Ginger Beer

[dave_norm_smith]

Well if thats right Hilary about the fizz to alcohol ratio maybe Zaz should be selling it to fuel cars or aircraft? Luckily I wont be blowing any kitchen apart as I absolutely detest the stuff. Yak! However reading this thread in near tears I do remember my fathers home made Elderberry wine/ cordial/ paint stripper exploding old glass pop bottles in the larder. I think it took 3 or 4 coats of paint to hide the purple!¬

[Hilary B]

It's simple chemistry, Sugar turns to alcohol + CO2 in a certain proportion (sparing you the symbols). The CO2 is what makes the fizz, that is why you make wine in jars with an airlock, to let most of the CO2 escape!

[binley100]

..........The one thing I would query from the original recipe is.... if you add BOILING water to the 'plant extract', doesn't that risk killing the yeast?

Judging from the amount of pressure we've just had to release , not it doesn't

[binley100]

OK so the Ginger beers been sitting there a while, there was a minute leak appear in one bottle so we decided to try it. Carefully opened it as there was still a hellova lot of fizz. Poured it into a nice deep glass and tried it . Taste was yummy , very refreshing.........now to the important point. After hunting out the hydrometer we put it to the test ......5% as good as a decent lager .
Guess the boiling water didn't manage to kill it off then..........

[zazen999]

Well if thats right Hilary about the fizz to alcohol ratio maybe Zaz should be selling it to fuel cars or aircraft? Luckily I wont be blowing any kitchen apart as I absolutely detest the stuff. Yak! However reading this thread in near tears I do remember my fathers home made Elderberry wine/ cordial/ paint stripper exploding old glass pop bottles in the larder. I think it took 3 or 4 coats of paint to hide the purple!¬

We're never making it again. Mr Z has spoken. It was scarey and it's banned from this house.

[binley100]

Zaz pop in to our open day there'll be loads, so far there's about 6 people making it .........

[gedcymru]

Hi all, new here and 1st post, so here goes!!

My Mum used to make this when I was knee high and we regularly had explosions in the pantry that resulted in an intensive mop up operation! My mum used to use screw cap green bottles, not sure where from, but not unlike the wine bottles you get nowadays: never had many problems opening them - though we used to have a tea-towel on hand in case. Some batches prove to be a lot fizzier/powerful than others despite having been made identical.

[SarzWix]

Bumping, as some were asking about this earlier

[binley100]

Thanks Sarz .......You beat me too it ...

[chris]

Being a newbie at this game.. If I add one and a half tsps of sugar each day will it be more alcoholic? Just need burping a bit more?

[binley100]

Don't mess with whats tried and tested .........tut tut .....

[Hilary B]

You CAN add extra ginger for a stronger flavour, but don't mess with the sugar content! Most of the alcohol comes from the ferment in the bottles (which also makes the gas) rather than the 'feeding'...

[chris]

Righto, just wondered

[zazen999]

Ok. Well, after we were reminded to use demigods and not bottles, I made another batch of this and I've just put it into the demigod. Within 30 seconds it was bubbling.

I'm wondering whether over the years, we have got the recipe muddled a bit; and we should boil the extract/sugar/water/lemon juice to kill the yeast to make ginger beer; and leave it to ferment to make ginger wine.

[binley100]

But you pour boiling water onto what's strained through the muslin and apparently according to some that kills it ........