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Ginger Ale

CothermanDistilling
edited September 2014 in Cookbook

From a friend, I have made it several times, makes a 5-gallon corny keg worth of ginger ale that is wonderful for kiddies and for mixing..

I started with Jeff Renner's recipe from either R.C.B. or HBD.

This is a reasonably dry, delicate recipe - it does not burn your tongue off like some of the Jamaican styles (that probably add capsaicin, the cheaters!) but has a distinct ginger flavor and is not too sweet.

I've also started pressure canning the part that is steeped in this recipe, and that seems to work very well.

200g fresh ginger, frozen
3 lemons juice
1 lemon zest
1tsp cardomom, preferably fresh ground
3# cane sugar
1/4tsp ascorbic acid
5 gallons R.O. or deionized water.

Peel, slice ginger, then puree in food processor with a little water.

Add ginger puree, lemon, cardomom in 1 qt water on stove. Bring to boil, then steep for a while. Could be as short as 30 min or as long as hours.

Strain through fine mesh colander into 2L glass pitcher. Let stand undisturbed 30 min (while heating water).

Heat 5 gallons water to a boil.

Dissolve sugar in a gallon or so of hot water, either in the keg or in a separate pitcher. Make sure the sugar is all dissolved or it will clog your dip tube. Ask me how I know :)

Carefully decant the ginger mixure into the keg, leaving behind a couple of tsp of sludge. Top up keg with hot water.

Seal keg with 30psi CO2, the leave hooked up with a fan blowing on it overnight. Then you can load into the fridge for further cooling and carbonating. Carbonation without shaking takes like 2 weeks (much longer than beer).

Serve at 40F and 20psi with an 10-12' long dispensing hose.

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