Authentic Homemade Ginger Beer/Ale

[Albert Sailhorst]

My homemade Ginger Beer, fermenting and carbonating!

 

[Fairfield]

Love ginger beer! But it's so hard to find--brewing your own may be the answer!

 

[Albert Sailhorst]

Love ginger beer! But it's so hard to find--brewing your own may be the answer!

It certainly has flavour! Thanks!

 

[donna]

Great. I never made beer. We don't drink so guess never will try. Do like to see what others make.

 

[donna]

I have posted much on beverages. We did drink years ago. But due to health reasons and medicines have to take had to give up. I still like to research the beverages of the time and see recipes of others.

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

It certainly has flavour! Thanks!

Would you be willing to share your personal recipe?

 

[Albert Sailhorst]

Great. I never made beer. We don't drink so guess never will try. Do like to see what others make.

This is my first time making it with alcohol. I usually make it without, and it's been really tasty!

 

[Albert Sailhorst]

Would you be willing to share your personal recipe?

Absolutely! See below.....Thanks for asking!

 

[Albert Sailhorst]

Here is the recipe I use for making the soda for Ginger Ale, and I skip steps 5 & 6 and go straight to bottling it (not alcoholic)

Ginger Ale Fermented
(Makes 3 ¾ Grolsch Style Bottles)
(NOTE: To make a 2 liter bottle, increase recipe by about 1/3)

• 7 cups filtered water
• 1-2 inch piece of fresh ginger root minced
• ½ cup organic sugar. If using plain sugar add 1 TBSP molasses for flavor and minerals
• ½ tsp sea salt or Himalayan salt
• ½ cup fresh lemon or lime juice
• ½ cup homemade ginger bug (See recipe below)

1. Make a "wort" for your ginger ale by placing 3 cups of the water, minced ginger root, sugar, molasses if needed, and salt in a saucepan and bringing to a boil.

1. Simmer the mixture for about five minutes until sugar is dissolved and mixture starts to smell like ginger.
2. Remove from heat and add 4 additional cups water. This should cool it but if not, allow it to cool to room temperature before moving to the next step.
3. Add fresh lemon or lime juice and ginger bug or whey.
4. Transfer to a 2 quart glass mason jar with an air-tight lid. Stir well and put lid on.
5. Leave on the counter for 2-3 days until carbonated. Watch this step carefully. Using whey will cause it to ferment more quickly. It should be bubble and should "hiss" like a soda when the lid is removed. This is very temperature dependent and the mixture may need to be burped or stirred during this fermentation time on the counter.
6. Transfer to refrigerator where it will last indefinitely.
7. Strain before drinking.

• NOTES
• As with any traditional fermented drink, this is more of an art than a science. The outcome depends greatly on the strength of your culture, the temperature of your house, and the sugar used. The final mixture should smell of ginger and slightly of yeast/fermentation and should be fizzy. Watch carefully that it doesn't become too carbonated as this will cause too much pressure and may result in an exploding jar!
• The mixture can be strained and transferred to Grolsch style bottles before putting in the refrigerator.

Ginger Bug Recipe

• 1-2 fresh organic ginger roots
• white sugar (See #2 and 5)
• 2 cups filtered water

INSTRUCTIONS



1. Cut a piece of ginger root about 1.5 inches long and grate to make 2-3 Tablespoons of grated ginger. You can also finely chop instead of grating. There is some debate about if it is better to peel the root or not. My general rule is that non-organic ginger gets peeled and organic just gets rinsed before grating.

1. Place the ginger in a quart size mason jar and add an equal amount of white sugar (2-3 Tablespoons). Nourishing Traditions insists that white sugar is needed to create the bug and I've had the best success with this, but a local friend claims that unrefined sugar or sugar with 1 tsp of molasses added works better. Try what you have and adapt as needed.
2. Add 2 cups of filtered water to the mason jar. Make sure that the water has been filtered so that it does not contain chlorine which can affect the culturing process.
3. Stir with a non-metal spoon and lightly cover. I cover with a coffee filter and rubber band.
4. Each day for the next five days, stir the mixture at least once and add 1 Tablespoon of grated ginger root and 1 Tablespoon of sugar. Depending on temperature, it may take up to eight days of adding sugar and ginger to create the desired culture.
5. You can tell if the culture is active if there are bubbles forming around the top of the mixture, it "fizzes" when stirred, and it takes on a sweet and mildly yeasty smell. It will also become somewhat cloudy and opaque. If mold appears on the top, scrape it off if it can be removed. It this happens more than once, you will need to start again. If the mixture hasn't taken on these characteristics by the 7-8th day, you need to discard it and start again.
6. Keep the culture away from other cultures like sauerkraut and kombucha or it can cross-culture.
7. Once the ginger bug has cultured, it can be used to create fermented sodas and drinks at the ratio of ¼ cup ginger bug starter per quart of sweetened herbal mixtures for ginger ale or root beer or diluted fruit juice for fruit flavored sodas.

