On Wednesday, July 5, 2000 at 8:00:00 AM UTC+1, Colin Heyburn wrote:
Dear Sir,

We are having considerable trouble locating or finding out anything about an
" ale plant." Suffice to say we are unsure as to the correct spelling of the
name but we know that it has a yellow flower that is kept in a jar and is
fed on brow sugar and water. It was used for centuries as a cure for
hangovers. I am reliably informed that the plant would grow in the jar. It
was also very common in Ireland hence why the good cure for hangovers. The
plant also cured the thirst in the summers.

If you have any ideas I would be very grateful if you could pass them on,
and if not, well thank you for your time.

Yours

Colin Heyburn

I can remember my Father growing an ale plant many years ago.
It was a mystery to us then as it is now!...Someone gave him the plant, and i can remember he put it in a large glass sweet jar, and he filled it with water, and i have no idea how it tasted, but it looked like ale! with brown unpleasant looking substance on the bottom of the jar.....we were always told to "never go near it for any reason"...So all i can say is, that it did exist, but i am afraid i can not solve the mystery.....By the way, i am from Northern Ireland so.,..

Chris Hogg wrote:

At the end of the week, the water was strained
off, diluted, possibly a little more sugar added, and bottled in
screw-top bottles. After a few days it was very nice fizzy ginger
beer.

In the 70's we too had a ginger beer 'plant' one year dad took a dozen
Corona bottles of it with us on holiday to Cornwall, stood in the bottom
of the wardrobe of the caravan ... I'm sure you can all guess how that went?

In the 70's we too had a ginger beer 'plant' one year dad took a dozen
Corona bottles of it with us on holiday to Cornwall, stood in the bottom
of the wardrobe of the caravan ... I'm sure you can all guess how that
went?

I can!

We passed one of our plants on to my grandfather. Making ginger beer
was too be his very first "hobby" (apart from some genteel horse-race
gambling and visiting the casino in Nice.)

He followed all the instructions, stored the bottles for a few weeks to
allow the ginger beer to mature and invited the family found to a grand
tasting. We assembled in the lounge and Grandpa took a bottle from his
elegant cocktail cabinet. He eased up the cork ... and column of liquid
rose a good 12 inches above the bottle before falling onto Grannie's
brand new mushroom-coloured carpet.

Nearly apoplectic, Grannie uttered the oft-remembered and shocking line
"Frank! Get that ... BLOODY thing out of here!" It was the only time I
ever heard Grannie swear.

--
Jenny M Benson
Wrexham, UK

On Sat, 28 Dec 2019 08:01:57 +0000, Chris Hogg wrote:

On Fri, 27 Dec 2019 17:05:21 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

On Wednesday, July 5, 2000 at 8:00:00 AM UTC+1, Colin Heyburn wrote:
Dear Sir,

We are having considerable trouble locating or finding out anything about an
" ale plant." Suffice to say we are unsure as to the correct spelling of the
name but we know that it has a yellow flower that is kept in a jar and is
fed on brow sugar and water. It was used for centuries as a cure for
hangovers. I am reliably informed that the plant would grow in the jar. It
was also very common in Ireland hence why the good cure for hangovers. The
plant also cured the thirst in the summers.

If you have any ideas I would be very grateful if you could pass them on,
and if not, well thank you for your time.

Yours

Colin Heyburn

I can remember my Father growing an ale plant many years ago.
It was a mystery to us then as it is now!...Someone gave him the plant,
and i can remember he put it in a large glass sweet jar, and he filled
it with water, and i have no idea how it tasted, but it looked like ale!
with brown unpleasant looking substance on the bottom of the jar.....we
were always told to "never go near it for any reason"...So all i can say
is, that it did exist, but i am afraid i can not solve the mystery.....
By the way, i am from Northern Ireland so.,..

