Homemade Ginger Beer

You guys might be wondering what motivated me to make my own ginger beer. I have Lindsay to thank for that. Do you guys know Lindsay? She’s the superstar behind the design of many many food blogs out there (mine included) thanks to her company Purr Design, she has written not one, but two cookbooks, and she posts regularly on her own food blog, Love and Olive Oil. For the past few months, she has been challenging herself in the kitchen and asking her readers to join in her challenges. For the month of May, she decided to tackle Homemade Ginger Beer. Since the Dark and Stormy is one of my favorite cocktails out there (I’ve even made Dark and Stormy cupcakes!), I decided I’d join in the party.

Homemade Ginger Beer

After reading Lindsay’s post, I decided to go with Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s recipe for homemade ginger beer. Since I have my beloved Zeus, I knew I’d have no issue procuring the fresh ginger juice. The only things I needed to purchase was a bottle to brew the ginger beer in and the champagne yeast used in the recipe. I decided to go with this 32 oz bottle with a flip top lid. I decided it would be perfect for the ginger beer and later for serving water out of when we have guests over.

Zeus the Juicer

Once the bottle and yeast arrived from Amazon, I set out to start my first batch of ginger beer. Since Jeff’s recipe was for 16 oz, I simply doubled it. However, I had underestimated how much ginger I would need for the 2 oz of ginger juice… I also realized at that point how difficult it was to count out 50 granules of yeast. And how SMALL of an amount of yeast that was. Deflated, I decided to try again in a few days.

Homemade Ginger Beer

While the days were passing, I started reading more of the comments on Jeff’s post with the recipe. Multiple people had commented that counting yeast granules was absurd and even if you did, it didn’t usually give the fizziness expected from ginger beer. Somewhere deep down in the comments, Jeff mentioned that he uses ~1/16 tsp of yeast per 16 oz bottle instead of counting out granules of yeast.

Ginger beer ingredients

So I set out again to make homemade ginger beer. This time, I made sure I had plenty of ginger on hand for juicing. I topped my mixture with the 1/8 tsp of yeast for my 32 ounces of ginger beer, shook it, put a lid on it and took it to the basement. Jeff mentioned that you can have bottles explode, so I wanted to store my ginger beer in a safe place while it fermented.

Homemade Ginger Beer

Exactly 48 hours later, I moved the ginger beer to the fridge and we tried it the next day. The verdict? Definitely worth making at home. Hands down, amazing. 32 ounces only made a couple Dark and Stormys so I look forward to making this again and playing around with the amount of lemon juice in the recipe. Some of the commenters on Jeff’s page even had ideas of adding honey or herbs like thyme.

kitchenchallenge-may

Thanks Lindsay for challenging me to make something at home that I never would have thought to make on my own! Be sure to check Lindsay’s blog to see how everyone else did.

One Year Ago: Raspberry Rhubarb Muffins and American Potato Salad
Two Years Ago: Chipotle Pork Stew
Three Years Ago: Chocolate and Peanut Butter Pops and Homemade Ding Dongs
Four Years Ago: Rhubarb Rolls
Five Years Ago: Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

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Homemade Ginger Beer

Ingredients:

2 ounces ginger juice
4 ounces fresh lemon juice, finely strained
6 ounces simple syrup
20 ounces warm water
1/8 tsp champagne yeast

1 32 oz bottle

Directions:

In your bottle, combine ginger juice, lemon juice, simple syrup, and water. Shake to combine.

Top mixture with yeast. Seal the cap securely, shake well, and store for 48 hours – no more, no less – in a warm, dark place.

After 48 hours have passed, refrigerate immediately to halt the process.

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16 Responses to “Chipotle Cheez-Its”

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    1
    Margaret Ladwig — January 22, 2013 at 10:59 pm

    I saw your recipe last week and I had to make them. I had to save a few for my husband because when my kids came home for school they went nuts over them. So I had to run out to the store and get more cheese. I wound out making 7 different types of crackers. And they were all awesome…. I made Pepper Jack, Swiss and Black Pepper, Blue Cheese/ Brick, Chipotle Chedder, Chedder, Chedder Bacon, And Parmesan/Brick. For the Blue and the Parm I did them half and half because those two can be kinda strong on there own. I took them a party and they were a hugh hit.
    I am planning on making more this coming weekend.

    Thanks for the recipe.

    • beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 8:27 am

      Wow! All of those sound awesome. I made another couple batches last night too. My sister made some and threw in a packet of ranch dressing mix. The possibilities for this recipe are literally endless!

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    2
    Shannon — January 24, 2013 at 11:07 am

    haha, love how excited hubby is about them 🙂 i’m going to have to make some crackers!!

    • beantownbaker — January 24th, 2013 @ 12:06 pm

      My sister has already made them twice. And the girl NEVER bakes. And my friend made some this weekend. Not going to lie, I’ve made them 4 times already…

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    3
    teresa — January 24, 2013 at 3:02 pm

    i’ve always really wanted to make my own crackers. i LOVE these flavors!

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    Megan — January 24, 2013 at 7:29 pm

    These are adorable. And I’m jealous of the Penzey’s across the street!

    • beantownbaker — January 24th, 2013 @ 8:44 pm

      It’s kind of dangerous having one so close!!

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    5
    Charis K — January 26, 2013 at 2:43 pm

    With the Super Bowl coming, I will have to make these. They look so tasty! Love Penzey’s. I’ve never had fresher spices.

    • beantownbaker — January 27th, 2013 @ 4:10 pm

      I would recommend doubling the batch for the Superbowl. I made more yesterday for hanging out with friends and the 4 of us went through an entire batch while playing cards.

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    Aimee — January 29, 2013 at 11:39 am

    OMG Jen these are adorable! I like cheesy crackers, but would so much rather make them myself and know what’s in them. Plus Car’s vote of approval is always a plus. 🙂

    • beantownbaker — January 29th, 2013 @ 12:41 pm

      He more than approves of these. He asks me to make more every chance he gets.

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    7
    education — February 13, 2014 at 4:05 am

    Great information. Lucky me I found your website by chance (stumbleupon).

    I have book-marked it for later!

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    8
    Caroline {TheBarbeeHousewife} — February 26, 2014 at 2:36 pm

    Oh wow, I need to make these, like now. I love cheez-its and with chipotle? I’m sold!

    • beantownbaker — February 26th, 2014 @ 4:44 pm

      They’re definitely awesome. We can plow through a batch in no time flat!

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    9
    Tiffany @ Triple Crème Decadence — March 18, 2014 at 4:11 pm

    I used to eat store bought cheez-its until i saw the laundry list of preservatives and foreign ingredients. I am very glad you shared this, now I can make them myself!
    I like the kick of chipotle, great idea!

    • beantownbaker — March 25th, 2014 @ 9:28 pm

      They’re SO MUCH better than store bought! And no preservatives!

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