Last time we spoke, I was feeding the "bug" on my kitchen counter.
That went on for a week and I did not kill, starve it, drop it or spill it. (It's ok to be shocked, I was.) At the end of 7 days on a restricted sugar-ginger diet, I could swish it around a bit and actually hear fizzing going on. Through the cloth that was the lid on my jar, I could smell something unapologetically ginger-beery! So that's all good news.
Then came time to make something out of the syrup and bottle it. My recipe was a bit short on the details and my mamma hadn't held my hand this far, so I did what all people my age do... I Googled the heck out of it. (Now there is time I'll never get back!)
It's safe to say there are 100 different recipes out there and after I weeded out the ones that add yeast, brown sugar or ginger syrup, I found "my people" and collated their advice into something I wanted to hear anyway. Admit it, we all do it!
The general consensus was to not put the "bug water" into the nearly boiling sugar-water as my recipe seemed to suggest. Instead I added the cold water then added the bug to the 4+ liters of liquid that was barely lukewarm.
Yes... I halved the recipe. Just not convinced I needed 8+ liters of soda with a limited life expectancy, in the next 4 days. Plus, it might be awful. I'm learning by experimentation and my test batches shouldn't feel like 5 cups of sugar going down the sink when 2.5 cups would be plenty enough to feel wasteful.
I sterilized my bottles in the oven - after I removed the reusable caps which I'm pretty sure shouldn't be baked. Then let them cool under a clean cloth.
I bottled the ginger beer, leaving the neck of the bottle empty for accumulating gas and pressure. After labeling with my handy chalk pen, they each received a single raisin and then went back to the counter where the granite that surrounded them rarely gets too warm.
NOTE: I had way more than 6 pint bottles worth of immature ginger beer. I took some left over and added to a large Mason jar. I doubled down on the ginger syrup in this mix because having tasted the immature ginger beer, I thought it was quite weak and a tad disappointing. I have no idea if apparent strength changes over the next 3-4 days but at least I'd be able to compare the recipe version with my own more concentrated version to figure it out this week - before my bug was ready to produce batch #2. (If I were you, I wouldn't use a mason jar. Learn from me! The gas causes the screw top lid to get tighter and it pushes up. If yours was a more successful batch than mine, it would likely explode!)
It is also worth noting that one of the recipes I read suggested to NOT make ginger beer from the syrup in Week 1, but instead to toss it out and just divide and feed the bug for another week before attempting to brew. So I guess part of this experiment will also be comparing Week 1 with Week 2 at recipe strength and at Dallice's gut-instinct strength. What could go wrong?!
As for the bug, I had squeezed it out good and proper after straining it through my cotton cloth and it seemed the next step was always going to be to divide the wad of ginger/lemon/raisins in half, then return half of it to the "starter" Mason jar with another 2.5 c of water and more ginger and sugar.
Having read that natural ginger root (vs powder) contains a yeast that helps with brewing, I decided that todays tablespoon of ginger would be the finely grated kind.
Now it was a waiting game... I'll update when we've tasted the final product!
October 1, 2023
Well, I've tasted several bottles of the ginger beer over the past couple of days and I wasn't very impressed with my handiwork! (Including the double-syrup one.)
Fizzy 0/10
Flavor 5/10
Effort 10/10
Today I washed all the ginger beer down the sink and set to work with my bug, to make Brew #2. I tweaked the recipe so that I only used 3L of water and 3/4 c of sugar. Into that I added 1.5T of lemon juice and 2 T of finely chopped fresh ginger. It got boiled and strained and when back to room temp, I added 1.25c of the strained bug-juice (starter). It tasted considerably more gingery and that's already an improvement on last week!
6 bottles are back on the counter again and we'll simply repeat the "taste and review process" next week.
Oh... and I went back to my love-hate relationship with Google to see if gathering more info would yield different results.
- I used fresh ginger in the cooking of the ginger beer liquid today.
- I'll be using just fresh ginger in my ongoing bug this week.
- I'm considering moving the bottles to a darker and slightly warmer location.
- I noticed that one guy mixed his beer recipe in a large container then covers it with cloth and ferments it again for a week before bottling.... and I've filed that under "tweaks I might try".
- Another person made no bones about it: making ginger beer from scratch using the "probiotic method" without yeast and flavorings, is actually not as easy! My gratitude goes to that person, who made me feel more like a scientist than just a failure!
Yeah... I'm getting thirsty. And impatient. This type of project is probably better suited to persons of character a bit different to mine! Luckily I'm stubborn too.
October 13th.
It has been almost 2 weeks since I bottled Brew #2. I try to burp them everyday, but there's no gas to be burped! About a week ago I moved them to a warmer location... it has not helped. Because some recipes literally say it takes a couple of weeks, these bottles will get the benefit of the doubt and more time to ferment.
In the meantime Brew #3 happened tonight!
The recipe HAD to be tweaked. I'm not an idiot... if I did the same as Brew #2, wouldn't I likely get the same results?! *Maybe. But I'll be honest; my bug is way more active this week. Visible bubbles accumulate under the weight of ginger bits and it's hella more vocal too. Is it crazy that I believe I am starting to understand it's communications to me? Some days, when it sounds quiet and tired, I give it a little extra sugar. It totally perks up! (Yes, it is probably just as well I didn't rear children.)
Step 1:
Boil a 1/4c of grated fresh ginger, 1/4 c of lemon juice and 1 c of white sugar in 1 liter of water.
Let it steep for 1 hour before straining. I wouldn't say my 'tea' was clear or debris-free at this time as small particles of ginger got through... but I wasn't too worried.
Add 1 liter of cold water to this tea and let it come to room temp. Mine was just over 80℉.
Add 1 c of the strained bug-juice. (Taste tested here... Yummy! The right amount of ginger now, IMHO.)
Stir and bottle into sterile containers.
Seal and label!
This batch found themselves in a shady corner of my office, which is likely a few degrees warmer than the rest of the house.
October 17
I have been burping Brew #3 for 3 days and YES, there is gas! Today I decided to take it a step further and taste test a sip.
Note to self; don't do this in your office, do it over the kitchen sink. Despite being burped just seconds earlier, there was enough gas to fizz my sticky drink up and out onto the floor as I panicked and ran across the room with it. LOL. I'm sure the floor was overdue to be mopped anyway.
 |
| I lost about 3 tablespoons of ginger beer! |
Taste: Pretty good. A bit sweet for my liking so the cap went back on and I'll continue to burp but not retest for a couple more days. The idea is that the bug consumes more sugar before then, leaving me with a spicier and less sweet version of what I have now.
I have transferred these bottles into bubble-wrap baggies and put them in a cardboard box for the remainder of their growing life outside of a fridge. All of a sudden the explosion risk feels real. I'm in the big leagues now!
Today I'm discarding Brew #2 - still flat as a pancake with raisins drowned pitifully in the bottom of each bottle. Those bottles will be reused for Brew #4 this weekend! My bug is still gurgling along on the kitchen counter :-)
- 1 L of water, boiled with. 1.5 c of white sugar, 1/4 c lemon juice and about a inch of thick ginger root, finely chopped.
- Leave the water to come to room temp (or stew about an hour) before straining it and adding 2 L to the mix.
- Add to this, 1.5 c of the strained bug juice.
- Bottle, add a raisin and cap.
- Label.
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