sweet and more alcoholic.

Mango Liqueur – Fruition

James — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 13:44:00 +0000

The mango liqueur started about a month ago has now reached fruition. After filtering with cheese cloth, and adding a little sugar (much less than a cup), it is quite tasty. It should improve further as it ages over the next month or so, assuming it lasts that long

Mango Liqueur

James — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 13:01:00 +0000

Started a quick mango liqueur this evening. Two large fresh mangoes worth of pulp (approx 500ml) mixed with 500ml of vodka in a jar. Planning to shake every few days for the next few weeks, filter and then add about 1 cup of sugar, before maturing for a few months. I have high hopes, as a similar recipe worked well with bananas in the past.

James Crisp » Brewing

Ginger Beer Recipe

Mango Liqueur – Fruition

Mango Liqueur