Home brewing and children; its never too early to start

Being school holiday I presently have the screamies underfoot every minute of every day - such unfettered joy (no really).  They love to help in the kitchen, and now that they're 5 and 6 they are becoming useful, rather than making an ungodly mess and distracting me so I forget crucial ingredients.  Miss 6, who is a steady and calm child, is brilliant at weighing and measuring and loves to help with the bread and making yoghurt.

Miss 5 is better in the stirring and pouring departments, so when I finished off the ginger beer earlier in the week she was an excellent help.

Ginger Beer
After a week of being fed and nurtured the ginger beer plant is ready to go and the bottles are sterilised.  Information about the plant recipe here.

We strained the mixture (well, I poured it off the settled sediment), add the juice of 2 lemons and reserve the sediment.  Its now ready to use. 

The sediment should be divided in two (you can give half to a friend, or to the chooks).  Add half a pint of water, 2tsp sugar and 2tsp ginger and proceed with the feeding and nurturing as before (details in this post).

For the next stage you need...
2oz sugar
Cold boiled water
Ginger beer plant liquid

Add the sugar to the liquid and make up to 1 gallon (4 litres) with water, stirring until the sugar has dissolved completely.
Pour into strong, dark coloured beer bottles.

Pouring

So much pouring

And then cap the bottles - the recipe recommends using pop-off plastic caps, but as I don't have any, we are capping the bottles with your usual gold metal lid, but keeping them in the shed, so if they explode no harm will be done.

Her completely favouritest part

And that's it.  Leave the ginger beer for 7 - 10 days and then have a taste test.  We've got stuff that is over a year old and is wonderfully drinkable.

:)

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