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Ginger Ale
Yield: 7 to 9 pint jars
Click here for a PDF print version
Making and canning your own
Ingredients
Version 0 - alton brown:
Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces finely grated fresh ginger
6 ounces sugar
7 1/2 cups filtered water
1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons
freshly squeezed lemon juice
Directions
Place the ginger, sugar, and
1/2 cup of the water into a 2-quart saucepan and set over medium-high heat.
Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to
steep for 1 hour.
Pour the syrup through a fine mesh strainer set
over a bowl, pressing down to get all of the juice out of the mixture. Chill
quickly by placing over and ice bath and stirring or set in the
refrigerator, uncovered, until at least room temperature, 68 to 72 degrees
F.
Using a funnel, pour the syrup into a clean 2-liter plastic bottle
and add the yeast, lemon juice and remaining 7 cups of water. Place the cap
on the bottle, gently shake to combine and leave the bottle at room
temperature for 48 hours. Open and check for desired amount of carbonation.
It is important that once you achieve your desired amount of carbonation
that you refrigerate the ginger ale. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2
weeks, opening the bottle at least once a day to let out excess carbonation.
Read more at:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/ginger-ale-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback
Version 1
Ginger Ale
Makes about 8 cups
(enough to fill a 2-liter plastic soda
bottle)
2-inch piece fresh gingerroot
1 cup water, plus more to
fill the bottles
9 tablespoons / 4 ounces white granulated sugar, plus
more if needed
1/8 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon
juice (from 2 to 3 lemons), plus more if needed
1/8 teaspoon dry
champagne yeast
Peel and finely grate the ginger (I use a
Microplane). You should have about 2 tablespoons of grated gingerroot.
Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan on the stove top or in the
microwave. Remove from the heat. Add the sugar and salt and stir to
dissolve. Add the ginger and let stand until cool. Stir in the lemon juice.
Pour the ginger water into a clean 2-liter bottle using a funnel. Do not
strain out the ginger. Top off the bottle with water, leaving at least 1
inch of headspace. Give it a taste and add more lemon juice or sugar if
desired. The extra sugar will dissolve on its own.
Add the yeast.
Screw on the cap and shake the bottle to dissolve and distribute the yeast.
Let the bottle sit at room temperature out of direct sunlight until
carbonated, typically 12 to 48 hours, depending on the temperature of the
room. Check the bottle periodically; when it feels rock solid with very
little give, it's ready.
Refrigerate overnight or for up to 2 weeks.
Open very slowly over a sink to release the pressure gradually and avoid
bubble-ups. Pour the soda through a small fine-mesh strainer to catch the
ginger as you pour.
Recipe Notes
Bottling in Glass Bottles: Sodas
can also be bottled in glass or swing-top bottles, but it's more difficult
to tell when the sodas have fully carbonated. Therefore, with every batch
you bottle, also fill one small plastic soda bottle to use as an indicator
for when the sodas have finished carbonating. Refrigerate all of the bottles
as soon as the plastic bottle is carbonated; never leave the glass bottles
at room temperature once carbonated.
Sugar-Free Soda: Use 1
tablespoon of white granulated sugar per 8 cups of soda to carbonate, but
beyond that, you can sweeten to taste with another sweetener of your
choosing. The sugar will be almost entirely consumed during fermentation.
Alcohol in Homebrewed Sodas: As long as yeast is being used to carbonate
beverages, alcohol will be made as a by-product. However, the short
fermentation time limits the amount of alcohol produced in sodas, and it
typically comes out to less than 1 percent.
How to Avoid Gushing,
Exploding, Overcarbonated Sodas: Sodas can overcarbonate very easily. This
can cause geysers when you first open them or bursting bottles if left
unrefrigerated for too long. Refrigeration suspends fermentation (and
therefore carbonation), but it will start again when the bottles are removed
from refrigeration.
It's best to bottle sodas in used (cleaned!)
plastic soda bottles since it's easy to gauge carbonation just by pressing
the side. Always open sodas over a sink or outside, and unscrew the cap
extremely slowly to allow pressure to release gradually.
Version 2
yield
Makes about 1 1/2 cups syrup (enough for 4 to 6 drinks)
active time
10 min
total time
3 hr (includes chilling)
Carefully
simmering fresh ginger in water for a good, long while is the key to deep,
rounded flavor. Once you have the ginger syrup on hand, a hankering for
ginger ale can be satisfied practically instantly (the drink's trademark
fizz comes from seltzer). For a more traditional take on this zingy cooler,
check out the recipe for Homemade Ginger Beer
ingredients
1 1/2 cups
chopped peeled ginger (7 ounces)
2 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
About 1
quart chilled seltzer or club soda
About 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
preparation
Make syrup:
Cook ginger in water in a small saucepan at a
low simmer, partially covered, 45 minutes. Remove from heat and let steep,
covered, 20 minutes.
Strain mixture through a sieve into a bowl, pressing
on ginger and then discarding. Return liquid to saucepan and add sugar and a
pinch of salt, then heat over medium heat, stirring, until sugar has
dissolved. Chill syrup in a covered jar until cold.
Assemble drinks:
Mix ginger syrup with seltzer and lime juice (start with 1/4 cup syrup and 1
1/2 teaspoons lime juice per 3/4 cup seltzer, then adjust to taste).
cooks' note:
Ginger syrup keeps, chilled, 1 week.
add notes
Read More
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/drink/views/Homemade-Ginger-Ale-358033#ixzz2ZDOSjvUU
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