Most people can remember their parents making ginger beer at some stage in their childhood, and the resulting chaos when the glass bottles burst in the garage – or in my case, under the house.
These days you can get plastic bottles which expand with the pressure, so making your own beverage is not quite the drama it used to be in our Nana’s time.
I’ve been making ginger beer using this bug and recipe for the past few months and everyone loves it. It’s not too heavy or too sweet and has a lovely delicate flavour. It uses raw sugar instead of white, which I think makes a big difference to the taste.
Everyone likes this drink, including children, and it makes a great cocktail with a bit of rum mixed in. I also find it quite soothing for an upset tummy or hangover.
Clean out old soft-drink bottles with hot water if you have them, or you can buy specially designed beer bottles which also work well.
Bug
Warm water
2 tsp active dried yeast
2 tsp raw sugar
2 tsp ground ginger
Fill a large glass jar (I used an Agee preserving jar), ¾ full with warm water. Add the yeast, sugar and ginger. Cover loosely with a lid or tea-towel – do not screw tight or it won’t be able to breathe. Sit in a warm place, such as the kitchen table or similar.
Feed your bug every day for seven days with 1 tsp raw sugar and 1 tsp ground ginger.
After a week, you are ready to make your first batch of beer.
Ginger beer
3 cups raw sugar
2 tsp cream of tartar
1L boiling water and
5L cold water
Juice of 2 lemons, strained
In a large bowl or bucket, put the sugar and cream of tartar, then add the boiling water. Stir to dissolve the sugar before adding the cold water. Get your bug and pour all the liquid (not the sludge in the bottom) into a bucket and add the lemon juice.
Stir well and then pour into your clean bottles – it makes six 750ml bottles.
Store in a cool, dark place for two weeks before drinking. Make sure you open the bottle in the kitchen sink as it might overflow. Open the cap bit by bit to allow the air to escape.
RESTORE AND REUSE
Take the jar with the sludge in it and fill with water to the top. Tip out half or give to a friend so that they can make their own bug. Fill back up to ¾ and feed for another week.
DON’T NEGLECT IT
If you are too busy to make a batch of ginger beer one week, don’t just keep feeding and hope for the best, as your bug won’t survive. Pour it out after a week – as you would if you were making some ginger beer – and follow the above instructions for restoring your bug all over again. Beer-y nice
.jpg?ssl=1&w=380&crop=0,0,100,304px)
