HC you have my sympathy with the Elderflower. I once came home from holiday with two toddlers and an eight week old guide dog puppy to find my kitchen covered in sticky glass shards
from the floor to the ceiling, from the corners to the curtains. That was not fun
I'm no brewing guru like BR and Gregorach, but the domestic sized stuffs, those I can do
Ginger beer plant
Really simple; keep it warm, keep it well fed, happy and thriving when you're multiplying, otherwise keep it lean and hungry and cold.
It's not really a 'mother' like the vinegar, but it's like sourdough, if you get it right, it's worth keeping it right.
This is the recipe as I wrote it into my notebook, so there are little comments.
Ginger Beer (In a hot summer be careful or the bottles may explode)
To start the Plant
1/2 oz yeast (
bread yeast will do, but use fresh if possible then a chunk about the size of a walnut is needed, better yet if some from a mash is rescued and used)
3/4 pint of warm water
2 tspfls of ground ginger (a 1" cube of ginger root, grated, is fine and it makes straining the plant easier)
2 tspfls of sugar (don't use honey, it doesn't work well, soft brown was very good indeed though )
Mix these all together in a bottle and shake it very well. Leave the bottle in a warm place for 24 hours.
Then, feed it daily with 1 tspfl of ginger and 1 tspfl of sugar, and again, shake well.
Be Careful As the yeast ferments there's a lot of gas & it needs to escape.
Repeat this feeding for six days.
Dissolve 1 and 1/2 lbs of sugar in 2pints of very hot water. Leave this to cool to blood heat and stir in the
juice of two lemons. Now add the starter liquid. Mix it really well, trying to keep it warm but not hot.
Then strain it through a fine cloot (cloth).
(Keep the strainings, this plant is the starter for the next batch)
[/B]Dilute this liquid with 5pints of water with the chill off
. Not hot, not even blood heat, it's best any yeast now works slow.
Mix well, and pour into bottles.
There will be yeast left in the liquid so it will start to ferment in the bottles unless they are kept very cold.
Check them frequently, releasing the gas carefully (formula one has nothing on this stuff erupting) over the sink at the very least and outside if at suspect.
After a week it's ready to drink.
It is best drunk very soon after it's fizzy in the bottle. Children love it and the ginger is very good for the digestion.
The strainings meanwhile will have picked up some of the wild yeasts in the air, but there should be enough of themselves to keep alive in a jar with just a spoonful of sugar and a tablespoonful of water added once a week or so, so long as it's kept cold. The occasional addition of a wee bit of grated ginger doesn't go amiss either.
When the plant has grown to twice it's size scoop out half and throw it into the compost heap. If the plant is allowed to grow indefinitely it will rapidly fill any container it's allowed.
When the next batch is needed, take out half of the plant and brew up as before.
By keeping half of it by it means that the original yeast mix should still run true.
Billy blew up Anne's kitchen with this stuff, because he drank half the bottle and put it away in the cupboard. We think it was there for less than a week in the warmth of the kitchen before it exploded. It blasted the top of the glass Irn Bru bottle straight up like a rocket through a 2" worktop and bounced a plate sized piece of it off the ceiling.
Plastic bottles eventually blow their caps too and are a nightmare to open safely. Standing back and hitting with a spear or airpistol is effective if a touch dramatic. Besides, it's a waste of good Ginger Beer.
I like the fizziness.
