How to Brew Your Own Ginger Beer

I remember my aunty making ginger beer when I was a child. She had a "ginger beer plant". It wasn't a green, leafy kind of a plant but a sticky white mass, which lived in a jam jar!

The Ginger Beer Plant would be regularly 'fed' with sugar and every so often the liquid would be tapped off, diluted and bottled. The liquid would ferment in the bottle, producing the fizz. After about a week or so it was ready to drink.

The plant was treated like a chain letter. As it grew it was halved and passed to family and friends.

The commercial, canned ginger beer of today is very different. It doesn't contain alcohol and isn't made by fermentation.

Equipment You Will Need

A jar and lid which is big enough to contain the plant.
One pint-sized measuring jug
Several clean and dry two-litre plastic bottles.
Teaspoons
A large pan
A fine cloth for straining the plant

Ingredients

Dried ginger
Dried yeast
Sugar
Juice of four lemons
Water


Making your Plant

The plant is a mixture of dried ginger, yeast, sugar and water. This creates a yeast culture.

In the jar, place one teaspoon of dried yeast, two teaspoons of dried ginger, four teaspoons of sugar and a pint (600ml) of cold water.

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

Every day your plant must be nourished by feeding with two teaspoons of dried ginger and four teaspoons of sugar.

Stir after feeding.Your plant should be ready after one week.

Reviving Your Plant

Once the plant has been harvested, it is possible to revive it by separating the remainder into halves and cultivating it as before.

Discard half of the solid from the plant or give it to someone so they may start their own.

Place the remaining half in a clean jar with a pint of water and continue to feed as above.

• 25g root ginger, bruised (just bash it with a rolling pin but don't crush it)


• 25g cream of tartar


• 500g sugar


• One lemon (juice it, then grate the rind off it)


• 4.5l of boiling water


• 1 sachet quick yeast

1. Put the ginger, sugar, cream of tartar and lemon rind in a large bowl, and pour the boiling water over them. Leave to infuse until cool.


2. Add the lemon juice and stir. Rehydrate the yeast in warm water with a little sugar in it, and add to the bowl. Cover the bowl with muslin and leave in a warm place overnight (two nights if you're brave).


3. Strain off the liquid and bottle. Drink after 48 hours.