Homemade Ginger Wine Recipe (East Indian Style, Ready in 2 Weeks)

Homemade ginger wine is a light and refreshing drink for celebrations or regular days in. Using ginger root we make this spicy wine in 2 weeks and add a few optional ingredients for different flavors.

In my culture, making wine at home is a skill handed down from generation to generation. Using old ceramic jars that we call barnis, the ginger wine is made through a simple but regular process of stirring and straining over a two week period. The wine can be made in a shorter time frame, say 3 to 5 days. But to get the extra kick, we let it ferment longer.

So, to be clear, ginger wine is a homemade fermented drink made from fresh ginger root, sugar, water, lemon, and yeast. Unlike commercial ginger beer, it has a gentle warmth and a natural spice from the ginger. This is my family’s recipe, made the East Indian way, and has been in the family for generations. (With a few tweaks from yours truly included.)

Also, this is an old fashioned ginger wine recipe, so we don’t use citric acid, or campden tablets, or acid blends, or hydrometers or any other modern equipment. The wine tastes a lot better when it’s made the way our ancestors did, maybe even the way people in Jesus time did. Natural homemade ginger wine! Or not, maybe he just has natural grape or raisin wine. 😉

This ginger wine is a version of the traditional wine that I’ve modified quite a bit to lessen the sugar while maintaining the strength. It’s as easy as making my homemade chili wine.

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What do you need to make ginger wine at home?

Ginger root of course! And some sultanas or raisins, yeast, lemon juice, sugar and water. We also add optional flavors at different times – lemon skins, orange zest, or dried chillies.

How to Make Ginger Wine

Before we get to the nitty gritty details, here’s the simple summary of how we make our tasty ginger wine at home.

1. Peel and crush fresh ginger root.
2. Add it to the cermamic jar along with raisin, lemon, water, sugar, yeast, and optional spices .
3. Let it ferment in a covered jar for 14 days.
4. Strain, bottle, and rest for at least a few days before drinking.

The Full Steps to Make Homemade Ginger Wine

Please make sure it is legal to make homemade wine in your city or state before you try out this recipe.

Start by sterilizing your equipment – ceramic jars, demijohns, wooden spoons, etc – by washing them with boiling hot water.

Next, wash and clean the ginger. Then bruise it well with a pestle and add it to the demijohn or ceramic jar along with the lemon juice.

Cover the ginger with your sugar and raisins / sultanas. It doesn’t make a difference if you use raisins or sultanas. Both are good yeast nutrients and help you make a stronger wine. The only difference will be in the color of the wine you make. You’ll find a pic later in the post where we’ve made wine using only black sultanas or raisins. It’s a darkish brown. But if you use red raisins or sultanas you’ll end up with a bottle of clear sparkling ginger wine. You can also skip the raisins or sultanas altogether, but then you’d have a wine that’s only about 3% to 5% strong.

Next, set aside about 100 ml of water to proof the yeast. Top up the ceramic jar with the rest of the water to make 4.4 litres. Proof the yeast with the 100 ml of lukewarm water add it to the barni (ceramic jar).

Alternatively, if you’re sure the yeast is active, you can just top up the jar to 4.5 litres of water and throw in the yeast. There’s no need to proof it. I’ve found that SAF Levure and DCL yeast are those type of yeast, so I use these quite often.

Use a wooden spoon, stainless steel spoon, or food grade plastic spoon to stir the must every day for the first week.

In this version, we used lemon skins for a light fruity flavor. At other times, we’ve used orange skins or dried kashmiri chillies. You can see that on the second day the must was fizzing wildly. I had taken a video to share, but all I could hear in it was the family talking about mustard chicken in the background. So no sharing this time. I’ll try to make another video the next time we make a batch of wine.

After stirring the wine for 7 days, leave it alone for 7 more days. Then strain the wine through a muslin cloth and bottle the wine. Wait for a few weeks before you drink the wine. If you can’t wait, the wine is perfectly good to drink immediately too! Go ahead and have a taste!

This pic above is of the ginger wine we made using only black sultanas. You can see the earthy brown color. It’s still cloudy because it’s just been racked. But give it time to rest, and it’ll be a clear brown colour. It’s usuually a must add to Aunty’s Easter lunch planning menu.

The pics below are of the ginger wine we made using red raisins that was racked for a few weeks using a quarter teaspoon of baking soda. The clarity is amazing. Doesn’t my sister’s black and white picture below it look amazing?