NOTES

To keep the bug alive and continue growing it, you will need to feed it regularly. Add 1 teaspoon minced ginger and 1 teaspoon sugar per day if kept at room temperature. You can also "rest" it in the fridge and feed it 1 Tablespoon each of ginger and sugar once a week. To reactivate it, remove and let it reach room temperature and begin feeding it again.

 

[Story]

With white sugar being in short supply during the war (particularly up north), what would be a locally sourced substitute? Honey?

 

[Albert Sailhorst]

With white sugar being in short supply during the war (particularly up north), what would be a locally sourced substitute? Honey?

That's a good question!
Like you, I would surmise they used honey. Note: they didn't add yeast....they "captured" natural yeast that is wild in our environment.

 

[donna]

Thanks for your recipe. With question about substitute for sugar in beer, I found several articles. They used honey and also molasses. George Washington made a beer with molasses. Many did in Colonial times.

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

I think the Vikings made their mead (beer) with honey?

 

[jackadven]

I think the Vikings made their mead (beer) with honey?

Isn't mead wine?

 

[7thWisconsin]

Molassas beer is easy. Molassas, water, yeast. Ferment. Tastes like a liquid gingerbread cookie. Eastern europeans make a drink called kvass or kwass that´s made from toasted brown bread. Toast the bread until it´s hard, just this side of burned, really then add it to your boiling water. Let it cool to room temperature, strain out the bread pieces. Add your sugar and yeast. Ferment. You can add some lemon juice if you want (though I don´t). Traditionally, you´re supposed to throw in a handful of raisins, but they´re not really flavoring. They let you check whether the yeast is working. When it´s carbonated, the raisins float. Kvass tastes like liquid pumpernickel.

 

[7thWisconsin]

Isn't mead wine?

Mead can be still like wine, or bubbly like beer. It can be plain or spiced, but then it´s called metheglin. Make sure you say it right so your neighbors don´t think you´ve gone all Walter White.

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

Isn't mead wine?

In a town near me they advertise it as Viking beer, but if this article is correct, I guess we are both wrong!

Mead is in its own category, it is not wine, beer or a spirit. It is simply, Mead. What is Mead? Fermented honey, the oldest alcoholic libation known to man (and woman).

Another source seems to agree with that:

What is Mead? A beer, a wine, a honey wine or something else?

Enjoy the Best Meads You'll Ever Taste! Our Award Winning Meads are Delicious and Refreshing. Buy Online, in Stores, at Farmers Markets. Made in Reading, PA.

www.rebelhivemeadery.com

 

[7thWisconsin]

That´s a good article. I´ve made both carbonated and still mead. The carbonated was better. I made some once that was so fiercely alcoholic that one 12 oz bottle gave me the room spins. Good thing I wasn´t driving anywhere! Let´s hear it for the Sumerians who gave us both beer and the fart joke! Where would we be without them!?!

 

[Albert Sailhorst]

I think the Vikings made their mead (beer) with honey?

I also make mead. Yep, with honey and it is delicious!

 

[jackadven]

In a town near me they advertise it as Viking beer, but if this article is correct, I guess we are both wrong!

Mead is in its own category, it is not wine, beer or a spirit. It is simply, Mead. What is Mead? Fermented honey, the oldest alcoholic libation known to man (and woman).

Another source seems to agree with that:

What is Mead? A beer, a wine, a honey wine or something else?

Enjoy the Best Meads You'll Ever Taste! Our Award Winning Meads are Delicious and Refreshing. Buy Online, in Stores, at Farmers Markets. Made in Reading, PA.

www.rebelhivemeadery.com

Fascinating!