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Lashing and lashings...

As well as talk of Clementine Cake on twitter there has been talk of brewing Ginger Beer. Ginger beer is my drink of choice and I'm always in search of a good one. I find many commercial ones too sweet. Once on holiday in Brasil I had a ginger beer made with freshly squeezed ginger which is the gold standard at the moment and a tough act to live up to.

@eskimimi (who has a lovely blog) linked to this River Cottage recipe last week. I had to hunt around for brewers yeast as the brewer's yeast you can buy in chemists and health food shops is deactivated so won't work for brewing, despite the name. (trade descriptions act anyone?).

I ended up buying my yeast online after consulting my brewing guru Bioniclaura. As well as knitting Laura brews her own beer, which I got sample when I stayed with her and her lovely dog and husband in Dublin when I went over at the end of October. More on that later.

I couldn't wait to get started but had to wait til we returned from Hastings to get going. It only takes 48 hours to brew but I've been VERY impatient and watching it like a kid watches the countdown to Christmas.

Brewing Ginger Beer

My beer was ready tonight. It's fiery, fizzy and fabulous and I am definitely making this again. I altered the recipe slightly by using a lime instead of a lemon as it's what I had in and I added a teaspoon of powdered ginger as well as fresh grated ginger. I think the powdered ginger has added a subtle kick. I used Danstar Windsor Yeast but also bought Safale s-04 following Laura's advice. It will be interesting to see how much difference changing the yeast makes. Uh oh, looks like I have a new hobby!
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Comments

Fiona said…
fantastic idea! Think I'll give this a go too.
2 December 2010 at 21:04
Sadie said…
Oh, I definitely have to try this - I love ginger beer too!
2 December 2010 at 21:14
Iamreddave said…
I have heard rumors that the river cottage recipe has too much sugar and produces bomb like levels of pressure. They might have modified it since. But just in case maybe open it outside?
3 December 2010 at 14:47
Ginger Knits said…
I didn't brew mine for the full 48 hours as the bottle was rock hard before then. I also chilled it thorougly before opening. It is very fizzy but not at bomb like levels. There are handy comments about other people's experiences on the recipe page on the River Cottage Website.
3 December 2010 at 18:42
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