I'm sure this has nothing on the type of ginger ale that you let carbonate by itself--that stuff sounds fabulous. But if you want a neat drink without 2 weeks of letting it bubble away, here's a quick and quite tasty way to go about it.
Homemade ginger ale in a (sort of) jiffy:
Make a simple syrup. (2 parts sugar to one part water) While it's bubbling away on the stove, put a bunch of peeled fresh ginger (or candied ginger) in a bowl with a bit of water, and pop it in the microwave enough to soften it. Then dump it into your food processor (or sturdy blender) and whiz it with a bit of water into a medium paste.
(Alternately, if you can find a ginger-only paste in the herb section, you can just use that. Make sure it's not the Indian version with salt and vinegar added!)
Add the ginger paste you just made to the simple syrup as the sugar is working on dissolving. When it's done, put the ginger syrup you just made into the fridge and cool it down. Once cooled, (assuming you didn't use the smooth ready-made paste) strain the ginger bits out of the syrup, mashing them about to get more liquid through. Save the ginger mush in the fridge or freezer for adding to gingerbread or ginger cakes--mmm!
Add the syrup to carbonated water for a lovely, fresh tasting ginger ale with just enough real ginger bits floating in it to make it interesting.
Soothes overheating on hot summer days, and tummy aches.
