Easy Ginger Ale

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Yooper

Ale's What Cures You!
Staff member
Admin
Mod
HBT Supporter
Joined
Jun 4, 2006
Messages
75,110
Reaction score
13,258
Location
UP/Snowbird in Florida
1 cup cane (table) sugar [sucrose]
Freshly grated ginger root (1 1/2-2 tablespoons)
Juice of one lemon
1/4 teaspoon yeast- I like Red Star Champagne yeast
cold fresh pure water- use RO, spring water or something that tastes good!

This recipe makes a 2L soda bottle of ginger ale, or you can use individual bottles. Sanitize all equipment with a food-safe sanitizer. I like Star-san.

Grate the ginger, using fresh ginger root.
Add 1 cup sugar to the 2 liter bottle with a dry funnel. (Leave the funnel in place until you are ready to cap the bottle.) If you want to use individual bottles, you can mix up the ingredients in a pitcher, and then pour into the bottles. Sometimes I let the ingredients sit overnight in the pitcher (except for the yeast) and then strain into the bottle the next day, and add the yeast at that time. This helps you not to have any "floaties" in the soda!

NOTE: Many have asked about bottling ginger ale in glass bottles. I do not recommend it because ginger ale is a very aggressive fermenter, producing high pressure fairly rapidly. Plastic bottles can be felt to judge pressure. Glass cannot. Tardy refrigeration can lead to explosions. Exploding plastic bottles are messy. Exploding glass botles are dangerous...

Measure out 1/4th teaspoon fresh yeast.
Add yeast through funnel into the bottle, shake to disperse the yeast grains into the sugar granules. Add the grated ginger to a cup measure.

Juice a whole lemon. (Lemon is optional, giving a little tartness to the ginger ale. Try it both ways to see which you prefer. I like them both.) Add the juice of a whole lemon to the grated ginger. Stir the lemon juice and grated ginger to form a slurry. Add the slurry of lemon juice and grated ginger to the bottle. (It may stick in the funnel. Don't worry, the next step will wash it into the bottle.) Rinse containers with fresh clean water. Add the rinsings to the bottle, cap and shake to distribute. Fill the bottle to the neck with fresh cool clean water, leaving about an inch of head space, securely screw cap down to seal. Invert repeatedly to thoroughly dissolve sugar. (The ginger root will not dissolve, of course.)

Place in a warm location for 24 to 48 hours. (Do not leave at room temperature longer than necessary to feel "hard." The excess pressure may cause an eruption when you open it, or even explode the bottle! Test to see if carbonation is complete by squeezing the bottle forcefully with your thumb. If it's not rock hard, it's not ready!

Once the bottle feels hard to a forceful squeeze, usually only 24-48 hours, place in the refrigerator. Before opening, refrigerate at least overnight to thoroughly chill. Crack the lid of the thoroughly chilled ginger ale just a little to release the pressure slowly. You do not want a ginger ale fountain!

NOTE: Do not leave the finished ginger ale in a warm place any longer than the time it takes for the bottle to feel hard. Leaving it at room temperature longer than two days, especially in the summer when the temperature is high, can generate enough pressure to explode the bottle! Once it is thoroughly chilled, there is little danger of explosion.

Filter the ginger ale through a strainer if you find floating pieces of ginger objectionable. These are found in the first glass or two poured, and, since most of the ginger sinks to the bottom, the last glass or so may require filtering too. Rinse the bottle out immediately after serving the last of the batch.

For kegging, mix up the ingredients in a pitcher, minus the yeast. You can double/triple/etc the recipe. Carb up at 30 psi at 40 degrees, and use a LONG line to dispense!

I have experimented with boiling the water/sugar/ginger water, and it was a far more subtle "ginger" bite type of soda. I've used more ginger, too, and liked it better. But the amount in the recipe is a good place to start if you don't know if you love ginger or not!
 
Mmmmm! I will try this for my kids, but force carb in a 2-liter bottle.

Thanks!

I use the 2L bottle all the time- for me. I started using more ginger, too, over the last year or so since I'm the only one who drinks it.

I wish I still had kids at home, to fill full of sugary snacks and junk food. I sure miss those days!
 
Yeah, but the grandkids will come over for you to sugar-load and send home!

Mine are teenagers, so I don't have too long...
 
