There will be a sediment of grated ginger and yeast at the bottom of the bottle, so that the last bit of ginger ale will be carry ginger fibers. Decant carefully if you wish to avoid this sediment. Filter the ginger ale through a strainer if you find floating pieces of ginger objectionable. These are found in the first glass or two poured, and, since most of the ginger sinks to the bottom, the last glass or so may require filtering too. Rinse the bottle out immediately after serving the last of the batch. Here is a link that might be useful: Homemade Ginger Ale

Sure, it's 100% vinegar brine so you can reduce the sugar as much as you want. Of course, at some point you're just going to end up with pickled peppers, so if you don't want sweet at all, why don't you just start with a pickled pepper recipe? You can even do just *some* sugar and end up with sort of a bread and butter pickled pepper. Here's just one - NCHFP has many vegetable pickle recipes, you can always sub hot peppers for sweet (in same amount/weight, obviously not count) if a bell pepper recipe looks interesting. The Joy of Pickling has a lot of pepper recipes too. Here is a link that might be useful: Pickled peppers

I had a lifelong addiction to sweets. I knew it often did wicked things to my blood sugar levels (and my weight), but I wasn't motivated to deal with the issue until it was pointed out to me that my dangerously high triglycerides were caused by excess carbohydrate consumption. Apparently "excess" is a relative term, depending on the person in question. I was taking in more carbs than my body could handle. I didn't wean myself off sugar. I couldn't stop smoking that way, and I couldn't give up sugar that way. I was highly addicted to both, and the only way I could stop either was cold turkey. I can relate to your feelings of depression...I was in a bad mood for weeks (maybe longer), but when I reached the point where I was no longer craving sweets it felt sooo good! In the beginning I couldn't even think about life without ice cream or chocolate, so I had to concentrate on "one day at a time." Now, almost nine years later, I'm not even tempted. I keep ice cream in the house for other people, and when I dish it up I don't even lick the spoon. I've had to be really strict about this, though. While I occasionally indulge in other kinds of carbs--bread, etc.--candy, cakes, etc., are absolutely no allowed. Not even a bite. It's the only way I can be free of cravings, and it's well worth it. Incidentally, I haven't substituted artificial sweeteners. I can't tolerate Nutra-Sweet, I don't trust Splenda (it tastes way too sweet to me anyway), and I like to eat foods as close to their natural state as possible. When you don't eat "sweets," it's amazing how many foods taste somewhat sweet on their own. Best of luck! Susan

Whenever I go to a TJMaxx or Marshall's I do a quick scan of their food aisle to check for crystallized ginger. They often have tins of the "Ginger People" brand at about half the price I pay at our local specialty food store. It's usually moist and flavorful. The jars in the spice aisle at the grocery store are crazy expensive and there seems to be as much sugar as ginger in them. What's worse is the puny ginger pieces are tough as gravel. I've bought some in a pinch, but try to keep the better, more reasonably priced, stuff on hand.