Ingredients
- 25g fresh ginger root
- 1 lemon scrubbed
- 450g sugar
- 25g cream of tatar
- 4.5 litres boiling water
- 25g wine yeast or bakers yeast
Method
Bruise the ginger by folding it in a clean cloth and pounding it with a hammer to release the flavour
Using a potato peeler, peel the rind very thinly from the lemon. Squeeze the juice from the lemon.
Put the ginger, sugar, cream of tatare and lemon rind into a large plastic bucket, pour on the boiling water in two lots, if necessary.
Add the lemon juice and stir well. Leave until the liquid has cooled to 21deg C.
Cream the yeast with a little water in a small bowl and stir it into the liquid. Cover the bucket with a clean cloth draped over a wire cake rack or use two to three pieces of clean wood to prevent the cloth from sagging. Secure the cloth with elastic and leave in a warm place for 24 hours.
Skim off the froth and without disturbing the sediment too much, use a jug to bale the beer into strong bottles.
Alternatively, strain the beer and pour it through a funnel into the bottles.
Close the bottles with corks and tie the corks down with string or fine florists wire, leaving a little play on the tie.
Store the bottles in a cool place and examine them frequently.
If fermentation is vigorous, loosen the strings or wires slightly to relieve the pressure in the bottles, until fermentation quietens down
The ginger beer is ready to drink in 2-3 days.
