Monday, August 30, 2010

Ginger Ale... Part 3

The never-ending saga for good ginger ale continues with attempt #2!

The first batch was good, but likely needed to sit a bit longer to carbonate more.  Plus, the floaty bits in it were a little annoying, so I figured I'd give it another go and try something different.  This time, I decided to try making a lemon/ginger simple-syrup and strain it before putting it into the bottle.


into the pot went:

1 cup sugar
the juice of one lemon
1 1/2 Tbsp grated ginger
1/2 cup water

I brought the whole mess to a simmer and once all the sugar had fully dissolved, I took it off the heat and let it cool for a while.  The idea of a simple syrup is that you're creating a "supersaturation"  (memories of chemistry class are flooding back again), using heat to dissolve more of the solid into a small amount of liquid.  When it cooled, the sugar didn't crystallize again, so we were good.


I strained the liquid, getting rid of all the lemon pulp and ginger and was left with about 1 1/4 cups of syrup.

That went into the bottle


and with it, the 1/4 tsp yeast.  Although, learn from my stupidity and don't try to pour the yeast through the same wet funnel you poured the syrup through.  Half the yeast stuck and I had to guess how much went into the bottle so I could add the rest.  I filled the bottle to about an inch from the top, put the cap on, and flipped it over a few times to disperse the yeast.


Now, it's onto the counter again.  This time I'll leave it for 36 hours (instead of the 24 I did last time), and then it'll go into the fridge to stop the carbonation.

Cross your fingers!

No comments:

Post a Comment