Ginger Ale

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Comments & Reviews

• recipe Ginger Ale
  null null, null 10-16-2009

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  headaches from baker's yeast?

  Rated: 5 stars out of 5

  I always add about twice as much ginger since I boil it with the sugar and some water to make a syrup and the ginger taste is... fine with me, and I quite enjoy the breadiness of the baker's yeast. I have been using bread yeast because that?s the way I first learned it and I don?t live near a homebrew shop. I have been adding about a 1/2 tsp of active dry yeast to it and it is usually plenty carbonated by morning. Since I open it a lot I have been leaving it on the counter in the kitchen where there is always a light on. My problem is that recently I have been getting pounding headaches that correspond with having finished a glass of the ginger beer. This has been happening for a week now and I cannot remember if it started after I started leaving it out instead of putting it in the fridge. Does anyone know why I would be getting headaches? I know that brewer?s yeast and baker?s yeast are both saccharomyces cerevisiae, but are bred for different characteristics. Are there any harmful by-products as a result of using baker?s yeast for brewing? The ginger beer only lasts for a few days before I drink it and am ready for a new batch, so it isn?t around for that long. My guesses right now are: 1. baker?s yeasts produces the wrong kinds of alcohols 2. leaving it in the light causes the yeast to produce some by-product that the body interprets as a toxin. 3. The yeast life cycle is short and they are producing new yeasts and the death of the 1st generation produces a toxin. 4. This is an unfortunate coincidence. There is plenty of sugar in there and I know the yeasts are still alive because the bottle becomes hard again within a few hours and over time the drink becomes more dry. I would love to hear what people have to say, I would hate to have to give up my new favorite drink.Read more

• recipe Ginger Ale
  Andrew B.C., WA 10-06-2009

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  Brilliant

  Rated: 5 stars out of 5

  I haven't tried the ginger ale per se, but I used the technique to make sparkling apple juice (just added the same amount of... yeast to 2L of apple juice and a bit of extra sugar to offset the harshness of the bubbles). Its sooo exciting, I couldn't wait the full 48 hours to check on it! After about 24 hours I tasted it and there was good carbonation but also a slightly undesirable yeasty bread smell. It's been 30 hours so far and the smell has seemed to die down and the carbonation increased. I'm sure it'll be great once the 48 hours have passed. Read more

• recipe Ginger Ale
  Michael North Hollywood, CA 09-26-2009

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  Some Answers

  Rated: 5 stars out of 5

  Hi Everyone. What Alton has done here is provide a simple set of guidlines to ferment any drink, in this case ginger ale. ... But this same recipe can be applied to make beer, sake, cider, and many other drinks. Then, with the two leter bottle, he shows you how to create bubbles in the liquid, carbonation. Yeast eat sugar. And they create alcohol and CO2 So add more sugar, create more alcohol and CO2, up to a limit of about 13% alcohol where the yeast die. They are the key to the fermentation process, and there are many flavors and types of yeast. There are also wild yeast that can come in and create off flavors in your drink. So cleanliness is important. Some of you didn't like the taste, try better sanitation and make sure what you put in there is clean and wholesome. When you put the cap on the bottle, the CO2 created by the yeast has no where to go. The gas is forced into the liquid, creating carbonation (bubbles) under normal pressure as the gas precipitates out of the liquid. If your drink does not have bubbles, EITHER your bottle is leaky and not holding the pressure OR your yeast was dead before it got in the bottle. Either way, get some more yeast add it again at room temp and transfer the drink to a different clean bottle. When the yeast dies, it settles to the bottom of the container leaving a layer. Dead yeast do not taste good, but some people eat it up for the nutrition. You can just pour the drink into a different bottle from the dead yeast to make it more easy to handle. Let it settle, then pour some more. I am going to make a first attempt with a 5 gallon batch. With increased sugar to add a little more to the drunk factor. The bottom line is that you create a living, breathing liquid that is great for you and makes you feel great! Nature is awesome. Read more

• recipe Ginger Ale
  Jeffrey Queen Creek, AZ 08-30-2009

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  Waiting to see

  Rated: 4 stars out of 5

  I just finished bottling this. The only things I changed are no lemon juice and I used Ale yeast. Everything else was done... according to the instructions. I'll let you know how it turns out. 4 stars for an EASY recipe.Read more

• recipe Ginger Ale
  mad f, AZ 07-10-2009

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  really easy, really good

  Rated: 5 stars out of 5

  made it just as directed, with, of course, a few changes... i didn't bother to boil the syrup since that amt of sugar... dissolves easily. left the ginger in until i filtered it. the level of fizz was perfect--tiny champagne bubbles. best after a week. kept its fizz for a long time.Read more

• recipe Ginger Ale
  Julie Milligan Philadelphia, PA 05-23-2009

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  I'll make it again

  Rated: 4 stars out of 5

  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...Read more