Ginger Ale

[amulder]

So I tried making home-made ginger ale the other day. It seemed like an easy enough recipe for a novice cook like me, but as usual I failed miserably :P

Here's the recipe I used:

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

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.

I followed the recipe to the letter (I even bought a ginger grater) but the final product was rather flat and tasted more like yeast than ginger! What could I have done wrong?

[Dilbert]

sounds interesting!

things that may have gone wrong (I'm bumping into walls in the dark here, not tried it myself . . .)

the ginger - not all ginger is created - or 'stored' - equal. I've bought fresh ginger in the supermarket that more resembled compacted sawdust than ginger. did it have a good flavor / aroma when you grated it?

>>"flat"
did you proof any of the yeast to ensure it was still "good" / "alive"?
(in a small bowl with luke-warm water - temp which you can easily keep you finger in with no discomfort - sprinkle a little yeast into the water. after a couple minutes you should see "foam" . . )

temperature - adding 7 cups of cool water to half-cup of sugar syrup should have knocked them temp down - even if the syrup had not been chilled - that said,,, temps over 112 +/- F will kill yeast.

theory holds the yeast should eat the sugar producing CO2 and a bit of alcohol. the recipe appears quite simple - it is a bit difficult to imagine too many things going wrong.

how's your tap water? whacked out pH or ultra high chlorination could have inhibited the fermentation.

[Mama Mangia]

try cutting the sugar to 1/2 cup and the yeast to 1/4 teaspoon and add the juice from a lemon -

grab a 2 liter bottle and place a cup of sugar in it - add yeast - shake the bottle to mix the sugar and the yeast

grate 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh ginger - place in 1 cup measure - juice the lemon and add to the cup - stirring to form a slurry - pour into bottle - use the 1 cup measure to add fresh cool water to the bottle - cap and shake - then fill with cool water to within an inch of the top - cap the bottle and keep inverting to dissolve the sugar

set in a warm place for 24 to 48 hours

you will know if the fermentation is done by squeezing the bottle - if the bottle dents when pressed with your thoumb - it is not ready

when hard and forceful to squeeze - refrigerate

to open - do it very very slowly so it doesn't shoot all over the place

you may want to strain before drinking because the grated gnger does not dissolve

you cn substitute grapefruit juice for the lemon juice - you can omit the lemon juice and you can increase the ginger

for color you can simmer some ginger root in 2 iters of water for about an hour


note - my friend simmers the ginger in water and then refrigerates it while the yeast is femeting for 24 to 48 hours and uses that as her cool water

she makes this all the time - its her recipe

BTW - everything has to be thoroughly cleaned and sterilized

[amulder]

I did not "proof" the yeast first, although I was fairly certain it was good (I had just bought it that day for this recipe).

The ginger was fresh I think. It was an older variety (I had to peel off the skin) but it was very fragrant when I grated it. Maybe I should use a micro-grater instead of a ginger grater this time?

I'll try it again and see if these things make a difference. I'll even post some pictures to see if there's something I'm doing wrong procedurally.

[Dilbert]

>>just bought yeast
should be good . . .

>>[ginger] was very fragrant when I grated it.
the nose knows. smelled good, is good.
(ps: you have to "peel" them all...)

>>different grater
nope. that's unlikely an issue.

follow Mama M's ideas - hopefully it'll make itself clearer as you experiment.
(keep in mind, just because a recipe is on the "internet" does not actually mean "it's good / it works" . . .)

[Mama Mangia]

(keep in mind, just because a recipe is on the "internet" does not actually mean "it's good / it works" . . .)[/QUOTE]

You're right about that Dilbert!

But it's not always the internet and those that purposely post a recipe incorrectly - I've found any mistakes in published cookbooks, magazines, and even from brand name companies when printing/posting recipes.

With internet recipes I have traced some recipes back to the original poster and I have found some very interesting things. Some good - some bad. One woman posted a ton of recipes that were T & T and her hubby loved this, and she made that all the time, and yada, yada - and her recipes made no sense at all. Either she was a first class liar and never cooked a day in her life, or she was being quite spiteful - not wanting to give the recipe.

If you have no desire to share a recipe - don't change it around so that someone will make it and waste time, money and energy.

It's a shame that so many use the internet as their "imagination heaquarters" - I hate phoneys and liars.......

[amulder]

Thanks for the advice. The recipe I used I got from Good Eats with Alton Brown, so I think it's legit. I'll try Mama M's recipe and see what happens.

Just out of curiosity, has anyone had real Ginger Ale? Personally, I've only had the processed stuff and I really want to expand my pallet. If I had an idea what it was supposed to taste like, I think I'd have a better idea how to get there.

If anyone has ever made this kind of thing before, is it supposed to have a strong yeast taste or just a slight hint of that "bakery" aroma? And regarding ginger...is it supposed to be "hot" on the tongue? I know it's very fragrant, but is the burning sensation part of what "ginger" is?

[Dilbert]

AB's stuff is pretty reliable - altho looking through the comments you can find both success and not-so-success.

candied ginger is an old home / folk remedy for upset stomachs - you can probably find a batch to "taste test." my parents used to home brew both ginger ale and "root beer" - but it's been decades since I had any . . . as I recall I preferred the store bought soda of the day [g]

another thought came to mind - fermenting "at room temperature" - fermentation is temperature dependent. perhaps your kitchen is slightly cooler this time of year and it may take longer?

[Mama Mangia]

and it's also a matter of taste - we all have our own taste in different things

buying bottled ginger ale - to me Canada Dry is the best - others may think differently

[The Ironic Chef]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and take a wild guess, lol. Alton Brown is usually pretty good with his scientific aspects concerning recipes. Seems everything he does though has a price tag on it.
I have several of his books and as usual evrything requires a bit of tweaking. Every recipe written in his books I think was done by an Intern on his Set during a show. Even the little side comments were things said on the recipes episode.

But looking at science, if your yeast was good and your sure of that then lets look for another possibility.

I would look at the acid being used. Yeast does not react very well to an acid. If it did, making a sour dough would be a bit quicker by adding a bit of vinegar to the mix but that would kill the yeast.
Could the lemon juice actually be interfering with the fermentation? It is possible. I would suggest that if you were to try this recipe again, Follow Mama's suggestions and maybe hold off on adding the lemon juice until after the 48 hour fermentation process.