Making ginger beer

[chris2012]

I've just found out about the 'ginger beer plant' so I ordered some off ebay.

Has anyone got any tips for using this?

I presume I can just ferment in a normal bucket?

Does it take longer to ferment because of the bacteria eating the alcohol, I'm intrigued how you know it's done.

[Geezah]

All you need is some fresh ginger root, sugar, lemon juice, water and yeast... and a demijohn.
About £2.50 all in including the demijohn/water

[chris2012]

Yeah, I realise you can make it from yeast. I'm talking about making traditional low alcohol ginger beer though.

[DeadFall]

It's not the same with yeast, a plant is a very different beast. The plant will produce much better ginger beer.

Use a muslin cloth to put fresh grated ginger in, otherwise you'll have a hard time separating the plant out. Bring the ginger and cloth to a boil in some of the water to kill any wild yeast/bacteria. Make sure its below 30c when you add the plant. It's good with powdered ginger but fresh is a lot better. I just use a standard home brew cleanliness routine and brew in a 2 gallon fv. After 4-5 days strain through a clean tea towel/muslin cloth into clean plastic pop bottles and put in a warm place for a couple of days. After that you want to put it in the fridge and crack slightly every day to release the pressure, otherwise you can end up with a volcano of ginger beer when you open the bottle. Don't let children have more than a glass, it can get up to around 2% alcohol.

I need to put some more on, my plant is sitting in the fridge feeling lonely.

[chris2012]

Cheers that makes a lot of sense, I hadn't thought about using a mulsin cloth for
the ginger.

It seems quite fascinating to me how the yeast and bacteria work together. Does it end up
being slightly sour because of the lactobacillus?

[DeadFall]

Cheers that makes a lot of sense, I hadn't thought about using a mulsin cloth for
the ginger.

It seems quite fascinating to me how the yeast and bacteria work together. Does it end up
being slightly sour because of the lactobacillus?

Yep, pretty refreshing because of it. I've made it with bread yeast and brewers yeast before and the plant is so much better. I've added cinnamon, apple juice, honey, cloves etc for variety too. I've probably got enough to split now, but I'll make a large batch for next weekend first so I have something to drink at my birthday party (not allowed proper drinks at the moment)

[Cazamodo]

Ive been looking into getting a ginger beer plant for ages. I love ginger beer, but the times ive tried to make it with yeast its not been what I expected. I know this is usually just for low strenght ginger beer, but will it ferment out any higher? If I plan to force carb it rather than let it naturally carb in the bottle.

[Cazamodo]

Ive been looking into getting a ginger beer plant for ages. I love ginger beer, but the times ive tried to make it with yeast its not been what I expected. I know this is usually just for low strenght ginger beer, but will it ferment out any higher? If I plan to force carb it rather than let it naturally carb in the bottle.

[chris2012]

Just add more sugar if you want more alcohol.

The recipe I used for 4l was:
2 ginger roots
400g sugar
2 lemons

I used 50g of GBP.

It tasted pretty nice

[johnmac]

Would anyone be prepared to donate some plant, please?

[johnmac]

Got some ginger beer plant now, thanks. I have to say, it makes a lovely refreshing drink, unlike anything you make with yeast..