Ginger Beer

[27thNCdrummer]

Pards,
Does anyone know of where to find or have a period recipe for Ginger Beer?
Thanks,

[Greg Barnett]

Re: Ginger Beer

Andrew,
Try this link...http://www.vurt.co.uk/Articles/GingerBeer.html The Brits and Aussies still love it. Mind the British humor..

Cheers!

[hoosiersojer]

Re: Ginger Beer

Cooooool!


Greg....thanks for posting that link! I think I could incorporate this into our living history events...




-Kevin Waggoner
4th OVI,Co.B

[27thNCdrummer]

Re: Ginger Beer

Greg,
Thanks for the reply. I'm really looking for more of a written recipe from the period.

[wmkane]

Re: Ginger Beer

Miss Leslie, of Miss Leslie's Directions for Cookery, has some instructions for Ginger beer. (This book was first published in 1851):

"Break up a pound and a half of loaf sugar, and mix with it three ounces of strong white ginger, and the grated peel of two lemons. Put these ingredients into a large stone jar, and pour over them two gallons of boiling water. When it becomes milkwarm stain it, and add the jusice of the lemons and two large table-spoonfuls of strong yeast. Make this beer in the evening and let it stand all night. Next morning bottle it in little half pint stone bottles, tying down the corks with twine."

Note: Miss Leslie does not suggest what sort of container to make this in and let it sit in, nor does she mention if the ginger is the fresh, or is of the dried and powdered variety. They did have the later at the time, though from what I understand it was a fairly new product.

Note 2: It's really interesting how the reciepts dont' change too much over the years. The only real difference I can see is the use of the lemon zest . . . I believe I'll try to make this reciept next week, and also try out the modern reciept. Should be interesting to compare them to each other.

ISBN:0-486-40614-8

[jhuether]

Re: Ginger Beer

Michigan State University has a great project to digitalitize important cookbooks throughout America's past. The site is completely searchable. You just pick the time period and plug in the key words, and it will do complete text searches with digital images of the actual book. There are a ton of cookbooks in the collection ranging from the 18th century to the early 20th. Literally too much information. About a year ago I made a rather surprising spruce beer and then lost the recipe. I have yet to find it again on the site, like I said almost too much information. But I do know that there are a good number of ginger beer recipes in there. Just pick the one that sounds the best to you (my criteria is usually which one is the easiest).

Oh yeah... I almost forgot to put the link:

http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/index.html

[27thNCdrummer]

Re: Ginger Beer

Thanks Jason. You're right almost to much info! I found a recipe for spruce beer.

[Spinster]

Re: Ginger Beer

Mr. Kane,

I've made this period receipt, both at home and at events, with varying degrees of sucess. The beer was good, mind you, but there were ..........mishaps.

I used chopped fresh ginger root.

My partner in crime had been making it at home in modern soft drink bottles, and gave me instructions to let off the pressure in 24 hours. Being intent on using a container that would not have to be hidden at an event, I used a glass container with a post war wire bale stopper, with the intent of stripping that off and corking the final product. Essentially the wire bale top was there for my convienence in letting off the pressure.

I was fortunate that I checked them after 6 hours, for I certainly think they would have shattered before 24 hours were complete. When I lifted the first wire bale, with the bottles at about 50 degrees temperature, the entire contents shot out and all over my kitchen ceiling, cabinets, ceiling fan, table.........and into the next room onto Dear Husband's briefcase. I was wearing a fine wool business suit at the time myself, and headed for work. :p Those who know can still find the marks some 4 years later.

Making this in the field in repro brown jugs did nicely, though I could have done with a better seal on the cork, as the fizz would have held better.

Still there is nothing quite so satisfying as sitting down with a bunch of children , grinding up ginger root and making beer, while the tourists marvel at the goings on. I think they thought we were making cookies.

The creek cooled the bottles nicely in time for dinner, and all of us went on to bed quite early.........

[ContinentalMorganGuard]

Re: Ginger Beer

The "modern" recipe in Mr. Barnett's post from the UK is very easy to make and turned out quiet nice. Everyone who had it enjoyed it. I made it prior to the event and after making it in the 2 liter bottle, put it in period ginger beer bottles with a cork and they held the fizz quiet well. I recommend it.

[Rob Weaver]

Re: Ginger Beer

I've seen advice in a couple period recipes to let it work for 3 days in a pail before bottling. That would take care of the explosive period of the fermentation process. That sounds like a very doable recipe; I may try it too! Do you suspect those "2 large teaspoons of yeast" are dry or a yeast starter?

[Hank Trent]

Re: Ginger Beer

Besides the yeast kind, there's also the chemical kind, made with soda and cream of tartar or another acid to create the fizz. Some recipes for that version ought to show up in that cookbook database, but I can hunt some up if need be.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Greg Barnett]

Re: Ginger Beer

If you have it at hand, a homebrew shop offers items that can help in the process. I use my old home brew jug that has a "burper" or airlock on top. This allows the mix to breath through a one way system with out contamination.
I am working on a period system.The best I have thus far are the glass carboys, pure rubber "bungs" or plugs and the s type airlock. You make your recipe and put it in the carboys with the cap on top with the airlock in place. If you want to bottle and transport in crock bottle, you need a cork like in a wine botttle. The tapered corks won't hold the carbonation well.

Very nice topic...

[Rob Weaver]

Re: Ginger Beer

I've used a carboy with an airlock to great success as well. My experience with the soda and cream of tartar carbonation is that it left the product with a salty taste, although it's diminished if the drink is good and cold, a thing that's hard to do at any reenactment.

[Hank Trent]

Re: Ginger Beer

My experience with the soda and cream of tartar carbonation is that it left the product with a salty taste, although it's diminished if the drink is good and cold, a thing that's hard to do at any reenactment.

Yes, you definitely need to get the soda and cream of tartar proportions just right, and I've wondered if some of the period variations for the acid would improve the flavor.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Rob Weaver]

Re: Ginger Beer

Lemonade with a little carbonation is surprisingly nice and refreshing.