Ginger Ale - No Cook

By exdircomp

Homemade
clean 2 liter plastic soft drink bottle with cap
funnel
grater (preferably with fine "cutting" teeth)
1 cup measuring cup
1/4 tsp and 1 Tbl measuring spoons

Ingredients

• sugar (1 cup)
• freshly grated ginger root (1 1/2-2 tablespoons). Use only fresh ginger root.
• juice of one lemon
• fresh granular baker's yeast (1/4 teaspoon)
• cold fresh pure water

Details

Servings 2

Preparation

Step 1

Add 1 cup of sugar to the bottle through the dry funnel. Leave the funnel in place until all the steps are complete and you are ready to cap the bottle.

Measure out 1/4 teaspoon of fresh granular active baker's yeast. Use any brand that you might buy in the health food store.

Add the yeast through the funnel into the bottle. Shake it to disperse the yeast grains into the sugar granules.

Grate the ginger root on a fine "cutting" grater to produce 1 1/2 Tablespoon of grated root.

Place the grated ginger in the cup measure.

Juice a whole lemon. Lemon is important to keep the PH level low and ward off unwanted microorganisms. If you don't like lemon, try grapefruit juice.

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 the containers that held the lemon juice and grated ginger with fresh clean water. Add the rinsing water to the bottle.

Cap and shake the bottle.

Reopen and fill the bottle to the neck with fresh, cool, clean water, leaving about an inch of head space, then securely screw the cap down to seal. Invert the bottle repeatedly to thoroughly dissolve sugar. Also check the bottom of the bottle because the sugar tends to stick in little pockets there. (The ginger root will not dissolve, of course.)

Place the ginger ale in a warm location for 24 to 48 hours.

Test to see if carbonation is complete by squeezing the bottle forcefully with your thumb. If it dents in too far it is 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 off the thoroughly chilled ginger ale just a little to release the pressure slowly. You do not want a ginger ale fountain!