Better than beer

Cakes and I revived an old tradition a few weeks ago. We made ginger beer. This is something I used to make back in university, somewhere around 1992 or 1993. I used to bring this over to a friend's house and a whole bunch of us would get pissed on it on a regular basis!

This fizzy, spicy, alcoholic drink is dead easy to make and is just about the tastiest thing you can drink on a hot summer day. It absolutely goes down like kool aid. Don't say I didn't warn you.

You do need a few beer-making things to do this, but you can buy this stuff at pretty much any grocery or pharmacy these days and it's not all that expensive either. Despite the length of the instructions here, it really is a totally easy thing to do. If you've never made beer or wine before, maybe you've got a friend who has done it and can help walk you through it. Once you get through the first time, you will really be amazed at how easy it is.

The equipment you'll need includes:

• a primary fermenter (a 30 litre food-grade plastic bucket with a lid really. I had a friend who used a big tupperware container which seemed to work okay for her)
• a floating dairy thermometer
• a secondary fermenter (another big plastic (or glass) thingy - sometimes called a carboy)
• a fermentation lock (a little plastic thingy that allows the carbonation to escape so your secondary doesn't explode, but doesn't allow nasty bugs and airborne nasties to get into your beer.)
• some clear PVC (food-grade) hose
• a big spoon
• a big stockpot or canning pot
• 23 old 1 litre pop bottles (or fancy new ones that can be bought at the beer-making shop); and
• fresh plastic caps (you can buy them where you buy your fermenter)
• sieve
• bottle filler attachment and racking cane (both optional but highly recommended, and both are cheap too)

The equipment won't cost you more than $50. Better still, try to borrow some. Chances are you've got an uncle or a friend who used to make their own beer or wine (or still does) and you can nick their stuff for a few weeks. If you're lloking for a more detailed explanation of some of the equipment I listed, try reading this. For a much better explanation of how to use the combination of the PVC tube and racking cane for siphoning, click here. The instructions below assume you are just using the PVC tube on its own, without the racking cane. The bottle filler goes on the end of the tube opposite the end the racking cane is attached to.

The ingredients you will need:

• 2.5 to 3 lbs fresh ginger
• juice of 3 lemons
• peel of one lemon, pith carefully removed
• 23 litres water
• 19 cups (approx 4 kilograms) corn sugar (get this at the same place you get your brewing equipment)
• 1 pkt brewers yeast (get this at the same place you get your brewing equipment)

Sterilize the primary fermenter (including its lid), thermometer, spoon and sieve by washing them with a solution made up of bleach (1 cup bleach to 4 gallons water). Make sure you read the label on your bleach to ensure it contains at least 4% Sodium Hypochlorite. You can also use Diversol (you can purchase pink-coloured Sodium Hypochlorite powder at beer making supply shops) at a ratio of 1.5 teaspoons per 1 litre of water. I find the best way to do the sterilizing is to fill the primary fermenter 3/4 full with tepid water, add the appropriate amount of bleach or Diversol and chuck the rest of the stuff into it. Use a clean cloth or your hands to ensure the whole of the inside of the primary is washed with the solution. Dump the solution out and give the equipment a quick rinse with a pitcher-full of boiled plain water.

Now your equipment is sterilized and you're ready to brew.

Boil 23 litres water in stockpot on stove. If your pot is too small, you can do it in batches. To the boiling water add ginger (roughly sliced, but not peeled), lemon juice, lemon peel and sugar. Allow to simmer for 30 minutes. Taste a small amount to see if the ginger taste is strong enough for you. If not, you can add a bit more sliced ginger or simmer longer, or both.

Pour mixture into sterilized primary through the sieve (to get out the ginger and lemon), pop the floating thermometer in and put the lid on. You may want to select a five or six pieces of ginger from the seive and chuck those back into the primary. Let the primary sit, losely covered, for 6 or 8 hours and check the temperature. When the temperature is within the range stated on the yeast packet (usually from 68F to 70F), sprinkle the yeast over the top, remove the thermometer and put the lid back on. Let it sit for a week.

