Early American Ginger Beer - 18th Century Cooking

[@NateBoingo]

I love watching this guys videos he's like the bob ross of 18th century cooking

[@katlauren9161]

Totally

[@Theseus9-cl7ol]

Ha ha ha....yeah, good analogy. He is.

[@laurametheny1008]

Well put!😁🍻

[@offchance789]

do you post this same comment on every video?

[@jimjim292]

no

[@frog8220]

if you try this, please learn from (my) mistake: filter well before bottling this. I took a paper towl and strained it through, but only for one bottle as it took a while. For the others i didn't. Now that one bottle was wonderful when opening it, the others however double as a fire extinguisher, as they don't just bubble and foam over, but shoot foam everywhere. in your face? yes. All over your shelf? yes. Across the goddam room all over the walls, and even into the next room? Yes. Did i slip on the floor afterwards? yes. So it tastes wonderful, try it, its little effort and cheap and easy to make (look for beer bottles with a flip top thingy) i can highly recommend you try this

[@DiamondHedgehog]

I use the swing top bottles too. 8 500ml bottles are about a gallon. Refrierating the bottles of ginger beer after fermenting 12 to 24 hours keeps them from becoming fire extinguishers.

[@robbinallan3767]

Best comment ever. Can't stop laughing

[@kimfleury]

This was hilarious...but why did you curse your room? Honorable is the Name of the Lord.

[@OmniCausticInfidel]

hahah oh thats amazing and unfortunate

[@rvalasini9938]

lol too funny... a lot of animation in writing your experience

[@asifsba1]

I just love this guy. He is like a colonial Mr. Rogers. Thank you Mr. Townsend for being so awesome and positive. 😁

[@logickedmazimoon6001]

Wont you be *hands ginger beer* my neighbor?

[@jagun718]

This is the perfect description of him and the highest compliment one can give.

[@basedpaste9335]

I cant unseen it

[@cherylhelmuth3921]

I so agree! Especially given all the negativity in the world, binge watching this guy is just so wholesome.

[@ElDocThor]

Colonial Mr. ROGERS... dont know whether to laugh or cry 🤣😫 RIP

[@GaryHess]

In the past it was common to use "ginger bug" as well. A lot of farmers would make this instead of running to the brewers because they lived too far away. Ginger bug is essentially ginger, sugar, and water. Ginger naturally attracts good yeast from the air. Essentially, have a thumb sized piece of ginger with three tablespoons of sugar with about a cup of water. Let it sit 1 day. Then add a small piece of ginger and sugar each day for 3 days. By the third day, you should notice some bubbles. That is the alcohol. You can then put it in the fridge and just add a little ginger and sugar each week. Then you can just use it like the barm. This style of beer is actually a traditional "ale" rather than the lagers most people drink today. Hence where "ginger ale" came from.

[@MrKongatthegates]

And I have to pay 24 dollars for a dozen beer? If I make it myself its practically free

[@stoneomountain2390]

@@MrKongatthegates it's the packaging and supposed uniformity of taste that you pay for.

[@queenvictoriaii6772]

Thanks for the tip. That makes this recipe absolutely perfect!

[@aspektx]

Bubbles are sign of fermentation and alcohol being produced, but the bubbles themselves are CO2.

[@sundrawhitham5089]

Gary Hess u

[@Gottaculat]

Industrialization was definitely great in that it drove prices down, made products more available, as well as saved people time, and gave people the chance to buy a known, consistent flavor. The downside is now people rely on mass-manufactured goods so much that we seem to almost be on the brink of forgetting how to do things for ourselves. I think this is why channels like this are so incredibly important, so that we can preserve history, and increase our own self-reliance. Besides, if you know how to cook things yourself, you can actually make food that suits your tastes far better than any fancy restaurant or name brand item. My friends always asked me why I never went out to eat, and so one evening I prepared them a home cooked feast, and all of them had the same reaction of, "OMG... I didn't know food could taste this good!" I prepared each person's meal to suit their particular taste, and afterwards I offered to teach them how to make the dishes they so enjoyed. Best part is, most of it was 1/4th or less the price to make at home you'd pay at a fancy restaurant. They no longer ask me why I don't go out to eat. Especially homemade maki rolls. It's so cheap to make your own, and as long as you have good ingredients and keep your knife VERY sharp and lightly coated with olive oil, it's a cinch to make... actually, that applies to many foods! Get a high quality high carbon steel kitchen knife, learn how to sharpen it with proper high grit ceramic stones (I like 3,000 and 8,000 grit), and hone it on a quality leather strop. If you can't push-slice a tomato so thin that you can read newspaper through it, your blade is dull in my book.

[@41tl]

^the above comment deserves at least five thousand likes.

[@nancy9478]

Love this connent, you are so right. I had my kids standing on step stools rolling pie and pizza dough, making wontons. We took them to Williamsburg, taught them real practical stuff. Good family fun and they learned some interesting things.

[@kuruptzZz]

Yes. We need to all do our part and preserve this knowledge, so we can pass it down to the next generation. Or else they will just be using calculators without really learning the math!

[@marilynmitchell2712]

For examle, I refer to my young homegrown carrots as "carrot candy"!

[@caninedrill_instructor5861]

I concur. DISCLAIMER: I'm not a vegan, doubt I'll ever be one either. However, I'm not afraid to try vegan products that I can make at home . For the past year, or so. I've been making a vast majority of the food I eat at home. I've made 100 percent of the plant based milks that I put in my coffee, or cook with. Why? FLAVOUR!! Flavour is KING,Queen, and the whole darn court! Cost savings, increasing my self reliance, and it also reduces the amount of preservatives that I ingest. So far, I've made plant based milks, yoghurts, tofus, pickles. sauerkraut, breads, and condiments. I'll not bore you with each individual item.

[@quickmafs2714]

This recipe is for my metric friends: (I rounded off the values.) 1 gallon water = (3.8) 4L water 8oz molasses = (236) 240ml molasses 8oz sugar = (226) 230g sugar 1oz powdered ginger = (28) 30 g powdered ginger 1 ginger root (diced) 1 lemon and a little bit yeast after the boiling You're welcome! :)

[@Metalman200xdamnit]

I am sure the world thanks you. But this was 18th C. cooking,hence metric was largely unknown.

