Ingredients (makes two litres):
- 2 litres of water (tap water is just fine)
- 1/4 tablespoon of yeast
- One cup sugar
- Ginger root
- One lemon
This is so easy... chop up the ginger. You will need a piece as big as an Oxo cube at least, but all more if you like. Don't even bother to peel the ginger, but you must use fresh ginger.
Put the ginger in the bottle along with the juice of the lemon, and using the funnel, pour in a cup of sugar and the yeast. Take care not to add too much yeast.
Now top the bottle up with tap water until it's three-quarters full. Put the cap back on the bottle, and shake to dissolve the sugar. When it's all dissolved, add more water but leave just over an inch at the top of the bottle (this is really important as it gives the beer room to ferment. If you don't leave this gap, then your bottle will most likely explode, showering everything in sight with a yeasty gingery sticky mess!)
Screw the cap down tightly, and leave the ginger beer in a dark and warm place. Check it after 24 hours. When the ginger beer is ready, you'll find that the bottle tightens due to expanding gases caused by fermentation, so when you try to squeeze the bottle you'll feel a lot of resistance. If it's not ready, put it back and leave it to ferment another 24 hours.
So if you're sure that you don't need the ginger beer to ferment any more, leave the bottle in a fridge overnight (which stops the fermentation process.) Open carefully as gases may escape.
Serve ice cold by pouring through a tea strainer to avoid getting sediment in the glass. Mmm, it's frothy, man!
