After six batches, I'm reasonably happy with my ginger beer now! A few thoughts on my quest...
It took a while to get to my destination, as in any good quest. There is even a goblet at the end, only this one is full of spicy ginger elixir, and no knights or swords were involved.
It is really a rather old beverage, isn't it. Popular up to a couple of hundred years ago, but perhaps less so today. There was a good segment in a BBC Victorian Farm re-enactment series that came on during my first few ginger beer experiments, suggesting it was a staple drink among 19th century farm folk. Ginger beer is also well associated with the Caribbean - and the Jamaican stuff is very sharp indeed. Many who hail from the UK reflect on its popularity during their younger years. But for the rest of us, you don't find ginger beer as an option at your corner soda-pop vending machine - at least not here in Canada.
I've been a fan of ginger for a long time. As an adult I've always liked ginger ale more than most soft drinks (though I think I like tonic water even more). But really I rarely drink pop (or 'soda' to you.) Most are WAY too sweet for my taste, and it's no wonder as they contain roughly 16 tsp of sugars per can. I find Ginger beer to be spicy enough to almost be in a class of its own separate from pop. Plus I rarely came across it as a kid, making it seem more exotic to me. So embarking on my own fabrication experiments seemed a good way to both control the sugar and create an alternative drink when I want something a little different.
During the exploration, I had also paused to experiment with making ginger marmalade. Not being a big jams-and-jellies maker, I discovered first hand that cutting back on the sugar in the recipe means the pectin doesn't really work too well in setting the marmalade. So it turned into more of a ginger syrup product (thankfully a small 4-jar batch). However, in that process I learned more about the bite of ginger which I was able to use to improve my ginger beer recipe. Ginger marmalade recipes call for boiling and draining your shredded ginger three times before starting - I saved the second boiling and found it a tasty, sharp liquid, which I used in some cooking, and added to some soda water once to make an interesting drink, which would be closer to how ginger ale is made.
By the way - toast with ginger marmalade and peanut butter? Yum.
In making my ginger beer, I realized that this fiery marmalade byproduct liquid was of a better taste than the bruised ginger result was producing in the old Ginger Beer recipes I had found. So I experimented with shredding and boiling the ginger in my process, with good results.
Quality of yeast made a difference too - bread yeast left too 'yeasty' a flavour (go figure) whereas beer brewing yeast was quite good, and crisp.
The other variant is cream of tartar AKA potassium hydrogen tartrate. It's used sometimes to help froth up egg whites, or make a creamier sugary dessert. But ironically - for something that crystallizes OUT of wine making - it also inhibits the formation of crystals in sugary liquids. Thus it's used in most ginger beer recipes too. Unfortunately I could taste it a bit in the final result though, so another enhancement was to cut back on it from the recipes I had found.
I'll share my ginger beer recipe here shortly. With Batch Six it finally meets my vision for what I wanted. The last several batches have been focussed on getting enough bite into it, and getting a bit of colour as well, as it was a crystal clear beverage up to this last batch.
Interestingly, ginger is touted among herbalists and various other people for whom evidence is an inconvenience, as a stomach calming agent. Go figure, it turns out that actual scientific testing has shown that it is as effective as pharmaceuticals like the motion-sickness prophylactic Gravol. I see recently in my local drug-store that the people who make Gravol are making a ginger-based version now too. So perhaps there is something to your mom's suggestion of drinking flat ginger ale when you are feeling queasy.
Oh did I mention ginger and dark chocolate? Also yum. I personally recommed the Dolfin brand Belgian "Noir au Gingembre Frais." Turns out I couldn't type this without grabbing some. :P
Stand by for the recipe which will show up here shortly. I'll be sure to tweet its arrival upon posting. [It's up now!]
