Ginger Bug Adventures, Part 1: Brewing my First Bug

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!