Ginger Beer

[Heretic]

Long ago when I was a kid , many mothers and grandmas had a " ginger beer plant " in their kitchen , often on top of the fridge , in a large jar from which the ginger beer was regularly decanted off . I recall that these " plants " were fed something ; sugar , I imagine . They would go all summer , and keep families supplied with superb ginger beer . But that is all I remember . Does anyone know of this recipe , or what this " plant " is ?

[ayjay101]

I rememebr Ed posting his mum's (Eileen's) in the past:

http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=17457&hl=%2Bginger+%2Bbeer+%2Bplant&fromsearch=1

[Psylo]

It's just a highly concentrated liquid ginger base. Think of it as a cordial.

EDIT: This is not quite accurate information, and I have been mistaken for some time ! A ginger beer plant appears to be more of a starter culture, not dissimilar to yoghurt or sourdough. Ya learn something every day.

Edited May 5, 2012 by Psylo Dread

[Heretic]

Thanks Ajay !! That would be the one I was looking for - the old traditional Oz recipe , I guess . Reads a bit like a jail brew , but sounds delicious . I'll start on going asap . regards , Tom

[Marcel]

That Eileen is an ethnobot's dream mother.

[obtuse]

Thats pretty similar to the recipie i used, except i just used ginger and sugar initially in a jar kept near my wood fire. and then used a recipie to bulk it up before bottling and then let it do its work in the bottle. (and i didnt add sultanas). i based part of my recipie on the recipie from "wild fermentation", and the rest from the oz brewing forum.

adding lemon juice made it ferment much more vigorously, than the non lemon juice ones, and i probably should have added more sugar as they werent very sweet.

definitely alcoholic if left too long. and watch out for explosions, keep them in the shed not the laundry .

have fun

[Psylo]

and watch out for explosions, keep them in the shed not the laundry

 

This is a very good point, and not something to be ignored. There are some basic principles that need to be adhered to when fermenting in sealed vessels. I am available for consultation if further details is required, and I can also provide some formulas & techniques for one-off projects.(please post here - no PM's please). Alternatively, for ease of use & peace of mind, check out the Oztops kit. This is by far the safest way for an occasional winemaker to avoid dangerous situations (ie explosions). They are basically a set of custom-made bottle-tops that allow for controlled C02 release, while still keeping enough in solution for carbonation.

[ajna]

yeah i've done a similar recipe but without sultanas and fresh ginger also. the dry powder probably disolves better and gives more flavour. but the skin of fresh ginger has lactic acid bacteria which is good to help the culture get going.

i did mosty use glass, out of concern of plastic leaching in acidic, fermenting brews. didn't have any explosions but you hear of it happening, but i did probably open earlyish to avoid alc content for a pregnant mumma

have also made a batch with (milk) kefir grains as the starter - converted them to a sugar diet for a week before introducing ginger for a week

Edited May 5, 2012 by ajna

[Heretic]

I don't recall it being alcoholic - we drank buckets of it as kids . I recall it being some sort of culture , like above , but I think was decanted off and refridgerated , rather than bottled with more sugar and allowed to stew . But I do like the sound of Eileen's recipe , and will give it a go . I tried wine once , unsuccessfully , and it was really scarey getting rid of unexploded bottles . I will be using plastic this time !

[Psylo]

Was the drink of your childhood carbonated?

[Heretic]

Yes , I think it was somewhat , but not alcoholic , or barely so . I know it was poured off regularly , then probably filtered crudely , and refridgerated . Maybe it was not given enough time to ferment for long . Nevertheless , it was clear and delicious , not cloudy and bad tasting .

[obtuse]

Proper ginger beer has to be cloudy in my experience. and carbonated, not a lot but enough to give it that sparkle.

on a side note, Tassie members im sure are aware of the tasmanian ginger beer company and their Chilli Ginger Beer. Wow!!!

[Psylo]

Tom, natural carbonation can only happen as a result of alcohol production. The yeast feeds on the sugar, which creates carbon dioxide, which, insolution, is responsible for the 'fizz'. Too much sugar with no outlet for the co2 to escape, means a build up of pressure, and BOOM. You really need to get your calculations right. Or........ buy those Oztops I linked to.