After seven days, use the PVC hose to siphon the liquid off into the secondary fermenter. Make sure you sterilize the secondary, the hose and the fermentation lock before you use them by following the same method described above. As you have no primary to mix the solution in, I would just use the (very clean!) bathub, or a large Sterilite (Tupperware) container placed in the bathtub. Place the primary on the counter top or other elevated surface and place the sterilized secondary close by on the floor. Place a 2 litre container (a water pitcher will work) within reaching distance.

To get the hose to work as a siphon, submerge the sterilized hose in a sinkful of water so the hose fills up and no air bubbles are trapped in it. Put your thumbs over both ends. Put one end into the primary, holding it against the edge so the end doesn't go right to the bottom (it should never touch the bottom, you'll be leaving about an inch of fluid in there so as not to suck up the detritus that's settled there). Keep your thumb firmly over the other end. Put the 2-litre container on the floor beside the secondary and drop remaining end of the hose into it. The water should start to flow from the hose. When the water is finished and the beer starts coming out, submerge your hand, put your thumb back over the end of the hose and move it to the secondary.

Remove your thumb to let the beer flow into the secondary. When the level of beer in the primary gets to within an inch of the bottom, pull the hose out . Pop the fermentation lock on the secondary and fill it to the line with the same water you sterilized the equipment in. Let it sit for a week.

After seven days, use the same siphon technique to siphon the beer back into the (cleaned and sterilized) primary and stir in 3/4 cup of corn sugar that has been dissolved in 1 cup of boiled water. This extra sugar will help the beer to carbonate in the bottle.

Siphon the beer into the bottles (sterilized) and cap them immediately. A bottle filler attachment is absolutely priceless here, you just lift it off the bottom of the bottle and the flow of beer stops, enabling you to switch to a new bottle without getting beer everywhere.

Leave the beer to finish fermenting for 2 to 3 weeks in the basement. When they are sufficiently carbonated, the bottles should feel hard when you squeeze them.

Chill your ginger beer and try not to drink it all up in the first week.

Comments

[clare eats]

You are an amazing woman arent you? :)

I make my own beer and have been dying to try my own ginger beer (alchoholic of course ;) ) I need to get a new fermenter though... ours had an accident when we moved last time.

[Michele]

Lyn, I love it that you made your own ginger beer! You never cease to amaze. I've never even tried ginger beer before, you certainly make it look and sound tempting and refreshing. great post!

[mireille]

Constant source of amazement the way you announce "It's Easy!" and "It's Fun!" and "We Do It In Our Spare Time!" and then we get the equipment list. I understand Reed's does a very nice Ginger Beer. Off to the store! xoxo

[J]

hi lyn, making your own ginger beer...would have never occurred to me in a million years...mindblowing! cheers,j

[anthony]

Used to make my own beer and I think the crucial advice is to make sure everything is sterilised. My breweing days ended up with a squabble over somebody thinking they'd missed out on a couple of bottles. Serious stuff accusations of beer poaching.

A hit of vodka with that GB and mint and you've got yourself a right tasty Moscow Muke tovarisch.

[anthony]

Oh bugger, I forgot what I was going to say.

No it isn't.

[anthony]

That should be Moscow Mu*l*e

No really I haven't been drinking.

[megwoo]

I LOVE ginger beer!!! Thanks for the idea and technique!

[Joan]

I seem to remember the name of this drink was "Green Cord-ial" in honour of a Classics Prof. Didn't the original recipe have the mysterious cream of tartar? I also remember a smarty-pants pre-law student who made smarty-pants labels for this drink. Hmmmmm. I wonder if I have one around?

[Monkey Gland]

I have vivid memories of a batch of ginger beer exploding one hot summer when I was about 5 years old. They all popped in succession like a machine gun. I remember my old man running for cover soaked through with sugary beer. I don't think me and my brother ever laughed so hard!

[Steve]

C'est magnifique! I was just wandering around and came across your blogged recipe for ginger beer. Sound tasty! I used to make a hard lemonade in the same method. I'm making this for our 4th of July celebration south of the border in Worcester, Massachusetts. I'll let you know how it goes.