When I was a kid, my mother 'grew' a ginger beer plant on the kitchen
windowsill. It was simply a jam-jar of water with a soft spongy lump
of yeast in it about the size of a golf ball, that was 'fed' daily
with a teaspoon of sugar and a teaspoon of powdered ginger. As the
yeast consumed the sugar, the gas generated caused the yeast ball to
float to the surface. At the end of the week, the water was strained
off, diluted, possibly a little more sugar added, and bottled in
screw-top bottles. After a few days it was very nice fizzy ginger
beer. The lump of yeast in the jam-jar was divided and one half either
thrown away or passed on to someone else, and the whole process
re-started. If you didn't know anyone with a 'ginger beer plant' you
could start your own simply with yeast, sugar, water and ginger. I
don't know if it was brewers yeast or bakers yeast; whatever was
available, I guess.

Whether a 'ginger beer plant' as here described is the same as a
'ginger ale plant', possibly abbreviated to an 'ale plant' I don't
know, but it wasn't a plant in the conventional sense, and certainly
didn't have a flower! There's some discussion here
http://tinyurl.com/wud6t6q

Indeed. Once one person had one, there was more at the end than at the
beginning. Like the famous chain letters of the 60s, it all eventually
fizzled out (excuse pun).
The sound of exploding bottles could be heard for miles, but it tasted OK.
--
Jim S

Chris Hogg wrote:

If you didn't know anyone with a 'ginger beer plant' you could start
your own simply with yeast, sugar, water and ginger. I don't know if
it was brewers yeast or bakers yeast;

Apparently the 'true' ginger beer plant is not just yeast, but a
symbiotic mixture of a particular rare yeast and a bacteria ...

https://www.gingerbeerplant.net/about.html

You can buy starter kits there, though rather against the original
spirit of the GBP, you're not allowed to give it away.

On 28/12/19 01:05, wrote:
On Wednesday, July 5, 2000 at 8:00:00 AM UTC+1, Colin Heyburn wrote:
Dear Sir,

We are having considerable trouble locating or finding out anything about an
" ale plant." Suffice to say we are unsure as to the correct spelling of the
name but we know that it has a yellow flower that is kept in a jar and is
fed on brow sugar and water. It was used for centuries as a cure for
hangovers. I am reliably informed that the plant would grow in the jar. It
was also very common in Ireland hence why the good cure for hangovers. The
plant also cured the thirst in the summers.

If you have any ideas I would be very grateful if you could pass them on,
and if not, well thank you for your time.

Yours

Colin Heyburn

I can remember my Father growing an ale plant many years ago.
It was a mystery to us then as it is now!...Someone gave him the plant, and i can remember he put it in a large glass sweet jar, and he filled it with water, and i have no idea how it tasted, but it looked like ale! with brown unpleasant looking substance on the bottom of the jar.....we were always told to "never go near it for any reason"...So all i can say is, that it did exist, but i am afraid i can not solve the mystery.....By the way, i am from Northern Ireland so.,..

Hmm. You are replying to a message so old that even Howard Knight can't
find it!

--

Jeff

Chris Hogg wrote:

Not convinced by the image, which looks like coarsely crystalline
sugar.

videos elsewhere show the 'grains' rising and falling as they carry CO2
to the surface of the fermenting vessel, I don't remember the one we had
doing that, it was just a fine beige "silt" in the bottom, that was
stirred up at the start of each batch and had sugar, lemon juice and
powdered ginger added.

It would seem that 'alcoholic ginger beers' are made by the
traditional method, using the yeast/bacteria combination. Crabbies is
one such, apparently. Unless they sterilise it or micro-filter it, I
would have thought there would be enough traces of the 'plant' in such
GB so as to be able to start your own, with a little patience.

Might be an interesting experiment, but teh internet variously suggests
it is flash pasteurised or cross-flow filtered

In article ,
Andy Burns wrote:
Chris Hogg wrote:

If you didn't know anyone with a 'ginger beer plant' you could start
your own simply with yeast, sugar, water and ginger. I don't know if
it was brewers yeast or bakers yeast;

Apparently the 'true' ginger beer plant is not just yeast, but a
symbiotic mixture of a particular rare yeast and a bacteria ...

https://www.gingerbeerplant.net/about.html

You can buy starter kits there, though rather against the original
spirit of the GBP, you're not allowed to give it away.
Nuts. That's about as likely as the claims that true bread, sourdough,
ale or lager yeast is something in particular. When made in open
conditions, such mixtures evolve to be whatever is appropriate for the
particular location, feedstock and growing method.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Nick Maclaren wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

Apparently the 'true' ginger beer plant is not just yeast, but a
symbiotic mixture of a particular rare yeast and a bacteria ...

