#ginger bug

PALLAS this took me forever to answer bc I wanted to do it right. I was gonna take pictures of my process but I fear I'd never get it done. To make ginger ale you need to first make a ginger bug, which is to ginger what yeast is to bread. If you're a visual learner you might prefer this youtube video. Otherwise here are my steps: (I am a very lazy and thrifty person so I rarely go out of my way to buy fancy equipment. Don't feel pressured to buy fancy things! Just use what you have!)

You will need: a bottle¹, nice generous knob of ginger, sugar², AND THAT'S IT!

wash the bottle. boiling is optional if you can be bothered but the ginger bug is so resilient i have tortured it muchly and yet it persists.

we have stared 5 days ago with jar of water, sugar and minced ginger and ive been adding a tablespoon of sugar and ginger every morning to keep the fermentation up. today its time to pour it into bottles and we chose orange and tangerine juice as a base, added the bug portion and if done right we will have homemade soda in 3 days :D

As an Australian living in Italy, there’s nothing I miss more than an ice-cold bottle of ginger beer. Despite the name, this drink is non-alcoholic, but it’s slightly spicy and absolutely addictive.

This ginger beer is fermented with wild yeast that is created with a 'ginger bug' so the carbonation is all naturally brewed. Much like a sourdough starter, as long as you keep the ginger bug alive, you can continue to make ginger beer all summer long.

It can take a bit of planning, but the actual active time is minimal. Once you try this natural homemade version, commercial brands just can’t compete and you’ll never go back!

Ingredients:

Ginger Bug: 

First day: 

500 grams filtered water

22 grams grated ginger 

28 grams granulated sugar

Feeding (every 24 hours):

22 grams grated ginger 

28 grams granulated sugar 

Ginger beer: 

1892 grams water 

273 grams granulated sugar 

54 grams grated ginger 

110 grams strained ginger bug liquid 

Juice of 3 lemons

Method:

Ginger bug: 

Mix all the ingredients for the ginger bug (first day) in a sterilised glass jar*. Cover with a cheesecloth and secure with a rubber band. Leave it out at room temperature for 24 hours. Following this, mix in the ginger and sugar (feeding) every 24 hours. Continue this until the wild yeast mixture is fizzy. The time will depend on how warm your kitchen is, in the summer this only takes me about 2 days. 

Ginger beer mixture:

When the ginger bug is ready, it’s time to prepare the ginger beer mixture. In a large pot, pour in the water, sugar and ginger. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover and let it cool down to room temperature. This will give the ingredient time to impart even more flavour. It’s very important that the ginger mixture is at room temperature, as any heat may kill the natural yeast in the ginger bug when you add it. 

Using a fine mesh strainer or a cheesecloth, pour the mixture into a bowl. Follow with the lemon juice and the strained ginger bug. Now, it’s time to bottle your ginger beer. Using a funnel, pour the ginger beer into a bottle, leaving about a thumb of space from the top. I usually get four 500ml bottles. There will be some ginger residue at the bottom of the bottle - but this is the good stuff. Good quality commercial beer will also have this. 

Fermentation:

Leave the ginger beer out at room temperature until fizzy and carbonated. Make sure you open them once a day to release the built-up gas. Once carbonated, put them in the fridge and continue to open them once a day to release the gas. 

Now, they’re ready to enjoy! Serve with ice and a slice of lemon! 

Notes:

To sterilise the jar and bottles, simply boil them for 10 minutes in hot water or  put them in the oven for 15 minutes (160 degrees) 

Bottles: make sure you buy bottles that can be closed hermetically (flip-top bottles). I use these ones. 

If you want to keep your ginger bug alive for more batches of ginger beer simply refresh it with 110 grams of filtered water, put it in the fridge and once a week add 22 grams of ginger and 28 grams of granulated sugar. When you want to use it, put it out at room temperature and continue to feed it like this every 24 hours until fizzy again.

Recipe adapted from Joshua Weissman 

Are you thinking of making your own ginger beer? I am on a journey to make ginger bug sodas. So far I have made some really tasty ones but I still can’t get it really fizzy. Here is the result from my first few attempts. If you haven’t checked out how to make a ginger bug, go to the post where I started this ginger beer journey. https://eatitnoworeatitlater.com/2023/03/25/ginger-bug/ You will…

aka "this jar is your new best friend"

brewing soda at home is actually pretty easy. to get started, you need:

a week or two

a mason jar + lid

a lot of fresh ginger

some sugar

sugary drink of choice (juice, herbal tea, a root beer...etc)

pop top bottles like these

a strainer of some kind

you need to make a ginger bug. kinda like a sourdough starter, this is a wild yeast culture u befriend, feed daily, and harness to give urself delicious food.

starting a ginger bug is about a week of paying attention to a jar for five minutes every day. it's a lot less intimidating than it seems, i promise!

to start a ginger bug, you need:

2 cups of water

2 tsp of sugar

1 ounce of diced fresh ginger

put it in your mason jar. seal it, leave it on a shelf somewhere dark at room temp, and ignore it until tomorrow! maybe give it a name. the next day, and every day after that for about a week, open the jar and add:

1 tsp sugar

1/2 ounce diced fresh ginger

you won't see a lot of progress for the first couple days, but as time goes on, it will start giving off a nice, bread-y smell. then, it will start pressurizing the jar in between feedings. you'll know it's ready to use when it fizzes after being stirred.

to give you an idea of what to look for, here's a video of my ginger bug, gingely, fizzing away happily:

once you have an established ginger bug, you can start making soda! you can soda-ify any sugary liquid. sweetened herbal tea, fruit juice, or you can follow a recipe for root beer or ginger ale or something.

making soda with a ginger bug:

you need 7.5 units of soda base

and 0.5 units of ginger bug liquid.

it doesn't matter how big the units are (ounces, cups, whatever), just that the ratio is correct.

strain your ginger bug liquid through a fine mesh or cheesecloth

mix well with your soda base

put into pop top bottles, then seal.

leave your bottles out at room temperature to let them ferment and get fizzy. this can take 1-3 days or so, depending on your ginger bug and how fizzy you want it.

MAKE SURE YOU OPEN THEM ONCE A DAY WHILE THEY ARE FERMENTING. otherwise the bottles will explode :)

once they've reached acceptable fizz levels, put them in the fridge! the cold temperature will put the yeast to sleep and stop the fermentation process. you don't need to open them anymore unless you want to drink one. be careful though - it can start up again if you leave them out for too long.