In this post I will teach you how to make ginger beer the old fashioned way, no soda machine or brewery required. This drink is nice and refreshing on a warm day; it’s also one of the main ingredients in the popular Moscow Mule cocktail. It’s easy, really, and surprisingly fizzy. I’ve outlined the recipe and process below, including a how-to video and photo tutorial.
Ginger, with its zippy and refreshing taste, is listed among the world’s oldest spices. As far back as 500 BC, this native plant of China and India was used for medicine, food, and flavoring. For most of the Western world, ginger was used to spice up drinks. Up until the Victorian era, beer was the drink of choice in England, especially herbal and spiced low-alcohol “small” beers such as ginger beer.
I would be willing to bet that most us were introduced to the flavor of Zingiber officinale through ginger ale. I don’t know about you, but the zingy soda pop was my mom’s go-to cure for tummy aches. This non-alcoholic ginger ale made its American debut in 1866 when a Detroit, Michigan pharmacist named James Vernor installed a soda fountain in his drugstore. Vernor began playing around with ginger extracts, and in 1870 perfected his recipe, which included mellowing the syrup for four years in wooden casks. It’s not surprising that a pharmacist would chose ginger, as the rhizome was (and still is) known as a stomach soother. In fact, Vernor’s ads often touted “Mothers tell their children to ask for Vernor’s Ginger Ale because it’s wholesome and healthful.” Vernor’s Ginger Ale remains just as popular today.
Ginger ale and ginger beer are both basically the same thing. It’s easy and inexpensive to make old-fashioned ginger beer at home, and you get more of a gingery taste than you do from the store-bought stuff. A bit of fermentation is involved, which produces a very slight alcohol content (not noticeable, but important to point out for those sensitive to alcohol). Some manufacturers ferment the mixture longer and make other adjustments to increase the alcohol content, but for our purposes this ginger beer is more akin to ginger ale. If you’re concerned, make the ginger syrup as noted below, but skip the fermentation process and mix it with seltzer water instead to produce a fermentation-free beverage.
Once you master the process of creating ginger beer, you’ll be hooked. It’s fun to ferment. Enjoy!
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Homemade Ginger Beer
Ingredients
Ginger Syrup Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
Ginger Beer Ingredients
- 1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast or brewer's yeast
- Ginger syrup (ingredients above)
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 7 cups filtered water
Instructions
- Peel a chunk of the ginger with the tip of a teaspoon—the papery skin scrapes right off—and grate it, using the fine side of your grater. Place the ginger, sugar, and water in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Turn off the heat and allow the mixture to steep for an hour.
- Strain the mixture (discard the ginger solids) and allow to cool.
- You’ve now made ginger syrup (or gingerette, as the Brits call it). Stop right here if you’re looking for a short-cut to ginger ale and you don’t want to mess around with the fermentation process. Pour three or four tablespoons (more or less depending upon how gingery you like it) of your syrup over ice and add 8 ounces of seltzer water or club soda. Bottle the rest of the syrup and store it in the refrigerator.
- For the full ginger beer experience, place a funnel in the top of the bottle. Sprinkle the yeast in, followed by the syrup, lemon juice, and water.
- Put the lid on the bottle and shake the concoction until the yeast is dissolved. Stow it on a shady shelf or in your pantry out of direct sunlight for 2-3 days, or until fizz is achieved. At this point it is ready to drink, and must be stored in the refrigerator to prevent further fermentation. Don't forget about the bottle, or the pressure will build up so much that it may explode!As with any yeast-powered beverage, the fermentation process continues unless you prevent it from happening. Refrigerating will slow the process down but not stop it completely, that's why it’s best to treat ginger beer as a perishable beverage. Consume within 1-2 weeks.
- Serve over ice and savor the spicy taste of your very own homemade ginger beer!
NOTES
Nutrition
tried this recipe?
Let us know in the comments!
Well this looks very good! So with the yeast I am assuming it creates alcohol??? 😀
Hi Rita,
Just a wee bit of alcohol is produced and that slows down once you put the bottle in the fridge.
If you want alcohol in the mix you must brew for a long time and you must put alot of sugar to start with and may need to add sugar after a week or so and keep bleeding the gas off. Just tighten the cap up a day before you want to finish to build up the carbonated effect.
That´s funny. I made up a pitcher of Ginger Beer last week for the night staff here. They loved it!! Will ck out your recipe but I went by Jamie Oliver´s recipe. Thanks! 🙂
Beautiful glass.
Yummy! An Island favorite
Sounds good. Have to give it a try. I also love Egg Cream and Root Beer Float, 2 of my favorites.
Robert, have you seen Tory’s fabulous post on making Egg Creams? Check it out here:http://theshiksa.com/2010/08/13/chocolate-egg-cream/
Awesome. Cannot wait to try this. Add some Black Seal Rum for a nice Dark and Stormy. Yum!
Oh, now that sounds divine!
Thanks!
OMG! I used to make this years ago.
Do you release the gas during fermentation or after you put it in the fridge. I love ginger and can’t wait to try this
After you put it in the fridge. Just release the cap a bit, you’ll hear a fizzing noise, and then tighten the cap up. : )
How often do you release the gas once it’s in the fridge?
Just release the gas when the bottle feels firm.
Just so happens that we have ginger. All we need is the captain, lovey, and gilligan…. enjoy the sun for awhile…..
Ha!
thinking of trying this
This sounds great! I know the sugar is also an important part of the fermentation process, but will this work with less sugar than in the recipe?
I think less sugar would be fine. You don’t need that much to awaken yeast in usual recipes so go ahead and give it a try. And let us know how that goes.
This is a fantastic recipe. It takes me back to my childhood in England.
Originally, I tried the recipe with half the sugar because I thought it would be too sweet. I was wrong, it worked and was fizzy, but lacked taste. The next time I made it I used the recipes proportions (which I should have done in the first place) and it was perfect.
Glad you liked it Tim!
I’m making this recipe right now, but I’m substituting agave nectar for the sugar. Agave is slightly more diabetic friendly, and it’s what I had on hand. Agave is roughly twice as sweet, so I’m using a 1:1 ratio to make my syrup. I’ll let y’all know later this week how it turns out.
I would guess less fermentable sugar adding a non fermentable sugar to replace.
.. would it be possible to include some honey and reduce the sugar?
Ian
who knew? Yes, my mother always had ginger ale on hand for a sour tummy…
Can’t wait to try this and see how close it comes to my Great-Great-Grandmother’s recipe.
Courtney would you please post your grandmothers recipe.
Thanks
gotta go get some of that….great for tummy troubles in the mornings and more saltines, the breakfast of champions!
I make ginger beer sometimes every week and has been drinking it since I was a little girl.
Love this! Wish I´d known it was so simple. I´ve pinned it and I´ll definitely be making it. Thanks.
Great post and the glass is so pretty!
Fascinating! I was raised in Michigan so I grew up drinking Vernor’s. I’ll have to try this at home.
What´s not to love?
I have not tried this recipe yet. Although, I have made ginger beer from Ginger Beer Plant (GBP). I was hoping your recipe(s) would include using the grains which are very similar in looks to water kefir grains.
There is also ginger bug. I’m sure you have heard of it, in case you haven’t, its grated ginger, sugar, and water. The ginger and sugar ferment in the water. I have added minute amounts to root beer syrup and the carbonation was impressive.
Would you happen to have recipes for ginger beer using GBP? And would also how to care for GBP?