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Homemade ginger ale

by mediaphage on June 26, 2007 Table of Contents Homemade ginger ale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Intro: Homemade ginger ale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 1: Ingredients/tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 2: Ginger root preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 3: Squeeze lemon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 4: Put ingredients in bottle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 5: Biological carbonation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 6: Enjoy! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 6

http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-ginger-ale/

Intro: Homemade ginger ale

While there is a similar instructable on how to make your own root beer, there isn't one for ginger ale. I've made my own ginger ale for years, and here's how.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-ginger-ale/

Step 1: Ingredients/tools
You'll need: --1c sugar (or less) --yeast --small piece of ginger root --a lemon --a grater (microplane or fine holes) or food processor/chopper --an empty 2L plastic (important) bottle --around 2L of fresh water

http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-ginger-ale/

Step 2: Ginger root preparation

Peel and finely grate a small piece of ginger. How much is up to you; it depends on how strong you want the final ginger ale to be. Try for 1T or so in the beginning, and if you want it stronger, add another half tablespoon; weaker, add less. I didn't measure the amount I used here but I like it spicy, and it came out fairly strong.

Step 3: Squeeze lemon

I generally add a full lemon's worth of juice to this. If, like me, you don't have a juicer, roll the lemon between your hand and a hard surface a few times; this will help you get the juice out more quickly once it's cut.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-ginger-ale/

Step 4: Put ingredients in bottle

To the empty 2L bottle, add: --1c sugar (Again, taste comes into play. I like it less sweet, so I add ~ 3/4c. You may wish to add more or less depending on your personal taste. Add a full cup the first time you make it, and go from there). --1/4 tsp yeast --lemon juice --grated ginger If you're having difficulty with the sugar and juice, make a funnel out of a paper plate to pour everything in. Once everything's together, shake it around a little to distribute things. If you're really paranoid about germs, you could prepare a weak bleach solution and rinse everything with it, but I don't see the point since you'll likely drink this before anything goes wrong. Just be sure to wash your hands before you touch stuff and you'll be fine (nothing adds tang like Clostridium !).

Step 5: Biological carbonation

Fill your 2L bottle to an inch or two below the top with fresh water. Screw the cap on tightly, and shake until everything is dispersed. Be certain to flush the sugar from the nooks at the bottom of the bottle. The picture below shows everything in the bottle before it's been shaken. Once you're finished, place the bottle in a warm-ish place (I set mine on top of the fridge, towards the back) and let it steep. Check on it every few hours by squeezing the bottle. When you can no longer push in on the bottle (i.e., it's become pressurized), take the bottle and put it in the fridge. This will slow down the fermentation and keep things from exploding. It never takes more than a day or so for me, but depending on how you vary the ingredients, things make take a little longer. Note: I am quite serious about the exploding bit. If you leave the bottle just sitting in a warm place for a few days, it will likely explode and send sugary water all over the room. So keep an eye on it!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-ginger-ale/

Step 6: Enjoy!
This stuff is best really cold. As with any yeast-based product, this will yield a tiny amount of alcohol in the final product. Really, I think it's less than a percent. You could easily drink the entire bottle and not have any issues. Those with allergies to alcohol, however, may want to be careful.

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Strawberry Soda by Mix Master

Ginger Beer Alcoholic Version by ChrisVincent

Lacto-fermented Ginger Ale Fruit (Photos) by Salad Cocktail ewilhelm by genericanonymity

Parsley Soda: The Preferred Beverage of the Fashionable Elite by Cool-fool

Comments
50 comments Add Comment view all 145 comments

goicoechea says:

Aug 9, 2010. 2:52 AM REPLY Hi, I did the recipe two days ago - 48 hours. Nothing seems to be happening. I'm wondering if I put too little yeast in. Did you mean 1/4 teaspoon? It says tsp...but it seems like very little. Should it be tablespoon? Is there different kinds of yeast? I used Red Star Active Dry Yeast. I put three lemons in - could the acidity kill the yeast. It is 70 F inside. What did I do wrong?

Jodex says:

Mar 21, 2011. 7:31 AM REPLY Yes, it really is 1/4 teaspoon. It is not much, but otherwise it would taste yeasty. Are you sure that your water was warm enough when you added the yeast? It should be a bit warmer than your hand.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-ginger-ale/

anahatabalance says:
Better to use a beer or champagne yeast over a bread yeast or you can make your own...