Nuts. That's about as likely as the claims that true bread, sourdough,
ale or lager yeast is something in particular.

Kew gardens seemed to agree [archived article]

https://web.archive.org/web/20121021090019/http://www.kew.org/plant-cultures/plants/ginger_food_ginger_beer_plant.html

When made in open conditions, such mixtures evolve to be whatever is
appropriate for the particular location, feedstock and growing
method.

Yes, I'm sure all manner of organisms would 'want' to incorporate into
the plant if it was conducive to them, but the claim seems to be that
Saccharomyces pyriformis and Brevibacterium vermiforme are the
characteristic pair.

In article ,
Andy Burns wrote:
Apparently the 'true' ginger beer plant is not just yeast, but a
symbiotic mixture of a particular rare yeast and a bacteria ...

Nuts. That's about as likely as the claims that true bread, sourdough,
ale or lager yeast is something in particular.

Kew gardens seemed to agree [archived article]

https://web.archive.org/web/20121021090019/http://www.kew.org/plant-cultures/plants/ginger_food_ginger_beer_plant.html

From the text of those, they derive from a common source (and possibly
one derived from the other). I have seen Kew publish myths before,
too.

When made in open conditions, such mixtures evolve to be whatever is
appropriate for the particular location, feedstock and growing
method.

Yes, I'm sure all manner of organisms would 'want' to incorporate into
the plant if it was conducive to them, but the claim seems to be that
Saccharomyces pyriformis and Brevibacterium vermiforme are the
characteristic pair.

In the samples he looked at, probably - and quite possibly they were
commonly dominant - but I doubt very much that any real research has
been done on the distribution of populations. And, certainly, such
plants were started from baker's or brewer's yeast - which is what
most households had to hand in the 18th and 19th centuries.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 28/12/2019 10:32, Jenny M Benson wrote:
Nearly apoplectic, Grannie uttered the oft-remembered and shocking line
"Frank!Â* Get that ... BLOODY thing out of here!"Â* It was the only time I
ever heard Grannie swear.

I tried making some ginger beer when I was young. (Not alcoholic enough
to be dangerous) First batch was good. Second was a bit iffy. Third
batch - well, I unscrewed the top in the kitchen, one of those old screw
into the bottle type I haven't seen in years.

As I broke the seal a jet of foam left the bottle and hit the kitchen
cupboards several feet away. I don't recall it being a parabola either -
just flat...

My mum wasn't pleased

Andy

On Thu, 2 Jan 2020 17:40:46 Vir Campestris wrote:

On 28/12/2019 10:32, Jenny M Benson wrote:
Nearly apoplectic, Grannie uttered the oft-remembered and shocking
line "Frank!* Get that ... BLOODY thing out of here!"* It was the
only time I ever heard Grannie swear.

I tried making some ginger beer when I was young. (Not alcoholic enough
to be dangerous) First batch was good. Second was a bit iffy. Third
batch - well, I unscrewed the top in the kitchen, one of those old
screw into the bottle type I haven't seen in years.

As I broke the seal a jet of foam left the bottle and hit the kitchen
cupboards several feet away. I don't recall it being a parabola either
- just flat...

I think a lot of us have done that. In my case, it hit the ceiling and
did a very good imitation of sweet, sticky rain.

My mum wasn't pleased

My daughter wasn't pleased but, bless her, although she was just
leaving, she stopped to clean everything up.

David

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK

On Fri, 03 Jan 2020 15:46:03 +0000, David Rance wrote:

On Thu, 2 Jan 2020 17:40:46 Vir Campestris wrote:

On 28/12/2019 10:32, Jenny M Benson wrote:
Nearly apoplectic, Grannie uttered the oft-remembered and shocking
line "Frank!Â* Get that ... BLOODY thing out of here!"Â* It was the only
time I ever heard Grannie swear.

