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Directions
ginger beer:
Firstly to need to create a ginger beer "plant" from which you harvest your main ingredient.
A ginger beer plant is simply half an ounce of live yeast (I used bread
yeast) and 2 teaspoons of sugar in 3/4 pint of warm water in a glass
jar.
This creates live culture or plant which has to be fed with one teaspoon
of ground ginger and one teaspoon of sugar every day.
On the 7th day, the liquid is sieved off and the sediment halved, giving 2 plants when the sediment is added to jars of water). This can be carried on infinitum each week.
The liquid is added to 2 pints of warm water
in which 1.5 lbs of sugar has been dissolved. This is added to a further
5 pints of cold water and the juice of 2 lemons.
The " ginger beer" is then bottled in strong "polyethylene terephthalate"
plastic (soda pop) bottles. Do not use bottles that are not intended for
holding pressure, even "glass" soda bottles have been known to EXPLODE
when used for ginger beer.
The ginger beer should be kept bottled for at least 7 days at room
temperature. As a guide the bottles will feel flexible when the liquid
is added then will become rock solid when the carbon dioxide created
in the ginger beer is sufficient. You should be able to feel the gas
pressure build up after a couple of days.
Cool the bottles in the fridge, this stops the activity of the yeast.
Then drink (it mixes very well with gin or vodka etc), but watch out for the
gas pressure when you open the bottles.
Expect some sediment to be left
at the bottom of the bottles. |
