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a multiplying project
Jul. 13th, 2009 01:51 pmI decided last week to brew some ginger beer. I acquired ale yeast, grabbed Myers lemons off the tree out back, and got the other required bits and pieces.
Somehow, in the brewing, this one project turned into four.
Someone gave me a small handful of backyard apricots. I had plenty of ginger... so I decided to make two 3 qt batches of beer; one with the apricots, one without. The batch with the apricot started fermenting much more quickly than the batch without. Interesting. But both are now working, so I am happy. They smell great. Am keeping my fingers crossed.
I peeled an entire ginger root. Lots more than I needed for two batches of beer (yea for my Magic Bullet, saving so much working by processing the ginger in seconds!). Knew I wouldn't use that much ginger in cooking! Hmmm. I've been known to eat ginger candy... so I sliced the remaining root up, and put it in a small pot with some honey on the stove, and let it cook quite a while (til not translucent any more). The ginger reduced considerably in size, which was interesting. ... so strong, so yummy! It never really crystallized per say, as I'd used (wet) honey rather than (dry) sugar. Still, I now have awesome candied ginger, and about a cup of leftover ginger syrup. Interestingly, the syrup was much stronger (gingery) while hot than after being refrigerated. I'm thinking it would be good over vanilla ice cream, maybe in a cup of tea...
It also seemed obvious that the strong sweet syrup would be a fine addition to the beers. So I put about 1/8 c. of syrup in each batch.
Tonight I will sort out which bottles to bottle in, and clean them. Maybe do a little bottling. Yea for friends who save useful bottles for me!
Somehow, in the brewing, this one project turned into four.
Someone gave me a small handful of backyard apricots. I had plenty of ginger... so I decided to make two 3 qt batches of beer; one with the apricots, one without. The batch with the apricot started fermenting much more quickly than the batch without. Interesting. But both are now working, so I am happy. They smell great. Am keeping my fingers crossed.
I peeled an entire ginger root. Lots more than I needed for two batches of beer (yea for my Magic Bullet, saving so much working by processing the ginger in seconds!). Knew I wouldn't use that much ginger in cooking! Hmmm. I've been known to eat ginger candy... so I sliced the remaining root up, and put it in a small pot with some honey on the stove, and let it cook quite a while (til not translucent any more). The ginger reduced considerably in size, which was interesting. ... so strong, so yummy! It never really crystallized per say, as I'd used (wet) honey rather than (dry) sugar. Still, I now have awesome candied ginger, and about a cup of leftover ginger syrup. Interestingly, the syrup was much stronger (gingery) while hot than after being refrigerated. I'm thinking it would be good over vanilla ice cream, maybe in a cup of tea...
It also seemed obvious that the strong sweet syrup would be a fine addition to the beers. So I put about 1/8 c. of syrup in each batch.
Tonight I will sort out which bottles to bottle in, and clean them. Maybe do a little bottling. Yea for friends who save useful bottles for me!
