Pat Mack's Brewing Caps - How to Make Ginger Beer - Real Alcoholic Carbonated Ginger Beer
Author: Whats4Chow
Recipe type: Home Brewing
Serves: 3 liters
Just before the festive season I stumbled across a rather unique product called Pat Mack's Brewing Caps. The kit comes direct from Pat Mack, and it allows you to brew carbonated alcoholic beverages in regular soft drink bottles.
Ingredients
- 250ml Sugar
- 3 Liters water
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 50g Fresh ginger, chopped
- 5ml Cream of tartar
- ⅛ tsp Brewer's yeast
- 30g Sultanas or raisins
Instructions
- Just before the festive season I stumbled across a rather unique product called Pat Mack's Brewing Caps. The kit comes direct from Pat Mack, and it allows you to brew carbonated alcoholic beverages in regular soft drink bottles.
- The kit comes in various different options, however the one I chose includes 5 of the caps, enough high quality brewer's yeast for 300 liters of brew, a full instruction manual with a load of recipes and a download eBook, with recipes and information.
- Anyway, today I am going to make batch of real ginger beer to show you how it all works.
- Let's first have close look at the caps. These are standard size bottle caps and inserted into the cap is a flexible diaphragm type valve. This allows some of the CO2 to escape in order that the bottle does not burst. The remaining CO2 remains in the bottles adding the carbonation to the contents.
- To start, add the water, roughly chopped ginger, sugar, zest and juice of one lemon and cream of tartar to a large pot.
- Bring this to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer the mixture for 30 minutes.
- Strain the mixture through a large sieve and allow it stand and cool to 30c before adding the yeast.
- Add 1 eighth of a teaspoon of the supplied yeast and stir this in.
- Add the sultanas to the bottles and pour the mixture into bottles.
- Screw on the brewing caps and transfer the bottles to a warm, but shady place to ferment.
- Note how low the valve is sitting before fermentation.
- Allow these to ferment for 3 to 5 days. The longer you leave them, the higher the alcohol content will get, and the dryer the drink will get as eventually all of the sugar is consumed.
- After 3 to 5 days you will notice the valves in the caps bulging outwards due to the CO2 buildup in the bottles.
- The instruction manual supplied gives a very good indication of what alcohol content to expect with various fermentation times and sugar quantities.
- Notice the slight sediment of yeast at the bottom of the bottle.
- I have allowed mine to ferment for 5 days. Now it is time to clear the ginger beer.
- To do this, place the bottles in your refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. The fermentation will stop and most of the particulate in the beer will precipitate to the bottom.
- At this stage the ginger beer is ready to consume.
- Open the bottles very slowly to avoid spraying your precious cargo all over the kitchen, and serve.
- Notice how fizzy, clear and fresh this looks..... and it tastes great as well.
- This has come out at about 8 percent ABV, while a 3 day fermentation would probably come out at between 3 and 5 percent.
- You can find Pat Mack's website by clicking HERE
