Alcoholic Ginger Beer - cheap, tasty and quick

After a great morning foraging for more wild garlic and dog rose petals we came home and I realised that the ginger beer would be ready as the 48hours were up.

I love ginger beer and my mum used to make it from a ginger beer plant that you fed every few days then diluted and bottled. We used to have a pantry in the kitchen when I was a kid and I remember we would be watching tv and would suddenly jump as there would be a very loud pop as the plastic bottle corks would be forced out and ping around the pantry. So I am aware how volatile these recipes can be but still wanted to try a alcoholic version. After seeing a few suggestions online I made a few adjustments and came up with my own version as all good cooks do, i believe you should only use a recipe as a guide and you should always adapt a recipe to suit your own tastes.

The recipe is very easy to make, reasonably cheap and quick to brew so it ticks the boxes on all levels really. The ingredients and method i used are as follows but you may wish to experiment and change to suit you.

Alcoholic Ginger Beer

A 2litre pop bottle with screw cap
A piece of Fresh Ginger about 2" long
250-300grams sugar
1/4 tsp beer yeast (or bakers yeast)
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 1/2 litres water
Pinch ground cloves or 2 whole cloves
1 tablespoon honey
Funnel or jug

Clean and sterilise an empty 2litre pop bottle. I tend to put in each item one at a time rather than mix them together, put yeast in bottle first then drizzle in honey. Pour in the juice of the lemon and put in just half the zest. Put in ground cloves or whole cloves. Peel then finely grate the ginger, I put in everything, the juice, the grated ginger and the stringy leftover pulp to get maximum flavour.

Measure the sugar out in a jug and slowly pour into the bottle. Add a 1/2 litre of warm water, screw on the cap and shake gently until the sugar is dissolved. Add the rest of cold water. It is important that you do not fill it right to the top and leave a gap as it needs expanding room whilst it ferments so that is why I only put in 1 1/2 litres. Screw the cap on tightly and mix gently again. Put in a warm place and check the next day.

The bottle will feel rock hard as the pressure builds, gentle unscrew the cap just a little to release the pressure slightly and to stop the bottle expanding too much. Screw it back tightly and leave for another day. After the second day, unscrew a little bit again to release the pressure then put in a cold place or the fridge for several hours as this halts the fermentation. Strain through a muslin or fine sieve and rebottle. Be careful that you unscrew gently when you come to strain it as it will fizz like crazy, then drink but place in the fridge overnight to slow the fermentation right down otherwise you open a volcano the next day which will drench your kitchen :)

This really is a delicious drink and I like the ginger, lemon and clove kick you get from it. It is supposed to be approx 5% alcohol content but I havnt verified that bitjunky I do know it is a very quick, easy and moreish drink :) cheers !!

If you try one thing from my blog then please try this as you won't be dissapointed. The first batch is going so quickly I had to make two more bottles tonight :) enjoy

If you would like to learn more about my exploits foraging for free wild food and the recipes I have cooked with my herbs and grow your own then please have a look at some of my other posts :)

ingredients 

Glass of ginger beer - cheers