Ginger Beer

Total Time: 24 hrs 15 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 24 hrs

Ingredients

• 1 ounce fresh ginger
• 2 lemons
• 1/2 ounce cream of tartar
• 2 lbs caster sugar (uk measurement, making a total of 32 oz sugar)
• 2 gallons boiling water (uk measurement, making a total of 320 fl.ozs. boiling water)
• 1 egg , beaten to a froth
• 1/2 ounce fresh yeast

Recipe

• 1 bruise the ginger and slice the lemons.
• 2 mix the boiling water, cream of tartar and nearly all of the caster sugar with the ginger and lemons.
• 3 when the mixture has cooled to be luke-warm, add the beaten egg , then the yeast mixed with the reserved sugar, and stir well.
• 4 let it stand for 24 hours, then bottle. caution - although i haven't made this myself, i suspect that the fermentation will continue in the bottle. this means that gas and pressure will build up. use bottles with corks instead of a fixed top. that way, if pressure builds up, the cork will shoot out (releasing the gas and some of the ginger beer) and (hopefully) the bottle will not explode. i have been caught out by exploding bottles of elderflower champage before, and it isn't an experience i would recommend to others! update - a correspondent has confirmed that you should put the ginger beer into bottles with corks, release the pressure a few times, and store them in a cool dark place with doors so that if a bottle explodes the resultant chaos will be confined.