Ginger Beer

I may be a little (aka a lot) obsessed with ginger. Has it come across in this blog? I think the only time I've posted about it is for my shrub, but I've made a ton of ginger simple syrup, these amazing KAF Ginger-Molasses Cookies, and this delicious Gingerbread- amongst other things that aren't coming to mind.

This obsession has spread to Ginger Beer. If you're not aware of Ginger Beer, it's like Ginger Ale but much much better. Much stronger, generally darker, and more delicious. My favorite: Blenheim. And while they call themselves an Ale, their Old #3 Hot Red Cap (pink cap, really) is so spicy it'll make me cough on occasion. Love at first taste.

Blenheim itself is located in South Carolina so it's a little tough to get around NYC. Two places I've found it are Great Jones Cafe- though they charge $5 a bottle- and Brooklyn Kitchen, where it's about half that.

Still, looking at the ingredients and nutritional info two things struck me:

a) there is A LOT of sugar in this stuff, slightly more than in a similar sized bottle of coke
b) not too many ingredients- I can probably make my own

So I did. I scoured the internet for recipes and settled upon a mix of Alton Brown's and few others I'd read- taking a bit of the process from this site I stumbled upon.

My first batch's recipe:
- 11 oz ginger (not a goal amount, just bought a bunch and this is what I had after peeling it)
- 1 gallon of water
- 1 cup of honey (I used a mix of cranberry and wild raspberry- it's what I had)
- 1 tbs lemon juice
- 1/5 packet of Premier Cuvee wine yeast. You should use much less- see below.

I wanted a lot of ginger flavor, which would generally mean grating- a lot of grating in this case. But since I'm lazy I just peeled it, diced it up, threw it in a pot with the water and gave it a quick buzz with my immersion blender. So much easier.

If you've ever brewed beer before the process is similar- though instead of a primary fermentation of a few weeks, you bottle as soon as it starts to bubble. Though honestly I pitched my yeast in the morning then bottled when I'd got home from work. This will ensure there's enough sugar to carbonate the bottles and still give the beer some sweetness. It will also stop most of the alcohol production- not all of it though.

Then let your ginger beer sit out at room temp to carbonate for a day or two then throw (and keep) it in the fridge. Leave it out too long and the bottles could explode. No kidding.

I kept mine out for three days. The very first bottle I opened a day or two after I popped it in the fridge- it was a bit of a geyser, but thankfully I opened it over the sink. The very last bottle, kept in the fridge for about a month? Well...I let it degas for a few minutes- just opened the cap slightly and let it hiss. When I felt I'd if anything overdone it, I flipped the top off and it gushed out so forcefully it LITERALLY HIT MY FRIEND'S CEILING. The inch that remained from the 22 oz bottle was delicious but still. Use much less yeast, much less sugar, or let some of that sugar ferment out in the primary. My next batch will most likely be done in swing-top grolsch style bottles so I can occasionally burp it.

I was honestly a little worried the flavor wouldn't be strong enough but it was so amazingly burningly spicy. Though I may have to do a test with peppercorns or hot peppers.