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If you aren’t familiar with naturally fermented beverages, you might be asking what the heck a ginger bug is and why you should make one…
A ginger bug is a culture of beneficial bacteria made from fresh ginger root and sugar. It is similar to a sourdough starter for bread or a kombucha SCOBY. The ginger imparts its flavor and as it naturally ferments, creates a mixture of beneficial bacteria.
Though not overly tasty by itself, the ginger bug is the base for many homemade sodas and tonics. We use it to make root beer, ginger ale, fruit “sodas”, and more.
The recipe we use is an adaption of the recipe in Nourishing Traditions (p. 591) and is the culture we use for all homemade sodas. There is also an easier way to make soda that doesn’t require a ginger bug if you prefer to skip this step, but to make an authentic soda, the bug is needed.
Ginger Bug Recipe
Once this ginger bug is made, it can be kept alive and used continuously to make healthy soda at any time.
Ginger Bug Recipe
Instructions
- Cut a piece of ginger root about 1.5 inches long and grate to make 2-3 Tablespoons of grated ginger. You can also finely chop instead of grating. There is some debate about if it is better to peel the root or not. My general rule is that non-organic ginger gets peeled and organic just gets rinsed before grating.
- Place the ginger in a quart size mason jar and add an equal amount of white sugar (2-3 Tablespoons). Nourishing Traditions insists that white sugar is needed to create the bug and I've had the best success with this, but a local friend claims that unrefined sugar or sugar with 1 tsp of molasses added works better. Try what you have and adapt as needed.
- Add 2 cups of filtered water to the mason jar. Make sure that the water has been filtered so that it does not contain chlorine which can affect the culturing process.
- Stir with a non-metal spoon and lightly cover. I cover with a coffee filter and rubber band.
- Each day for the next five days, stir the mixture at least once and add 1 Tablespoon of grated ginger root and 1 Tablespoon of sugar. Depending on temperature, it may take up to eight days of adding sugar and ginger to create the desired culture.
- You can tell if the culture is active if there are bubbles forming around the top of the mixture, it "fizzes" when stirred, and it takes on a sweet and mildly yeasty smell. It will also become somewhat cloudy and opaque. If mold appears on the top, scrape it off if it can be removed. It this happens more than once, you will need to start again. If the mixture hasn't taken on these characteristics by the 7-8th day, you need to discard it and start again.
- Keep the culture away from other cultures like sauerkraut and kombucha or it can cross-culture.
- Once the ginger bug has cultured, it can be used to create fermented sodas and drinks at the ratio of ¼ cup ginger bug starter per quart of sweetened herbal mixtures for ginger ale or root beer or diluted fruit juice for fruit flavored sodas.
Notes
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Do you have a pet ginger “bug” sitting on your counter? Will you make one?
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I feel like I have killed 2 ginger bugs and I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. They become bubbly quickly, in just a couple of days. But all of the instructions I’ve read say to feed it for at least 4 days, so I continue to feed. Generally by about day 4, I have lots of white yeast at the bottom of my jar, but my bubbles have ceased to bubble! My house is 77-79 degrees although we do turn off the AC sometimes for a few hours during the day and it may go up to 82 degrees. What am I doing wrong?! Should I use it as soon as I see bubbles and then put it in the refrigerator to rest? Can I revive it since it still has yeast visible in the bottom?
I would use it when it is most bubbly after a couple of days. It’s likely that the warmer temperature in your home sped up the process.
Thanks Katie, I also did some additional reading and watching youtube videos. I read that this “quieting” of the bug is typical for “newbies”. But I also realized that (I think) I was not stirring aggressively enough. I scooped out some of the ginger, added new, along with some additional sugar, and it started bubbling. I’ve got 2 batches of ginger beer fermenting on the counter now (one from a basic recipe and another from a spicier recipe)! But I did want to ask, I’ve seen some recipes that tell you to ferment twice to make ginger beer. Any idea why or how this benefits the brew?
if you want to get chlorine out of water the best way is to boil it. Chlorine tends to disappear when you boil water. I do not use filtered water because it is more expensive. I usually would simply boil water or distill it. sometime i would use rain water. I also do this when i make soap
Hi! Thank you for this recipe. I have a question which goes something like this: Can I precut or grate the ginger and keep it in the fridge to be ready for feedings? To use it, just take out the amount needed for feeding maybe even let it come to room temperature before feeding. What do you think?
After using the ginger bug in a recipe and in order to keep the ginger bug going how much water needs to be added back?
After a while I imagine there will be a ton of ginger in the jar — do you strain any out as you replace it with new ginger?
As with making gingerale, can I not use rapadura sugar for the ginger bug?
I haven’t tried so I’m not sure.
I use only dried unprocessed cane juice (is that the same as rapadura?) and LOVE the results! I make ginger beer and we love the taste.
Katie,
I know that you add back as much water as you take out, but what I’m unsure about is, when you add fresh water do you need to go back to a Tbsp of ginger or sugar or stay with the tsp?
How much water do you add to keep up your finger bug after using it? I made the ginger ale, so how much liquid would I add? Do I just replace what I took out?