[@TheGogeta222]

How much g are 1 dkg? XD it's a mertric measurement too xD

[@STRIK3RM4N]

God bless lad

[@daryltaylor8977]

I love the name 😍! Quickmafs!! I guess that you are a conversions master!

[@theKATofficial2]

*you're

[@Clokkr]

"I really like ginger." Yeah bud, we know that you were thinking of nutmeg when you said that.

[@WmMorris27]

You sir, win 4 internetz and a smiley face. Best comment I've read today. And by far, the most accurate too.

[@natsirim499]

I really like ginger...and garlic...and sometimes together...hehehe

[@jburton413]

Lmao

[@petergreening4810]

I liked Mary Ann better.

[@hahna77]

So because you don't like ginger, you assume it's the same for others? I love ginger.

[@jeebusmcchrist]

If you were my history teacher I would have stayed in school for my entire life.

[@jamethlawthon5602]

But that... You'd... But

[@Chad.Commenter]

@@jamethlawthon5602 hahahah

[@benjeffweldingandfabricati251]

Man, this comment hits home hard for me. :/

[@saakers]

It's never too late to keep learning!

[@zzzzxxxx341]

Hehehhe.😄😁😊😅

[@busby777]

Dad used to tell the story about his grandmother's bathtub beer bottles exploding and making the whole house smell like beer. This was during Prohibition.

[@oldman9843]

that's funny lol

[@kents.2866]

It's funny. You could buy malt extract at the grocery store. It was say...Warning, do not add to hot water, do not add yeast to this product. Pretty much how to make beer, but so they legally covered themselves. But you were allowed to make wine and beer at home. Just couldn't sell it.

[@CarlosPerez-em3wu]

A women after my own heart.

[@LiquidSpiral]

I’ve been on KZbin for most of my life, and I think I’ve just found my favourite channel.

[@dragoon260]

Welcome home

[@Skyrilla]

What the hell is your picture.

[@heheheha9094]

most of ur life? ur like ten or sum?

[@LeigonX]

@@heheheha9094 KZbin is 16 years old now man lmao

[@RaspK]

Oenologist and Alcoholic Beverages Technologist here, and you mentioned the most important thing people typically fail to realize, and that's that beer quality is, indeed, inherently tied to your water quality! Excellent video in all, but I reality wanted to emphasize that point. Kudos!

[@wildturkey5838]

Our water here is VERY hard ( which is the reason there are so many Bourbon distilleries near here) Would that affect the beer quality?

[@jameshaulenbeek5931]

@@wildturkey5838 very much so. Depending on what minerals are present, that will actually determine a good bit of your flavor profile. In fact, some areas have such soft water, home brewers have to add minerals to the water to make a good beer - especially if they're trying to make a specific style or even clone a particular beer.

[@germyw]

A Kool-aidologist could have told us that too, though. 😐

[@zacknicley8150]

What do the alcohol contents of homemade beers like these end up like?

[@jameshaulenbeek5931]

@@zacknicley8150 typically quite low, but it depends on a number of factors; amount of sugar used, amount of time allowed to ferment, etc. Generally, bottle conditioned soft drinks have a negligible amount, like kombucha. This could potentially be in the low single digits. Again, depends on a number of factors.

[@edwardcawley4681]

My granduncle taught me to make malt liquor in a butter churn,with malt syrup and bread yeast.We bottled them up in 6oz glass coke bottles with a capping press! If you got in a hurry and bottled up before the yeast was through , things got LOUD in few days!Sometimes they explode on opening and hose the ceiling lol so we had a yard only opening policy! Do not know the 'proof' when finished but two of those lil'bottles would get you knee walking and climbing the grass lol.

[@mstaudacher]

Ed, can you share the recipe? it sounds quite interesting.

[@e.urbach7780]

I hope nobody was planning to make butter in that butter churn later! The butter would taste like malt liquor ...

[@chartle1]

"Sometimes they explode on opening and hose the ceiling lol so we had a yard only opening policy! " just happened to me and should know better my grandfather and then myself bottled our own root beer .

[@Witchy-Wonderland]

What an awesome memory, thank you for sharing 😊🍻

[@ChannonWW2214]

That's awesome story I can't wait to try some of my own good advice

[@allens4974]

I love making ginger beer and always like new recipes. One of the things I like about it is nothing goes to waste. If you take the pieces of ginger left over after boiling and coat them in sugar, they can be dried and make ginger candy out of them. I have even added the leftovers to ginger bread for a unique twist.

[@angeloortiz2769]

This man always flexing on us with the fits

[@scottgarver5432]

Sarsaparilla Root Beer would be really interesting to learn about!

[@mikehunt5859]

Birch beer is good too its probable that it is a similar process with a different ingredient replacing the ginger.

[@coolcat1530]

Sarsaparilla is banned in the US...FDA says it causes cancer.

[@Puffie40]

@@coolcat1530 I've also heard safrole, the carcinogen that is found in sarsaparilla, is also a precursor ingredient for ecstacy. However, it can be extracted from the sarsaparilla tea by chilling the tea down to near freezing.

[@wilfdarr]

@@coolcat1530 Really? It's been banned in Canada forever, so I'd buy a case every time I went south: haven't been able to find it the last few trips and was wondering why. Alcohol causes cancer too: too bad these things get out of hand sometimes. [edit: just took a good look around the interwebs and found that it was banned in the 70's and the stuff I was buying was never flavored with sasafras: it appears that it's just gone out of style more than any legal issue... Too bad: comparing it to root beer is more obvious than any Pepsi challenge in my opinion.

[@anthonymedina5186]

@@Puffie40 I thought to manufacture ecstasy they used the root ball from the sassafras tree. I understand that those trees only grow in SE Asia places like Viet Nam.

[@derekforde7164]

1 gallon Water 8 oz Molasses 8 oz Sugar 1 oz Powder Ginger 2 oz Fresh Ginger (diced or mashed) 1 Lemon (squeezed and zested) Step 1: Add all ingredients to a large pot and boil for up to an hour. Step 2: Let pot cool to blood temp, then strain and keep the liquid. Step 3: Add yeast of choice and let ferment at room temp for 12-16 hours. Step 4: Bottle fermented liquid and refrigerate or cellar immediately. Note: Sorghum is a great substitute for molasses. Its flavor is a cross between honey and molasses.

