Making homemade ginger ale is nearly work-free, relying on yeast to ferment the mixture, thereby creating carbonation and fizz. The ginger ale is great on it’s own, or feel free to infuse other flavors into it. Serve it at room temp, chilled, over ice, or as the mixer for your favorite cocktail.
I rarely drink soda but if I do, I love ginger ale.
There’s something about it that just makes me feel better and more settled if I’m feeling a little off.
On airplanes, it’s a must-have. And when I was pregnant, I lived on it, along with saltines.
When I saw Lindsay’s May Kitchen Challenge to make your own, I jumped on board.
I love a good DIY challenge and make everything from homemade peanut butter to vanilla extract to mustard to hot fudge, and figured why not ginger ale.
It’s very simple to make and almost a work-free recipe, the best kind.
Make a simple syrup with water, sugar, and freshly grated ginger. Pour the strained simple syrup into bottles filled with tap water, lemon juice, a pinch of active dry yeast, shake, and let it sit on your counter for two or more days.
The yeast ferment the mixture and in the process, carbon dioxide (carbonation) is created, otherwise known as fizz.
It’s no where as fizzy as storebought ginger ale, but I didn’t expect it to be like cracking open a fizz-tastic can of Diet Coke. I knew from brewing homemade kombucha that it’s not the norm to have a fizz-fest.
You can ferment longer than two days, and in the process, more fizz will be created. You’ll also be closer to creating ginger beer, rather than ginger ale. As days pass in the fermentation process, the yeast eat any available sugar, create sugar alcohols as a byproduct, the beverage becomes less sweet, and contains more alcohol.
The mention of it containing alcohol comes with a huge caveat because there’s more alcohol in a few tablespoons of vanilla extract than in a glass of ginger ale or kombucha. And a swig of cough medicine has far more alcohol than any of them.
I largely adapted an Alton Brown recipe and although it’s really good, it doesn’t taste like commercial ginger ale, such as Canada Dry or Schweppes. It reminds me of sake with rice wine undertones. I feel like I’m in a sushi restaurant when sipping it. If you like sake, you’ll love this stuff.
I was expecting more of a ginger pop, because I used slightly more ground ginger than Alton called for, but it was still quite mild. If you’re a ginger fiend and love really intense ginger, you could likely double the grated ginger amount.
It would be strong, and far more intense than commercial ginger ale, yet addictively pleasant. Spicy food and food that has natural heat makes me want more once I have a taste.
I can envision infusing the ginger ale with other flavors, from rose water to lemon zest to vanilla stevia. There’s almost nothing off limits, depending on the flavor profile you’re going for.
How cool will it be when you have guests over and you can ask them if they’d like some homemade ginger ale. Or tell them their cocktail was mixed with homemade ginger ale. They’ll confuse you for Martha Stewart.
Bottoms up.
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Homemade Ginger Ale
Ingredients
- 1 ½ ounces finely grated fresh ginger, I used almost 2 ounces, about 1/3 cup, it’s very juicy and wet
- 6 ounces granulated sugar, about 3/4 cup
- 7 ½ cups water, almost 2 liters or 2 quarts
- ⅛ teaspoon active dry yeast
- 2 to 4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, I used 4 tablespoons
Instructions
- Combine the ginger, sugar, and 1/2 cup water in a 2-quart saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat, cover, and allow to steep for 1 hour.
- Pour the syrup through a fine mesh strainer set over a 2-cup measuring cup with a pour spout (makes it easier to transfer). Press down to really get all of the juice out of the ginger. It’s very juicy and keeps releasing even when you think it’s done, so be sure to really press it out well. Discard ginger solids or use for something else.
- Pour the syrup into a clean 2-liter bottle (I used two one-quart glass jars (each quart holds 4 cups).
- Add the yeast, lemon juice, and remaining 7 cups of water. (Because I used 2 jars, each jar got 1/16th teaspoon yeast and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice)
- Cap the jar(s), gently shake to combine, and leave the jars at room temperature for 48 hours. Open and check for desired amount of carbonation. After 48 hours, my mixture was nicely fizzed, but I let it continue to ferment for another two days (4 days total) to develop more fizz and in the process, it takes on more of a ginger beer than ginger ale flavor.
- Once you achieve desired amount of carbonation and flavor, refrigerate the ginger ale, which dramatically slows the rate of fermentation, thereby slowing the amount of carbonation created.
- Because my ginger ale was quite foamy at the top of the bottle with yellow specks from the lemon juice, I skimmed them off before serving over ice.
- Store airtight in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Alton suggests opening the bottle at least once a day to let out excess carbonation, however I have gone 3 days without opening the refrigerated bottles with no adverse effects; use common sense.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Related DIY Recipes:
Homemade Kombucha (also here and here) – I drink some kombucha almost daily. It makes me feel alive, better, and healthier overall. It’s loaded with more probiotics ounce for ounce that just about anything else and I love the taste
Vegan Coconut Milk Kefir– (Countertop No-Cook Recipe) – Kefir make with coconut milk is my favorite kind. It has the flavor profile of coconut milk yogurt, with just a slight tang, in liquid form
Homemade Horchata (Vegan, GF, Soy-Free) – Make on in blender and ferment on countertop overnight
Homemade Baileys Irish Cream – Make in blender in literally 30 seconds and it’s a dead-ringer for the real thing
Homemade Honey Roasted Butterscotch White Chocolate Peanut Butter – My favorite peanut butter ever, and it takes 5 minutes to make
10-Minute Homemade Hot Fudge (GF) – Better than any storebought I’ve ever had and so easy
Homemade Vanilla Extract – Costs pennies on the dollar to make, and it’s essentially work-free
Do you like ginger ale? Ever brewed or fermented something?