But anyway, alcohol is also the byproduct of this process. Just need to make that clear if you or your family are intolerant to alcohol. Without doing the math, you could probably do a GB recipe that's under 1% alc/vol, which for most people wont get you drunk or even tipsy after a couple of glasses.

[dundee]

I make ginger beer every now and again, have used the ginger beer plant I got off Rev, but don't have it now, looks like jelly blobs floating around in a sugar solution.

I usually just use bakers yeast and sugar for the plant, I made a brew 2 weeks ago using 4 different types of sugars, jaggery powder, raw sugar, brown sugar, palm sugar just to mix it up, and threw in heaps of fresh and dry ginger, tasted good, 2 1.25 bottles didn't last long, it took only 24 hours for the bottles to be really firm and fizzy.

Brew it up in cheap soda water bottles that can take pressure

Edited May 5, 2012 by dundee

[dundee]

Have you ever seen how much pressure it takes to blow up a coke or soda water bottle using dry ice, they stretch and swell like nothing else and then boom

[ayjay101]

This is a very good point, and not something to be ignored. There are some basic principles that need to be adhered to when fermenting in sealed vessels. I am available for consultation if further details is required, and I can also provide some formulas & techniques for one-off projects.(please post here - no PM's please). Alternatively, for ease of use & peace of mind, check out the Oztops kit. This is by far the safest way for an occasional winemaker to avoid dangerous situations (ie explosions). They are basically a set of custom-made bottle-tops that allow for controlled C02 release, while still keeping enough in solution for carbonation.

 

Thanks for the info Psylo. Oztops looks great - gonna order me one of these kits and get fermenting!!

[Heretic]

I think the g-b I drank as a kid may have been a little cloudy - like Bundy g-b , with little or no alcohol . To be truthful , I can't remember much about it . I'm going to try Eileen's recipe , it sounds nice . The type of g-b I'd like to brew would [ hopefully ] be like the Bundy brew , I guess . The Bundy brew is about the best commercial type I know of , but seem to recall the home - made brews to be as good , if not better . I know it was from a culture they called a " plant " . The last time I saw one of these kitchen " plants " would be around the time of the summer of the introduction of decimal currency , a long time ago . I suspect there are many variations of the recipe , but the plants fundamentally similar . I am somewhat disturbed by the number of Bundy g-b bottles in my recycling bin at times . I'm thinking I can save some $ , and the considerable environmental cost they represent in energy to manufacture , transport , and refridgerate in the shop [ although I usually buy warm six- packs from a supermarket ] . The Bundy product is " brewed " , but non - alcoholic . Confusing .

[Psylo]

The Bundy product is " brewed " , but non - alcoholic . Confusing .

Just taking a guess, but if it's brewed, then they must raise the temp of the finished batches to above the BP of alcohol to drive off the booze. This process is used in the making of some light strength commercial beers, to maintain the body of an all-malt brew but without the alc/vol.

Commercially, they don't even need to brew it in order to create carbonation, they just use food grade carbon dioxide. You could do the same at home with a keg system, but I doubt youre that into it to spend a grand. For a true non-alcoholic drink at home, maybe you could look into the SodaStream system, a vintage concept that seems to have had a makeover in recent years. Just make some ginger cordial, dilute with water as desired, and carbonate. It will also let you gear your sweetness to taste, which can be tricky if you are brewing, unless using a non-fermentable sugar (such as lactose)

I cannot speak personally for these, but they seems pretty good if that suits your requirements:

http://www.sodastrea...nks-Makers.aspx

Edited May 6, 2012 by Psylo Dread

[ajna]

"I know it was from a culture they called a " plant " ."

yeah there are some who say that there is an 'authentic' ginger beer plant, and others that say there is no such thing,

i'm not sure of the facts, but have wondered if the authentic gbp could be the same as the tibicos/water kefir culture.

re acohol content - i can't remember where i read it but i'm sure i did - that as long as there is some residual sugar remaining you will have negligible amounts of alc - can anyone confirm or deny? if that is the case, the trick is to catch it in the window where there is little sugar and little alc.

also, a higher bacterial population over yeast is better for the low-alc variety.

also, i've been wondering about these silicon beer caps, if they could be a way to safely use glass bottles

http://www.beersavers.com/

would depend how much pressure they could withstand, but my thoughts were that it may hold in carbonation but pop off if it the pressure gets too high (leading to mess, but not broken glass and mess)...

