Kitchen Chemistry - Fizzy ginger beer

In our five groups we all made a 1.5L bottle of ginger beer. There were two different recipes that were used, so each group had to carefully read their recipe to see which ingredients were needed and what to do step-by-step

Yeast warming and activating

Regen and Josh prepare the lemons for their group

Izack being super-careful not to grate any fingers!

.... and more lemon grating and squeezing!

Emma stirs the mixture to make sure it is all blended together

Chaleece stirring. Photographer Mia trying to capture the moment.

Time to consult the recipe again. Rylee measuring the yeast carefully.

Mac's little sister Mia helping out his group.

Looking more and more like ginger beer

Everybody participating and contributing

More great teamwork in action!

TEAMWORK in action - evidence of everybody PARTICIPATING AND CONTRIBUTING!!!

Time to get the ginger beer strained and bottled.

Bottled, named and waiting for the ginger beer to develop it's 'fizziness'. We now await the taste test......

The science behind Ginger Beer......
In a ginger beer mixture you have sugar and yeast. The yeast uses the sugar to make energy.As the energy is made so is carbon dioxide.Carbon dioxide gas dissolves into the liquid - the water and makes the water fizzy.This process is called fermentation and is the same process that’s used to make things like beer and wine.
The carbon dioxide causes the pressure inside the bottle to increase which makes the bottle feel tight and hard.When the lid is opened the carbon dioxide gas forms bubbles that rush to the top of the ginger beer to escape out of the bottle neck into the air.

What’s wet and hisses like a snake? A fizzy drink!!

TASTING......

Fortunately we decided to open the ginger beer bottles outside rather than in the Food Technology room because....... although the first bottle was opened without incident, the second bottle, when it's lid was twisted, fizzed and exploded and squirted in a 2 metre radius! It continued to fizz and squirt for a couple of minutes, and when the lid was finally released, there was only about one third of the ginger beer remaining in the bottle, the rest having showered the quad and anyone close by.

Everybody had a taste, which was met with mixed reactions. Some enjoyed the taste while others were not fans. Some students suggested that we should have strained the ginger beer before bottling (which was in one of the recipes), as there were a lot of bits floating in the drink.

Ginger Beer Recipe

This is for a 1.5L plastic bottle

2T warm water

1/2 t sugar

1/4 t dried yeast

1 cup sugar

juice of 2 lemons

rind of 2 lemons

1t - 2t dried ginger

Put first measure of sugar in warm water to dissolve. Add yeast and stir. Place in warm place to start working.

1. Finely grate 2 lemons and place in a heatproof bowl with the 1 cup of sugar and the dried ginger.
2. Pour over 1 cup of boiling water and leave to steep for 10 minutes.
3. Stir.
4. STRAIN into a 1.5L plastic bottle in which the ginger beer will be made.
5. Top up the bottle with cool water to near the top.
6. Add the yeast mixture to the bottle.
7. Cap the bottle tightly.
8. Tip up and down to mix thoroughly.
9. Put in a warm place. Leave until the bottle becomes undentable. Depending on the yeast this can take anything from 12 hours to 3 days, but it is best to check regularly, as there is the risk of explosion!
10. Refridgerate until thoroughly chilled.
11. Open carefully outside!