I ended up boiling everything then steeping the last 1/3 of the ginger at flame out for 5 minutes before cooling in the sink. How fast should this carb up? Should I put it out in the garage since I won't be home this afternoon?
 
I may just have to try this since you made it sound so easy. I don't suppose you've ever weighed the ginger instead of going by the tbs. Many of us have scales already.
 
Nice little experiment turned out bad because of my faults. I used some S-05 because I didn't want to drive 40 minutes for chapagne yeast and I stuck it in the fridge too early, well SWMBO stuck it in too early since I wasn't home and she lacks the Kung Fu grip.

S-05 made it very sulfury and not at all pleasant. It tasted like the inside of my lager fridge smells.
 
Nice little experiment turned out bad because of my faults. I used some S-05 because I didn't want to drive 40 minutes for chapagne yeast and I stuck it in the fridge too early, well SWMBO stuck it in too early since I wasn't home and she lacks the Kung Fu grip.

S-05 made it very sulfury and not at all pleasant. It tasted like the inside of my lager fridge smells.

Darn, that's too shame. Maybe it'll get better with time? I don't know, I never used ale yeast with soda. I like champagne yeast because it's so neutral flavored, but I always have some in the fridge for winemaking.

I've been forcecarbing soda lately, though, not not using yeast at all. I like that even better!
 
I've been forcecarbing soda lately, though, not not using yeast at all. I like that even better!

That is the exact reasoning I've been badgering someone for a kegging set up since last year. I really want to make some rootbeer and keg beer, most keg beer though.
 
Any thoughts on replacing half of the sugar with splenda? Obviously some real sugar needs to remain in order to carbonate but SWMBO is more likely to enjoy it if it's a little lighter on the sugar.
 
I feel like a total idiot for asking this, but with sugar and yeast isn't this drink alcoholic??

It will have some alcohol in it but I couldn't tell you how much. The point in sticking it in the fridge is to stop the yeast from converting sugar and producing more CO2.
 
I was reading another thread on rootbeear, but that one was carb-ed in a keg. Could you take sodas, put them in glass bottles and carb with Cooper's carbonation drops rather than yeast or a keg?
 
Would it be possible to formulate two recipes, one made to be nearly non-alcoholic like normal, and one purposely more alcoholic? I know I would prefer it that way. ;)
 
I was reading another thread on rootbeear, but that one was carb-ed in a keg. Could you take sodas, put them in glass bottles and carb with Cooper's carbonation drops rather than yeast or a keg?

See the bold text in the original post.

This works with beer because we carefully control the amount of fermentable sugar that goes into the bottle. Ginger ale is full of fermentable sugar, which is why it needs to go in the fridge (to halt the fermenation) once it has appropriately carbonated. Which, by the way, is a LOT more carbonated than beer, which makes glass a risky choice.
 
Would it be possible to formulate two recipes, one made to be nearly non-alcoholic like normal, and one purposely more alcoholic? I know I would prefer it that way. ;)

To do what you're describing, mix up the original recipe, loosely put the cap on, and let it ferment out. Now, add another cup of sugar, tighten the lid, and proceed as before...you picturing this? It's not pretty. Ginger hooch. You're much better off just using it as a mixer, with scotch perhaps. Or just vodka.
 
I guess my question is more can you carbonate without yeast or using a keg system regardless of what type of bottling you are doing?
 
I guess my question is more can you carbonate without yeast or using a keg system regardless of what type of bottling you are doing?

No. Cooper's Carbonation Drops are just sugar (glucose and sucrose). They depend on the action of the yeast in your beer to carbonate. They are just another way to measure out sugar rather than swirling dextrose into your bottling bucket. Adding them to ginger ale with no yeast and no external source of CO2 would do nothing.

You could use a carbonator cap and mini-CO2 charger if you don't have a full kegging setup.
 
Any thoughts on replacing half of the sugar with splenda? Obviously some real sugar needs to remain in order to carbonate but SWMBO is more likely to enjoy it if it's a little lighter on the sugar.

I was kinda thinking the same thing, but put in 100% Splenda (except the very small bit that is needed to carbonate the ginger ale.) You wouldn't have to worry about exploding bottles either.
 
Just tried this one today. I swapped out the lemon juice however for 1 cup of fresh orange juice (my kids love orange and ginger ale mixed).

