Ginger Beer Plant

[Cornish Cream]

Does anyone know how to start a a Ginger Beer Plant?

[ryan]

A Ginger Beer seed!

[Cornish Cream]

A Ginger Beer seed!

Cheeky!

[JulieO]

I was only reading a recipe for it last night from the Sally Wise book "A year in a bottle", so I'll type it out for you and post. 

[JulieO]

Plant
½ tsp dried yeast
8 tsp ground ginger
2 tblsp sugar
1 cup warm water

On day one, place yeast, 1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp sugar and the cup of warm water in a clean jar.  Mix well, cover jar with a small square of muslin and secure with a rubber band.  For each of the next 7 days add 1 tsp ginger and 1 tsp sugar, stir and cover.

Ginger beer
4 cups sugar
22 cups cold water
½ cup strained lemon juice

To make the sugar syrup for ginger beer, on 8th day, combine sugar with 4 cups water in a saucepan.  Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low and simmer until sugar is completely dissolved.  Combine sugar syrup and remaining water in a food safe bucket.  Mix in the lemon juice.

Line a sieve with a tripe thickness of muslin, place over a bowl and strain plant mixture.  Pour resulting liquid into the sugar, water and lemon juice mixture and stir well.

Pour into clean bottles (she uses PET bottles)? And seal, leaving a little space at top.  Store in a cool place.  The ginger beer is ready after 5-6 days or when it is bubbly.

Makes 6 litres.

Hint:
Divide any plant left in the muslin in two.  Place half in a jar, add 1 tsp of ground ginger, 1 tsp of sugar and 1 cup of lukewarm water.  Cover and feed each day as outlined above.  The other half of the plant can be discarded, or used as another plant if desired.

[Cornish Cream]

Thank you JulieO for the information and for spending the time to type it out for me.My DH will be so pleased because he asked me if I could make some.I have bought various ginger beers but he says they have been too sweet for him.Off on the hunt for various bottles (we recycled all ours last week) a good quantity of ground ginger.

[CreamPuff63]

GINGER BEER 2

Ingredients:

Culture

1 cup water
1 tsp compressed (fresh) yeast
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp freshly ground ginger

 
Ginger Beer

1 kg sugar
6 cups of boiling water
1 tsp cream of tartar
3 litres cold water
2 lemons

 
Method

Culture

1.  Use a small glass jar and mix together the yeast and water.
2.  Add sugar and ginger, stir well
3.  24 hours later add another 2 tsps of sugar and 1 tsp of ginger.
4.  Repeat this step for the next 5 days, stirring well after each addition


Making the Ginger Beer

1.  Mix sugar, boiling water and cream of tatar together, stirring until sugar dissolves.  Cool.
2.  Add the cold water
3.  juice the lemons, strain the juice and add to syrup
4.  strain ginger culture through a fine muslin cloth and add the liquid to the syrup
5.  Bottle, seal and leave for 7 days


NB Make sure you store ginger beer outside the house, bottles have been known to explode on occasion.  Always open ginger beer away from your face.

Source: Cyndi O'Meara, Changing Habits e-newsletter

[containergirl]

Thanks for the recipes it is great to see this recipe.  It brings back memories of my childhood, I adored feeding the plant each day and watching the little volcanos in the plant.  My mother made it for years and one famous night 35 bottles popped.  Good thing the neighbours had heard a few smaller pops before.

I must dig out my mothers old recipe and compare.  Think it was more like Sally Wises

[Cornish Cream]

Another wonderful forum member to the rescue, thanks CreamPuff, especially about storing them outside in case they explode.I've tracked down a shop I can get new bottles at a reasonable price, now on the hunt for ginger. 

[Thermomixer]

Sorry, have been absent.  We used sultanas or raisins instead of the yeast - don't have the recipe, but if you like I will find it?

[Cornish Cream]

Don't worry Thermomixer between JulieO and Creampuff's recipes I can give it a go.After the reminder that bottles might explode have now tracked down some PET bottles.

[cookie1]

We used to use sultanas instead of yeast too. If my memory isn't too addled it was ready when they rose to the top.
We always kept out in an outside pantry (big farmhouse) and when we returned from holidays one year they had all blown up. We used to use Dad's beer bottles to put it in (all we could get) and there was broken glass and sweet ginger beer absolutely everywhere. Mum never made anymore after that.

[CreamPuff63]

back in the olden days, mum made some to take on holidays. because we didn't have electricity there was no where to keep them cold, so she ended up putting them under lots of bushes...they would go off at different times with a huge bang  the first one was scary, but after that we would go "oops! there goes another one!"  (don't think we drank too many, and yes she never made it again as well)

[cookie1]

Our poor Mums.