Before you start make sure your kitchen has had a scrub down, you don't want any bad bacteria getting into your brew. In general the GBP is very good at keeping itself clean but if you have a sump of bacteria somewhere, for example on a kitchen sponge that is past its best, a pool of water under trivet, also make sure your jar has been washed in hot soapy water and rinsed clean. Normal kitchen hygiene is adequate, there's no need to sterilise everything. The GBP is very good at keeping away bad bacteria but GBP that is stressed, for example, after being stored, is not as active as normal and will need some help.
Prepare and measure out all ingredients ready to go. Add the lemon juice to the two litres of water before you use it. If you're using fresh ginger it's best to scald the root first, this washes the ginger root to help ensure a clean brew. If you have a blender chop the ginger and along with some of the water from the recipe add it to the blender and blend the ginger to fine mash. Pour the ginger pulp into the sieve and gently press the juice out of the ginger. I squeeze the ginger and then discard it. You can put it in a muslin bag (just a piece of muslin tied with a band or string) continue with this until you've added all the ginger. How much ginger is really up to you the more you add obviously the more fiery the brew. If you don't have a blender don't worry just grate the ginger onto a piece of muslin over a plate.
Take your jar with your GBP, add the water, the rest of the ingredients and stir until the sugar is dissolved, take a piece of kitchen paper, jay cloth or muslin big enough to go over the jar top and using an elastic band secure over the jar opening to keep out insects. Place the jar somewhere it can stay at around 18C / 65F. The temperature can vary quite a bit, it will alter the brew slightly but it isn't worth trying to control the temperature too much as long as it stays below 30C / 85F you'll still get nice ginger beer.
Taste your brew every day or so, don't double dip, it should take around 5 days depending how much culture you have in your jar. When it tastes just a little sweeter than you would like to drink then it its ready to bottle.
Make sure your bottle is thoroughly clean. Buy a fine stainless steel sieve and a funnel, put the funnel into the neck of the 2 litre bottle, and put the sieve on the funnel. Pour the ginger beer gently into the sieve. Take care not to Pour so quickly that you disturb the funnel and sieve. If the sieve becomes full with GBP just take a break and pop the GBP aside to put back later. Once the bottle is full put on the clean lid and you’re ready to start your next brew.
Let the bottle sit in a cool place for about five days or until the bottle becomes hard, if you're using a flip top beer bottle then if when you disturb the bottle you get some signs of bubbles rising then the bottle is ready for drinking, put it in the fridge to chill. Serve with ice and lemon or use it as a mixer for cocktails.
You don't have to use ginger at all, you can flavour your brews with fruit juices (not pineapple), tea, oak leaves, mint, rose water, the list is almost endless, be sure what you use to flavour your brew doesn't contain preservative or is in some way antibiotic, You can also make plane brew with no flavouring adding the flavouring at the bottling stage.
Always store ginger beer in a cupboard, it is rare but bottles, even plastic, can shatter or tear under pressure if left too long.
Make sure your jar has been washed in hot soapy water and rinsed three times clean. Prepare and measure out all ingredients ready to go.
Boil a cup of water from the ingredients, Pour over honey in a jug and stir to dissolve the honey. Add the other ingredients to the fermenting jar, slowly Pour in the honey while stirring the fermenting jar water, this is just so the hot honey doesn't scald the GBP.
Now cover the jar with the kitchen paper and secure with the elastic band or string.
Allow the honey to ferment for a few days until it tastes the way you want it then bottle as for the ginger beer recipes.
You can use more sugar if you like to make the brew alcoholic.
Make sure your jar has been washed in hot soapy water and rinsed clean. Prepare and measure out all ingredients ready to go.
Boil a cup of water from the ingredients (without the lemon), Pour over the tea in a jug and allow to stand for 15 minutes then strain. Meanwhile add the other ingredients to the fermenting jar. When the strained tea has cooled slightly add it slowly while stirring the fermenting jar water, this is just so the hot tea doesn't scald the GBP.
Now cover the jar with the kitchen paper and secure with the elastic band or string.
Allow the tea to ferment for a few days until it tastes the way you want it then bottle as for the ginger beer recipes.
You can use any tea you like, I use peach flavoured mainly but I have used plain black tea, plain green tea, white tea, rose, lemon, strawberry in green and black and combined different ones. Have fun experimenting, If you've ever tried Kombucha it's a little similar but less acidic, a very nice brew.
