Our Right to Self Reliance

Many years ago I ran across directions for making a “ginger beer plant” in a delightful sort of coffee table book full of oddments.  I tried it and it worked well—but while we had run across a way to be self reliant for our soda pop yen, a ginger beer plant ultimately leaves you with the same problem as Amish Friendship Bread…and that problem would be not enough friends to give  the starts away to.

Since then, I’ve found another recipe for making ginger beer, although the author refers to it as homemade ginger ale.  It may be fine distinction, and I’m too busy drinking it to worry which it is.  While the directions found at the link above will certainly produce a passable libation, I’ve messed around with it a bit myself and prefer the ingredients I currently use.  By all means, click through to Dr. Fankhauser’s page and use his procedure the first time around…but know that you can make some adustments.

When I make ginger beer, I start with two clean two litre plastic soda bottles.  Using a funnel, I put about 3/4 of a cup of sugar into the bottle.  I’ve been using regular old white sugar, but that’s mostly because I keep forgetting to pick up some demarrara sugar or other interesting sweetener when I’m out and about.  I’ve not yet tried honey with Dr. Fankhauser’s directions, but did so successfully with the ginger beer plant.

Next, I add 1/4 teaspoon champagne yeast.  This swap-out of bread yeast makes a huge difference; the bread yeast, while readily available, gives the ginger beer a very large yeasty taste that I don’t care for.  If you don’t have a home brewer’s shop in your vicinity, it’s readily available via mail order and completely worth the extra effort.  One envelope of champagne yeast will produce at least a half a dozen bottles of ginger beer.

Grated fresh ginger root goes in next…perhaps a quarter of a cup.  One needn’t be too precise, but do be aware that more ginger will increase the activity of the yeast.  I just dump it into the funnel and poke it through with a chop stick.

Lemon juice—two tablespoons from a bottle, or all the juice from one lemon—poured into the funnel helps get the last bits of the grated fresh ginger down the throat of the funnel.  It is optional, but we never leave it out.  I’ve been thinking about trying lime juice on a batch, just for interest’s sake.

Lastly, fill the bottle to within about an inch of the bottom of the neck.  I use bottled water rather than tap water, but I also don’t drink the tap water here…it’s nasty, and I’m hypersensitive to chlorine—which doesn’t do the yeast any favours anyway.

I grip the bottle kind of hard, making a bit of a dent in it with my thumb while I screw the cap on tightly.  Then I leave it in a fairly warm spot in the kitchen for about 24-36 hours.  I check it about every twelve hours to see if the dent is gone and the bottle is “hard” when I grip it; another hint is a little white collar of tiny bubble around the top of the liquid.  You don’t want it to have absolutely “give” when you grip the bottle, as it will continue to build pressure, although much more slowly, after you refrigerate it.

Once the bottle is “hard”, put it in the fridge and leave it there for about three days.  When you take it out, don’t toss it about at all or it will fountain when you open it.  Have something like a tea strainer on hand to pour it through for folks who don’t care for floaties in their drinkables.

It’s not difficult to make your own ginger beer and the result is refreshing and healthy.  Commercial soda pop is expensive and has all sorts of questionable ingredients, but home made soda pop can be good for you.  While ginger beer is a simple place to start, there are other tasty fermented drinks you can make at home that will make you self reliant for yummy summer cold drinks.

Do you know anyone who makes their own soda pop?  Have you ever made your own?  Got a recipe or procedure to share?