Real ginger beer is such a treat! It has way more ginger flavor than your typical ginger ale, plus it’s easy to make yourself!
I bought some homemade ginger beer this summer at the Burlington Farmers’ Market that was so yummy – but, it was also so expensive! I thought that it would probably be pretty easy to make at home. So, this winter I tried it and so far it’s turning out great!
I’m experimenting with a few different techniques.
First I used this recipe (the second one listed) but varied it a bit: I didn’t use the bitters and I made a honey simple syrup (half honey, half water). I used tap water (we have great well water) and I didn’t use as much yeast – probably only 1/4 teaspoon.
When I opened it, it exploded! But, I didn’t lose too much and it tasted pretty great. I like to add a bit of Caledonia Spirits Tom Cat Gin (I work for them part-time and their products are amazing!).
The second approach I tried was to make a “Ginger Bug”. The challenge with this is that you need to maintain this “Bug” on a daily basis and this can be tough to keep up with. I generally followed this recipe – I didn’t end up maintaining it every day and it lost a bit of its natural fizziness by the time I got to using it.
Then, using the same blog – Modern Hippie – I tried to turn this into ginger beer by putting the bug and the other ingredients into a gallon glass jar. It didn’t seem to be getting carbonated, so I added yeast and added a fermentation lock and it still didn’t seem to be getting carbonated, so I put it in swing-top bottles in hopes it would still carbonate.
I just tried it and it’s different – I think it’s pretty good! It has a subtle carbonation and a nice ginger flavor. Not very sweet, which is how I like it. But, I wonder if it has alcohol in it! Does ginger beer ever have alcohol in it? (I mean alcohol that hasn’t been added)?
Next time, I’m going to try this recipe. I figure trying different things I’ll come up with my own version of ginger beer! I’m looking for a strongly ginger, mildly sweet ginger beer with moderate carbonation.
I’ll let you know once I perfect it!
