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Beverage Fermentation

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How to Establish, Maintain and Use a Ginger Bug Wild Culture

You need a ginger bug to brew naturally fermented soda. Use this complete guide and recipe to learn how to establish, maintain, and use a ginger bug wild culture!

  • Prep: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 48 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • fresh ginger root, organic, minced
  • water
  • organic sugar
  • sea salt

Instructions

  1. Read the recipe notes before you begin. For this recipe to succeed, you must use high-quality, organic ginger from healthy soil. The bacteria and yeast cultures needed for fermentation live on the ginger. If you cannot source high quality ginger, please consider kombucha or water kefir instead.
  2. Ingredient amounts are not listed because you will all use different amounts depending on how long it takes for your bug to bubble and how much you plan to brew ginger bug sodas. 
  3. Wash about 25 grams of ginger root and finely chop. (I suggest chopping/mincing with a knife, not grating)
  4. Combine 25 grams ginger root, 50 grams water, 5 grams organic sugar, and 2 grams sea salt. Stir until the sugar is fully dissolved.
  5. Cover with a tight-weave cloth secured with a rubber band and allow to ferment for 24 hours.
  6. Feeding: after 24 hours, feed the bug by adding 25 grams chopped ginger root, 50 grams water, and 5 grams organic sugar to the jar. (do not add more salt when feeding)
  7. Cover with a tight-weave cloth secured with a rubber band and allow to ferment for another 24 hours.
  8. Repeat feeding every 24 hours until it is bubbly. (should only take about 2 days)
  9. Once it’s very bubbly, we call it “established,” and we have two options
  10. Option one: Use it all to brew. Then, start over from step one and make a fresh bug next time you plan to brew ginger bug soda.
  11. Option two: Use some to brew and store the rest in a closed jar in the fridge as a “base starter.”
  12. If you plan to keep it alive in the fridge, feed once a week: Pour off the liquid, then add a 20% sugar solution, and occasionally add some fresh ginger. ( a 20% sugar solution for example is 10 grams of sugar in 50 mL of water)
  13. To revive a ginger bug from the fridge for brewing you need about 50 grams of bug per one liter of ginger bug soda. To make 100 grams of bug for brewing: combine 10 grams of bug from the fridge, 20 grams of fresh chopped ginger, 50 grams of water, and 20 grams of sugar in a clean jar. Cover with a cloth lid and allow to ferment at room temperature. It should be bubbly in a few hours. Once bubbly use it to brew ginger bug soda. Click here for my ginger bug soda master recipe.

Notes

  • Your source of ginger matters. Homegrown and farmers’ market-sourced will yield the most lively, balanced bugs.
  • Conventional store bought ginger is not recommended. Most non-organic ginger is treated with chemicals to stop it from sprouting. Conventional ginger crops are also sprayed with a variety of herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides. Non-organic fresh ginger root imported into the US is irradiated to kill microorganisms and extend its shelf life. For these reasons, most conventional ginger will not provide the healthy microbes necessary for successful fermentation.
  • If you don’t have access to quality, organic ginger from healthy soil, try other roots. It’s enjoyable to experiment with other rhizomes and roots, such as lotus root, carrot, sweet potato, and beets. Just make sure they are organic and from healthy soil. 
  • Organic cane sugar is essential; conventional cane sugar contains too many pesticides to work well.
  • If you only plan to brew a couple of times a year, don’t keep a bug in the fridge. It’s wasteful. Start a new bug the next time you plan to brew.
  • You can use ginger or turmeric.

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Nutrition information is auto-calculated and estimated as close as possible. We are not responsible for any errors. We have tested the recipe for accuracy, but your results may vary.

Find it online: https://cultured.guru/blog/how-to-establish-maintain-and-use-a-ginger-bug-wild-culture