RECIPE TIME - GINGER BEER

MY FAVORITE GINGER BEER


(makes 4 x 2 litre bottles)



GINGER SYRUP 

6 cups white sugar
7 cups cold water
10 tbls freshly grated root ginger
(I use 2 pieces of root ginger  each approx   6cm long)

Scrape the skin off the root ginger and grate it - I chop it up in the food mixer (Magimix)

Place all the ingredients into a saucepan and stir over medium heat, until sugar is dissolved. Do not boil. Turn off heat and allow to stand on the hotplate for one hour.  Remove and allow to cool.

You should have approximately two litres of syrup. You can strain the syrup through a fine sieve to remove the solids, I don't because I like the ginger bits in my ginger beer, and I have the notion that by doing so it improves the strength of the ginger.

Now pour the syrup into a large bowl - add juice of 3 to 4 freshly squeezed lemons,  6 litres cold water and 2 teaspoons active dry yeast.

Stir and pour equal amounts (using a funnel or a jug) into 
4 x 2 litre plastic bottles with lids.  



You may not have enough beer to fill the bottles so now add more water to each bottle but do not fill completely. Leave a space of about 4 cm in each bottle to allow for fizz to expand.

Now stand the bottles in a shady part of your pantry or kitchen for 2 to 3 days before transferring to the fridge.  Check every day and loosen lid to release excess fizz to prevent bottles from exploding.

Alternatively, (which is what I do)  you can store the syrup and only make one 2 litre bottle of ginger beer at a time. This also stops the cluttering of your fridge with too many bottles of ginger beer.

To do this - use a quarter of the syrup. juice of one lemon, half teaspoon active dry yeast and enough water to fill the bottle to within 4 cm. Follow same steps as if you were making the four bottles.

If you find the ginger beer is too sweet for your taste, use less syrup when you make the next bottle.







next post  16th May