[@davidbostock6776]

Pastuerization temps are 160F - 180F. I once tried to get stronger flavor lemmon grass tea by boiling for a long time, maybe 20 minutes. The result was much weaker. My thinking, If you are using a thermometer, go to 180F, then allow to cool. If no thermometer bring to a boil, then allow to cool. Myself, I'd probably ferment 3 days on first trial to get rid of most of the sugar.

[@caseyoutdoors3897]

What is the percentage of alcohol after 1 to 2 weeks

[@tjj300]

@@davidbostock6776 Ginger beer is more of a soft drink, not an alcoholic beer. The "beer" part is mostly for the carbonation.

[@EthanPDobbins]

@@caseyoutdoors3897 id assume enough that you wouldn't want to drink a half dozen bottles any where between 1-6% depending on the yeast and how much it ferments. Id say no more than 3% if you fridge them like he says.

[@stevewolfe3214]

I would probably pitch the yeast at 70F to 80F - check the yeast packet. And keep your fermentation temp around 70F (no less than 65F) (no more than 85F) a stable temp is best, no swings from night to day. You can use a hygrometer to measure sugar and estimate ABV, but my guess is on a 3 day ferment, would be a max of 1% to 3% ABV. In Britian they let school children brew this probably with less sugar and wild yeasts. "Ginger Bug" mentioned above. Googling shows that 1 lb sugar is about 1045 OG (yet here we used molasses and sugar which would have less fermentable sugar than pure sugar) and since the brew is really sweet afterwards my guess would be 1020 FG

[@uweschroeder]

The lemon is there to brighten the flavor. It's a very old cooking trick. If you have ingredients with little acidity, you add something acidic (lemon, vinegar etc). Whenever your dish tastes flat or dull, a little dash of acidity will elevate the flavor and brighten things up. There's no need to add much - just a dash will do. Apparently they knew back then.

[@minuteman4199]

I always add a bit of lemon juice to tomato sauces. It makes them a lot better.

[@arthas640]

a small splash of white vinegar is really good in some soups, its good if you add vinegar or a vinegar based sauce to veggies on a sandwhich. the acidic cooking trick is why 90% of sauces have vinegar as one of the top ingredients

[@boggybb]

It also helps the yeast start fermenting better in a slihtly acidic environment and it can prevent unwanted yeasts or bacteria taking hold. In other items, the lemon jucie acts as a preservative, agajn the acidiy helps hold back unwanted yeasts and bacterias and then ruining your product

[@stonecutter2]

Also prevents scurvy.

[@karlsvensk393]

Yes, this is very typical in Asian cooking.

[@LlamaArmy]

I wanna find something, anything to be as passionate about as this man is with historical foods and food practices. He radiates happiness like Bob Ross, you can tell his life has purpose.

[@Serai3]

Every time I hear anyone talk about how great or nice or happy Bob Ross was, I practically burst a blood vessel. He was not what you think he was.

[@Lareya7]

@@Serai3 What was he then?

[@seanpadraigobrien1260]

@@Lareya7 a psychopath

[@nothlur]

@@seanpadraigobrien1260 source?

[@killerkarma3574]

@@seanpadraigobrien1260 Source or it's false.

[@stonecutter2]

Recreational brewer here. This recipe reminds me very much of a recipe for small beer from George Washington's notes before he became a general, from the early 18th century. I often used Lyle's Golden Syrup as it was similar to what first molasses/treacle was "back then." I found that in upscale fancy grocery stores. I believe the reason that the bottles don't explode (generally) is because the sugar content of these beers is so low that when the yeast runs out of sugar to eat, it stops producing CO2, and thus will not pressurize the bottle any further. The action fizzles out. Instead, it will just have carbonated the beer. If you want to avoid the potential of an exploded bottle, or a "gusher" (when you pop the cap/cork and the beer forcefully and mightily erupts out in a jet stream) you can simply let the beer ferment for a few days to a week, then when you bottle add a raisin or two (per the original recipe - or a pinch of sugar) for carbonation. The additional little sugar will wake up the yeast and make them produce some additional CO2 to carbonate...and you significantly lessen the chance of exploded bottles or gushers.

[@3nertia]

I think it's more to do with being under pressure, the CO2 that is produced dissolves more easily into the water in the beer at higher pressures, I believe. When you open it, it equalizes the pressure allowing the CO2 to rapidly expand inside the water and float away - with vigor!

[@popefacto5945]

A pound of fermentable sugars per gallon is far more than is needed for carbonation but you may be on to something. I've had ginger beer of slightly higher sugar concentration ferment completely in less than 24 hours. I used yeast nutrient, so that may have helped, but if the fermentation in this recipe is similar to what happened in my example, there may end up being *just* enough sugar left to carbonate the beer.

[@SepticFuddy]

​@@3nertia CO2 is also more soluble in water at lower temperatures, which is why the refrigerator was helping as Jon in the video said. It actually helps carbonate it better

[@3nertia]

@@SepticFuddy Temperature and pressure are correlated :)

[@3nertia]

@@SepticFuddy Increasing/Decreasing the pressure affects the temperature. Sort of how reducing pressure can make water boil at room temperature

[@michellecelesteNW]

I love how you explain how they made things but then how to actually make it for modern times. Thank you!

[@TheScratchingKiwi]

I have tried adding cinnamon and *nutmeg* to my home-made ginger beer using 50/50 white/brown sugar. It tasted like hot-cross buns in a glass.

[@5NAK08]

Oooh lordy!

[@ahiyahfrancis8039]

Wonderful episode. Can't wait to try it.

[@TheRealNormanBates]

How long did you let it ferment?

[@DiamondHedgehog]

Like I wrote too, I've used pumpkin spice, half tsp per gallon, no more, to spice ginger beer.

[@serenityrahn5656]

that sounds yummy!

[@stockvillain]

Scratch-made ginger beer has been one of my favorite culinary adventures. I used champaigne yeast, molasses, and some lime juice to get a flavor I really loved. I also doubled the ginger, because ginger is fantastic.

