Blood, Water and Ginger Beer

So my ginger beer experiment has continued, with quite positive results so far! Many friends have been surprised at how tasty each batch has turned out, the very first was way too sweet however so I had have half the amount of sugar. The taste is much more balanced with the fire of the ginger now. I currently have 4 gallons of the stuff on my kitchen table that will have brewed for a week as of tomorrow evening... but I only have enough plastic bottles to decant half of it! I will have to plead to my friends and family tomorrow to raid their plastic recycling!

My swimming routine that has been keeping my crafting experiments at bay has continued. Swimming has seriously reduced the time I have to commit to more creative things outside work, however my energy levels have increased so I'm hoping to get my creative routine back in order too. Baby steps.

Finally I gave blood last Thursday for the 10th time, this means I have achieved a bronze award, its only a little certificate and a badge but it’s an important thing to do and I feel most proud to be making the effort. Also happy as I delivered a pint in less than 5 minutes, my previous donation last November was underweight as the vein collapsed so was most determine to deliver this time (not that one is in control of their veins!).

I am going to spend some time this evening designing and maybe stitching some felt Easter egg decorations, similar to the Xmas ones I attempted previously. Might even try and convince my mum to pop over with some ricrac with a bribe of a cuppa. Anyone else making anything nice/edible ready for Easter?

Ginger Beer Experiment

Goodness I have not meant to leave it so long since my last post... I have terribly busy doing nothing very much crafty or experimental! In fact I have mostly been going swimming a lot, and it doesn't seem to leave much time for anything else after work.


I did manage to get round to bottling up some elderberry wine from last year mind. A total of six and a half bottles. Not all are visible as they have been drunken haha!










Two weeks ago I bought something very exciting from eBay, I waited patiently for it to arrive... it was a small packet of dry ginger beer plant! I had been doing a little internet searching for a ginger beer recipe last month and was coming up short, but I was determine to make some as nothing much is in season and I have 8 empty demi-johns. I mentioned it to my dad and he said they use to use a ginger beer plant when he was a kid.... now before I checked good old wikipedia I was extremely confused as to what this actually was! Its simply a yeast culture found naturally on ginger and since getting my hands on some I have fed it sugar all week and then made it up with water, lemon juice and more sugar into one demi-jonh.

 So there it is a gallon of lashings of ginger beer!

Well in  another 5 days that is... next weekend I shall be making two gallons (as you split the culture into two and feed it more), will be experimenting with making a dry version me thinks.

This weekend is going to be dedicated to some crafting, projects to finish include my sock Cheshire cat and two half made monkeys. Projects to start are too numerous to list but hopefully posting on here will get my act together a little!

See you next week (hope the ginger beer hasn't exploded by then!).