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One of the first fermentations I ever
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did was ginger beer. And it was dead
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simple. Ginger plus water plus sugar.
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Mix it all together and in a few days
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you have a bubbly sweet fermented
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non-alcoholic soda with a spicy ginger
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kick. And when I made the video on it,
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you all loved it, quickly making it one
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of the most popular videos on my
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channel. However, one of the most common
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questions I got was, "How do you make it
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boozy?" So, finally, I'm getting the
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hint. And in this video, I'll show you
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how you can take that weak ginger soda
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and turn it into a real alcoholic ginger
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beer at around 7%. And best of all, you
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don't need any fancy home brewing
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equipment. I'll show you how to do it
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right in your kitchen with limited gear
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and some recommendations if you want to
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step up your fermentation game. And even
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better, my good friend CH of Home Brew
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for Life is brewing two ginger beers
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along with me, but using a completely
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different technique. And in the end,
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we'll taste them side by side and
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compare the methods. But before you run
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off to check out his video, let's get
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into it and make our own boozy ginger
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beer. As I mentioned, I wanted to do
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this in a way that was accessible to
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anyone. So, I'm going to keep the gear
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and ingredients limited. And I figured
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the most basic way to make ginger beer
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is to use a gingerbug like in my
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previous video. A gingerbug is the
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equivalent to a sourdough starter for
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bread. It's a mixture that has a ton of
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healthy bacteria and yeast that when fed
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sugar, it will ferment it and turn it
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into alcohol and CO2 or bubbles. I've
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used the gingerbug to be the source of
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fermentation in several videos at this
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point, like fermented lemonade, root
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beer, and of course, ginger beer. But in
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all those fermentations, the gingerbug
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never really fermented to alcohol levels
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beyond 1%. Many of you asked, can you
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just add more sugar to make it more
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alcoholic? And while my intuition was to
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say no, I thought, why not test it out?
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So, this time around, I'll be adding a
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ton of sugar and a huge amount of
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gingerbug to see how far it will take
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us. And if it doesn't ferment all the
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way, I got a few tricks up my sleeve.
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But let's back it up and start at the
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beginning. The first thing we need is a
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strong and active gingerbug. I showed
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this in the original video, but to recap
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it quickly, it takes three things to
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make a gingerbug. Chopped ginger, sugar
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of some kind. I usually use plain table
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sugar, but honey, maple syrup, or any
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natural sugar works great. Just no
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sweeteners like stevia as they won't
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ferment. And finally, water. Mix it in a
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mason jar and watch it come to life.
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After a few days of feeding the
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gingerbug with a little more sugar and
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ginger, it'll eventually start becoming
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very active and have a nice foamy
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fermentation activity at the top. This
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means it's ready. If you want to know
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more details, go back and check out the
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last ginger beer video or hit subscribe
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cuz I'm working on a big ginger soda
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video and I plan to go into greater
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detail for that video coming soon. Next
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up, we need a vessel for the
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fermentation. This depends on the size
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of batch you're wanting to make. If it's
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a onegon, you can just use an old juice
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bottle or even one of those glass apple
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cider bottles would be fantastic. If
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you're wanting 5 gall, then check out
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some homebrew shops online or locally
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for a nice fermenttor. You can even make
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a DIY plastic one from the hardware
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store. In fact, that's exactly what I
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decided to do, except I made a smaller 2
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gallon fermenttor. I have a full video
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showing how it's done, but basically you
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buy a food safe 2gallon bucket and the
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corresponding lid at Lowe's or Home
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Depot, then drill a few holes for a
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spigot and air lock. I'll have links to
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these extra parts, but if you don't want
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to get those, you can just use the
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bucket as is and just keep the lid
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slightly cracked during fermentation.
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But you'd be surprised at what you can
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use as a fermenttor. Get creative. Just
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avoid metal containers as the acidity in
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the fermentation can do some bad things
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to the metal and lead to corrosion. But
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stainless steel is one metal that is
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okay to use. Okay, with the fermenttor
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in hand, let's get brewing. Here's
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everything you'll need. Some more fresh
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ginger to add extra flavor. I'll use
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about 100 g chopped up. For this 2
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gallon recipe, I made two ginger bugs to
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double the fermentation power. Then 32
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oz or a little less than a kilo of
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sugar. I know it seems like a lot, but
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don't worry. Most of it will be consumed
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by the yeast and turn into alcohol. And
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lastly, some filtered water, about 2
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gall. Avoid tap water if you can, as it
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can have things in it that will prevent
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fermentation or lead to off flavors,
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especially if you live in a city. So,
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distilled or spring water from a bottle
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is a safe bet if you're unsure. It also
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helps to have a spoon or something to
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mix with. and make sure that the bucket
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and spoon are well cleaned and sanitized
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before use. Now, mix that all together.
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I dumped in the entire gingerbug so I
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can get the most out of them, but you
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can always reserve some of the gingerbug
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liquid to restart your gingerbug for new
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fermentations. I then added in the
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ginger and then mix it up, making sure
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to dissolve the sugar. Pop on the lid
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and if you have an air lock, you can add
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that or just place a shot glass over the
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hole to keep any bugs out and let the
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CO2 created escape. Or worst case, crack
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the lid. You just don't want to seal the
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fermenttor completely or it could blow
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its lid. This should give us a gravity
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of 1.050. And this is a hydrometer which
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measures the sugar content and gives us
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that number. It will help us to
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determine the alcohol percentage. And if
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things go well, that means we should end
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up with about a 6.5 to 7% ABV. But you
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don't need a hydrometer to brew this. It
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just helps to know the alcohol content.