[@LisaMarli]

Stock Villain Oh, that does sound good.

[@VTPfirewolf1994]

That sounds delicious! I'm going to try that!

[@ti2gr475]

Can you put your actual recipe, please?

[@doommaker9813]

I’ve been trying to prefect my recipe to get it as close to crabbies as I can. 😉 I have the flavor down, but still missing the bite. I’ve used both fresh and powdered ginger, but it doesn’t leave that after taste spiciness I want!

[@GPGTman]

Would it hurt it to try putting some fresh ginger in the bottle to get the bite you're looking for?

[@macnutz4206]

A lot of people I have met who lived in the mountains of northern BC, made variations on the theme of green beer. Some of which were not bad. Most were better if bottled and aged in the root cellar. I was told by an old Polish fellow who made beer, wine, and vodka, that the big five gallon glass jugs he used would occasionally explode in the summer. We had no electricity, so no fridges. The Polish fellow even grew his own hops. His beer was the first beer I had ever had that contained no hops, at all. I was most surprised as I thought the hops taste was the normal taste of beer. I was surprised and had to learn to like some of it. Ginger beer, required no taste adjustments to like. He made wine from any eatable berries that grew in the mountains, especially black berries and goose berries. I don't care for goose berries but he made a very drinkable white wine from them. White with a slight green shade, very like the goose berries themselves. The European hermits up there were much better at booze making than the Canadian and American hermits and prospectors.

[@samuelwong6448]

Macnutz420 cool a fellow Canadian Hi from Quebec

[@chrisfryer3118]

the poles in england are pretty adept, i've seen ornamental cherries havested in towns for booze manufacture, plus end of market fruit throw outs etc. some fish the river for a freshwater fish takeaway, you allowed to take 2 fish in season, per day. i think it would be a pole, the last human on earth

[@GuntherRommel]

Hi from Northern Ontario!

[@macnutz4206]

Chris Fryer I was amazed at the things this fellow knew and or figured out how to do. Like my grand father the farmer, he never spent a single unnecessary penny on any thing and wasted nothing.

[@nyankosensey1531]

Duuuuude Lithuanians still do these drinks. It is mostly consider that you are an alcoholic if you make your own alcohol 😃😃

[@privateinformation9384]

I’m so glad I found your channel. Educational, fun, and keeping our rich history alive.

[@tomalexander4327]

Cookery with the possibility of explosions. Exciting!

[@Chad.Commenter]

I wouldn't feel like a manly man unless something I'm going can end in me losing a few fingers.

[@shelleynobleart]

Such a wonderful presentation, Jon and crew. So enjoyable it would be easy to miss how scholarly the translation of these old recipes are. Without the work of Townsends, only historians would know the actual ingredients.

[@NathanBenedict45]

I love ginger beer and I've made it at home before. One thing I usually add to the bach is one or two cloves. It really compliments the flavor!

[@jkrause365]

Cloves? Not NUTMEG? :-D

[@Krawurxus]

When I want to make fermented soda I usually start a Ginger Bug a couple days beforehand. Just finely blended (clean) fresh ginger, water and sugar. It'll take about 3 days to get nice and fizzy, and can then be added to the actual intended "Beer" to act as a fermentation starter. I'll then let it ferment in a large container at first before bottling it, so most of the carbonation will already be done and not pressurize the bottles unduly. After bottling it should be kept in the fridge since this slows the fermentation to a crawl and will stay good for months even when the bottles weren't sterilized beforehand - they just need to be scrubbed and rinsed thoroughly. And while these stoneware bottles look really nice glass bottles are way safer since they withstand the building pressure more readily.

[@gerardjones7881]

Bread yeast works great, plastic coke bottles work great. Unless you have a need to be a wanker.

[@SomePotato]

It's been a year, but what about pasteurizing the bottled beer by immersing the bottles in almost boiling water?

[@Krawurxus]

@@SomePotato You can do that, and that'll halt the fermentation process, all right. But you have to heat the whole bottle through to at least 60-something degrees for a few minutes to really be sure everything is dead. And ideally you want to filter your drink before doing so, or you'll still have a bunch of dead yeast in your fermented drink. And of course your bottle might crack or explode during this process. In my opinion, nothing you can make at home is worth the trouble, simply because it's so easy to just make a new batch. Just learn to not make more than you can use. For companies it makes sense for consistency, ease of distribution and shelf-stability, but they have giant industrial filtering and pasteurization systems, bottling systems and often then will re-carbonate their drink prior to or during bottling, simply because they don't need to pasteurize in the bottle, they can do so in a big vat. None of that is feasable at home. 🤗

[@SomePotato]

@@Krawurxus Yeah, sounds reasonable! Thanks! 🤗

[@Garrette63]

No rinse sterilizer for beer brewing is also very inexpensive. You can rinse your clean bottles in it and then bottle the beer without worrying about rinsing them out.

[@skottyg2279]

If you’re refrigerating right away, you’re “cold shocking “ the yeast. It goes dormant.

[@bigfatchubbybritboy9445]

Not necessarily, it just takes a lot longer to do its thing.

[@skottyg2279]

@@bigfatchubbybritboy9445 yeah, there will always be a little activity.

[@jonmo2694]

Yeah but it can still ferment slowly and build pressure, not alot though

[@dmacisaac9382]

We just cracked a bottle of this recipe :D got a little excited and didn't filter it as good as we should have but WOW ! We'll be doing it again :D

[@iambradfordj]

This is the only man that can bring me down to my peaceful place after the worst day of all time

[@rosemcguinn5301]

ikr My biopsy last Thurs was followed by a new Townsends video. Ahhhhhh relief

[@bobina05]

I thought I needed to watch something funny but this is working much better.

[@angelusnielson7135]

My thoughts are with you all. If I was a praying man I'd pray too.

[@RodCornholio]

Faith in humanity - restored! That's what I get from Townsends, too. It grounds and calms my soul.

[@phaneros8180]

new bob ross

[@efraim3364]

Ginger Beer, the pumpkin spice latte of its time

[@rosemcguinn5301]

YUM

[@BCandSL62309]

This comparison makes no sense to me.

[@efraim3364]

right over your head son

[@UtahSustainGardening]

I don't drink beer or coffee, but even I got it.