Feb 6, 2011. 5:49 PM REPLY

Better to make a starter first with wild yeast. This is simple as adding a teaspoon of sugar and a 1 tsp grated ginger to 500 ml of water. Add both to the water each day for 7 days. Now you have a concentrated bubbly starter. Use this in your favorite recipe. I'll do an instructable soon on RAW vegan giner brew!

pyro-jim says:

Sep 14, 2010. 1:44 PM REPLY Ive made this a couple of times but the last time it had a nasty sort of bitter alnost alcoholic taste. I put around 16 smallish tablespoons of sugar which i thought was alot and i tried to make it very gingery. I also used around half a packet of bread yeast and left it for a day. Could it have produced enough alcohol to leave a bad taste or what else could the taste have been? :S

anahatabalance says:

Feb 6, 2011. 5:44 PM REPLY Your prob is using bread yeast for a beverage....it will taste bad. Better to make a starter first with wild yeast. This is simple as adding a teaspoon of sugar and a 1 tsp grated ginger to 500 ml of water. Add this to the water each day for 7 days. Now you have a concentrated starter. Use this in your favorite recipe.

h3idi says:

Aug 25, 2010. 4:52 PM REPLY Amazing tip for getting more lemon outta that lemon? Microwave it 10 seconds first, it'll be warm, and the juice will release easily. :)

Grimarr says:

Jun 6, 2010. 10:10 PM REPLY Nice 'ible, I'll have to try this soon. Alternatively, for those not wanting to use biological carbonation, it is possible to use dry ice, but you have to be VERY CAREFUL!

ANDY! says:
do you think the lemon could kill yeast? perghaps my water is too cold

Apr 5, 2010. 9:05 PM REPLY

tradergordo says:

Jun 27, 2007. 11:51 AM REPLY To answer some questions - the yeast only need about 4 oz of sugar per 5 GALLONS to fully carbonate the drink. Also, if you use an ale yeast, the bottles are less likely to explode if you forget about them (the ale yeast dies as the pressure builds up). But it actually takes a lot to explose a good 2 liter plastic bottle (or a good glass bottle) - more likely the problem you will experience with an over carbonated bottle is that the contents will completely empty onto your floor when you go to open it (this is kind of fun the first time, but do it outside and wear clothes you don't care about!)

bedwere says:

Mar 5, 2010. 3:14 PM REPLY I do like this: I lay the bottle almost horizontally over a glass on a table. Then I slowly unscrew the cap. Liquid (ginger ale, actually) starts to flow out of the bottle but it falls into the glass. By the time I remove the cap, my glass is half full (or half empty, for the pessimist ;-), but nothing falls on the floor. Then it's easy to continue to fill the glass or to straighten back the bottle.

poonanii says:
Use a fermentation lock replacing the cap. They are cheap at beer making suppliers.

Jul 3, 2007. 8:48 PM REPLY

sabetts says:

May 30, 2010. 6:17 PM REPLY The goal is to carbonate it with some of the sugar, then chill to stop the fermentation so you get a bit of sweetness as well. An airlock would just make a relatively flat, dry drink.

gpaterson says:

Jul 3, 2007. 4:12 PM REPLY I've been using this method for years now (http://www.vurt.co.uk/Articles/GingerBeer.html ) and have only had one explosion. It occurred after around 18 hours and wasn't because the bottle failed but rather the cap - the pressure became too much for it and the threads gave way.

rattyrain says:

Dec 20, 2009. 1:48 PM REPLY Since I don't drink soda regularly, I didn't have any 2-litre bottles, so I used something from sparkling grape juice. Since I removed the label and didn't take the time to check the volume manually, I had to guess on the time and amounts of everything. The first time it was too sweet; the second time it wasn't sweet enough and tasted like alcohol; the third time it didn't have enough ginger flavor or sugar, so I opened it and added some home-dried ginger pieces and sugar, and it turned out with a good taste but not enough carbonation; the fourth time I added some blackberries, honey, and orange zest, and it turned out pretty good. I finally decided to actually get a two-litre bottle (ironically from ginger ale) and measured everything, so hopefully this batch turns out well.

zhenpenthaye says:
I think you'll find it's more like 2 - 3% alcohol.

