Easy Peasy Ginger Beer Recipes

GINGER BEER

Steps:

• Wash ginger root but do not peel. Chop roughly and process in food processor until reduced to a textured paste. Put ginger in a large non reactive container and pour boiling water over it. Stir in the lime juice, zest and cream of tartar. Cover and stir occasionally as mixture cools. When lukewarm, mix the yeast with the warm water, pressing out lumps, and add to container. Cover and let stand for 6 hours. Stir the sugar into the ginger beer until completely dissolved and immediately pour into sterilized bottles, making sure the stoppers are well sealed and airtight. The ginger beer will keep for 3 to 4 days in a cool place. To keep longer, add rum.
• To serve, strain and pour into glasses (over shaved ice if desired), with a sprig of mint and thin slice of lime.

EASY GINGER BEER

Steps:

• Combine the ginger, sugar, allspice, cloves spices, and crystallized ginger, and 2 cups of water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover and let steep for 45 minutes. Prepare a large bowl set over an ice bath. Strain the ginger syrup into the bowl, pressing out all the liquid from the ginger. Cool to room temperature.
• Just before serving, stir together the ginger syrup and seltzer in a pitcher. Add the lime juice if desired. Serve over ice.

HOMEMADE GINGER BEER

Steps:

• Take a 1.5-liter plastic bottle of spring water and empty it into a clean pitcher. Use some of it to make simple syrup by stirring 1/2 pound sugar into 1 cup hot water until fully dissolved.
• In a large measuring cup, mix all ingredients and stir well. Funnel back into the plastic bottle and cap tightly. Store in a warm, dark place for 24 to 48 hours. (I put mine inside a box, to contain it if it should blow.) The top of the bottle will expand and become tight. Check it and very slowly release the pressure if it's looking groaningly tight. Some people ferment it with no top, or with the top on loosely, to allow gas to escape. I suppose if you wanted to get fancy you could spend $1.50 on a fermentation lock and stop worrying about it. If the temperature is quite warm, above 80F, a single day may be sufficient. The longer you let it ferment, the drier the final mix will be.
• After 48 hours, refrigerate it to stop the fermentation. Once chilled, you can strain out the pulp and dead yeast, which will have made a sediment on the bottom. Makes 1 liter and will keep up to a week in the refrigerator.

EASY PEASY GINGER BEER

Steps:

• Grate the ginger on a coarse grater; you can leave the skin on if you like. Put the ginger with its pulpy juice in to a bowl and sprinkle in your muscovado sugar.
• Remove the rind from 2 of your lemons with a vegetable peeler, add to the bowl, and slightly bash and squash with something heavy like a rolling pin or a pestle. Just do this for 10 seconds, to mix up the flavours.
• Squeeze the juice from all 3 lemons and add most of it to the bowl. Pour in the fizzy water.
• Allow to sit for 10 minutes and then taste. You may feel that the lemons are slightly too sour, therefore add a little more sugar; if it's slightly too sweet, add a little more lemon juice.
• Pass the ginger beer through a coarse sieve in to a large jug and add lots of ice and some sprigs of mint.

HOMEMADE GINGER BEER

Steps:

• Put the ginger in a saucepan set over a low heat with the lemon peel, sugars and 500ml water and stir until the sugars have dissolved. Increase the heat to medium, then simmer for 15-20 mins, or until reduced and syrupy. Remove from the heat and leave to cool completely.
• Strain the syrup into a jug through a sieve lined with muslin. At this stage, you can transfer the syrup to a small sterilised bottle or jar and keep in the fridge for up to two weeks.
• Pour the ginger syrup into a large serving jug. Tip in the lemon juice, fill with ice and top up with the soda water. Serve garnished with a few mint sprigs.

HOMEMADE GINGER BEER

Steps:

• Place ginger in a food processor, and process until finely chopped.
• Transfer to a large pot, and add boiling water.
• Allow to stand for 1 hour.
• Drain with a fine sieve lined with a double thickness of damp cheesecloth.
• Discard solids.
• Add lime juice and sugar, and stir to dissolve.

GINGER BEER

Steps:

• Grate 2 tablespoons each of lemon and orange zest.
• Squeeze 1/3 cup lemon juice from 3 of the lemons. Set aside.
• In a food processor, pulse the ginger, honey, and sugar until just combined. Add the orange and lemon juices and process.
• Transfer to a large lidded container. Add the orange and lemon zests and 2 cups of boiling water and stir until the sugar dissolves.
• Cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours and up to 5 days.
• To serve, strain the ginger-beer base into a pitcher. Thinly slice the remaining lemon and orange to form circles. Add the slices and mineral water to the pitcher and stir. Serve over ice.

QUICK GINGER BEER

Steps:

• Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a large saucepan.
• Finely chop ginger in a food processor. Transfer to a large glass or ceramic bowl; add boiling water and stir to blend. Cover loosely with foil. Let the ginger mixture stand at cool room temperature 24 hours.
• Strain ginger liquid into large pitcher; discard the solids in a strainer.
• Add brown sugar to liquid and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add lemon juice and pineapple juice.
• Fill glasses with crushed ice and pour ginger beer over ice. If you like, add a little club soda. Serve with lime wedge to squeeze over. Enjoy!