How to make Ginger Beer in 4 Easy Steps (2024)

FAQs

What is the process of making ginger beer? ›

Method. Put the ginger in a saucepan set over a low heat with the lemon peel, sugars and 500ml water and stir until the sugars have dissolved. Increase the heat to medium, then simmer for 15-20 mins, or until reduced and syrupy. Remove from the heat and leave to cool completely.

ginger beer, beverage, once popular in the United Kingdom, made by fermenting a mixture of ginger, water, sugar, cream of tartar, and yeast. Lemon peel and juice or citric acid may also be added.

To make ginger beer, you first need to make a ginger bug, a starter that will ferment your drink and transform ordinary ingredients into delicious bubbly goodness.

Preferred yeast - we recommend Safale US-05 Yeast. 1kg Raw or Dark Brown Sugar. 1kg Dextrose. 500g Fresh Ginger.

Ginger Beer Origins

Ginger Beer was first created in Yorkshire, England in the 1700s during the colonial spice trade. It was made by mixing ginger, sugar water and optional lemon and/or cream of tarter together and leaving it to sit and ferment.

If you're not seeing bubbles after a few days, it's possible your ginger bug was contaminated, had traces of chlorine, or was sterilized by harsh direct sunlight. We'd recommend starting over on your ginger bug. Can you create a starter culture for fermented drinks using fruit other than ginger?

After using this bug for the ginger beer, it is possible to seal it and put it in the refrigerator, where it will lie dormant — and alive — for a few days. But beware, if left long enough, it will go flat because the yeasts will die.

Take a pinch of packaged yeast and something acidic for the yeast to thrive in (like lemon or lime juice or cream of tartar) along with some sugar syrup and grated ginger, lob it all in a plastic bottle of distilled or spring water, shake it up and stash it somewhere dark and warm for two days.

WHY DOES MY GINGER BEER HAVE SLIME IN IT? The ginger beer plant needs a low ph to make a 'clean' brew. It does lower the ph itself, but sometimes it needs a helping hand especially at the start of the brew when 'bad' bacteria have it easy.

The next day release a little bit of pressure by gently opening the lid of each bottle. Do this the following day as well and have a small taste of one of the bottles. If it now has ample fizz and tastes like ginger beer, it is ready. If not, give it one more day.

Is homemade ginger beer good for you? ›

Ginger root, a plant indigenous to southern China, contains hundreds of compounds that provide several important benefits to those who ingest it. Drinking ginger beer can help reduce inflammation, promote digestion, relieve nausea, and even help in the prevention of cancer.

Use 400g sugar / 5 litres for approx. 5% brew – 600g for approx. 7.5% brew. You can use plain white sugar or mix brown and white for a darker coloured brew with a slightly richer flavour.

Moscow mules are delightfully fizzy drinks made with fiery ginger beer, vodka and fresh lime. Moscow mules are refreshing on hot summer days, sure, but they're also holiday-appropriate thanks to the strong ginger flavor. They strike that elusive balance between spicy, sweet and strong, and I'd sip one any day.

Yeasty Off Flavors in Beer

Not surprisingly the main cause of yeasty beer is simply that the beer is too young.

So Why Is It Still Called Ginger Beer If It's Not Really Beer? That has to do with how it's made. Making non-alcoholic ginger beer still involves aspects of brewing, but fizziness is added using forced carbonation rather than fermentation.

Original ginger beer is brewed by leaving water, sugar, ginger, optional ingredients such as lemon juice and cream of tartar, and GBP to ferment for several days, converting some of the sugar into alcohol. GBP may be obtained from several commercial sources.

A yeast would be put into contact with sugar, water, ginger root and any additional flavouring required. The yeast, a fungus consisting of a single cell and invisible to the human eye, would convert the sugar into carbon dioxide—AKA the fizz in the drink—and ethanol, a form of alcohol.

Because, like any beer or other fermented drink, it will be naturally carbonated of course, thanks to the yeast producing carbon dioxide along with the alcohol during fermentation.