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Saint Helena Ginger Beer
St Helena Hertzoggies is a traditional Saint Helenian recipe for a classic drink of old-fashioned ginger beer with lemon made sparking by the action of yeast. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Saint Helenian version of: Saint Helena Ginger Beer.
prep time
10 minutes
cook time
10 minutes
Total Time:
20 minutes
Additional Time:
(+16 hours fermenging)
Makes:
5l
Rating: 
Tags : Baking RecipesCake RecipesSt-helena Recipes
This is a traditional home-made ginger beer that's lightly fermented with yeast so it's sparkling. Note that this will start out at about 0.5% abv (alcohol by volume) but will not really get above 1% abv due to the action of the yeast.
Ingredients:
2 thumb-sized pieces of fresh Root Ginger
2 Lemons
680g Granulated Sugar
5g Cream of Tartar
7g Dried Yeast
5l Water
6 Raisins
Method:
Very finely grate the zest of the lemons into a large bowl or stockpot (take care not to grate any of the white pith as this is bitter). Once grated halve the lemons and squeeze in the juice of both lemons.
Coarsely grate the ginger and add to the pot or bowl along with the sugar and cream of tartar. Pour in 1l of boiling water and stir until the sugar has all dissolved. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes then pour in the remaining 4l of cold water. This should reduce the temperature of the liquid to around body heat (ideal for fermenting).
Sprinkle the yeast over the surface of the liquid then set aside for 5 minutes for the yeast to dissolve before stirring it into the liquid.
Add the 6 raisins to the liquid mixture and cover with clingfilm. Store your bowl/pot in a warm place, (but not in direct sunlight) for 4-5 hours. When the raisins have floated to the surface, the beer is done and ready to bottle.
Skim, sieve and stain the liquid into a separate bowl. Decant the 'clean' liquid into plastic bottles, making sure to leave about 5cm of head space at the top of each bottle, to allow for the capture of excess gas. It's safer in this instance to use plastic vs glass bottles because glass bottles can explore under the pressure as the liquid continues to carbonate.
Allow the ginger liquid to ferment in the bottles for 8 hours (overnight), but storing them in a warm, dark, place.
Open each bottle very slowly in small increments to relieve any pressure from excess gas. Re-screw bottles tightly once the excess pressure has been released.
Store in the refrigerator and enjoy for up to a week.
