Does anyone know how to start off a ginger beer plant?

Answer 1

The Recipe

Producing your own ginger beer is very easy. It is produced in a biological process in much the same way as yoghurt. You will first need to create what is called a ginger beer plant2. It will be ten days before the first batch will be ready.

Ingredients

25g Dry yeast (50g of fresh)
2tbsp ground ginger
2tbsp caster sugar
½pt (300ml) water
Method

If you are using dry yeast, stir the yeast in with ¼ pint (150ml) of lukewarm water and a bit of sugar. Leave this mixture for 10-15 mins. If you are using fresh yeast, which you can procure from certain bakers, you can skip this process.

Mix the wettened yeast with the sugar until they cream to form a liquid. Then add the ground ginger and water. If you used dry yeast then use only ¼pt (150ml) of water. Stir this mixture well and pour it into a jar with a loose-fitting lid, so as to let the mixture breathe. Now leave this mixture in a cool place.

The next day, and each day thereafter, add 1 level tsp (5ml) of ground ginger and the same amount of caster sugar to your jar and stir the mixture thoroughly.

After 10 days. dissolve 18oz (500g) of caster sugar and 1½pt (900ml) of water, bring this mix to the boil and let it cool slightly. Add the strained juice of two lemons to the water.

Strain your ginger plant through fine muslin and add the strained liquid to the sugar and lemon juice mixture, along with 6pt (3.4l)water.

Stir the mixture well and bottle it straight away in strong screw-topped bottles, like those in which you would store cider or beer. Make sure you store the bottles in a cool place for about two weeks before you drink it. This is essential!

To Make More Ginger Beer

Halve the sediment left on the muslin and divide it into two separate jars. Add ½pt (300ml) water, 2tsps (10ml) and 2tsps (10ml) caster sugar to each jar. Stir it well and continue the same process as before for ten days.

This means that the produce is doubled every ten days.

Ginger Beer is best enjoyed chilled and despite the cliché is also highly enjoyable on picnics.


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1 Ginger being the fiery root which gives this drink its distinctive taste.
2 As in a chemical plant, rather than a bizarre beverage/vegetation hybrid.

Answer 2

Take a ginger beer bottle. Plant it in a grow-bag and add fertilizer. Keep it in direct sunlight. Very soon, your ginger beer plant will begin to sprout...