[@dechome4069]

Efraim 🇺🇸

[@zombirific1]

if anyone is curious about bread yeast for brewing, i'm currently brewing mead with bread yeast, and thus far it seems to be coming along nicely, the bubbles are still coming up so the yeast is still active about 3 weeks of fermentation. come around early December it should be almost done and i can update you all on its progress. Im new to the brewing community, so i would like to thank you, james, for a very well informative and easy to follow video. your videos are all very warm and welcoming, so thank you.

[@zombirific1]

so to make it a little less of a wait, im making 2 batches of this ginger beer, one with bread yeast and one with brewers yeast, its all been prepared the same way, just different yeasts. ill update you all tomorrow.

[@zombirific1]

sorry, i completely forgot. about the gingerbeer, there was no discernable difference between the bakers and brewers yeast. about the mead, it taste absolutely disgusting. i must have done something wrong. sorry for not getting back sooner.

[@CaptainSlowbeard]

gmzaka hope you didn't toss your mead. It can take more than a year of aging for it to be drinkable after primary fermentation is finished! It's possible it might have been infected or brewed too hot, but because honey has barely any nutrients compared to malt the yeast are more stressed than when making beer and its quite often just awful tasting while it's "green" (unaged). I have a few batches of meads and wines that I thought were undrinkable, that ended up fantastic just by long aging in the shed. Don't give up! Home-brewing is really rewarding, if sometimes quite frustrating!

[@edm5991]

I made several gallons of apple Mead with bread yeast years ago. At first it had a lot of off flavors to it. Honestly, it wasn't enjoyable to drink but after aging for about 10 months or so it was amazing.

[@NotThatBob]

You have to love a guy that gets excited about learning about and exploring our past. I love this stuff. Thanks OP and please stay so enthusiastic.

[@That1Guy741]

1:57 "the rising particles taken off at the Bung-Hole" 👌.

[@RazrBlayde]

I'm so glad other people noticed that. I was rolling for like 15 minutes.

[@doommaker9813]

I make ginger beer all the time. I’ve made it with just powdered, just fresh grated and a mixture of both. Using both gives you a much fuller flavor. Same thing with the lemon, it might not add a lot of flavor, but it taste much better with the lemon. It brightens it up so much. You can also add a small piece of rock sugar to each bottle instead of a raisin Champagne yeast works best for ginger beer. It gives it a smaller bubble. After you bottle it, make sure you refrigerate it or use bottles (I use the glass snap on ones) that you can release pressure on, I have had them explode on me before!

[@dimesonhiseyes9134]

Pro tip: go to an Asian market for fresh ginger it is usually far cheaper than most grocery stores.

[@e.urbach7780]

Also, many other whole fresh spices are cheaper (and fresher) at Asian markets than at regular Western supermarkets.

[@a_mustache_of_great_repute]

They sell it at the giant for like a dollar a pound

[@sleddy01]

You are a professional ginger buyer?

[@crazyeyes8962]

@@sleddy01 You need to be a professional to have common sense?

[@sleddy01]

@@crazyeyes8962 I am asking if 'pro tip' meant a tip from a professional. To answer your question, I am not aware of any prerequisites for common sense.

[@torianholt2752]

An episode about spruce beer would be very interesting I think.

[@AndrewDMth]

Torian Holt Spruce Beer is basically the same recipe. Just swap out ginger with young spruce tips. (Or keep some ginger for complexity.)

[@ChopAndBrew]

Hello from the future. Hahahaha. They just made a Spruce Ale video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iJivdJJ6h8llmck

[@spacemonk26]

I think one way you can prevent the bottles from exploding would be to take them after a day or two of fermentation in the bottle with the cap sealed, and then put them in a pot of hot water which is heated to about 120 - 150 degrees F. The water should go far up the bottles but not all the way up to the cap. Basically you can kill yeast at about 120 degrees F. If you heat up beer or anything w yeast in it past about 160 degrees then it will alter the flavor typically in a bad way. Probably in the olden days if they did this they would have watched the water in the pot to see when it started steaming and tried to hold it at that temperature, because that will be about 120 - 140 degrees. Thats a trick you can use for preparing mushroom substrate without a thermometer.. anyways that would kill the yeast while preserving the carbonation inside, just leave the bottles in water that temperature for like 30 min to an hour. The advantage of doing it this way would be to preserve as much sugar as possible in the brew without letting the yeast ferment it, so that the brew would taste sweet. After you ran it through this process it would no longer be able to ferment so should be shelf stable indefinitely, leave the top sealed on the bottles the entire time and should remain carbonated. This process will increase the pressure inside the bottle, but I've done it before with beer and apple cider in sealed glass bottles and they don't break. It will wear out rubber/silicon bottle tops though if you do this, but if you used corks w wires that should be usable indefinitely. If you use ceramic bottles like homeboy here then you want to make sure they are thick enough, through trial and error. Either way put a towel over the pot when the bottles are in the pot, to prevent glass flying everywhere if a bottle actually does explode. Btw you may need to wait longer than 1 or 2 days for initial fermentation in the bottle but depends on the ambient temperature they ferment at.

[@3IFMMedia]

I straight up just love this channel! Great content, one of my favorites.

[@raycycleit8311]

Now all you need is a pile of Scottish eggs and some mustard.

[@Tableaux15]

Now all you need is some ice, vodka, and lime juice and a nice copper cup to drink it from.

[@jonmacdonald5345]

Paul Ogea That's right Mule it up!

[@JC-xu1rc]

My wife loves ginger beer. This will be a good fall project for both of us to do together.

[@kevinbyrne4538]

During the Great Depression, my father's mom similarly made rootbeer.

[@RadicalMothering]

We *just* did this with a box of apples we were given. Boiled the apples for about 24h to get all of the flavor out of them and just used bread yeast. Worked perfectly!

[@KairuHakubi]

so cool! Thanks for doing all this research for our edification. This is really what history is all about just reading stuff and trying it yourself. After all we're never going to find a pristine cask of 18th century ginger beer so all we have is taking our own crack at it.

[@rnatodna]

You lost me at crack....haha joking. You're right though, we gotta take an idea an improve on it, or make it work with what's available.

