Homemade ginger beer is worlds away from the sugary stuff in cans: fiery, fresh and made from real root ginger. This is a properly non-alcoholic version, with the fizz coming from sparkling water rather than any fermenting, so there's nothing to worry about and nothing to go wrong.
You make a strong ginger concentrate, then top each glass up with sparkling water to taste. The recipe is below, with more on what makes it fizz underneath it.
How to Make Ginger Beer: A Non-Alcoholic UK Recipe
Makes About 500ml concentrate (8 to 10 glasses)
Prep
10 min
Cook
20 min
Total
30 min
Makes
About 500ml concentrate (8 to 10 glasses)
Ingredients
Ginger concentrate
To finish each glass
Method
- 1
Put the grated ginger, sugar, water and salt in a pan and bring to a gentle simmer.
- 2
Simmer for 20 minutes, pressing the ginger occasionally, until it's syrupy and intensely gingery.
- 3
Take it off the heat and leave to infuse and cool for at least an hour. The longer it sits, the stronger it gets.
- 4
Strain through a fine sieve, squeezing the pulp to get every last drop.
- 5
Stir the lemon or lime juice into the cooled concentrate, then taste and adjust: more ginger for heat, a little more sugar if it's too sharp.
- 6
To serve, pour a splash of concentrate over ice, top up with chilled sparkling water, stir once, and add a sprig of mint.
Cook’s notes
- This is genuinely non-alcoholic: the fizz comes from sparkling water and there's no yeast or fermenting, so it's safe for children, in pregnancy, and for anyone avoiding alcohol.
- Real ginger is the whole point, so don't reach for ground ginger. Leaving the skin on adds depth.
- To dial the kick up, use more root ginger and infuse it hotter and longer; to soften it, strain sooner and use white sugar.
- Taste the concentrate before you dilute it. It should be slightly too strong and too sweet on its own, because the sparkling water tones it right down.
- Keep the concentrate in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to two weeks, and shake it before use as the ginger settles.
What you’ll need
- Small pan
- Coarse grater
- Fine sieve
- A jar or bottle for the concentrate
Troubleshooting
It's not gingery enough.
Next batch, use more root ginger and infuse it hotter and for longer before you strain it.
It tastes flat and dull.
Add more lemon or lime. The acid is what makes it taste like ginger beer rather than just ginger syrup.
It's too sweet and sickly.
Cut the sugar and lean on the ginger and citrus, and dilute with more sparkling water per glass.
It loses its fizz quickly.
Only add the sparkling water at the moment of serving, and keep both the concentrate and the water fridge-cold.
The ginger heat is uneven.
Give the jar a good shake before pouring, as the strongest ginger settles to the bottom of the concentrate.
More about ginger beer
What makes it fizz. Carbonation is just dissolved carbon dioxide. You can get it two ways: from a bottle of shop sparkling water, which is instant and completely alcohol-free, or from yeast eating sugar inside a sealed bottle, which is slow and produces a little alcohol as a by-product. This recipe uses sparkling water, so it stays properly non-alcoholic.
Why we don't ferment it. The old, traditional way to carbonate ginger beer was to let wild yeasts ferment it in the bottle, but any sugar-eating fermentation makes some alcohol, usually under one per cent. Topping a strong concentrate with sparkling water gives you all the fizz and punch with none of that, which is why it's the method we use here.
Where the kick comes from. The warming heat is from a compound called gingerol in fresh root ginger, which turns to an even punchier one when heated. More ginger and a hotter, longer infusion means more of it, so the fieriness comes from the ginger itself, not the sugar.
Beer or ale. Traditionally, ginger beer was fermented and ginger ale was just flavoured fizzy water. A still concentrate topped with sparkling water sits happily between the two, and it's the freshest, simplest way to make a proper gingery drink at home.
Frequently asked questions
Written by
UK Homesteading Team
Editorial team
The UK Homesteading editorial team, offering UK-specific, evidence-led guidance on growing, keeping, preserving and the law.