Download & save the PDF with our Ginger Wine recipe, notes and tips for just $1.99

Tips and Tricks to Make Ginger Wine

• Use black raisins or sultanas if you want a reddish wine, use red sultanas or raisins if you want a clear wine. 
• You can use Indian yeast brands such as Blue Bird or Crown, but I prefer using stronger yeast such as the French Saf Levure or DCL Yeast.
• If using wine yeast, 1 sachet (7 g) of wine yeast should be enough. Just follow the instructions on the packet.
• Add lemon skins or orange skins for a light fruity flavor. If you want wine with a spicy kick, use dried kashmiri chillies.
• Rerack the wine after 2 weeks or a month to remove the dregs. That means, change bottles and get rid of that stuff that settles at the bottom.
• The longer you leave the wine to rest after making it, the better it tastes.
• In case you want to give it a go, our reader Lynn tried the recipe using organic ginger juice and says it turned out pretty good too! (Just make sure there are no additives in the juice.)

Download & save the PDF with our Ginger Wine recipe, notes and tips for just $1.99

What to Make With Your Homemade Ginger Wine

Once your ginger wine is ready, it’s a great spicy drink to enjoy. But if you want something cooling, here are three easy ways to serve it as a summer spritzer. All three use the chawni, the traditional East Indian wine glass of roughly 30 to 45 ml, as your measure. Multiply by however many glasses you’re making; a whole pitcher is always a better idea than just one!

1. Ginger Wine Soda

45 millilitres Ginger Wine + 200 millilitres Soda + 3 Ice cubes

The simplest version. Pour a chawni of ginger wine into a tall glass, top up with about 200 ml of cold soda, and garnish with a few thin strips of fresh ginger. Add ice if you like it extra cold.

The alcohol softens nicely when mixed with soda, so it’s a good one to serve to guests who find straight ginger wine too strong. You can also make this with lemonade instead of plain soda for a slightly sweeter drink – it’s the homemade version of a Spanish Tinto de verano, just with ginger wine instead of red.

2. Ginger Wine Lemon Spritzer

Pour a chawni of ginger wine into a tall glass, add cold soda to fill, then squeeze in a few drops of fresh lemon or sour lime. Garnish with a slice of sourlime on the rim, and that’s it! Or make it for two by using 90 millilitres Ginger Wine + 400 millilitres Soda + 10 drops Sourlime or Lemon Juice.

The citrus cuts through the sweetness of the ginger wine and gives the drink a lovely sharp edge. If you don’t have soda, 7Up, lemonade or Sprite work just as well and you can skip the lemon juice.

3. Ginger Wine Lime and Mint Spritzer

The most cooling of the three – this is the one for a proper Bombay summer afternoon, just as cooling as some Dahi Vada. Pour a chawni of ginger wine into a wide glass, top with cold soda, add a few drops of lime juice, and crush a small handful of fresh mint leaves between your palms before dropping them in.

The measurements are as follows: 45 millilitres Ginger Wine + 200 millilitres Soda + 5 drops Sourlime or Lemon Juice + 5 Fresh Mint Leaves.

The crushed mint brings out the ginger beautifully. Add ice if you want it extra cold; sometimes we use plastic ice cubes so the drink doesn’t get too diluted.

Bonus Tip: I’ve had quite a few questions about making the wine last minute and making it faster for Christmas and other family dinners. If you’re in a hurry and wish the wine was ready quicker for a celebration or dinner or even for Christmas, here’s what you can do. Follow all the steps till day 7. On day 7, kill all the yeast and stop the fermentation process. Do this by adding adding half a teaspoon to a full teaspoon of baking soda to the entire batch and leaving it alone. The next morning, bottle the wine and it’s ready to serve. It won’t reach the 8% to 15% that we usually do, but it will reach a decent 4% to 8% and everyone will still love it!

Questions about making your own Ginger Wine

Can We Use Any Other Fruits Instead Of Ginger?

Yes, you can use any other fruits, but you’ll need to double the amount. So for 500 grams of ginger, use 1 kg of pineapple or strawberries or any other fruit.

Can We Skip The Raisins And Sultanas?

Yes, you can skip the raisins and sultanas, but the alcohol content of the wine might be a few % weaker than this one.

Can I make a non-alcoholic ginger wine?

We’ve been asked about making non-alcoholic ginger wine, and that is absolutely possible. My Aunty Mariette makes Ginger Pop or The Other Thing as we call it, which is a traditional name for ginger wine made without fermentation. The name also has it’s roots in the prohibition era, and hence was called the Other Thing. You simply boil about 500 gms of bruised ginger, 2 kg sugar, and the juice of 4 lemons with 5 litres of water and about 25 grams of cinnamon and cloves. Let it boil for an hour till it’s syrupy and then store in bottles. This drink can be had plain or with soda. You’ll find Aunty Mariette’s recipe in our Gourmand Award winning book Jevayla Ye.

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