Edited May 6, 2012 by ajna

[Psylo]

It;s a term that I now see has been grossly misused. Maybe an authentic ginger beer "plant" is more like a vinegar "mother".

Sorry about the off topic, but fascinating stuff in the field of home 'brewing' I keep meaning to create my own vinegar from capturing wild yeast & bacteria in the air. Maybe next summer. More info here: Mycoderma aceti

Don't get this shit near your ginger beer !

[Psylo]

re acohol content - i can't remember where i read it but i'm sure i did - that as long as there is some residual sugar remaining you will have negligible amounts of alc - can anyone confirm or deny?

 

Yes & no. It's true that some 'sugars' will not ferment fully, such as the case with beer, and sugar in the form of dried, powdered barley malt, which will finish out at about 80% fermented. But in the case of processed cane (or beet) sugar, this is highly fermentable, to almost 100% I believe. The only way you could leave residual table sugar in a brew would be to retard the yeast growth, either by cold conditions, which will slow (not stop) the process, or by boiling the batch, which would kill the yeast cells.

That's the theoretical figure. In reality, many yeast strains only attenuate to 70-80%, so actual remaining sugars are going to be higher.

For brewing GB at home, I hate to say it, but aiming for a true non-alcoholic brewed beverage, it will be a massive pain in the ass. It IS possible, though, but the ratio between time spent vs yield created would be off-putting, unless you're able to economise your time by upscaling to about 20 litres. A lot, I know !

Or just get a sodastream for non-alc ginger drink, and oztops for the boozy version

[Heretic]

Yes , Psylo , the Bundy stuff is brewed , according to the label . To my thinking something brewed would contain alcohol . But as sold it does not . I suspect it is the same company that make the rum , but may be mistaken . The logos are similar . I think it must be as you suggest , they remove the alcohol to create the soft drink . I would like to find one of those old - type soda bottles , with the screw - in CO2 charge . Will check out Soda Stream . Thanks for the input . I must say there is a wealth of knowledge among the folk here . BTW , I just realised that the Bundy brewed g-b would have to be pasteurized or otherwise heat sterilized before sale for public consumption . Perhaps this is when the alcohol is removed during manufacture .

Edited May 6, 2012 by Major Tom

[Psylo]

Here's something that might be of interest to readers of this thread. A bundy GB loving member of www.aussiemuslims.com became concerned about the potential for alcohol in the product, so contacted the company. The response below is straight from the horse's mouth, and the preparation is as I speculated in an earlier post, using heat evaporative removal process.

Email Reply from Bundaberg Customer Support:

Thank you for your email in relation to the alcohol content in our brewed products.

All Bundaberg Brewed Drinks naturally brewed products contain minute residual traces of alcohol. Our manufacturing process uses natural yeast which feed on sugars and ferments the “brew” to be used as a base for our beverages. Alcohol is a by-product of this fermentation process. Before we fill the product into bottles we heat the brew to above 70 degrees C. to kill the yeast, halt the fermentation process, and remove the alcohol. After this heating process our Lemon Lime Bitters “contains on average 0.07% alcohol” and our Ginger Beer has a ”residual average alcohol level of 0.2%”. It is this manufacturing process, and the natural brew component in our beverages which adds the flavour profile unique to our products.

The legal level allowable in a soft drink for it to be labelled as a non alcoholic beverage is 0.5% - well above the level contained in our products. We promote all of our beverages as a soft drink which is an acceptable alternative to intoxicating beverages. For further confirmation you may find information regarding Non Alcoholic Beverages in Food Standard 2.6.2 on www.FZANZ.com and at www.anzfa.gov.au

Bundaberg Brewed Drinks welcomes all enquiries from our consumers, as it is only through our valued customers that we understand how our products are perceived.

Once again we thank you for your enquiry. If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Yours faithfully

BUNDABERG BREWED DRINKS PTY LTD

[Max Cady]

Off topic but it's got me thinking about Kombuccha tea, anyone have a "scoby" to get me started by any chance?