Ginger beer recipe?

I post this with the utmost of caution. I have been an imbiber of ginger beer for more decades than I care to admit. And yet the temptation to make my own never struck. Well, more precisely it didn't strike until last Friday, May 15, 2009, at approximately 6 pm, Eastern time, in the restaurant Vico in Hudson, NY. There I had a Dark and Stormy made with house-made ginger beer.

Hmmm, thought I, as I enjoyed the drink. Hmmm, thought I, as I pondered how easy it might be to make ginger beer in my own home. Hmmm, thought I, listening to the server explain in detail how the restaurant made it. Hmmm, thought I...this may be easier than I thought.

Then I went online looking for recipes and realized. Uh-oh. There are more recipes for ginger beer out there than one might have thought. So, rather than pick and choose among them with no sound basis for doing so (lemon?), I thought I should rely on my trusted companions in drink and pose the query to LTH: what recipe(s) do you use or recommend for the making of ginger beer?

Many thanks.

I ordered (real) Ginger Beer plant culture starter from Fermented Treasures, and pretty much followed the instructions. It came with a bunch of different recipes (15 of them). The plant comes as dehydrated granules, which you grow in sugar water, until it triples in size. The problem is once you start the culture, you have to keep feeding it to keep it alive (it keeps growing forever). I eventually had to let mine die when I was out of town for an extended period (I thought it would be kind of weird to ask a neighbor to come over to feed my GBP). Most of the recipes that come with the GBP call for powdered ginger, however, my favorite recipe is just freshly ground ginger (in a blender), lemon (with some zest), white and brown sugar and a few peppercorns (I sometimes also add a little ginger powder for extra punch). You can add a little cream of tartar for frothiness. Be sure to use bottled or filtered water (chlorine can kill the GBP). Also, if you use fresh ginger, then be sure to put the Ginger Beer Plant in a muslin cloth bag (you can get them at a brewing store), or else you will never get the culture separated back from the ginger sludge. I made this mistake and it took many hours to separate the GBP from the ginger bits (now I know why the recipes use powdered ginger). Once the plant has grown, it works fast (about 3 days). After a few days of fermenting in the jar, you strain the beer and place it in plastic bottles. Then you need to leave the bottles in the sun for a day, to force carbonation into the beer. At first there is only enough GBP to make about 2 quarts of ginger beer, but the plant keeps growing with time. Be sure to use plastic water bottles to store the ginger beer in, as glass will explode. Also when you open the bottles, make sure you let off the excess co2 first. Although the culture pretty much goes dormant in the fridge, there is still some fermentation going on, so if you store the bottles, periodically loosen the caps to let excess gas escape. I bought some one gallon glass jars with loose fitting lids from Crate and Barrel to make the Ginger Beer in. This time of year, you can just let the jars sit near a window to keep them warm while the beer is fermenting. When I made the stuff in the winter, I placed it at the edge of my mixing board to keep it warm.


The dehydrated starter comes vacuum sealed in a small mylar envelope.


Here is the starter freshly added to sugar water.


The Ginger Beer Plant re-hydrated, re-animated and ready to use.


The ginger beer fermenting on my warm mixing board (an expensive accident waiting to happen).


The final product. I don't have a picture of any poured into a glass, but the resulting beverage is super-carbonated with tiny champagne-like bubbles that are so tiny they feel sharp. When freshly poured, the intense ginger bubbles will make you sneeze. For a real kick you can add a few hot red-pepper seeds to the brew.


http://www.fermentedtreasures.com/gingerbp.html

I've heard good things about this method. Jeffrey Morgenthaler's Ginger Beer

SSDD

headcase wrote:I've heard good things about this method. Jeffrey Morgenthaler's Ginger Beer

The ginger beer recipe in the linked article is made with wine yeast. While that will produce a fizzy ginger flavored beverage, it is not "real" ginger beer. Real ginger beer requires both yeast and an anaerobic bacteria to ferment. The Ginger Beer Plant (GBP) is a self-perpetuating symbiotic organism that consists of a type of yeast linked with a type of lactobacillus (similar to a gelatinous lichen). This gives the beer both an alcoholic and a sour fermentation, much like sour dough bread. All GBPs are descended from a mother culture that was brought to England from Russia during the Crimean War (it may have been originally used for making Kvas). As long as they are fed sugar, the plants keep growing and can be used over and over again. During the first half of the 20th century, many English families had GBPs in their home. They would share bits of the plant with friends and family who would propagate their own plants (like a sourdough starter). The lack of sugar during WWII caused most Ginger Beer Plants in England to die, and almost wiped out the strain.

Honestly, quick and dirty is the way to go with this and you will never know the difference.

All you need is a good, solid ginger syrup -- 1 part ginger juice to 1 part sugar. You can get fresh ginger juiced at Bonne Sante Health Foods in Hyde Park and I am sure in a bunch of other places around the city; or with the proper equipment (even a high-quality blender would do) you can do it yourself. You don't even really need to peel it.

Once you've made your ginger syrup -- and you can make it either warm-process (i.e, dissolve in a saucepan) or cold process (i.e., shake it baby!), just add seltzer to taste and you've got great, fresh ginger beer. Super, super easy. Add a teaspoon of vodka to the ginger syrup and it'll last for months in the fridgermarator.

jsagoff wrote:Honestly, quick and dirty is the way to go with this and you will never know the difference.

I completely disagree. What jsagoff describes is ginger soda pop, not ginger beer at all. By definition, beer requires fermentation. You can absolutely tell the difference between soda pop made with seltzer water, ginger beer fermented with just yeast and "real" ginger beer fermented with a Ginger Beer Plant culture (I have done all three methods). I will put my "real" homemade ginger beer up against beverages produced by any of the other processes. It is much drier (and can have varying degrees of alcohol depending on how long it is allowed to ferment), and is slightly sour. The big difference is in the carbonation. Real GBP produces highly active carbonation with extremely tiny bubbles, like champagne. I am sure that by using the right yeast, one can come close, but straight yeasts are much more delicate and more susceptible to variations in temperature etc. Plus, the brews can become easily contaminated with outside bacteria, so normal brewing sterilization precautions are required. For some reason, the anaerobic bacteria present in the GBP prevent other bacteria from taking hold. No sterilization or heating of liquids is required with this method. Moreover, you can use the GBP over and over for years. Once you have activated the culture, it is actually very easy to make real Ginger Beer. Also like real Kvas, because the fermentation continues in the bottle, the beer never goes flat. In fact, it becomes more carbonated with time.

d4v3.

how about a recipe and an outline of procedures?

Tim wrote:d4v3.
how about a recipe and an outline of procedures?

I am notoriously bad about measuring things. This thread has me motivated to start another Ginger Beer Plant. I want to bring some homemade Ginger Beer to the LTH picnic. This time, I will measure and document everything carefully, and report back here.

I just started a GBP from Fermented Treasures. Basically, hydrate the crystals in a cup of water (took about an hour), then strain/rinse and put them in a Ginger Beer recipe.

I used ginger powder since I had it on hand, with some lemon and lime juice and a bit of cream of tartar (the basic recipe that comes with the starter).

My question is, do you think there would be any negatives from freezing ginger juice? I was thinking of using a juicer on a ton of ginger and freezing it in an ice cube tray (maybe mix with the lemon/lime juices as well). That way fresh ginger juice is available as needed: just drop an ice cube or two in the sugar water.

Jamie

Alton Brown made a version on the Ginger episode using yeast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh-9YpCnV3w

I think he starts the ginger beer segment at around the 6:30 mark of this clip.