Low Sugar Ginger Beer - Stevia Sweetened

Ok, I have been attempting to brew my own beer and soda recently.That said, I have been fed up with artificial sweeteners, like Aspartame (NutraSweet), Sucralose (Splenda) and Saccharine (Sweet and Low) for a long time now, and have turned to alternatives. Otherwise known as Blue, Yellow, and Pink packets. If in a pinch, I will use Saccharine, I feel it is the lesser of evil of the three (even if a rat got cancer from eating 50 metric tons of it). However, being a diabetic, and liking sweetened drinks, I have turned to Stevia, an all natural sweetener that does not raise blood sugars.

http://www.stevia.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia

Well, I love Ginger Beer (nothing like a Dark and Stormy), but you cannot find it without sugar unless you want to pay $6-8 a 6 pack for it in a health food store (come on, I can get decent sixer of beer of that price). Then it is generally made with carbonated water (I like to use sugar with yeast to ferment, and if done right, the yeast will consume all the sugar).

I did an experimentation that resulted in a low sugar (it did not raise my blood sugar, but actually lowered it. I need more empirical evidence, but it could be the cinnamon in it, known to lower blood sugars). The drink had mild carbonation and is still sweet (note, yeast and sugar do make alcohol, but it is so low in this stuff, you would have to drink a gallon to feel any effects).

The recipe is below in 2 parts. The first is the actual recipe; the other is the bottling technique. I would suggest preparing the bottles prior to boiling your brew.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 lbs of fresh ginger peeled and grated (this is the most labor intensive, intensive).
• 1 gallon of water
• zest of 2 key limes
• juice from 6 key limes
• 10 cloves
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 1/2 table spoon of ground cinnamon
• 3/8 cup of sugar (for priming - i.e. carbonation)
• 3/4s teaspoon of bakers yeast (you could use brewers yeast, but that is expensive)
• 4/40th of a teaspoon (the measuring spoon came with the Stevia)
  

Steps:

• Mix ingredients (EXCEPT YEAST) in a large stock pot and bring to a boil for about 25 minutes. This will result in a fragrant brew.
• Cool your brew touch on the side of the pan (I submerged in an ice bath in the sink to quicken the process).
• Now "pitch" your 3/4s of a teaspoon of yeast. It is important to not put anything not sanitized into the brew at this point, so I sort of shook it around. You could sanitize a spoon by boiling it with the brew for stirring later.
• Using a strainer and funnel (sanitized with the bottles), pour into your sanitized bottles. Note: Do this in the sink, b/c unless you can judge how much is in the funnel, and you will make a mess. Next time, I plan to use a siphon tube.

Sanitation of bottles might not be important, but I used San Star in the sink (I repurposed Red Stripe Jamaican Lager bottles, it seemed appropriate for Ginger Beer) just to be on the safe side. I had made a batch before with only washing the bottle with water, and I ended with what could only be called sweet "swamp water".

Note, you can use bleach, two table spoon to 1 gallon of water to sanitize, then rinse with clean water (note, don't use scented bleach). If you go the bleach route, let the bottles soak for 30 minutes (commercial sanitizers are like 30 seconds, but are expensive. I buy it for beer making, so it was on hand).

Cap up your bottles and go (I have a capper, but you could use plastic screw cap soda bottles, make sure you sanitize the caps!). Now they are capped, put them some where for about 10-12 hours so they can "ferment" (make it fizzy). I put mine in the bath tub, in case I got "poppers" (the mess is much easier to clean there).



Sooo... today I had a Ginger Beer and it was perfect, and tonight a Dark and Stormy is on the menu!

~Jeffrey