Ye Olde Ginger Beer Recipe

Ingredients

• Two lemons
• 450gms sugar
• 8 pints (4.4litres) of water (enough to fill a demi-john)
• Flat teaspoonful of Dried Yeast
• 100gm Fresh root ginger
• Two heaped tea spoons of tartaric acid (Cream of Tartar)

Equipment

• A large pan that can boil four and a half litres of water
• A jug
• A glass
• A coarse cheese grater
• A wooden spoon
• A 1 gallon demijohn (a glass bottle with handles traditionally used in winemaking)
• A bubble seal for the demijohn
• A lemon juicer
• A lemon zester
• A fine sieve
• 9 glass or plastic bottles of 500ml volume with screw caps (eg plastic coke bottles)

Method

2. While the water is coming to the boil...

• scrape the zest from one of the lemons
• grate the ginger on the coarse cheese grater
• add the sugar to the ginger and lemon zest in a bowl
• cut the lemons in half and squeeze the juice into the jug
• add the tartaric acid to the lemon juice
• put the yeast into some warm water with a little sugar in a glass

• add the sugar, ginger and lemon zest to the water, turn off the heat and stir
• allow the water to cool to roughly blood heat, stirring occasionally
• add the lemon juice and tartaric acid to the water
• add the yeast mixture

5. Seal the demijohn with the bubble seal (I use salt in the water to sterilise the seal)

6. Stand the demijohn in a warm place for 48 hrs at a bubble rate of 40/minute

7. After 48 hrs pour the mixture through the sieve into the jug and fill the bottles leaving an air gap for the pressure to build up in. Screw the caps tightly onto the bottles (8 pints (4.5l) should fill 9 bottles)

8. Leave the bottles at room temperature for 24 hrs (to generate the fiz)

9. Put the bottles in the fridge for 2-3 days to allow the yeast to settle (failure to do this may result in an explosion!)

To drink 

2. Pour the whole of a bottle into glasses, as any gingerbeer remaining in the bottle will contain quite a lot of yeast.

3. Drink

The ginger beer made this way should be fizzy and fairly sweet.

If you ferment the mixture in the demijohn for longer than 48 hrs then the alcohol content will increase at the expense of the sweetness - try different times to suit your taste.