[@ELMAGICOCREAMPUFF]

Loved it

[@troygardner1610]

standard fleishmans yeast works fine, not exact flavor but available most everywhere... just add dry leave at room temp

[@kingjames4886]

others have done the research if you look.

[@KevinSmith-gh5ze]

I use bread yeast regularly for cider. I've tried several champaign and wine yeasts and honestly I like the flavor I get from the bread yeast best.

[@joellewatkins5528]

In the past we would" burp" the ginger beer by letting out some of the pressure out. So the bottle would not break.

[@VashtiWood]

joelle Watkins I understand that buying let's the year work longer, thereby producing more alcohol.

[@phinxlion]

burping, yeast* for any confounded passers by.

[@osutuba]

@1337Sauce Watch "Moonshiners"; they still do this.

[@smileyhappyradio]

I love this channel, I hope no commenters ever stop the videos, this is my favorite channel on history, and living history. Your really making an amazing contribution to the world with this. Hope it just keeps going. I stumbled on this channel, after already being a history buff. I think it was a recipe that brought me here. I love ginger beer, and I really hope to try this sometime.

[@87Herzuki-jh1fe]

I have been entranced watching all the videos of making canoes, building bread ovens, etc etc. I watched ginger beer making just this morning, and watching again as I make my first batch. I make my own wine and bourbon and this will be my first batch of ginger beer. For my birthday, my 70th, I will be enjoying my first bourbon, which I made on my 69th birthday, and added oak char to enhance the flavor and ginger beer. Thank you so much, love your work.

[@ericvetter7382]

i love how happy he always is after tasting something. I wish I could be that happy just once.

[@Triumph2024.]

You can. Just get drunk on ginger beer.

[@kattymccabe7510]

I love your enthusiasm about history mr. Townsend, thank you for sharing your passion with us.

[@red240red2]

Love the positive energy in these vids it makes me feel great.

[@TDR85]

This man has helped people get through 2020

[@scottadler]

I like this guy. He knows what he's talking about and he appears to care about thinking viewers.

[@BiChengYi]

Thank you so much for the living history you create! We love you Townsends!!!

[@2sudonim]

That cultivar of lemon is super modern. The lemons they would have used during the 18th century would have been smaller, the size of key limes, and greener. They also would have been more sour and bitter.

[@jmkupihea7630]

Yeah, something like a citron or a buddha hand citrus would probably be more comparable.

[@PurestPosition]

This sounds absolutely refreshing and delicious. The more ginger the better!

[@sammonicuslux]

Man, you bring us the best recipes again and again...plus history. Heavenly.

[@jedwillis8311]

Greetings from Michigan! I want to thank you for publishing this recipe and video. After making some myself I keep it on hand at all times! I drink it every day and so do some other people in my family. It keeps us hydrated and strong. Thanks for bearing the torch of old arts like this! 🍻

[@kevinbyrne4538]

race = a ginger root ("race" dates from 15th century English < French "rais" < Latin "radix" (root) )

[@joebonsaipoland]

Kevin Byrne it’s so interesting how the word is been used in a negative connotation these days. Race just means the root of where you came from.

[@pluto8404]

@@joebonsaipoland and some ginger roots superior than others.

[@alvinmeeks5742]

I enjoy these videos, some remind me of my grandmother's cooking. Lord knows how i miss those days sad yes happy yes. Thank you Mr Townsend

[@williamrinehart5337]

I don't even watch a lot of these videos. Just listening to them in my pocket while I work. Still extremely pleasant and enjoyable.

[@lukirubio1111]

Lukas here, 25 from Germany, watching this in June 2023. I came to making ginger beer after enjoying the ginger beers at the market, trying to get it done by mself. I made it with a ginger bug, letting the yeast-bacteries in the ginger producing the yeast themselves. One bottle exploded (too cheap and too much sugar probably) but the result was pretty tasty. Need to try it with melasse and with more beautiful bottles like yours :) Love this fascination from you as the host and the video all in all. Thank you for this! Sunny greetings to you and your family.

[@bloodybonescomic]

Wow! This video culminates a voyage into the past that began for me about 6 years ago. It so happens that my wife and I love driving to small out of the way towns and perousing flea markets. Several years ago I bought a small collection of saltglaze ginger beer stoneware bottles. Some are monogrammed, English I believe. My research indicates that ginger beer used to be highly popular and many breweries made it. Now I know why. It was quick to make and I suspect most of the bottles were served in taverns, not taken home. I'm going to grow ginger this year and experiment. Some local sorghum molasses might be interesting too. Thank you for doing this!!!!

[@seaneager4147]

You said "pop" instead of soda and that makes me so proud.

[@frog8220]

One suggestion: list the amounts of the ingredients in the description, this makes it easier to copy them to a shopping list, especially for those watching on mobile

[@burgerking220]

Lazy.

[@tjj300]

@@burgerking220 It wouldn't take too much for them to do, so you're right, Townsend is lazy.

[@sharont3613]

He has said over and over that these old recipes tend to be very vague on amounts. Use your judgment.

[@ihgoldstein6274]

Mr. Townsend sir, I want to tell you how much I like your show and how much it helps at times a great stress, recently due to my son's being hospitalized I had a hard time trying to sleep and it's not that you're boring it's just that your voice is very soothing and you have a joy de vivre in your voice a joy in your voice when you speak and that is very relaxing and soothing almost like a lullaby and I listen to you making this drink which I'm very interested in making for myself; I found that I had the best short cat nap it felt like hours okay, I had not had sleep like that in days, so again a thank you for having such a personality that it literally comes forth not just in the way you make things, but literally through the media in a amazingly soothing comforting manner that is almost as comforting as the food or drink would be.

[@JW-yt7lr]

Grandmother always made Ginger Beer with molasses and brown sugar. The molasses has B vitamins and Iron, the lemon adds vitamin C.....Grandmother always said it was good for us and she was right...they knew stuff back in the day !!.....In winter she would add some cayenne pepper to the ginger to warm us up...certainly packs a punch !!........Don't discard the ginger shreds if you use fresh root ginger....boil them up with an equal weight of sugar and make Ginger Jam...delicious on toast, added to the mix for fruit cake or spoon into a mug and pour over hot water to make Ginger Tea, great for colds or soothing stomach ache and nausea .......food, drink and medicine all in one !!!

