When I got into brewing kombucha, I had no idea the fermenting journey it would send me down. I’ve tried several projects at this point, my new favorite being the ginger bug and I’ve not even got a chance to put it to use yet. What’s a ginger bug? Just a slurry of ginger, sugar and water that uses natural wild yeasts found in the air to make a ferment used to start fizzy drinks like ginger beer and root beer. It’s just called a bug to imply that it’s live, which it is.
Considering I had the three ingredients on hand, I decided to make this one happen. This is probably the easiest ferment I’ve tried, for anyone interested in that fact.
It just takes about 2 heaping tablespoons of chopped ginger, 1 tablespoon of sugar and 2 tablespoons of water to start.
The ginger needs to be chopped pretty small for the best fermentation results.
Cover it like kombucha, with a coffee filter and hair tie in my case and set it someplace warm, preferably at least 6 feet away from your other ferments to avoid cross contamination of yeasts and bacterias.
By day 2 it’ll already be showing signs of fermenting with a slight foam and bubbling action.
Feed it with 2 more tablespoons of ginger, 1 more tablespoon of sugar and 2 more of water. Cover and put back where it was fermenting until the next day.
As you continue to feed your ginger bug, it will continue to grow and foam. It’ll start to change in smell, going from a once pungent ginger odor to a softer sweeter odor instead.
As you feed your bug daily you’ll notice it eventually changes in color to a brownish tan color which is totally normal and expected. It’s actually considered done by many at this point. I plan to just keep adding to my jar until it’s full, then I’ll think about harvesting some.
So what can I do with it? I’ll start by probably just flavoring some kombucha with it, instead of using ginger. For the F2, it’s totally okay to mix probiotics and prebiotics to add to the brew, but I wouldn’t advise adding it to the brew with the scoby because you’re going to change the composition of the scoby so it’s no longer kombucha but something else.
I can also make ginger beer by brewing sweet tea and adding a ginger bug, allowing that to ferment until fizzy which I plan to do and share with you all. Eventually once I’m able to get the ingredients I’ll also be fermenting my own live root beer, so stay tuned as things are getting fermented and fizzy up on this mountain!
Many people consider it a health tonic on it’s own so it’s got many uses, even plain!
Thanks for following and supporting us, until next time!
Thanks for sharing, I'm addicted to kombucha and now I know how to make this one.
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Very interesting! Want to see how the ginger beer works out.
That's going to make some intense and healthy drinks
Looks like were on the same page when it comes to Kombucha!
https://steemit.com/health/@brimax/so-what-is-kombucha
It seems that way, yes. Have you read my kombucha chronicles?
Interesting.
Welp, not putting it next to the wine and mead then!
If I could eat only one thing for the rest of my life, it would be rhubarb fool, which I make with ginger and a hint of elderflower cordial
thanks for sharing ,
kindly upvote or retsteem any of my article.
@abbeymelchizedek
Looks good
nice... this is helpful post..like it...
Upvoted+shared+followed.. do the same to my posts.. Let's grow together
Awesome, love the ginger!
Very cool info and thanks for sharing, will try it out!
Really good to know!
Wowww. ..the photography is soo perfectly taken and the chopping, soo lovely. For the nutritional supplements it provides, most of us can testify to the value ginger brings to our body. Lovely post.
wow amazing...! i like your content keep posting stuff like this, i followed and upvoted
your post and please also upvote and follow me @wicky or click on image. i need more followers
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looks good, will definitely have to try this out. I've fermented apple juice into cider before. I wonder what would happen if you added ginger into the cider process
Kombucha my fav beverage
Thanks for the detailed instructions...makes me brave enough to try it again. I tried something like this about 7 years ago and had a disaster! We bottled it in rinsed out beer bottles and capped it with fresh caps and then let it sit. Well the night we moved it into our cabinets, we heard a loud sound, and then a boom and another loud boom. We rushed to the kitchen to find the bottles had exploded like bombs inside the cabinets. Shards of glass were literally embedded into the walls! Scary to think just the day before I had it on the counter where I was working. Of the couple bottles that remained however, it did taste very yummy, and very very fizzy.
Happy to meet another fellow kombucha enthusiast! I grew up on gallon tanks of kombucha my momma made. Now I'm making my own =DD