Ginger Beer

This year I have been experimenting with ginger beer production. Ginger beer is one of my favourite alcoholic drinks. I don't drink lager or beer, or even much wine. I have therefore tried many of the ginger beers on the market.

• Crabbies is maybe the most popular in the UK and is a good alternative to home-brew. They have many flavours, but the traditional one is the best I think. Even so, there are some good, lesser known brands on the market worth seeking out. Most supermarkets sell Crabbies. If you can get it, try the special reserve Crabbies Black.
• Ginger Grouse is a ginger beer made by the whiskey makers, Famous Grouse. It has a great flavour as they put a shot of grouse whiskey in it. I think probably less than a shot, but it does make for a very nice, if slightly sweet, ginger beer. Sainburys and Morrisons sell it usually.
• Hawkes are a small London based brewery with a growing reputation. It can be harder to get hold of, but it is really worth the trouble. Hawkes started with their ginger beer and make cider now too. But their ginger beer is my number one favourite on the market at this time.
• Wychwood produce a GingerBeard variety which is ok. It is more beery than most, although still quite sweet. I was not a big fan to be honest and only tried it once. Their website is brilliant though and Hobgoblin is great to use to cook venison and beef with.

Some more reviews of a wider variety here and here. 

But commercially sold ginger beer is not cheap at usually £3.50 for a 500cl bottle, and over a fiver in a pub. As usual, it is cheaper to make your own, and it is a lot of fun to do so. 

This is how you can make your own superb ginger beer and you get 7 litres for less than £10. Here is what you will need... but note that this takes time, about three weeks in total. And it is best to make it when it is warm (at least 15c), as it is much happier and develops better in warm weather.

A big chunk of ginger, unpeeled, but grated roughly.

The juice of 2 lemons.

A chilli pepper of your own choice. I use a Bulgarian carrot chilli, but choose one that suits your taste. Try half with your first batch and work up from there. Chop it nice and fine.

A 2 kg bag of granulated sugar. I use about 1.5kg of it. If you use all 2kg it will be very alchoholic or sweet, depending when you start to drink it (see details below). Its up to you. I did warn you.

A 7g sachet of champagne yeast. Easy to buy on eBay or a local hardware shop that sells wine-making kits. Don't use bread yeast or even wine yeast; they will work but not anywhere near as well.

5 x 2 litre plastic bottles with screw tops. Ones that have had fizzy pop/soda in them. Clean them out and rip the labels off. Do not use glass bottles. 

A big glass jar like the one in the picture here.

Stage One
The first thing to do is take the sachet of yeast and put it in the jar. Then add about a mug and a half of warm, but previously boiled water to the yeast to get it going. Stir in well and it will start to froth a little bit. If the water is too cold it will not come alive, too hot it will die. So be careful. Body temperature is about right. Add a big tablespoon of sugar and stir until it has dissolved. Leave it for about half an hour. Then add the grated ginger, the lemon juice and the chilli. Give it all a good stir. Cover the jar with a dry tea towel, held on with an elastic band. Leave it somewhere warm for a day.

Next day, take the towel off. Give it another big tablespoon of sugar, stir until dissolved, replace the towel and elastic. It should look like the picture here. Repeat this for about 7 to 10 days. By then you should have a good frothy ginger beer plant! This is a live organism, feeding on the heat and the sugar. Feel free to name it if you wish. 

Stage Two
Get a big saucepan that can take 5 or 6 litres of water. Fill a couple of inches from the top; I aim for about 6 litres in my 7 litre pan. Bring the water to a gentle simmer and then add as much sugar as you want. I use 1.5kg for a strong, but not super strong beer. Stir in until the water is clear as this shows the sugar has completely dissolved. Now let it cool.

Once cooled down to room temperature, use a funnel to fill your plastic bottles with about 1.5 litres each of the sugar solution. Strain the ginger beer plant through some muslin draped over a steel strainer. Feel free to squeeze the last drop out of the ginger mush using your hands (clean hands, people!).

Divide the ginger beer plant solution across the bottles evenly, using the funnel. Take your time and made sure it is as even as you can make it. This is not an exact science, so don't worry too much. Screw the tops tight on each bottle and put somewhere warm and safe.

Safe? First time I made this, two of the bottles exploded. This is volatile stuff and you do need to be careful. The warmer it is, the faster the yeast will eat away at that sugar and create natural carbonation, and the more pressure on those plastic bottles. I recommend releasing some of the carbonation every day, to be safe. If you miss a day or two, it will be ok probably, but leave it a week and those bottles will let you know about it. I now put my bottles in an old clean plastic dustbin with the lid on, and have it outside, just to be safe. Of course, this means I can only make it when the weather is warm, but my long-suffering wife does not want to have to wash sugary ginger beer off the ceiling again and I cannot blame her!

Stage Three
So you have done all the hard work. You have been gently releasing some of the gas from the bottles every day or two. After at least a week, you can try the beer. Taste it and see what you think. If it is ok, drink up! If it is too sweet (which is likely this early), then leave it a couple of days and try it again. The yeast will keep eating that sugar, making a less sweet but more alcoholic drink. Once it is right for you, put it in the fridge so that the yeast stops eating the sugar (or at least it slows down dramatically) and you can drink it! You should try to finish it within a month, as this is naturally carbonated and therefore will go flat over time. 

Best to drink it cold and note it is normal to find there will be a little sediment in the bottom of the bottles; this won't hurt you, but you can pour away the final inch if you prefer, like me, not to drink it.