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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Video by Entice Films
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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
NOTES
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!
Nutrition
tried this recipe?
Let us know in the comments!
Pro tip, use the smashed ginger piece for making teriyaki sauce. Just mix 2 spoons of cooked ginger with 1 whole garlic (sliced), soya sauce sugar/hoeny and add water until it’s not too strong anymore (depends on the person, you will know). You will get one of the best teriyaki sauces you have ever eaten 😉
Just made my second batch. We save some of the syrup for mixing drinks both alcohol and non. And make some beer out of it. All very tasty. I think the beer could have used some more fermentation to give it more kick so this time I think I’ll ferment for 4-5 days instead of 3.
Even without fermenting it (I had to try it) it was great!!
I made this before seeing your recipe. Same ingredients, but didn’t need to heat the mixture 1st. It dissolved well with room temperatures. I added extra ginger, and it was great. I leave the skin on the ginger and it helps with the fermentation process.
Thanks. Ginger beer are expensive. You recipe and process will save a ton of money.
Made for the first time tonight, 2x 2ltr bottles sat in the airing cupboard hoping it’ll be ready for Sunday.
Also, I need to stop saying Garlic when talking about the Ginger lol!
I’m curious if anyone has tried adding more ginger (like double the amount) and less sugar? I thought the recipe turned out really nice but would prefer more ginger flavor and for it to be a tad less sweet. If I adjust the other ingredients would I also have to adjust the yeast amount?
For less sweetness you just need to ferment longer. The yeast will eat the sugar. I ferment for about 5_6 days for a spicier drier ginger beer.
Great work keeping good old recipes alive, otherwise they will be lost my grandma made it the same way
Kind regards
Ben
I am in day 2 of the process. The ginger beer is in my food pantry, and won’t see the light of day for two days. I will update in a couple of days.
Horrible, the syrup became all solidified so I had to restart (with a different recipe this time for sure)
Sorry to hear that Tyler! Many people have been successful with this recipe. If the syrup solidified it means you cooked it too long. Note the recipe states: “Turn off the heat and allow the mixture to steep for an hour.” My guess is you let it cook for an hour, which led the syrup to lose too much liquid and solidify. Better luck next time.
Easy recipe! We’ll see what happens. What can I do with the leftover strained ginger solids?
I just put the strained solids in a glass of lemon water or add to muffins or salad dressing. I am one who uses EVERY bit of any food.
Also very nice on ice cream….and I as well try not to waste any food so I wiped out the syrop pot with a piece of raisin bread. Yummy!
Oops, sorry, I commented on a muffin recipe instead of your ginger beer. Ignore the previous comment then, but your ginger beer recipe is perfect.
This recipe worked very well for bluberrys and then I used the same recipe for bananas and it was even better. I liked your idea of sprinkling a little sugar on top of each muffin before putting in the oven but I also ground a little sea salt on top of each and it really works. A nice combination of crispy sugar and salt. It may sound strange but for me, it makes all the difference.
This is awesome! Ginger is my favorite flavor ever. I go through several hands a week, because I juice about 2″ of it a day. I know, I’m going to live forever (not unless I cut out the sugar omg!)
Love this stuff ! As I was working on getting more things about this, the article has helped me to solve various clarifications. Thanks for the great content.
Can I use lime juice in place of lemon juice?
Sure.
I’m excited to try this (love your blintz recipe btw)! Could I use stevia vs. sugar?
Great question! We’ve never tried that, so I wouldn’t know what amount to recommend… also not sure if the fermentation will work properly without sugar added.
This recipe is so great!! I made it for my housemates and they all loved it. This will for sure become a staple in the house. I recommend making lots of ginger syrup at once and then just keeping it in a bottle in the fridge. This makes it really easy to just make a new batch when you drink all of the old ones. I use 1/6 of a cup in each .5L (ish) bottle I have.
Wow how fun, live in the Philippines a lot of ginger and raw cane sugar. This is a great drink. Lol now to find some Sapphire Gin
I used raw cane sugar too!
Was curious as to how you removed the yeast after fermentation?
I did a cold crash and most of the sediment fell to the bottom of the bottle but I was still faced with a good amount of yeast in the end.
Its fair to note that I did adjust the amounts of sugar and ginger to make my preferred flavor but I was certain that was something that would change your process of yeast removal.
Thanks!
Good recipe and good video.
You may have added to much sugar and over fad the yeast
There’s no need to remove the yeast after fermentation.