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I let it sit on the counter overnight,
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and by the next day, I could see a ton
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of bubbling activity. That is a great
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sign. I then let it ferment for a week
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to see how far this gingerbug could take
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it. By the end of the week, I decided to
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open up and take another gravity
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reading. The hydrometer read at
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1.040, meaning in 1 week, the gingerbug
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fermented this down to about 1.3%. So,
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as I suspected, using just a gingerbug,
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more sugar won't necessarily make this
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alcoholic. That means it's time for plan
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B, beer yeast. These days, you can get
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beer yeast from Jeffrey Bezos,
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but they're also sold at home brew
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stores, some hobby stores, or worst case
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scenario, you can get some from the
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baking aisle. Technically, bread yeast
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and beer yeast are the same species.
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Sacroyases Sarah Viscier to be exact.
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Although I tend to get much cleaner
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tasting fermentations when I use beer
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specific yeast. For this, I'll just use
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a standard American ale yeast and it
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should have no issues chewing through
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the rest of the sugars. I added about 6
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g of yeast and then closed it up to let
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it do its thing for another
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week. And sure enough, that did the
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trick. I took another gravity rating and
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it came in at
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0.996, meaning the fermentation was
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complete and this gingerbug was
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officially alcoholic at 7%.
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Now, looking back, if you wanted, you
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could totally skip that first step with
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the gingerbugs and go straight for
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ginger and beer yeast. But I think the
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gingerbug fermentation is going to add a
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lot of complexity and maybe even a
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slight sour funkiness that'll make it
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extremely unique. Up to you what you
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want to do, but I was excited to see how
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this turned out. So, I decided to bottle
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it up since I wanted it to be fizzy.
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Bottle conditioning is the process of
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adding a little sugar to a bottle and
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then adding your ferment into it and
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closing it up. The added sugar will kick
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back up fermentation and create pressure
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in the bottle, leading to carbonation in
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your drink. It can seem super
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intimidating, especially if you use
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glass and you're afraid of bottle bombs.
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So, that's why I almost always use
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plastic bottles when I can. These PET
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bottles are perfect for something like
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this. They'll almost never explode, and
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as they build pressure, you'll be able
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to feel the bottle get hard, so you know
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exactly when they're ready. But, did you
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know they also make PET kegs these days?
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Just like with the bottles, you can do
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something that's called keg conditioning
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by adding sugar and your fermentation
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into the keg and sealing it up. So,
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that's exactly what I'll do. Half of the
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ginger beer will go into a keg that has
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some added sugar. I use this calculator
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to figure out just how much to add. I'll
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leave a link below. And then I also add
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some sugar to a few bottles. I even had
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a glass swing top bottle to use, which
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are nice since I don't need any bottle
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caps or a capper. I then filled the keg
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and the bottles. This is why it's nice
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to have a spigot on your fermenttor
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because it lets you easily transfer out
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of the bucket. Otherwise, you might need
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an auto siphon or do some careful
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pouring. And this attachment is just a
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bottling wand. It has a spring activated
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tip that only lets liquid out when it's
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pressed against the bottle. Not needed,
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but helpful for minimizing spills. Once
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the keg and bottles are filled up, I
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closed them and let them sit for about 2
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weeks before finally throwing them in
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the fridge, at which point they were
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ready to drink. So, I shipped some out
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to my buddy CH and then poured myself a
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glass to give it a taste. And voila,
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here is the keg. It is nice and
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pressurized and I've had it in the
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fridge for the last few days. I'm so
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excited to see how this turned out. So,
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let's give it a shot. If you're not
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familiar with kegs, they have different
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posts on them. This one has one for gas
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in and has one to relieve pressure and
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then it's got this one, which is for
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your beer line, which I'll just be using
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this. It's called a picnic tap. It's got
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a little connector and then comes out of
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that side. So, let's hook it up.
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[Music]
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Ooh, there we go. That definitely means
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it's carbonated. So, let's give it a
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shot. Oh,
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yeah. Oh, that looks great. Oh, yeah.
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That looks good. Nice and fizzy. And
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that is all thanks to the bottle
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conditioning, or in this case, keg
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conditioning. Just sugar added in. You
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don't need any really CO2 tanks or
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anything to pressurize this. This should
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honestly be enough carbonation and
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pressure to serve this whole keg. But
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enough waiting. Let's give it a taste
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and see how it
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is. Oh man, that is so good. Holy
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cow. Wo, that is really good. The
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carbonation is amazing cuz it's super
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fizzy, but it almost has, if you can
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see, like a white frothiness to the top
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of it. And the mouth feel when you drink
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it is just like so smooth yet still
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bubbly. It's kind of like ginger beer on
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nitro. And it's amazing. It tastes like
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a ginger beer. It's got a nice ginger
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spice kick, but there's also a bit of
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funkiness that I'm getting, I think,
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from that natural fermentation that I
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did at the beginning. It's not really
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sour, which is nice, but it has a bit of
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that just fermentation funk character
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that really makes this unique. But if
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that's not your jam, you can totally
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just go for adding yeast and sugar and
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have a 7% delicious ginger beer. But I
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love that fermentation flavor and this
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is perfect for me. It doesn't really
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taste like 7%, but you can tell there is
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a bit of booze in there, but it is just
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so refreshing. This would be perfect in
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a cocktail if you just wanted a little
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extra kick. But on its own, man, this is
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so good. And I can't wait to be sipping
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on this all summer
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long. Oh man, you got to give this a
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try. Now, that was just one way to make
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alcoholic ginger beer. If you want a
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completely different take, go check out
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CH's video on his channel, Home Brew for
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Life, where he made a creamsicle ginger
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beer. Can't wait to try that. and join
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us on the happy hour liveream next week
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where we'll be tasting the ginger beers
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live and be comparing them side by side.
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Cheers and happy brewing.
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[Music]