Jul 3, 2007. 11:08 PM REPLY

http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-ginger-ale/

adnimo says:

Sep 13, 2009. 6:32 PM REPLY Generally yes ~4.5% should be about right for ginger-ale. I'm not sure about the lemon part, it's supposed to kill bacteria and leave the natural yeast, however I hear it also kills the natural yeast (so people use beer or champagne yeast for example) ... I'm uncertain about this.

froggy says:

Jul 4, 2007. 10:47 AM REPLY Greetings. the old glass bottles would burst when there was too much gas pressure. I made blueberry champaigne using 2 liter plastic soda bottles. put them in the overhead in the cabin and forgot about them till one fell out and landed on the floor. There was so much pressure in it that it was hard as a rock. Were about a dozen of the plastic bottles up there all totally solid and the bottom indentations totally rounded out. not one of the leaked or burst. Don't see why they would with ginger ale. I even used champaigne yeast that is noted for producing extreme gases under pressure. No problem.

adnimo says:
Up to ~100 PSI for most plastic bottles! So yes, your comments are valid. I could only burst those bottles with dry ice....

Sep 13, 2009. 6:30 PM REPLY

borat007 says:
would fermenting it longer make it have a higher alchol content?

Aug 16, 2009. 2:23 PM REPLY

AutoItKing says:

Dec 11, 2007. 3:58 PM REPLY Would this be safe for a kid to drink? Like a teen maybe? Also, could I use dried Ginger powder instead of Ginger root? I'm really looking forward to making some of this stuff.

becauseican says:

Aug 1, 2009. 6:39 PM REPLY this is just soda it has such a miniscule amount of alchohol you would go into a sugar coma before the alchohol had any effect.

Bartboy says:
Non-alchoholic beer has .5% alchohol, and one of my local high schools was giving it out one day last year.

Aug 3, 2009. 5:30 PM REPLY

themastercheif says:
what about 3 year old child

May 22, 2009. 6:17 AM REPLY

becauseican says:

Jul 26, 2009. 10:34 AM REPLY this fermented 4 a day. wine ferments for months. a 3 year old can have small quantities of wine without problems. this has such little alcohol you woiuld need many gallons for noticible effects.

lukej says:
could you use ground ginger?

Jul 26, 2009. 5:10 AM REPLY

madwilliamflint says:

Jul 25, 2009. 11:39 AM REPLY Love it! I'm on a serious "home made ginger ____" binge but have somehow skipped ginger ale. Is the lemon there for anything other than flavor?

thebeef2 says:
do you have to strain it first? just wondering cause there is a lot of pulp.

Jul 17, 2009. 10:43 AM REPLY

AnimattersInc says:

Jul 8, 2009. 12:50 PM REPLY Thanks for the Instructable! I come here every week and dream of the things I "could" do if I had the time & motivation but this one stopped me in my tracks. I immediately got a bottle going (I LOVE ginger and we ALWAYS have it in the house). I'm now enjoying a cool cup of it and it's fantastic! Not as spicy as I've had in other ginger beverages and I used 2.5T of ginger....I'll try more next time (there will DEF be a next time). Couple things - there is a slight tonic taste to it that I don't care for but it's a minor taste compared to the warmth of the ginger. Any idea where the tonic taste comes from? (There is no yeast taste at all but a subtle yeast smell.)

Goodhart says:

May 29, 2009. 8:12 PM REPLY The kind I buy has capsicum in it, and I am wondering if steeping some chillie peppers and using the juice to enhance this would be good....I will have to try

15zhangfra says:
how you said that it had a small amount of alcohol in it, is it OK with an 11 year old to drink it?

May 25, 2009. 10:41 AM REPLY

http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-ginger-ale/

Goodhart says:
One of the steps of digestion actually turn simple sugars into alcohol....the amount would be miniscuel

May 29, 2009. 8:09 PM REPLY

supersith22 says:

May 27, 2009. 6:17 PM REPLY Wow, that is some good ginger ale. Mine came out flat because it only fermented for a few hours but it came out really ginger-ale-tasting. I'll have to try again and let it ferment longer. 5*'s

maxpower49 says:
is this alcoholic

Feb 3, 2009. 1:13 PM REPLY

CrazeexGood says:

May 25, 2009. 10:38 AM REPLY all soda technically has alcohol, non alcoholic beer has a higher content than this though. Actually bread has alcohol in it too.

