How To Make Homemade Ginger Beer

I'm personally not the biggest fan of beer because I don't like the taste, smell, or anything else about the beverage. However, I recently tried homemade ginger beer that my friend Rachel whipped up and it was shockingly amazing. Even though it's called ginger "beer," it's actually usually non-alcoholic. It's almost more like kombucha because of the fermentation process—in fact, if you're already familiar with how to make kombucha, the process is pretty similar. Ginger beer also contains vitamins and probiotics and is a healthier substitute to the majority of carbonated drinks. The taste was so delicious overall that I just had to make a couple on my own. It's definitely a tastier alternative to beer for people who don't like beer.

After hearing the instructions on how to make homemade ginger beer, it turned out to be pretty easy. It didn't need too many ingredients nor did it consume a large amount of my time. The aftermath was phenomenal, and I honestly think what I made was way better than Rachel's. You can also make ginger beer an alcoholic beverage! If you're interested in creating ginger beer right at home, these are the steps that you should definitely follow to do it properly.

Sure, you can use almost anything laying around your house to make ginger beer, but wouldn't you want to get your hands on a kit that provides you with nearly everything that you need? There are kits that are specifically constructed to help you create whatever you're making in the best possible way. In this case, it's ginger beer, and there's a precise type of kit that gives you the main equipment to make the best ginger beer you've ever tasted.

This kit by Ryan and Melanie Belshee allows you to make ginger beer from scratch with the provided tools like a glass gallon where you’ll be fermenting the beer, and two copper mugs with brass handles to enjoy your beverage in the end. Everything is made from high-quality material. The kit allows you to ferment one gallon of ginger beer all from natural ingredients in just one week! It can make enough for a party of 32, believe it or not. If you’re hosting an event at home, you could make some cocktails inspired by the tastiest beer cocktails with just this one kit.

Peel and grate the fresh ginger.

First off, you're going to need a ginger root. When learning how to make homemade ginger beer, you gotta know that the right way is by using fresh ginger, of course. Use organic ginger roots if you want the best-tasting ginger beer. This means don't buy ginger that's already peeled and stored away in a plastic container.

When you have your fresh, organic ginger, you should peel all of its skin. No one wants to use ginger with the peel still attached to it. After you've thoroughly peeled your ginger root, grate the ginger into thin, little pieces. You won't be using chunks of ginger because it can affect the fermentation process. You're going to need about 1/4 cup of the grated ginger.

Add in the ingredients into the pot and fully boil the mixture.

Take out a large pot and place it on your stove. This is the part where you're going to put almost all of your ingredients together. You'll need cream of tartar, lemon juice, and your grated ginger.

The cream of tartar should be measured at half a teaspoon. Pour 1/4 cup of lemon juice it into your large pot, then put your 1/4 cup of grated ginger into the mixture, too. Once you have the ingredients in the pot, pour four cups of water and allow the mixture to fully boil at a high-level heat.

Don't forget about the sugar and stir until completely dissolved.

The next ingredient to include in the mixture is sugar! If you want to know how to make homemade ginger beer, you can't forget the sugar. First, lower the stove's heat to a medium level, so the boiling water is prepared for the sugar.

Use organic cane sugar and not sugar that has any additional flavor. Measure one cup of sugar and pour it in with the other ingredients. You want the sugar to completely dissolve, so stir until you notice that the sugar has vanished.

Pour in cold water and add in the yeast.

Now that the sugar has dissolved, add the cold water. Pour in five cups of cold water and allow the mixture to cool down a bit. The temperature that you're trying to aim for is about 75 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 23 degrees Celsius.

When the temperature of the mixture has come down to 75 degrees, it's time to put in the yeast! The yeast is the main ingredients that makes fermentation happen. Put in just one tablespoon of yeast and make sure you stir well. The yeast should be dispersed evenly throughout the mixture.

Cover the pot and set it aside.

Once you've spread out the yeast, now is the time to remove the pot from the stove and set it aside. When learning how to make homemade ginger beer, be sure you know that you should cover the pot with a kitchen towel or even a blanket.

Move the pot to a warm, dark area in your house for about three hours. Avoid placing the pot near a window where direct sunlight can hit it; this will ruin the fermentation process. The mixture should start to give off the smell of ginger and yeast!

Strain the liquid and pour the brew into glass bottles.

Finally, after the three hours have passed, pour the mixture into a large pitcher or a gallon. First, take your strainer and a funnel so every last drop goes into the gallon. The strainer will be able to capture the bits and pieces of the ginger and other ingredients.

Once your gallon is filled with just the liquid, pour the brew into clean two-liter bottles. Cleaned-out soda bottles actually work perfectly for this, or you can simply use two one-liter bottles, as well. However, don’t completely fill up the bottles. The fermentation will make carbon dioxide, and if you filled the bottles to the rim, it could get messy.

You also want to place the ginger beer in a dark, warm room for two to three days. Carefully loosen the caps one to three times a day to relieve some of the pressure that’s being built inside. The beverage becomes pressurized and fizzy, so you definitely shouldn’t skip this step. If you happen to, the ginger beer bottles can actually explode!

Adding in flavors into the ginger beer is optional.

Now that you how to make homemade ginger beer in the best way, you can make it even better by including flavors into your beer! After your brew has fully completed the fermenting process, you can add in fruit, juice, simple syrup, or even liquor to make it a customized beverage.

You can also drink the ginger beer as it is, but it’s always fun to include additional flavors. People do put in extra ingredients like lime, cinnamon, or vanilla essence.

Use a jalapeño pepper in your alcoholic ginger beer for extra spice.

Now that you know how to make non-alcoholic, homemade ginger beer, let’s get into a few alcoholic recipes! This alcoholic ginger beer recipe is a great starter recipe if you're new to making ginger beer from scratch. This is also an awesome recipe if you're really into spicy beer because this recipe includes jalapeño!

Ginger beer, in general, is a bit spicy because of the raw ginger root that's incorporated into the formula. Adding a jalapeño pepper really kicks the spiciness up a notch and makes it an interesting drink to serve to friends during a dinner party.

You can make Trinidad homemade ginger beer for even more flavor.

If you're slowly starting to become an expert on how to make homemade ginger beer, let's give you a recipe that will totally blow your mind. If you've never included any additional ingredients to add more flavors to your ginger beer, you should check out the Trinidad homemade ginger beer recipe.

This recipe includes diverse ingredients like a cinnamon stick, cloves, vanilla essence, Angostura Bitters, and a few others. This type of ginger beer is ideal for the warmer seasons because other than the spiciness from the ginger, it's a cooling beverage to quench your thirst when the sun's rays are beating down on you.