General Chat

Can anyone remember, when you were a child making homemade Ginger beer? you used to have to add a spoonful of ginger powder ever couple of days and I think it was also a spoonful of sugar. but I can't remember how to start it off.
We have started selling old fashioned type drinks at work, Ginger beer, lemon quencher, danderlion and burdock, pink lemonade, but they come ready made and I would like to make my own.

Can anyone help me with the recipe please?

Helen

Have you tried googling - there may be a site with some recipes. I remember a friend's dad who had a ginger beer "plant" and there was nothing like the taste of the homemade ginger beer.

Sue x

How about this one which I thought was easy to understand -

Propagating the plant (Part 1)
In a large jar mix the following items to form the basis of your ginger beer plant;

1 Teaspoon of lemon pulp
2 Teaspoons of ground ginger
4 Teaspoons of sugar
2 Cups of cold water
8 Sultana's
Once combined, the 'plant' must be left for 3 to 4 days, depending on climate to ferment.

Store the jar in a warm dry place to help this process along.

Feeding the ginger beer plant (Part 2)
Each day your plant must be nourished by adding the following items to the jar, in order to keep it growing;

2 Teaspoons of ground ginger
4 Teaspoons of sugar
The harvest (Part 3)
After feeding your plant for one week, it now becomes time to harvest the crop. You will now need the following items:

A CLEAN plastic bucket
12 glass bottles with lids
An old pair of womens stockings
In addition you will need the following additional ingredients:

4 Cups of sugar
4 Cups of boiling water
Juice of 4 lemons
28 Cups of cold water
In the plastic bucket, dissolve the sugar in the boiling water, add the lemon juice and cold water.

The next step requires you to strain the 'plant mixture' into the bucket through a double layer of stockings, squeeze until the mixture is relatively dry.

Mix the entire buckets contents thoroughly and then bottle.

NOTES:

When filling up the bottles, remember to fill each bottle to approximately one third up the bottles neck.
For a little extra Fizzz... add 1 or 2 sultanas to each bottle before capping
Reviving the plant (Part 4)
Once the plant has been harvested, it is possible to revive it by separating teh remainder into halves and cultivating it as detailed in Part 2 (above).

Each half must now be treated as a separate entity and in subsequent harvests a double batch may be made or a half plant may be given away to a friend.

This recipe makes approximately 11 bottles of Home Made Ginger Beer!


Sue x

annot nudge it - do not know how but on General Board 22 Nov 2007 recipe from Carol Paine - the one I recall made with yeast starter and delicious

Can't remember it having sultanas in it though Sue.

Chris can you remember the thread title?

Ginger Beer Plant? that is the name of the thread.

only one i can find Chris is one for home brewing on the 25/11/2007.

Helen - go to General Board - on enter keyword, put in ginger beer plant and the one you want is by Christmas Carol of Dulwich. Do tell me you have found it. The actual thread title is Ginger Beer Plant?

got it Chris, I was searching on chat board only, stupid me.

Helen - thank goodness for that - I thought I was losing it and kept checking General!!!!!! Am going to begin a starter tomorrow as earlier in week I made some lemonade - 2 lemons needed used. OH enjoyed so much he popped in Sainsburys and bought me a bag of lemons!

Hi Helen

your query reminded me of a thread I posted in 2008 :-)

not a recipe but maybe a warning :-))))


I found this article in newspaper behind an old mirror.


Evening News

Thursday, September 2nd 1976

HOME-MADE WALLOP GOES CRASH, BANG


By Tony Loynes


A Batch of home-made ginger beer carried more of a kick than insurance Underwriter G. C. bargained for.
When he opened a bottle there was an explosion “like a gunshot” and an Army bomb disposal team had to be called in to blow up the rest of the brew.


The trouble started the day G. and S. C. returned from holiday.

The six bottles of ginger beer stored in the garage of their home in ******* Alton, Hants, had started to bulge ominously at the top.

Mr. C. said: “I tried to loosen the cap on one and after a quarter of a turn it exploded off, flew 18 ft to the end of the garage and flattened on the wall. If I had been in the way it would have made a hole in me. My wife thought a gun had gone off.”

He took the other bottles to the end of his garden and tried to explode them from a safe distance by throwing bricks at them.

“One exploded with a mighty bang and sent a shower of glass 30ft up to the house.” said Mr. C.

“That was enough for me. I called the police and they brought in the bomb disposal team who said it was too dangerous to move.”

“They put a small charge round the cap and covered it with carpet felt. We all retired to a safe distance and it was detonated. Quite a crowd had gathered to see what was going on,” said Mr. C.

Mrs. C., 32, who made the ginger beer from a recipe in a magazine, said: “We thought our two young daughters would like to try it. We both had home-made ginger beer as children.”

But police and Army spokesmen today warned ginger beer lovers: “Take great care. Incorrectly prepared mixtures of ginger beer are potentially lethal.”

The recipe Mrs. C. used stressed the need for bottles to be corked or screwed down tightly.

“If polythene bottles are available they are obviously preferable to glass.” Police said.

Thanks for that Susan. you have given me the answer to the question I was going to ask, which was could I store it in plastic bottles?

Well, to be honest Helen, Glass or plastic, it put me off even trying Lol

but good luck and let us know how you get on :-)

blimey that's a scary story! I remember making ginger beer in the shed when I was teenager, it tasted ok but I prefer shop bought ;-)

my neighbour on the allotment is making (trying to) elderflower champagne! apparently elderflowers contain natural yeast so he has just put flower heads in a bucket of water with sugar, covered it, and stirs every day for however long.

will get the recipe if anyone wants it, or you may prefer to wait and see if it comes out as champagne or paint-stripper pmsl

Maz. XX