I tried making some ginger beer when I was young. (Not alcoholic enough
to be dangerous) First batch was good. Second was a bit iffy. Third
batch - well, I unscrewed the top in the kitchen, one of those old screw
into the bottle type I haven't seen in years.

As I broke the seal a jet of foam left the bottle and hit the kitchen
cupboards several feet away. I don't recall it being a parabola either -
just flat...

I think a lot of us have done that. In my case, it hit the ceiling and
did a very good imitation of sweet, sticky rain.

My mum wasn't pleased

My daughter wasn't pleased but, bless her, although she was just
leaving, she stopped to clean everything up.

David

There is a skill associated with opening screw top bottles holding home
made ginger beer.
It can take several minutes of gently easing the screw top just a little
undone and then tightening it again before the foam rushes out.
With a lot of practice you can even get the ginger beer out without
stirring up the sediment too much.

Allegedly

Dave R



--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

On Sun, 5 Jan 2020 16:34:25 David wrote:

On Fri, 03 Jan 2020 15:46:03 +0000, David Rance wrote:

On Thu, 2 Jan 2020 17:40:46 Vir Campestris wrote:

On 28/12/2019 10:32, Jenny M Benson wrote:
Nearly apoplectic, Grannie uttered the oft-remembered and shocking
line "Frank!* Get that ... BLOODY thing out of here!"* It was the only
time I ever heard Grannie swear.

I tried making some ginger beer when I was young. (Not alcoholic enough
to be dangerous) First batch was good. Second was a bit iffy. Third
batch - well, I unscrewed the top in the kitchen, one of those old screw
into the bottle type I haven't seen in years.

As I broke the seal a jet of foam left the bottle and hit the kitchen
cupboards several feet away. I don't recall it being a parabola either -
just flat...

I think a lot of us have done that. In my case, it hit the ceiling and
did a very good imitation of sweet, sticky rain.

My mum wasn't pleased

My daughter wasn't pleased but, bless her, although she was just
leaving, she stopped to clean everything up.

David

There is a skill associated with opening screw top bottles holding home
made ginger beer.
It can take several minutes of gently easing the screw top just a little
undone and then tightening it again before the foam rushes out.
With a lot of practice you can even get the ginger beer out without
stirring up the sediment too much.

Oh certainly and I am an expert at that (definition of an expert: x is
an unknown quantity and spurt is a drip under pressure). However this
was just a starter which I'd left a bit long and therefore I wasn't
expecting it to be fizzy. I just didn't have my mind on it.

My French neighbour gave me a tip for preventing bottled (home-made)
cider from fizzing all over the place when the bottle is opened. Fill it
right to the top so as to exclude any air. It works!

The problem with that ginger beer starter was that the bottle was less
than half full!

David

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK

On Saturday, 28 December 2019 01:05:22 UTC, wrote:
On Wednesday, July 5, 2000 at 8:00:00 AM UTC+1, Colin Heyburn wrote:
Dear Sir,

We are having considerable trouble locating or finding out anything about an
" ale plant." Suffice to say we are unsure as to the correct spelling of the
name but we know that it has a yellow flower that is kept in a jar and is
fed on brow sugar and water. It was used for centuries as a cure for
hangovers. I am reliably informed that the plant would grow in the jar. It
was also very common in Ireland hence why the good cure for hangovers. The
plant also cured the thirst in the summers.

If you have any ideas I would be very grateful if you could pass them on,
and if not, well thank you for your time.

Yours

Colin Heyburn

I can remember my Father growing an ale plant many years ago.
It was a mystery to us then as it is now!...Someone gave him the plant, and i can remember he put it in a large glass sweet jar, and he filled it with water, and i have no idea how it tasted, but it looked like ale! with brown unpleasant looking substance on the bottom of the jar.....we were always told to "never go near it for any reason"...So all i can say is, that it did exist, but i am afraid i can not solve the mystery.....By the way, i am from Northern Ireland so.,..

I can remember my aunt having ones the were little sponge like growths that you fed with sugar. I remember their destinctive taste. While they were active and feeding on the sugar they sat on top of the water then after the sugar had been absorbed they snk to the bottom that was when it ws ok to dring the processed water. I loved that drink.

Marie Shetland