I don’t like soda that much, but I looove ginger ale. Although soda is not expensive to purchase, it is saturated with high fructose corn syrup and unidentified “artificial flavors.” Looking for a more flavorful (and less health-hazardous) option, I decided to make it myself!
Unlike many sodas, ginger ale can be brewed without expensive carbonation machines or other equipment.
The breakdown:
Yield: This ginger ale/beer recipe fill a 64 oz. growler jug or 1-liter recycled soda bottle
Time to create: 20 minutes + 1 hour + 2 days
Ingredients:
Note: If you don’t want to wait 2 days for the yeast/sugar to carbonate the beverage, you can just make the ginger syrup and add that to seltzer water.
- 1 growler-sized jug or a recycled 1-liter soda bottle
- 3 TBSP fresh, finely grated ginger root
- 3 strips lemon peel (yellow part only) *optional
- 1 vanilla bean or 1-2 tsp. vanilla extract (My favorite ginger ale is Vernor’s, which after researching, I discovered had vanilla flavoring in it.) *optional
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/8 tsp active dry yeast
- 2 TBSP fresh lemon juice
- 7 1/2 cups distilled or filtered water
Preparation:
- In a saucepan over medium heat, bring the ginger, sugar, lemon peel, vanilla and 1/2 cup of water to a slow boil. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
- Remove from heat. Cover and steep for one hour.
- Use a mesh strainer to filter liquid from the solids. Make sure to squeeze all the extra water out of the ginger mash (you will lose a lot of the ginger goodness if you don’t!)
- Let syrup chill to room temperature and then add to your growler/recycled bottle.
- Add 7 cups water, lemon juice and yeast to ginger syrup. Shake to mix ingredients.
- Store in a room that has a constant temperature of 68-72 degrees (to keep the yeast activated) and allow the ginger ale to rest at room temperature for 2 days.
- Check for the desired carbonation, then chill and serve.
Seattle From Scratch 