Ginger beer
Drinks / Summer / Lisa Featherby / Serves: 16

¼ tsp dried yeast
3 tsp ground ginger
3 tsp caster sugar
To serve:lime wedges and mint

440gm (2 cups) caster sugar
40gm (8cm piece) ginger
60ml (¼ cup) lemon juice

Notes

To sterilise plastic bottles, rinse thoroughly with plenty of boiling water.

450ml Grolsch swing-top bottles
Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes (2 weeks fermentation)

Source

Australian Gourmet Traveller
January 2012, p.92

Combine yeast, ½ tsp ground ginger, ½ tsp sugar and 125ml room-temperature water in a jar, cover with muslin and secure with kitchen string.
Each day for 5 days, add ½ tsp sugar and ½ tsp ground ginger and stir to combine.
The mixture will start to foam a little after day 1 and then expand day by day.

For lemon and ginger syrup, on day 5, stir sugar and 3 litres water in a large saucepan over medium heat to dissolve sugar, bring to the simmer and set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, finely grate ginger into a small sieve and press to extract juice.
Add juice to syrup with lemon juice and stir to combine.

Strain ground ginger mixture through a muslin-lined sieve into lemon and ginger syrup (discard solids) and stir to combine.

Pour into sterile plastic screw-top bottles (see note), leaving a 5cm gap. Seal with lid and store in a cool place until fermented (4 days). Refrigerate until required, then serve over ice with lime wedges and mint.