[@xjAlbert]

"Race Ginger" at 5:13 -- the French word for "root" is "racine" ʕ•́؈•̀ʔ

[@mjoakes]

Para español, “roots” son “raíces”

[@TheZinmo]

Yeast stops working, when the pressure is high enough. So if the bottles are really strong and really tightly closed, it should be possible to store ginger beer over quite a long time. I have a steel pressure barrel that does just that for cider. It starts fermenting just a little bit, and then stops. The cider is still sweet, nicely carbonated and has very little alcohol, at least in the beginning. It becomes a little stronger towards the end, though. ;-)

[@awaketogrey]

I wonder what the abv is for John's ginger beer..

[@JeffHokie]

awaketogrey probably pretty low

[@risdon34]

Bottles have been known to explode, which is referenced in this video. The yeast typically stops working when the food (sugar) supply is finished, or if environmental conditions (temperature, pH, etc.) exceed optimal values. Pressure isn't noted to be one of these values, thus the exploding bottle phenomenon.

[@preciousplasticph]

cindybin2001 boooo fun police! Puritan! Go back to the 1500's

[@NickBrianWalters]

If anyone likes a clearer beer, a old trick I use is adding in egg white(well mixed with some liquid) to the beer,before bottling, and letting sit for a day. Then you siphon off the beer, and you'll find many particulates will have fallen to the bottom of the fermenting vessel.

[@timothyehook4883]

Thank you for sharing that. That might be what grandma used for that awful dainlion wine for settling. She made wine out of everything. Man, there's a lot to know about this stuff.

[@wcourson11]

I have been making ginger beer for months, and now, I have to add some molasses. 1/2 molasses and 1/2 sugar! Thank you. I love your series and have been watching it for years. Great job!

[@crunchmunch5282]

When my Brother and I were kids, My Dad made a 20 gallon crock of beer in the garage. We gathered glass pop bottles and beer bottles, cleaned them with soap and water with bb's in the bottles to make sure everything was out. When it came time to bottle it, we used a plastic hose and siphoned it out into bottles and capped them with a bottle caper. they sat in cupboards in the garage and occasionally one would blow up. My brother and I would sneak out and steal beer once and awhile, once and awhile Mom and Dad would let us share a bottle. The bottles always had some leftovers in the bottom of syrup or something but everything above that was real good. I would like to get into some brewing again some day. Great video, brought back some memories.

[@1873Winchester]

It's traditional to use bread yeast in a similar drink in Finland called Sima, so I think bread yeast will work well.

[@anders3516]

For beverage yeast, I've used the mother from cider vinegar and it works well.

[@rights_vs_wrong1956]

Wow what a fascinating idea. Does it transfer any of the sourness as well? It sounds like it would make a fantastic sour beer yeast.

[@anders3516]

@@rights_vs_wrong1956 I use it regularly for kombucha and it works great. I can't compare it to other yeasts to know the flavor nuances, but I don't believe it adds sourness. Kombucha has its own set of bacteria and yeasts that makes it only lightly fermented. I then do a second bottle fermentation with a vinegar yeast for 2-4 weeks (along with a flavored syrup, including ginger syrup) makes it very carbonated.

[@mikemallon4620]

I'm gonna use this and mix it 50/50 with my mead recipe!!! Ginger mead for the win!

[@michelleloomis3076]

Thank you for what you're doing here. I'm watching this during the COVID-19 pandemic and the content is just so refreshing. Feels like a safe place.

[@davem5308]

Michelle, try to remember, during the covid19(84) plannedemic scamdemic, that there is NO pandemic. The true numbers do not compute to a "pandemic". It is all a demonic orchestration. Videos like this indeed get us away from the perpetual lies.

[@VynalG]

Didn't know I had any interest in old fashioned cooking until stumbling on your videos. Seen many describe you as the Bob Ross of cooking and I couldn't agree more. Keep up the good work

[@Rustman80]

Don't worry about the amount of yeast. It's going to multiply to consume as much as possible anyway. Overpitching might be a concern... maybe... if you're using an ale yeast that imparts a lot of its own flavors over time and needs that time and space to grow, but you can't overpitch that wine yeast. The excess will just die off and turn into a little more sediment.

[@TaisinViper]

Love the channel just a simple recommendation Safale US-05 yeast is a really good yeast due to how well it keeps the original flavors of the recipe you put together. Just a tip from a professional brewer keep up the good work 😀

[@JamesW81]

Im trying this next week with a Lalvin EC1118. I shall post results!

[@bradleyblock7540]

US-05 is so versatile. Very neutral and does a good job. Perfect for this.

[@jakehenning9483]

How long would something like this last in bottles?

[@jcash72]

The term "soft water" may have a german heritage. In germany, you speak of soft water if you have water with a low lime content. This doesn't affect the taste of the water very much, but it affects the taste of certain products you use the water for, i.e. if you use it to brew tea (or maybe your ginger beer).

[@UtahSustainGardening]

That has the same meaning in English, or did until commercial water softeners took the name and started adding sodium to it...

[@e.urbach7780]

I've found, in 18th century recipes, that "soft water" means either rain water (that you've strained and collected in a cistern) or water from a very clean, running brook or stream, but not well water (which has been sitting still long enough to absorb impurities and excess minerals from the soil).

[@jamiespiteri2094]

this channel is gold. I wish this guy had his own tv show

[@johnmichaels6794]

Always such a treat! Thank you, again!

[@user-charlieccchong]

John, thanks. I hope I have addressed you right. Great video.

[@BeerByTheNumbers]

Mmmm. Love a good ginger beer. My last homebrew used a lot of ginger and it came out great. Cheers!

[@seecanon5840]

Beer By The Numbers n

[@FallNights_EditsTM]

receipe pls , ginger beer

[@awacs337]

Have you ever thought of doing a partnership with PBS or even right here with KZbin Red? These videos are very high quality and entertaining.

[@beth8775]

Then we would have to pay for it. It would lower the audience.

[@thisguy7083]

Genuinely surprised that steer are over a million subs. Ofcourse the quality of the video and is downright stunning, but I’m very happy to see that so many people can appreciate history!

