Ginger Beer

[Colarris]

Ive made my own in the past but it never comes out as hot and spicey as the commercially produced ones

[Hilary B]

Ive made my own in the past but it never comes out as hot and spicey as the commercially produced ones

Add extra ginger, and/or feed the 'plant' for longer. I made a couple of batches fed for 10 days instead of 7. Definitely more ginger flavour....

[Caro]

I passed this on to my OH who was keen to have a go. It was started 9 days ago, using dried yeast and powdered ginger. What should the "plant" look like? I have an evil smelling jar of brown gunk in my kitchen cupboard

I sort of expected some frothing or something from the yeat by now, but it really doesn't seem to be doing much. Has he done it right?

Thanks

[binley100]

Time to get brewing for those long summer days...... got my plant started and will be splitting and sharing it with others from the lottie. We plan to make enough to use on our centenary open day.

[Hillwalker]

I've always wanted to try making my own ginger beer. Thanks for the recipes.

A couple of suggestions:
a) Try to use fresh yeast. It's far better and tastes less "yeasty."
b) ideally, use freshly grated root ginger, much tastier and has far more of a zing. Otherwise, try minced ginger - Morrisons sell East End minced ginger in a jar.

In case anyone's interested, in episode 6 of The Horticultural Channel they show you how to make elderflower champagne: YouTube - ‪The Horticultural Channel: Episode 6: Late May/Early June‬‏ - 16 minutes in.

[chris]

I'm going to give this a go next week.. sounds great

[Munch]

Will it be ok for the kids?

[binley100]

Our kids used to drink it not sure on the alcohol content cos never tested it ....... and we always used brewers yeast with no yeastiness.

[bearded bloke]

Time to get brewing for those long summer days...... got my plant started and will be splitting and sharing it with others from the lottie. We plan to make enough to use on our centenary open day.

When is that Bin's ? might pop across for a glass

[chris]

Will it be ok for the kids?

Who cares! As long as they sleep through the night

[endymion]

Will it be ok for the kids?

Ours used to enjoy it, but didn't drink much at a time because I made it very gingery.

If you 'harvest' it early the alcohol content is minimal.

[binley100]

When is that Bin's ? might pop across for a glass

20th August , I'll do a post a bit nearer the time .........

[Hilary B]

The fizzier it gets, the more alcohol you've got (all other things being equal, you might lose some of the fizz.....)
The one thing I would query from the original recipe is.... if you add BOILING water to the 'plant extract', doesn't that risk killing the yeast?

[binley100]

Dunno.....but it's the recipe that we've always used and seems to work . You're only adding the water to whats drained off so the yeast in the plant lives to fizz another day .......

[binley100]

First lot bottled and plant has been halved , one half has been passed on and t'other is being fed daily. Definately fizz in the bottles as they were squidged and have now filled out so the temp of the water doesn't seem to cause a problem