Thanks for the recipe.
 
Just made two 2-liters of this. One with lemon and one without lemon. We will see what I come up with in a day or two. I can't wait to crack the bottles open and try it.

I might have to try the orange too.
 
Yooper, do you think the sugar can just be up and replaced with Splenda? Think it would leave a harsh aftertaste?
 
Enjoying my first bottle of this as I type this, this is so good. I think next time I will use 3 tbs of ginger. 2 was very nice, but I really like my ginger. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
 
ok so i know that there is some alcohol in this, but i also see that people are giving this to their kids...so how much alcohol is in this? i really dont want to get my kids drunk...lol
 
ok so i know that there is some alcohol in this, but i also see that people are giving this to their kids...so how much alcohol is in this? i really dont want to get my kids drunk...lol

There IS some, definitely. I think one time I figured out the percentage, and it was something like 0.20%.
 
Just did my debut ginger ale from this post.

I did a 1 Liter and cut everything in half (plus added a squeeze of lime and 1 TBPS of orange juice)
 
If you are force carbing this, would you want to back off the amount of sugar some, seeing that their isn't any yeast to eat it. I would be worried that force carbing it would be to sweet. Maybe back off to 3/4 cup of sugar?
 
If you are force carbing this, would you want to back off the amount of sugar some, seeing that their isn't any yeast to eat it. I would be worried that force carbing it would be to sweet. Maybe back off to 3/4 cup of sugar?

Taste it before you carb it up, and see what you think. You may like it with less sugar.
 
So I tried this recipe the other day, as described. Tastes ok, but it has a offputting eggy smell, I guess it classes as a sulfur smell - not eye-wateringly strong, but enough to affect the tasting experience.

I didn't have any 'brewing' yeast on hand, so added regular red star active dry yeast (bakery aisle) in the quantity given in the recipe.

I'm presuming this yeast choice is the culprit? Is this the case, or am I overlooking something else? I'm keen to get this right, as ginger ale is always popular in my house.

What is the best yeast to use for this? I've seen people have used champagne yeast so will try this next when I can get to my lhbs.
 
So I tried this recipe the other day, as described. Tastes ok, but it has a offputting eggy smell, I guess it classes as a sulfur smell - not eye-wateringly strong, but enough to affect the tasting experience.

I didn't have any 'brewing' yeast on hand, so added regular red star active dry yeast (bakery aisle) in the quantity given in the recipe.

I'm presuming this yeast choice is the culprit? Is this the case, or am I overlooking something else? I'm keen to get this right, as ginger ale is always popular in my house.

What is the best yeast to use for this? I've seen people have used champagne yeast so will try this next when I can get to my lhbs.

I also used Red Star bread yeast, and mine turned out very good! I tried an experiment making just seltzer water, and it had that eggy quality you've referenced. I'm guessing you used too much yeast...or not enough sugar. That's what I would guess because the stated amounts in the recipe worked out good for me.
 
Unibrow said:
I also used Red Star bread yeast, and mine turned out very good! I tried an experiment making just seltzer water, and it had that eggy quality you've referenced. I'm guessing you used too much yeast...or not enough sugar. That's what I would guess because the stated amounts in the recipe worked out good for me.

Hmmm that's interesting - so.probably not the yeast at fault then. My scales are pretty crappy, so it could well be the sugar. Thanks for the input, really appreciate it :mug
 
Could you use EZ-cap bottles or PET bottles? That way you could de-pressurize them from time to time in the fridge. Maybe carbonate in a large 2L or 3L bottle then transfer to smaller bottles. I am interested in this cause my brother LOVES ginger ale but most of the commercial stuff sux and this would be a great Christmas present. Individual bottles would be cooler though than a 2L.
 
Could you use EX-cap bottles or PET bottles? That way you could de-pressurize them from time to time in the fridge. Maybe carbonate in a large 2L or 3L bottle then transfer to smaller bottles. I am interested in this cause my brother LOVES ginger ale but most of the commercial stuff sux and this would be a great Christmas present. Individual bottles would be cooler though than a 2L.

Any plastic soda bottles (any size) will do.
 
My grandmother gave me this same recipe, she also told me about zesting some fruit. She told me use some orange zest along with some juice and you can get an orange soda. Glad that this is already up so I do not have to type it all out.
 
Back
Top