Noodle93 says:

Feb 14, 2009. 5:34 PM REPLY Technically yes because it contains yeast which reacts with the sugar to create alcohol and C02, but in reality, the alcohol content is very very very low. Made this last weekend, absolutely brilliant! I'm doing another today in a plastic fermenter with a airlock and going to see what it's like.

maxpower49 says:
so you could drink a couple glasses and feel perfectly fine

Feb 15, 2009. 5:31 PM REPLY

mediaphage says:
You could drink six bottles of it and feel fine, honestly.

Feb 15, 2009. 6:32 PM REPLY

danlab says:

May 29, 2009. 9:03 PM REPLY I think that if you drank six bottles of this you wouldn't feel fine, but it wouldn't be because of the alcohol, it would be from drinking ridiculous amounts of amazing ginger ale. Feb 15, 2009. 10:17 PM REPLY Mine's sitting in the fermenter atm. But we used juiced ginger instead of the grated, because last time, it took a week to get the ginger shreds out of the grater! Should be done soon. Well, I have no idea really. We'll see :D

Noodle93 says:

rattyrain says:
try using kind of large holes; it's ok if it isn't fully ground up (i.e., some strings) because you can strain it.

Dec 13, 2009. 2:22 AM REPLY

mg0930mg says:
How was it?

May 21, 2009. 12:30 PM REPLY

Noodle93 says:

May 21, 2009. 11:30 PM REPLY Um tasted tainted. But I think it was because it was a new keg. But I think the ginger has seeped in so it should taste like plastic. However, I'm more than sure that all of the sugar was used up (it stopped fermenting). Still adding sugar tasted ok, but a hint of something not so great. I'll try again eventually when i have time. But feel free to try it yourself.

thejackman808 says:

Aug 20, 2008. 1:38 AM REPLY you know if you fill a cup up almost to the top with Sprite or something similar then a dash of Dr. Pepper it tastes exactly like ginger ale

rattyrain says:
Sure, just like mayonnaise and burnt toast makes chocolate syrup. I looks like it, but the taste is nothing similar.

Dec 23, 2008. 7:26 PM REPLY

bustedit says:
did YOU know that ginger ale and captain morgan spiced rum together tastes like cream soda? it do it do

Aug 25, 2008. 11:53 AM REPLY

http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-ginger-ale/

KeithB says:

Aug 19, 2008. 11:48 PM REPLY KeithB -(from South Africa) I double the quantity and use a 4.5 lt demi-jon. My last batch I added a handful of rice and some raisons, this give the yeast abit more carbohydrate to work on and definitley increases the alcohol content. I then ferment this brew for a few days, 3-5, then decant into 2 liter bottles, leaving as much sediment behind as possible, a few raisons and a bit of fresh ginger as well as a tablespoon of sugar are added to keep fermentation going top ensure some fizz!! Good stuff, makes my wifes knee's weak!! Aug 13, 2008. 5:33 PM REPLY For those of you planning to make a real alcoholic drink out of this (anything higher than 30 Proof being a "real" alcoholic drink) unless you have a distilling license you won't be able to. The reason for this is after the alcohol content of the beverage surpasses 15% the yeast starts to die from its own byproduct (I think its around %15 but i know you won't be able to get much higher than %15). To negate this effect brewers distill the beverage making the alcohol content much higher. Just thought I might say this before someone wastes food by letting this set out for too long and it gets nasty tasting. Another thing if you leave this set for 3 days (or half of the whole time you decide to keep the beverage setting) then filter the beverage with 4-5 coffee filters (stacked) then let it set for another 3 days (or for the rest of the time that you planned having it sit.) it makes the beverage taste better, and makes it clearer. By doing this you are removing any dead yeast in the bottle. (yes you can put the ginger back in the bottle). Jul 26, 2008. 8:15 PM REPLY I make this stuff all the time. Its a great drink, and its nice to have on a hot day. Ive left my most recent batch alone for a while, and now you can actually taste a hint of alcohol!

)-(angman says:

I_am_Canadian says:

Fat Bagel says:

I only have a 1.5l bottle would I need to change the amounts?

Jul 20, 2008. 11:46 PM REPLY

mediaphage says:
You might want to scale back a bit on the sugar since it would be overly sweet to use 25% less water.

Jul 21, 2008. 5:25 AM REPLY

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http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-ginger-ale/