Old-Fashioned Ginger Beer

           --For The Starter--
    1/2 oz Yeast
      2 ts Sugar
           --To Feed The "Plant"--
      7 ts Ground Ginger
      7 ts Sugar
           --To Flavour--
  1 1/2 lb Sugar
           Juice Of 2 Lemons

Mix starter ingredients with 3/4 pint of warm water in a glass jar. Stir, cover and leave in a warm place for 24 hours. This is your starter "plant". Feed the "plant" with 1 teaspoon each of ground ginger and sugar each day. After 7 days strain through a fine sieve. Dissolve the sugar in 2 pints of water. Add the lemon juice and the liquid from the "plant". Dilute with 5 pints of water, mix well and store in corked bottles for at least 7 days. Use strong bottles as pressure may build up which will cause thin bottles to explode. For the same reason use corked bottles rather than those with a more secure closure that will not 'give' under pressure. Ross requested a recipe for ginger beer. This is a recipe that I have often used and it produces a really old-fashioned drink. It is quite a long process but well worth the effort. The amount of sugar in the final stage can be varied according to taste. Please excuse the use of Imperial measures - I am only a poor ignorant pom.


Yield: 1 Servings