Chilli Ginger Beer {Fermented}
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 15 minutes plus fermenting time (however long you want to ferment it, up to 2 weeks)
Cooking time: 15 minutes
- 80g/2.8oz. ginger, peeled
- 2litres/67.6floz. filtered water
- 2/3 cup caster sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- Grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1-2 small chillies (depending on how hot you want it)
- 1/2 teaspoon champagne or wine yeast (you can buy it at brewing stores like this)
- 2x 1.25litre/42.3floz. empty plastic soda bottles
Tip: always start with clean equipment for fermenting as you don't want other bacteria to compete with yeast. Do not use glass bottles for safety reasons as carbonation may make them explode.
Step 1 - Grate the ginger into a large pot and add the water, sugar, lemon zest and chillies. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes without the lid on.
Step 2 - Cool the mixture down to 15-24C or 60-75F. Strain the mixture to get rid of the grated bits and then use a funnel to pour into two bottles and sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon of the champagne yeast into each of the bottles and shake gently to distribute. Squeeze the bottle and then screw the lid on and keep it at room temperature. As it is now summer here in Australia it only took a few hours for it to become really fizzy but in colder climates it can take up to 1-2 days.
Step 3 - Over the next 24 hours the bottle will expand until it feels "hard to squeeze". Unscrew the cap and release the carbonation. You can drink it then (it is surprisingly quick) or keep it fermenting to make it more alcoholic up to 2 weeks. Make sure to release carbonation a few times a day and you can also loosen the lid so that some gasses can escape. Always open it over a sink (although we didn't have any issues because our bottles were too full). Once it is at the level of flavour and carbonation that you want, refrigerate it. It never lasts more than a couple of days as we love it so much.