Let's Make Ginger Beer

All gingers belong to one of two families. The largest & most diverse of these is Zingiberaceae, the scented Ginger family. It consists of hundreds of species spread over more than fifty genera. All are perrenial herbs sprouting from tuberous rhizomes. Many species are popular ornamentals. Others are used as spices, processed for essential oils or employed for medicinal purposes. Amongst the ornamental varieties can be found Ginger Lilies (Hedychium sp.), Shell Gingers (Alpinia sp.) & Torch Gingers (Etlingera sp.). Spice gingers include Melegueta Pepper (Aframomum melegueta), Thai Ginger (Alpinia galanga), the Common or True Gingers (Zingiber sp.), Turmeric (Curcuma sp.) & Cardamon (Amomum & Elettaria sp.). ^[1]

Unscented gingers form the smaller Spiral Ginger family, Costaceae. This group consists of three genera, some species of which serve as ornamental or medicinal plants. Like their fragrant cousins, Spiral Gingers grow from a horizontally-creeping rhizome. The term "Ginger Family" is variously applied to both Zingiberaceae & also the order Zingiberales; which includes both ginger familes plus six others including Cannaceae & Musaceae. It is not difficult to see similarities between plants within this order. Musifolia or banana-like leaves are a common trait amongst Zingiberales species, as are starchy rhizomes with Arrowroot, the various ginger roots & Queensland arrowroot being edible examples. ^[1]

Shell Ginger (Alpinia zerumbet)

Copyright (c) 2008 Cary Bass  Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".

Common Ginger (Zingiber sp.)

Common or True Ginger does not grow in the wild & has been cultivated so long that its origins are uncertain. The centre of diversity seems to be India & the history points the same way. The Romans gained ginger from India over 2000 years ago & considered it a medicinal, rather than culinary plant. This is reflected in the name of the most common ginger, Zingiber officinale which means that it was sold in roman apothecaries. Arabs continued the supply to Europe over the centuries proceeding the fall of Rome, bringing ginger potted on ships from Asia. Culinary use of the herb appears in Indian literature from about the 5th century & became widespread by the advent of Mogul rule in the 13th century. By that time, the trade to Europe included preserved ginger which was used to make sweets. ^[2]

Sprouting Rhizome (Costus dubius)

Demand for ginger in Europe increased over the medieval period as taste for it spread. The English in particular had a penchant for the herb. They managed to get it to the Carribean by the 16th Century, where it was shortly being grown on a large scale. This was an important move as a discovery was about to follow that would bring Jamaican ginger to the fore.

Ginger Beer Plants

Around the middle of the 18th Century, the first ginger beer plants appeared. These were used to brew an effervescent, alcoholic beverage that quickly earned wide popularity. This original or real ginger beer was quite different to anything commercially available today. It was cloudy, zesty & could contain as much as 11% alcohol by volume. ^[2] Only Jamaican ginger was used & the ginger beer plant or symbiotic combination of bacterium & yeast (SCOBY) originally employed, was bred from a specific mix of micro-organisms. In fact Harry Ward, a leading biologist of the time, collected & studied a large number of ginger beer plants (GBP), eventually declaring their constitutes new to science. He named the yeast Saccharomyces pyriformis (now named S. florentinus) & the bacterium Brevibacterium vermiforme (now named Lactobacillus hilgardii). ^[2][3]

By 1790 England was exporting ginger beer to Canada & the United States; which was made possible by the advent of pressure-sealed stoneware jars. It wasn't long however, before local breweries began to appear in both north american countries. About this Donald Yates from the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, tells us ...

"Early Ginger Beer was produced locally in small quantities for use by taverns or families. Its popularity blossomed after the Civil War, when it was produced commercially in larger quantities, and transported to new markets. The most popular region for ginger beer was Western New York State, especially Syracuse and Buffalo. Ginger Beer breweries flourished along the Erie Canal due to convenient transportation and availability of raw materials for the stoneware and ginger beer. Ginger beer was brewed in smaller quantities in twenty other states." ^[2]

Home Grown Ginger (Zingiber officinale)

At the turn of 19th century, ginger beer was still being brewed using whole ginger, yeast & water. Honey, sugar or molasses was usually added as a sweetener & lemon juice included in many recipes. An altenative made from ginger extract was developed around this time & named Ginger Ale. This beverage was clear & pungent though by all reports, never achieved the character of real ginger beer. The popularity of ginger beer was still rising in England, Canada & the United States, leaving ginger ale to remain an inferior substitute for at least half a century.

In the 1850s, new English laws forced local ginger brewers to reduce the alcohol volume of their produce to 2%. Even watered-down, ginger beer remained popular, though ginger ale was gaining ground. This was even more the case in Canada, where ginger ale is probably still more popular than in any other country. Production of full strength ginger beer continued in the United States until the 1920s, when Prohibition brought it to a sudden end. This was at the height of the beverage's popularity, whilst over 500 ginger breweries operated in the US. In Canada there were more than double that amount & in the UK, there were over 4000 breweries. ^[2]

The Modern Era

Prohibition triggered the age of soda pop in the United States. New soft drinks like Coca-Cola, root beer & carbonated ginger ales were quick to replace alcoholic beverages. In England, low strength ginger beer was still produced & sealed in stoneware until the 1940s. At that time, competition from glass bottling plants & the rising cost of pottery production finally brought the British love affair with the drink to a conclusion. Ginger beer had been the most popular alcoholic beverage in England for almost 200 years.

