I’ve been tinkering with a ginger ale recipe on Jack Schmidling’s site. It’s nice having something other than water or beer to drink at home; here’s my current version for 2.25 gallons:

• 5oz ginger root (2.2oz per gal)
• 4.25 cups unrefined cane sugar (1.9c per gal)
• 2.25T vanilla extract (1T per gal)
• 1/4t champagne yeast, rehydrated

The cane sugar was a nice improvement over plain table sugar as it has a good caramel flavor. My process is:

• Get water & sugar boiling
• Peel & chop ginger, boil in a saucepan for 20 minutes to extract gingery goodness
• Puree ginger stew & add to pot
  • Perhaps I should puree first and then boil for better extraction?
• Cool to 70F and strain through cheesecloth and pitch yeast