Favorite thing to make at home and DIY?
Oh, how I love ginger ale and ginger…everything! Thanks for sharing this great recipe, Averie. Oh, if you love ginger…I hope you’ll check out my recent Cinco de Mayo recipe for Coconut Ginger Lime Margaritas. The simple syrup starts with coconut water, sweetened with agave nectar and infused with fresh ginger and whole black peppercorns. A new tasty twist! Pinning your Homemade Ginger Ale to group board! xo
I have been wanting to try making ginger ale for a while! I sounds like great fun!
I LOVE ginger ale. If I could only have one kind of soda the rest of my life, that would be my pick. I have done a “homemade” version MANY years ago (10 maybe?) by making a ginger syrup and then mixing it with soda water, but never a real fermented version like this. I’ve been into making water kefir lately (with the water kefir grains and all that) and I usually add ginger to it when I drink it.
I am all about fermenting stuff and DIY everything that I can. As long as it is cost and time effective, I’m gonna DIY. DIM? Whatever.
You know we dont get ginger ale in India, so a big thanks for sharing this recipe. :)
I love this SO much. My husband is a HUGE ginger ale lover and I honestly never thought to use yeast to get the ferment and fizzle. What a wonderful idea and I LOVE this challenge! Fantastic!
I’ve always wanted to try this, I bet it tastes incredible. I’d make a Dark ‘n Stormy with it :)
And I don’t even know what that is…but I think I want one!
Cool. Jason loves ginger ale. It’s been sooo long since I’ve had it actually. I remember liking it as a kid until I had it too often when I was sick – basically sick a lot so I was given lots of ginger ale and/or 7-up. So now there’s that fun association!
Oh god girl that’s horrible! I feel the same way about pepto-bismal. Even SEEING those pink bottles for me is an instant nausea-inducer!
Great challenge and good job executing it! I’ve never thought to make my own ginger ale!
I am super interested in your kombucha posts – somehow I’ve missed those! My husband and I were just talking last night about how much we spend on kombucha (we both drink it almost every day, if not every day), and that we should try making our own. I’ve heard it can be complicated with climate, bacteria, etc. though? Heading over to your posts now to check it out!
It can be tricky to get it started but once you do, and get on a cycle of brewing, it all works itself out. Anytime you’re dealing with yeast and active cultures the initial stages are the most critical and then after that, the yeast/culture is a lot more forgiving. happyherbalist.com a GREAT resource!!
And I read a comment you let on another blog that you’re doing a cleanse right now…you just did one. Girl you’re amazing!
Thanks for the tips and the site recommendation! I may try my luck at it this summer when school’s out and I have some time to concentrate on projects like this. And, yes I did a 1-day cleanse yesterday! So much easier than the 5-day, haha!
What fun! My memories of ginger ale always involve sickness. That was our preferred beverage when we were sick in bed as kids. Maybe it was just our way of getting ginger ale!
I love making fresh ginger juices! I usually just blend ginger with lemons or limes in water. never thought about adding yeast. Is it me or can ginger get very addictive?
Yes, the more you have, the more you want :) Same with spicy food. I mentioned this in the post!
we love ginger ale! Cool!
So cool that you made your own ginger ale! I saw Lindsay’s challenge too, but I am not a fan of ginger. At all. I wouldn’t know what to do with all the leftover ginger pieces!
I wouldn’t know what to do with all the leftover ginger pieces! <-- they're a tiny ball of mush after making the simple syrup and considering it was about 23 cents worth, it went right into the trash :)
I’m really interested in trying this. I’m kind of the same way about pop, I rarely drink it and if I do its usually ginger ale when I have an upset stomach. I’m not a fan of the huge sugar content (and fake colouring….yours looks so natural!) that’s in the store bought brands and I hate the aspartame in diet. Never considered making it myself but now that you’ve posted it I’m wondering why not! I noticed you said it’s not as fizzy and I really like that too. Thanks Averie!
Glad you enjoyed & that you may try it!
I’m not really a soda drinker either, but I love the idea of making homemade ginger ale without all the added sugar and other additives of the store bought kind.
What does using yeast add to make it different? I wonder if you could use a smaller amount of regular water just to get the flavors/melt the sugar and then mix with club? Hmmm. Might try this!
If you don’t add the yeast, it would be hard to get the carbonation and the taste of the ALE in the ginger ale. It adds that telltale flavor.
“could use a smaller amount of regular water just to get the flavors/melt the sugar and then mix with club?” — yes and you’ll get ginger club soda. Not ginger ale, if that makes sense. Close but not quite the same but there are so many ways to go with it, really can’t go wrong!