Real ginger beer has since faded into obscurity. Ginger ale remains widely available in soft drink form & a simple culture of ginger, sugar & water can be grown to produce a beverage often referred to as ginger beer. It was the specific use of both Jamaican ginger & the SCOBY described by Ward however, that gave real ginger beer its famously characteristic flavour & qualities.

Simple Culture Ginger Beer

In her article, "Ginger: Not Just for Men & Houses", Tina Bolin introduced us to common ginger & showed how to grow it. Just as your garden is potentially a healthy & economical source of ginger, brewing ginger beer or ale is a great way of using it. The easiest means of making ginger beer at home is using the simple culture method.

There are numerous recipes for this type of ginger beer that all involve growing a GBP or simple culture in a jar. The following recipe is reasonably close to the traditional method. An alternative here swaps the yeast for sultanas & another version here employs soda water (really as much a ginger ale as a beer). Other recipes include ingredients such as instant coffee, raw cane sugar, palm sugar & honey. It is fun to experiment with ginger beer & produce different flavours. Increasing the amount of sugar in the bottling syrup is not a good idea however, as it may result in exploding bottles.

Simple Ginger Beer

The first step in making ginger beer is to make a ginger beer "plant" that will ferment for a week.

Ingredients for the ginger beer plant:

• ½ teaspoon dried yeast
• 1 teaspoon grated or ground fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 cup warm water

Making the ginger beer plant:

Mix ingredients in a jar & cover with a piece of muslin. Secure with string or a rubber band. Daily for the following week, add 1 teaspoon of sugar & 1 teaspoon of ground* or grated ginger.

Using the ginger beer plant:

Make a syrup from:

• 4 cups of sugar
• 5½ litres of warm water (24 cups)
• ½ cup strained lemon juice

Strain the ginger beer plant through muslin. Pour the strained liquid into the syrup & mix. Bottle in plastic if possible to allow expansion. Depending on storage temperature, the ginger beer will be ready in 5 - 10 days. It is wiser to allow the beer to ferment at a lower temperature than rush it & risk explosions.

The Plant:

Divide the strained plant in half. Return one to the glass jar with a cup of warm water. Start feeding as normal from the following day. The other half of the plant can be discarded or used to start a second culture.

*All ginger used should be fresh & either grated or ground using a mortar & pestle. The latter method is better as it allows the plant to digest the ginger more easily. Thanks goes to Jill (Critterologist) for help adjusting this recipe for US readers. For those unacquainted with brewing, the GBP is a microbiological culture rather than a conventional plant. It will form from the sediments mixed in the first step. Judging when exactly to drink the beer is arbitrary to some degree, though a good guide is in turning the bottles every couple of days & looking for undisolved sugar. When no sugar is visible, the beer is ready.

Ginger Ale

The original 19th century ginger ale eventually became known as Golden Ginger Ale. It is quite obscure now & produced only by a handful of soft drink makers. Dry Ginger Ale is a paler, less distinctly-flavoured version that was developed & gained popularity as a mixer during Prohibition. The differences between ginger ale & ginger beer in the modern context, are really no greater than the variations within recipes for each of these beverages themselves. In historical terms, the difference is that ginger ale is normally non-alcoholic as it is not fermented with the same SCOBY as real ginger beer.

There are recipes for ginger ale here, here & here that all use soda water. Another recipe here describes a method of brewing the ale in the bottle using yeast. Again, the boundary between ale & beer is unclear. Names aside, the advantage of soda recipes over fermentation is time. That is, about ½ an hour compared to around a week.

Real Ginger Beer

Though it is practically a historical curiousity, real ginger beer is still made. There is a Yahoo Group listed below dedicated to brewing & sharing the original SCOBY. Members can find information about the traditional GBP, recipes & people experienced at making this antique drop. It is possible to make real ginger beer independently, though this entails finding an appropriate yeast supplier. There are yeast bank kits available & sites such as HomeBrewTalk that feature information about making frozen yeast banks at home.

From growing your own ginger through to harvesting it, brewing & enjoying the final result, making ginger beer or ale is entertaining & rewarding. The benefits of ginger in terms of health & nutrition have been recognised for thousands of years, so including it in your diet one way or another is never a bad idea. For kids especially, ginger beer is a better than soft drink & with a choice of recipes ranging from quickly-made ales through to traditional fermentation, there are options for the busiest parent to the most experimental enthusiast. More than anything however, ginger beer plain tastes good as anyone who brews their own will agree.

Find Out More:

• Yahoo Groups: GingerBeerPlant

Footnotes:

1. Wikipedia
2. Root Beer & Ginger Beer Heritage - Donald Yates
3. Plant Cultures