Ginger Ale

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I was really excited after watching the show in which Alton Brown made this. I think I followed the recipe to a reasonably accurate degree - but I'm not sure because I don't have a kitchen scale, and so I had to estimate. I did a little digging for equivalents, and it looks like 6 oz. sugar is 3/4 cup. Perhaps. And I bought 2 oz. ginger root in the store, just crossing my fingers that somehow I'd get 1.5 oz. of it grated and in the syrup. (And isn't it a pain to peel ginger?! Oh, and I used baker's yeast, because that's the kind of yeast Alton Brown specified on the show for this recipe... All right... In the 48-hour fermentation period, I ventilated the bottle every 8 hours, figuring it wouldn't hurt to do it more often and also fearing it would otherwise explode sugary liquid on my kitchen walls. Anyway, at taste, the ginger was very fragrant, the bubbles delightfully small, and I found the carbonation lingered in the glass just as long as I wanted it to. (That is, it didn't go flat super-fast in this batch. As far as the *flavor* of the stuff is concerned, it was more in my nose than on my tongue. That is, lots of ginger, not too sweet. A soft drink for adults! I might increase the sugar just a little - but really, I like it like this. And nothing at all was ruined when I mixed a glass-ful with a shot of gin...

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I absolutely loved the way this tasted (very ginger-y!, but I had one problem with it- There was a precipitate at the bottom of the bottle. I'm assuming this was either the yeast or a byproduct of the yeast. It was still drinkable, but only if you poured it really quickly to avoid clumps in your glass, and the last fourth or so I had to pour out. Did anyone else have this problem or know how to avoid it? The only thing I can think of is that I didn't shake up the bottle enough when I first added the yeast.

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I am so excited about this recipe! I have never made any sort of home-brewed drink before, but this one was so easy I am inspired to experiment with more! I just tasted the finished product today, and it is delicious!! Refreshing and spicy, with a fire-y warmth and lovely effervescence with no unpleasant yeast taste or smell.
Here's what I did:

I followed the basic recipe, but instead of the 6 oz white sugar I used 3.1 oz. brown sugar, plus 2.9 oz. white sugar. I finely grated the ginger and proceeded with the recipe, except I also grated an additional 1+ oz. of ginger and mixed that with the remaining 7 cups water. When the steeping was done, I added that to the ginger water without straining. I used 1/8th tsp SAF? Gourmet Perfect Rise Yeast.

After about 12 hrs at room temp. I had to let some pressure out for fear that the bottle would burst (it was hard as a rock. After the first 24hrs were up, I placed it in the fridge (because of the excessive bottle tension, where it remained for the next 24 hrs. After a total of 48 hrs I carefully let the carbon out a little at a time until it was safe to open, and poured it directly into a glass with a sieve over it (I left in all the pulp, remember. And like I said, absolutely delicious!

*RE: Ransom -
The recipe does not call for you to boil the sugar/ginger mixture. It says, "Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat".
Ryan -
The yeast you used were obviously dead, and it is unfair to give Alton a poor review for that.

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While most recipes by Mr Brown are good this one can use some tweaking. The conversion of table sugar to invert by boiling is good and will help to lessen the chance of making pancake suryp. I would not boil the ginger root but add to the ferment as the boil will less the taste of ginger. Please do not use bread yeast if you don't want a bread taste and a yeast smell. The use of a beer ale yeast would be better one that is for a wheat beer would be best. And understand that each batch will be different and you will need to adjust to your taste.
Cheers

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I've made home-brewed ginger ale before, and I normally enjoy Good Eats recipes. However, I think that filtering out the ginger before fermenting leads to a flatter, less intense ginger flavor than I was expecting. With other recipes you leave the grated ginger in the bottle with the yeast and sugar; this makes the final brew more gingery but you have to let the ginger settle before pouring the drink.

This version does seem to produce lots of carbonation, but with yeasty overtones that are not masked by the ginger flavor, and it really must be drunk ice-cold; otherwise it goes flat very quickly in the glass.

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Does Alton read these?

Anyway, the trick is to use FRESH yeast. Brewers yeast seems to work a lot better than bakers yeast, and the young ginger gives a milder flavor than old or mature ginger.

If you are looking for the same taste of the store bought stuff, you will be disappointed. the taste is nothing like it at all. Depending how much and whether or not you use young or old ginger, depends on what the ale will taste like. Mine, since I use the old stuff mostly, has a nice bite to it. Again though, the most important thing is to use FRESH yeast, and to expect the bubbles to be a lot softer than what you are used to with the commercial stuff.

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You all for get that recipe's are just guidlines. if you dont think that it didnt have enought flaver for you then add more or less to your tast. good job alto brown.

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I haven't made this yet, and even with some of the negative reviews I am going to try it out.

I think part of the problem some of you are having is the type of yeast he uses. I'm guessing the yeast most people are getting is the kind for baking. You really shouldn't use that. Instead try using something from a homebrew supply. I would likely use one suitable for Belgian ales since that yeast tends to lend flavors like clove and citrusy flavors instead of bread.

I am going to try it with some leftover american ale yeast from Philadelphia Brewing Company, if the stock I still ahve is viable. If not, I have some dried basic English ale yeast sitting around with nothing to do.

Also, another tip to help with fermentation. Make sure that there is a good amount of air disolved in the liquid before pitching the yeast. It will help them go a lot more reliably.

My thing is, if I end up liking this, how can I scale it up to five gallons. A keg of homemade giner ale on tap would be nice.

I'll post a follow up with my thoughts once I make it.

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I was so excited when I opened my bottle and it fizzed madly.

Then I tasted it, and it fizzed all the way down the drain.

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This is the first negative review I've ever given to a recipe from Alton. It's been 3 days and there isn't even a hint of carbonation in my soda. I can see the yeast "cloud" at the bottom of the bottle which isn't that appealing either. The ginger syrup tasted pretty good so maybe I'll just pour that into club soda.