Ginger beer - not a recipe

tim_n

Having finally ordered some proper ginger beer plant with the aim of some traditional brewing I've discovered there is very little history regarding Ginger Beer manufacturing in the UK.

I mean, this stuff was made for centuries in the UK it seems, there are collectors that pay a lot of money for ginger beer bottles etc, but barely any mention of it on the internet.

I've read about the death of ginger beer making during WW2 because of the lack of ingredients

I've also read that origins of ginger beer plants are unknown - they were passed in families down the generations

I've heard that people used to drink the stuff during the 1700's as normal drinking water was too bad and that during the 19th century you could by it from fountains on the sea front. Chemists used to stock it and it seemed every town had a manufacturer (I assume because it didn't travel well)

But that's about it for three centuries of brewing history.

Silly question, but does anyone on the oldstyle forum here know much about ginger beer, do you have any experiences or knowledge, because I'd really like to know more!

tim_n

My ginger beer plant just arrived. Hurrah! but still no information from you old-style savvy people - does no-one remember anything?!

[Deleted User]

You're right - it's just one of those things that always used to be around. My grandma had one in her pantry and we also had one, a lovely yeasty gingery smell, but nothing in the way of a recipe written down. If your plant died you generally got a bit from someone elses. Good luck with yours...my memories are of the bottle tops blowing off occasionally. I think that was something to do with too much sugar!

Mojisola

Home made ginger beer can be lovely. We used to make it as kids every summer using a ginger beer plant but now we make it using the info from this site - http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser/Cheese/Ginger_Ale_Ag0.htm. We prefer the taste.

We used to make a starter each year from scratch. I don't know about keeping it for generations. Wild yeasts will often start to grow in the mix and that can affect the flavour.

tim_n

how did you get the plant Mojisola? There only seem to be a few places still with traditional ginger beer plants available. Most people consider a plant to be just traditional bakers/brewers yeast mixed with ginger and left a couple of days to multiply.

A ginger beer plant is actually a very complex organism. You can read about it here http://www.gingerbeerplant.net/outofstock/NewScientistArticle.html

Mojisola

tim_n wrote: »

how did you get the plant Mojisola? There only seem to be a few places still with traditional ginger beer plants available. Most people consider a plant to be just traditional bakers/brewers yeast mixed with ginger and left a couple of days to multiply.

A ginger beer plant is actually a very complex organism. You can read about it here http://www.gingerbeerplant.net/outofstock/NewScientistArticle.html

We must be talking about different things. Mum used to start the plant off with yeast and then it was used all through the summer. The article mentions that ginger beer is quite alcoholic but the stuff we used to make definitely wasn't. Think Enid Blyton and the Famous Five taking their picnic and ginger beer off on their adventures.

tim_n

Mojisola wrote: »

Think Enid Blyton and the Famous Five taking their picnic and ginger beer off on their adventures.

Actually it probably explains a lot!

The yeast will always make it alcoholic, but you'd need a lot more sugar and a longer period of time for fermentation to produce high levels of alcohol in the mixture.

Angelraesunshine

how strange my step dad has his birthday today and my mum said he wants to start a ginger beer plant so i am going to buy him all the bits to get him started later this afternoon lol.

but yes i was told to just get him the bakers yeast etc

Mojisola

The description on this site -

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2000.01.0026;query=page%3D%23179;layout=;loc=187

classes ginger beer with lemonade and sherbet as a non-alcoholic summer drink. It also has a good description of the "fountains", mobile drink stalls.

tim_n

Needless to say though, if you add yeast and sugar into a solution, alcohol is a bi-product. Two days or so will not produce high levels of alcohol, but the fizz is a usual tell of fermentation.
It does hint at the bottom that they were using an early form of sodastream machine to pump air into it, however nowhere does the article mention 'non-alcoholic'.
I used to use yeast in making ginger beer and produced upto 6% proof beer. It took around a week to get the primary fermentation over and done with and the secondary fermentation pushed it from about 4%.
I've read the article before - it's the one where I got the first information about the fountains but it's a shame there's no pictures etc.

daska

You'll find more info on what might be the other ginger beer plant HERE. You have to scroll down quite a way though!