Timing is the key with bread and since that depends of temperatures you need to know what to look for. Even when making bread with shop bought yeast timing is hard. So, here you really need to know what you're looking for. If you don't make bread you might want to practice with baker's yeast first.
60-75% Hydration.
500 g of strong bread flour,
300-375 g/ml of ginger beer and
15 g of malt syrup (optional or substitute 1 tablespoons of sugar)
10 g of salt. (2 teaspoons)
Method
Mix the ginger beer and malt syrup/sugar to the starter then add the flour and salt then mix until all the flour is wet. Cover with film and allow it to stand for ≈45 minutes to a few hours.
Scrape the dough out onto a clean surface, and knead until elasitc, 10 minutes in a mixer or 1 minute in a Magimix
Now allow the dough to double in volume.
This may take 15 - 20 hours depending on the temperature of the dough.
Once the dough has risen it's time to shape. Prepare what you are going to proof your dough in for the final rise. Now tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Pull the dough gently into a rectangle and slap it with both hands flat. Fold the top down one ⅓ the bottom up and over. Flip it around a quarter of a turn and repeat. If the dough it tight pinch the seams. If not then fold again until it is. The idea is to shape and even out all the dough. Don't flour too much or you'll get lines in the bread.
Please the loaf on an oiled baking tray flour the top lighting and cover with a linen cloth or plastic but don't let the plastic stick to the dough. When close to double put the over on to full heat.
When the oven is hot spray the oven with water, slash the dough with a sharp knife. Put the dough in the oven and close the door. Turn down the temperature of the oven to 220C. The loaf should take 25 minutes. Half way through the bake let out the humidity. If you are brave and like really dark bread leave the over temperature at 235C.
Bake until dark brown and the internal temperature is between 93-97°C 200-20°7F or tap the loaf to see if it sounds hollow. Allow to cool completely on a rack.
This is a basic bread recipe you can adapt this dough to make hundreds of breads just add more or less liquid and shape your preferred way
The is my great recipe for making easy Scrumpy using the Ginger Beer Plant.
What you will need: 1 x Jar capable of holding more than 2 Litres An elastic band or string Some kitchen paper and/or muslin A fine stainless steel or plastic sieve A 2 litre fizzy drink bottle. The simplest is an empty PET cola bottle or a flip top beer bottle. Plastic funnel
Ingredients.
50 - 200g of GBP (how much isn't vital)
100 - 200g of sugar
2 litres of cloudy apple juice
1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar (Potassium bitartrate)
1/2 a teaspoon of citric acid or the juice of at least half a lemon depending on acidity of the apple juice.
Make sure your jar has been washed in hot soapy water and rinsed clean. Prepare and measure out all ingredients ready to go.
This has to be the easiest recipe on the site.
Take the apple juice and add the GBP. You could leave it just like this until the juice is ready, or add the other ingredients. How much of each really depends on the acidity and sugar content of the juice. You could use part juice, part sugared, acidified water, the choice is yours.
Now cover the jar with the kitchen paper and secure with the elastic band or string.
Allow the juice to ferment for a few days until it tastes the way you want it then bottle as for the ginger beer recipes.
You can use any juice but pineapple you like, Have fun experimenting with different flavours but take care that the juice you use doesn't contain preservatives.
1kg rhubarb, roughly chopped
Sugar (see method)
Lemon juice (see method)
Follow the Ginger beer Recipe up to bottling. Make the Rhubarb Cordial
1. Place the rhubarb in a pan with 75ml water over a low heat. Cook slowly until the juices start coming out of the rhubarb, then turn the heat up a bit. Carry on cooking until the rhubarb is completely soft.
2. Put a large piece of clean muslin over a mixing bowl and tip in the rhubarb. Gather the corners of the muslin and tie them together. Hang the bag over the bowl for several hours to drain.
3. Measure out the juice: for every 1 litre of juice add 750g sugar and 75ml/ 3 tablespoons of lemon juice. Pour the juice into a pan on a medium heat and dissolve the sugar stirring all the time. Turn off the heat before it boils. Pour the cordial into sterilised bottles and seal.
4.Add 1 part cordial to 3 parts ginger beer at the bottling stage.