[@notchagrandpa8875]

I'm glad I found your channel, I only regret not finding it sooner, you've made many fantastic short films the story of Maggie was one of the best films I've watched on KZbin.

[@alexanderspiegel6999]

Hey man, I just found this channel and this is awesome! I love history and food and this is a great mix. Keep up the good work!

[@adreabrooks11]

I know I'm late to the party, but I thought I'd mention a couple of points: Regarding ginger: you may wish to finely grate the ginger root. This helps the flavour diffuse much more readily than from cubed ginger. In fact, I find it tends to be even more potent than powdered ginger - which often sits a long while on the store shelf before purchase. I often make ginger tea with root, grated on the sort of fine grater one might use for garlic or... you guessed it: nutmeg! Regarding the prevalence of lemons in the recipe: yeasts require a certain pH range (roughly in the area of pH 5.2 to 5.5), in order to remain healthy. During fermentation, pH levels rise, making the brew more basic/alkaline. Lemon is, of course, highly acidic - and also powerfully tasty. As such, a small amount could have a large effect on balancing the pH of a brew that is too basic. This extends the life of the yeast in the brew - making a more strongly alcoholic beverage. Since beers were often used to make dodgy water drinkable, having a higher alcohol content was important for sanitation. On the same note: the raisins in the older recipe likely were a pH consideration as well - but they bring the pH up, if it is too acidic. Putting this in when the brew is bottled ensures that the yeast culture is dead, and prevents the bottles popping their stoppers from further fermentation - as you mentioned: refrigeration (apart from cellars) wasn't really an option for them. Of course, the pH scale wasn't formalized until 1909 - but they knew adding lemon made for a longer-lived fermentation and, therefore, stronger brew - and, likewise, that raisins reduced the longevity.

[@firespark7092]

Bit late myself, but you have the ph scale backwards. A low number is more acidic and a higher number is more basic. So lemon juice would lower the ph.

[@adreabrooks11]

@@firespark7092 Haha! Thanks for the correction; I don't know what I was thinking. 😅 I've corrected my original comment for accuracy.

[@ezekielbrockmann114]

The purpose of the raisins are to know when its ready. We use them in Finland, too! Raisins absorb the liquid/yeast mix but are more sugar- dense than the liquid that surrounds them. Through glass, watch the raisins. It's obvious. You'll know. And you'll save your bottles from breaking and won't lose all your "hard" work to spillage!

[@thomasdahlgren1985]

Why weren't the bottles exploding in the 18th century? They were mostly making small beer - ie. weak beer - so starting with much less fermentable material (starch, sugar). They weren't making this for high alcohol content they were making it for potability and shelf stability. Also their palates were not as accustomed to sugar like ours are, so a little sweetness went a long way. Also generally speaking yeast that die from starvation yield a lot less problem congeners (ketones, aldehydes, etc.) than yeast that die from alcohol toxicity.

[@1776Spirit]

I also value these presentations. My PA roots go all the way back to the 1600s. The simple recipes are truly wonderful

[@RRinTN]

In my alcohol makings I learned that the yeast die off as the alcohol level increases. Most yeast varieties die off at around 12%-15%. There are a few special yeasts made for moonshine and liquor that can get up to 24%.

[@lesterventure6248]

This channel is a wholesomeness overload. That is not a complaint.

[@MikeMaduxx]

Why? Does there have to be an "edge" or something "unpure" with everything in your universe? sad..

[@lesterventure6248]

Try reading the whole statement gatekeeper.

[@mendozarick65]

I love Ginger!! Mary Ann was really cute also!! Lol But seriously thanks for the video, it was very informative!! Go Townsend's!!

[@gregkientop559]

I love the brewing episodes. The magic of yeast fermentation has deeply affected nearly every human culture. It is a springboard of nutrition, often one of the safest things to drink, and led to the cooperation of folks in dedicated ways that many see as the seeds of civilization itself. You convey knowledge, experience, and your passion so well. Cheers!

[@bababo0oey297]

It's 8 am. I have been awake for 16 hours. I have watched like 5 of these videos. I can literally cook a grilled cheese sandwich, that's it. I have no complaints.

[@Wakefar]

I'm super late to the party on this one but I love making ginger beer, I mean I got a batch finishing off atm. If you wanna make a super simple batch at home I've got a recipe. 1 pound of ginger (grated) 2 pound of sugar (I like it a little sweeter and a bit more alcoholic) 1 lemon 1 gallon of water A bit of your preferred yeast about a tablespoon or so (if your in a pinch bread yeast will work just fine, just don't use instant or quick acting yeast) Bring your water to a boil and then add your ginger and lemon (sliced in half) and let boil about an hour to make a strong ginger tea basically. Take it off the heat and add your sugar, mix until dissolved, and let it rest till it's at room temp. Remove a cup of your ginger tea and add your yeast to it, give it a mix and let your yeast activate for about 10 minutes. While that's going strain all of the solids from your main batch and give it a taste, it's gonna be super sweet but trust me if you can get past that the taste is gonna tell you a lot about how the final product is gonna turn out. Add the yeast and tea mix to the rest of the batch and let it do its thing. Give it 4 days to a week to ferment and your done. If you are using a yeast with an higher alcohol tolerance higher than 4 to 6 percent (bread yeast users should beware that it's tolerance can fluctuate between like 4 - 12 percent) go ahead and pop it in your fridge after 4 days to stop fermentation and keep your brew chilled so it doesn't kick up fermenting again, unless you like really realllly dry drinks. Cheers!

[@mzdmaloy1313]

Thanks!

[@wilfdarr]

Thanks for posting. I can't get brewing yeast here, so you gave me confidence to try the bread yeast... And yes I may experiment with getting it a bit dryer 😉

[@belvederebaileycambodia]

Fresh Ginger Root here in Australia is $45 per kilo.... so one pound of ginger gonna cost about 22 bucks, lol

[@Pekopekope]

@@belvederebaileycambodia You should look up growing it yourself, its a tropical plant, in a greenhouse in australia would be perfect.

[@noonedude101]

@@belvederebaileycambodia $30 for a gallon of beer is pretty darn cheap...