Alcoholic ginger beer with honey from the hive

Our hive produces on average about 1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) of honey per week. What do we do with our liquid gold? We trade it, of course! We give our dear friend Katie some honey, and she gives us a few big bottles of ginger beer – and we couldn’t be happier. This is her tried and tested recipe for the best ginger beer you will ever taste. It is one of the more complex recipes in this book, but don’t be disheartened – the amount of effort you put in will be well worth it when you are sipping your refreshing ginger beer as you while away the hours in your winter garden.

Makes about 20 cups (5 litres/175 fl oz)

Use

20 cups (5 litres/175 fl oz) unchlorinated water, divided

3 cups (600 g/1 lb 5 oz) peeled and coarsely chopped fresh ginger

1½ teaspoons champagne yeast (find it at your local brewing store)

1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) honey

Juice of 2 lemons

1 jalapeño, seeds removed, sliced (optional)

Lime wedges, to serve

Ice cubes, to serve

Rosemary sprigs, to serve

Do

Preparing the ginger culture

1	Place 1 cup (250 ml/9 fl oz) of water and the ginger into a food processor and blend until the mixture is pulpy. Set the mixture aside.
2	In a large sterilised jar, stir the yeast into 1 cup (250 ml/9 fl oz) of warm water until it has dissolved. Add 1 tablespoon of ginger pulp, 1 tablespoon of honey, the lemon juice and the sliced jalapeño (if you’re using it). Tighten the lid and shake the jar vigorously.
3	Remove the jar lid. Cover the neck of the jar with a clean, dry tea towel (dish towel) and secure it with a rubber band. Put the jar in the warmest place in your house: next to your heater, on top of the fridge or in a sunny spot on the bench.
4	Every day for the next week, you’ll need to ‘feed’ your culture. Firstly, feel the jar with your hands – it should be lukewarm. If it’s too cold, your yeast will go into hibernation and stop doing its thing, and if it’s too hot your yeast might perish. Remove the tea towel (dish towel) and add 1 tablespoon of ginger pulp and 1 tablespoon of honey. Tighten the jar lid and shake the jar vigorously. Remove the jar lid and cover the jar with the tea towel (dish towel) again. Put your jar back in its warm place to brew.
5	After feeding your ginger culture for a week, you should see small bubbles floating to the surface of your culture.

Bottling your brew

1	Using a funnel, fill three clean plastic bottles (not glass bottles, which may explode!) two-thirds of the way up with warm water. Divide the remaining honey among the plastic bottles, screw on the bottle caps and shake the bottles vigorously to dissolve the honey.
2	Using muslin (cheesecloth) or a fine-mesh strainer, strain the culture out into a large measuring cup. Divide the culture evenly among the plastic bottles – there should be enough to add about 250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) of the culture liquid to each plastic bottle. Gently rock the bottles back and forth to combine. Now’s the time to dip in a finger and taste the ginger beer. If you want your ginger beer to be stronger, add more culture liquid; if you want it less intense, add more lukewarm water.
3	Screw on the bottle caps tightly and store the bottles in the same warm place you kept your ginger culture. Gently squeeze the bottles each day to test how they’re carbonating.
4	After 3–4 days, they should become difficult to squeeze. When they feel solid and are impossible to squeeze at all, slowly start to unscrew the bottle caps until you hear hissing, but do not open them all the way. Whenever the bottle is impossible to squeeze, let out some of the carbonation and then screw the bottle cap back on tightly.
5	In about 12–14 days, the yeast should have eaten up most of the sugar (honey) in the bottle. Unfortunately, there’s no sign to let you know if this is done – you’ve got to go by intuition and a bit of trial and error. Start by first testing one bottle and see what that one tastes like before opening up the other two.
6	Serve the ginger beer with lime wedges, loads of ice and a rosemary sprig.

By the way, we’d definitely recommend throwing a party to show off your phenomenal brewing skills.