I have a new hobby.

Home brewing.

But not regular beer… the hops, wheat, yeast, etc. kind of home brewing.

I'm brewing ginger beer.

(How cool are these radiation beaker glasses?)

That was my first attempt. Doesn't it look all cool and frosty and refreshing?

I can't tell you how pleased as punch I was with myself. It was sickening.

But, as with any first effort, I didn't get it quite right and it didn't brew long enough, so the fizz was very gentle.

So, I started a second batch.

***

Here's how it goes…

Gather your ingredients and equipment.

You need:

- Raw sugar  – Ground ginger  – 2 or 3 lemons  – 10 sultanas  – Muslin (washed)  – Glass jar (a big one, 750ml or bigger)

These are the ingredients for the ginger beer "mother". Or if that sounds just a bit weird, the "plant" or "starter". It's essentially the same idea used in making sourdough bread. The plant kicks off the fermentation, and then you keep a bit left over to start the next batch, into perpetuity or until you get bored.

So, to start, juice the lemons. You need about 1/2 a cup of juice and 2 teaspoons of the pulp (fish out the seeds).

Put the juice, pulp, 2 teaspoons of ginger powder, 4 teaspoons of sugar, 10 sultanas and 2 cups of water into your jar and stir until properly mixed and sugar is dissolved.

It will look like this.

Except you don't leave the lid on, like I did. That was part of my not-fermenting-enough mistake.

This is what it looks like after a couple of days. Err…. best not to look too much. Remember, it's the wild yeasts on the sultanas (and just in the air) that help things start fermenting.

That jar wasn't big enough (hence the need for a 750ml or bigger jar), so I upsized to our water jug from the fridge. And exchanged the lid for muslin secured with a rubber band.

So you let it sit for 3 days, covered with muslin.

Then it looks like this.

It will smell very yeasty and all those bubbles are proof of some pretty awesome natural fermentation going on. Can you imagine? All that just from 10 sultanas and the natural yeasts just floating around in the air.

I chose not to use a recipe with brewers yeast in it because I'm fascinated by the idea of creating ginger beer with invisible yeasts.

***

After 3 days, you add 4 teaspoons raw sugar and 2 teaspoons ground ginger, every day for 7 days.

Then, gather your bottling supplies.

I live with a Diet Coke addict.

Look, I've tried and tried to get him to see how bad it is, but he just doesn't care.

So, I gave up and now I collect the bottles, wash them out and put them to good use in my brewery.

In a large saucepan, place 4 cups of sugar, the juice of 4 lemons and 4 cups of boiling water and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Use the muslin to strain and squeeze all the liquid out of the ginger beer plant.

Save the plant if you want to keep brewing (more on this later).

(yes, I know what that looks like…)

Then, I use a sterilised trug tub to mix the sugar/lemon juice/boiling water and plant liquid with 28 cups of cold water.

And start bottling.

I think I got just over 9 litres of ginger beer.

Think you're finished? Nope, not yet.

This is where I made my second not-brewing-properly mistake.

You're supposed to leave them on the bench, with lids screwed on loosely, for about 4 days, to let the gasses build up (fizz). I left the lids off. Stupid.

So, lids screwed on loosely, otherwise too much gas could accumulate and cause a geyser of ginger beer when you open them. (This is why plastic bottles are better than glass for home brewing. Lots of people have experienced exploding ginger beer bottles when using glass, so I'd give that a miss).

You give the bottles a squeeze every few days and when they're hard (don't give), that means the fizz is right. Screw the tops on tight and pop them in the fridge. This stops the brewing process.

And when it's cold, it's ready to drink!

After 11 days

But it is so, so worth it.

***

To be perfectly honest, I'm not really a big fan of ginger beer usually. I wanted to make it more for the challenge and the fun of it.

But I actually really like this. It's very subtle and refreshing, and I really like the soft fizz of my first batch. I'm also very happy that everyone I've given it to loves it as well.

***

Now I'm onto my 4th batch.

I let my second plant sit too long and it went sour. My third batch was ticking along nicely and then the water jug broke and spilled plant everywhere! Ugh.

So I went and bought this whopper jar from the $2 shop, because it's time to get serious about my brewery.

This is a double batch.

I didn't save any of my first plant, but you can halve the dry (squeezed out) plant, and start again. Put each half into a jar with 2 cups of water and feed it with the usual 4 teaspoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of ginger for a week. And so on.

***

This Friday is bottling day, which I'm really looking forward to.

My nieces love my ginger beer and think I should sell it at their fortnightly school market.

Thinking, thinking.

Should I call it 'Kiki Chaos Ginger Beer'?

I'll have to get Mr K to design me some pretty labels.

***

I know it looks like a long, laborious process, but it's actually really, really simple.

Have I inspired you to give it a go?

I promise it's the perfect drink for Aussie summer (if it ever actually arrives. Rain, rain, go away).

xx Kiki

You may also like: