Making your own fun drinks is easy when you DIY a ginger bug! This fermentation is a fun one for kids to do as well.
We love making our own drinks. Sure, sometimes we pick up cans of bubblys, zevias or other items as a fun treat! They get really pricey though, and aren't something we do on a regular basis. You can actually make your own soda at home, with basic fermentation.
You can also whip up a jar of powdered hot cocoa mix, which is perfect all winter or to give as gifts. Turn on the stove and make Concentrated Chai Syrup! We also enjoy Raw Egg Nog, whether or not you add a little something to it for the adults.
Key Ingredients
Ginger - Read on for why organic is an absolute must here!
Water - Simple filtered water to hold everything together.
Sugar - I like organic cane sugar, which is what feeds the bacteria.
How to Make a Ginger Bug for Ginger Beer
***See recipe card below for precise measurements and instructions.***
Step 1: Rough chop about 1 tablespoon of ginger.
Step 2: Dissolve sugar in water and add ginger, then cover with a breathable cover.
Step 3: Add more sugar daily, and ginger every few days until it's fizzy.
Step 4: Once fizzy, and ginger is floating, its ready to be used to make ginger beer!
Now you are ready to Make Homemade Ginger Beer!
FAQs
If you'd like to be using your ginger bug every day, you can be feeding it every day! Its ready to use in 12-24 hours in most climates. It definitely prefers warmth, so my 'cool kitchen' hack is to have it on the counter space above the dishwasher as 3x a day it gives off significant warmth.
I like to use a quart jar to maintain mine in. After straining off most (I like to save back about ¼ cup of liquid+ginger chunks) of the liquid to ferment a drink (or just drink the liquid you strained off!), I add 2 tablespoon of sugar and then top it up with non-chlorinated water.
Only every few feeds do I add roughly one tablespoon of chopped small organic ginger. If I don't want to use it everyday, I can feed it sugar every couple days, and it should stay happy this way. Still only feed ginger every few feeds, not every few days.
If you need to take a break, pop it in the fridge after feeding. When I take it back out, I feed it with sugar and it should be ready tomorrow.
You know I'm not too fussed about organic always, like how we really can't get organic citrus in my neck of the woods. However, I ran into issue after issue with conventional ginger, like my ginger bug going all goopy with some bad yeast infestation. Thankfully, we don't need to use ginger everytime we feed it, so a little bit goes a long way.
Make sure you have a filter that will remove everything, or know that the water you are using is unchlorinated. I have found this ferment really struggles if I use my tap water which has chlorine.
Look at the photo below - lots of little bubbles! You'll also find that the chunks of ginger have risen to the top (maybe not all, but a bunch!) because of the fermentation action.This action is what you want to see, which could take 3-5 days. It does take some hands-on feeding every day to get it to where you can use it to make soda.
Photos by Dante from Shire by the Sea
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DIY Ginger Bug
Equipment
- 1 quart jar
- Paper towel and rubber band to cover jar
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Fresh organic ginger root plus more daily
- 1 cup filtered water plus more daily
- 2 tablespoon granulated sugar plus more daily
Instructions
- Make sure your ginger is fresh, clean and free of dirt or mold.
- Cut up about 1 tablespoon of ginger into a find dice.
- Pour 2 tablespoon sugar into 1 cup water in the jar and stir until mostly dissolved.
- Add ginger chunks and stir again very well.
- Cover with a paper towel and rubber band it, and place in a darker place until the next day. Make sure it is out of direct sunlight.
- Feed your ginger bug daily with a tablespoon of sugar, and every few feeds, a tablespoon of diced ginger.
- Repeat this process for 3-5 days and you will start to notice little bubbles on the second or third day. You want your culture to be very active with lots of fizzy bubbles.
- At this point I like to pivot to keeping it in a quart jar, and feeding 2 tablespoon at a time.
- How do I feed and care for my ginger bug?If you'd like to be using your ginger bug every day, you can be feeding it every day! Its ready to use in 12-24 hours in most climates. It definitely prefers warmth, so my 'cool kitchen' hack is to have it on the counter space above the dishwasher as 3x a day it gives off significant warmth. I like to use a quart jar to maintain mine in. After straining off most (I like to save back about ¼ cup of liquid+ginger chunks) of the liquid to ferment a drink (or just drink the liquid you strained off!), I add 2 tablespoon of sugar and then top it up with non-chlorinated water. Only every few feeds do I add roughly one tablespoon of chopped small organic ginger. If I don't want to use it everyday, I can feed it sugar every couple days, and it should stay happy this way. Still only feed ginger every few feeds, not every few days. If you need to take a break, pop it in the fridge after feeding. When I take it back out, I feed it with sugar and it should be ready tomorrow.
Notes
- Yes, you must use organic ginger root here! Some conventional versions have been irradiated, which kills the "bugs" that make the active fermentation.
- If you do not have an active ginger bug culture by 5 days, it could be due to not using organic ginger, or using unfiltered water.
- It is super important to make sure all your instruments and vessels are very clean or you could inadvertently add some unwanted bacteria to your ginger culture.
- Try again for a few more days if you do not have an active culture or try placing it in a warm sunny spot to give it some activating heat.
Michele Miller
Hi. Would frozen organic ginger work?
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Yes, apparently it does!
Emma
Do you drink all this and start over each time or can you just keep adding to it?
Abigail Langstaff
We did this, and thoroughly enjoyed the process as a family. My 10 year old was the one who really, really wanted soda, and I told him he could have all the pop he made himself.? The process was simple to follow. We had good results on our first attempt! The whole family is enjoying trying out new favours of carbonated juice with our ginger bug base, and the 10 year old is faithfully maintaining the ginger bug on his own at this point!
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I absolutely love this!
Abigail Langstaff
My first comment accidentally missed the star rating. If we could give this ten stars out of five, we would!