Carbonate Your Own Ginger Ale

I found this recently while going through some papers from high school - something we did in a bio lab. It was actually pretty tasty. Here is the intro: "Fermentation has been used by mankind for thousands of years for raising bread, fermenting wine and brewing beer. The products of the fermentation of sugar by baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (a fungus) are ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide causes bread to rise and gives effervescent drinks their bubbles. This action of yeast on sugar is used to 'carbonate' beverages, as in the addition of bubbles to champagne). We will set up a fermentation in a closed system and capture the generated carbon dioxide to carbonate our home made ginger ale. You may of course adjust the quantities of sugar and/or extract to taste. Note that the lemon called for in step eight is optional. And if you want a spicier drink, you can increase the amount of grated ginger. As with any yeast fermentation, there is a small amount of alcohol generated in the beverage (about 0.4%)". Credit on the page is to: http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser/Cheese/Cheese.html

• Ready In: 24 hrs 30 mins
• Serves: 4-6
• Yields: 4-6 glasses

Ingredients

• 1  cup  table sugar (cane sugar, or sucrose)
• 1 1⁄2-2  tablespoons  grated  fresh gingerroot
• 1  lemon, juice of
• 1⁄4 teaspoon  fresh granular baker's yeast
•  cold fresh pure water

Directions

1. For equipment, you will need a clean 2-liter plastic soft drink bottle with cap (do not use glass as there is a risk of explosion),
2. a grater (preferably with fine "cutting" teeth, and a funnel.
3. Put the sugar into the bottle using the funnel. (Leave the funnel in place until you are ready to cap the bottle.).
4. Add baker's yeast, also through the funnel.
5. Shake to mix the yeast grains with the sugar granules.
6. Place grated ginger into a Pyrex measuring cup or similar.
7. Juice a whole lemon. Lemon is optional, giving a little tartness to the ginger ale. Try it both ways to see which you prefer.
8. Add the juice of a whole lemon to the grated ginger in the measuring cup. Stir to form a slurry.
9. Add the slurry to the bottle. It may stick in the funnel. Don't worry, the next step will wash it into the bottle.
10. Rinse containers with fresh clean water, and dump the water into the bottle, trying to wash any particles sticking to the funnel into the bottle.
11. Fill the bottle to the neck with fresh cool clean water, leaving about an inch of head space, securely screw cap down to seal. Invert repeatedly to thoroughly dissolve sugar.
12. Place in a warm location for 24 to 48 hours. (Do not leave at room temperature longer than necessary to feel "hard." The excess pressure may cause an eruption when you open it, or even explode the bottle!).
13. Test to see if carbonation is complete by squeezing the bottle forcefully with your thumb. If it dents in as in the picture, it is not ready.
14. Once the bottle feels hard to a forceful squeeze, usually only 24-48 hours, place in the refrigerator. Before opening, refrigerate at least overnight to thoroughly chill. Crack the lid of the thoroughly chilled ginger ale just a little to release the pressure slowly. You do not want a ginger ale fountain!
15. Do not leave the finished ginger ale in a warm place any longer than the time it takes for the bottle to feel hard. Leaving it at room temperature longer than two days, especially in the summer when the temperature is high, can generate enough pressure to explode the bottle. Once it is thoroughly chilled, there is little danger of explosion.
16. Filter the ginger ale through a strainer if you find floating pieces of ginger objectionable. These are found in the first glass or two poured, and, since most of the ginger sinks to the bottom, the last glass or so may require filtering too. Rinse the bottle out immediately after serving the last of the batch.